Ryan Blaney Comes Up Short in Hard-Fought Charge for Second Title
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When the checkered flag was displayed in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, that was the gap separating Ryan Blaney from a second championship at NASCARs top-level.
As the laps continued to click off, the driver of the No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse gave it everything he had, closing the gap significantly between himself and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano. But, as the lap count reached 312, Blaney just couldn’t make the pass.
“I was tired, man,” Blaney said post-race. “I was driving hard and huffing and puffing and felt like I was going to pass out after the race. I was working hard trying to close the gap down. There were a lot of similarities to last week and just didn’t quite get there this week.”
For the 30-year-old driver, the Achilles heel of his bid for a second NASCAR Cup Series title came on the event’s final restart with 54 laps to go, shortly after Championship 4 contender William Byron had been blessed by the timing of a caution, allowing him to leapfrog both Blaney and Logano.
“[I] just got bottled up. I took sixth. I thought the top was probably the better row, personally, and just got put in kind of a weird aero spot. A lot of guys washed up in front of me there through [Turns 1 & 2], and Joey [Logano] kind of got clear, and then I only got to fourth.”
“That was the outcome. Just Joey got the to lead quickly with how the restart went, and it worked out for him. By the time I settled in, I was fourth and had to work my ass off to try and get by [Kyle Larson] and [William Byron] and run Joey down.”
Blaney said that as he continued to reel in race-leader Joey Logano, he had zero doubts that he would reach the rear-bumper of the No. 22. However, once he got within striking distance, he simply didn’t have any more tools in his arsenal.
“Once you get in dirty air and they can start kind of guessing where you’re going, it just makes it that much harder,” Blaney explained.
With Joey Logano triumph and Blaney’s near-miss, it’s the first time that Team Penske has swept the top two spots in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, the third organization to do so, and the first time any organization has done so since 2019.
“Yeah, a Penske one-two, Blaney said. “I think that’s the first time they’ve ever won one-two in the championship, so that’s a huge compliment. I think Team Penske as a whole does such a great job of being prepared for these right moments in the playoffs, but we also have speed all year.”
“I feel like our speed in general, I can only speak on us, we had great speed all year. Just wasn’t the most consistent year of getting tore up, a lot of DNFs. But I feel like our pace has been really good, and we ended the year really strong on speed, so I’m proud of that effort.”
Ryan Blaney, along with teammates Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, will chase a fourth NASCAR Cup Series championship for Team Penske in 2025, beginning with the Busch Light Clash at the historic Bowman Gray Stadium.
