Nascar’s Ryan Blaney Officially In It For The Long Haul

To the more seasoned NASCSC
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R fan it might come as somewhat of a shock to realize that driver Ryan Blaney has been in the sport for a decade.

Yet, it’s true. The seemingly ageless Blaney will turn 29 later this year. He made his NASCAR debut with Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Xfinity series in 2012 and later that same year with Brad Keselowski Racing in NASCAR’s Truck series.

After winning his first NASCAR race, at Iowa, in just his third start in the Truck series in 2012, Blaney caught the attention of Roger Penske. And that is pretty much who he’s raced for since then. There were some Team Penske Racing affiliated teams, the Wood Brothers for example, but Blaney has been under the Penske umbrella for most of his career.

And it seems that Team Penske will be the team where Blaney, a third-generation racer and son of popular NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, will finish his career, whenever that may be.

Blaney and Team Penske announced a contract extension this week. It’s a multi-year extension something that is becoming increasingly rarer in a sport where drivers seem to move around every few years.

Though Blaney’s father never won at the Cup level, Ryan has 7 Cup series wins to his credit, 6 of those coming with Team Penske. Those are added to the 14 total wins he has across the Cup and Xfinity series with the team and include a win in his year’s All-Star Race. It makes sense then that Penske wants to keep Ryan Blaney in their camp.

“Ryan has become one of the top competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series and we are excited for him to continue his career and build on his success with Team Penske,” said Roger Penske. “He has been a key part of our team for more than a decade and we have seen him grow and develop, both on and off the track. He has become a consistent winner behind the wheel of the No. 12 Ford, and he also does a great job representing our team partners. We look forward to what the future holds with Ryan and Team Penske.”

This season, Blaney’s lone win at the Cup level has been the All-Star Race win in May. That, however, is a non-points race and doesn’t give him an automatic berth into NASCAR’s 10-race Playoff. He does have three poles, and 8 top five and 4 top 10 finishes.

“Team Penske has been family to me for 10 years, so I’m incredibly excited to continue with this family for the future,” said Blaney. “Roger Penske is a legend in our sport, and I’ve always said getting to drive for him is something everyone dreams of doing. On top of that, we’ve got a great group of partners with Menards, Advance Auto PartsAAP
, BODYARMOR, Wurth, Discount Tire, Dent Wizard, Wabash and Ford that have shown a lot of faith in me. I look forward to continuing to win for Team Penske, Roger and all of our partners, as we work towards our goal of winning a Cup Series championship.”

Blaney hopes to deliver the one thing that has eluded him in his career: a NASCAR championship. Though he’s still winless this season, there are two regular season races left before the Playoffs begin, and he currently holds on to the 16^th and final cutoff spot to make the Playoffs on points. Should he make the Playoffs, it will mark the sixth consecutive season he’s had a chance to deliver Roger Penske the owner’s third Cup title.

But if Blaney comes up short in the title chase this season there won’t be too much concern. After all, Blaney has yet to reach the age of 30, and with his future now secure at Penske, there will be plenty more chances in the years ahead.