‘I’m Inching For Another One’

NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney is no stranger to the Coca-Cola 600.

The 31-year-old previously won the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in 2023 on his way to his first and only NASCAR Cup series championship that season. He broke a 59-race drought that day by winning, which eventually lifted him to the top of the points standings the following week.

Following the sport’s annual All-Star race, Blaney currently ranks fifth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. While it’s a long season and there’s still 13 races to go in the regula season before the playoffs start, Blaney is well aware of the importance of the Coca-Cola 600, having gone to the event as a kid while his father, Dave Blaney, raced at the course.

“It’s a cool race to win, man,” says Blaney in a one-on-one interview. “It’s kind of one of our crown jewel events, kind of one of the big three for us. I grew up going to that race a lot as a kid, watching my dad run, and it was always special, Memorial Day weekend, Being able to just be around the racetrack and things like that, and what the weekend means. For that race, it’s super rewarding to win it because it’s the longest race we have.”

The Coca-Cola 600 isn’t just notable due to its length of 600 laps, it’s noteworthy because it starts under daylight before concluding fully at night.

“It’s a long night,” says Blaney of racing in the Coca-Cola 600. “You’re in that thing, stressing it out for four-plus hours and just mentally, stay in it for 600 miles. It’s tough physically to keep your your body right for that long. It’s the ultimate reward.

“If you can do it, if you can outlast everybody and just outperform everybody over a long stretch that night,” Blaney continues to say. “It’s a fun weekend. I’m inching for another one, hopefully we can do it.”

At this stage of his career, Blaney is obviously a veteran driver who’s no stranger to the different courses throughout the NASCAR season. He’s also well aware of the grind that a full NASCAR season brings which starts in February and extends through November if you’re competing for the cup.

Blaney is in the midst of his 10th full season in the cup series and races for one of the top organizations in Team Penske alongside one of the top drivers in Joey Logano. Logano recently lost the All-Star race in an exciting finish to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell.

Bell beat out Logano for the top prize of $1 million at the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway this past weekend.

“It’s just like a fun accomplishment and celebrating with your guys,” says Blaney. “It’s just like a no-holds barred race, no one’s racing for points. You’re going all out the whole time, it’s a short little race. It was great.

“North Wilkesboro is an awesome racetrack, we brought it back,” Blaney continues to say. “It was kind of dormant from the mid 90’s, and just three years ago, we kind of revitalized it, and put on a great show for the last three years. The fans up there love it. We pack that place out every single year we’ve gone.”

Blaney says it would be cool if NASCAR added even more stakes to the race by making it a points-based one, but says it’s a “good” time either way.

“I thought the racing was really, really good there,” says Blaney. “We’ll see what they do with it in the future, whether they make it a points race or whether they keep it the All-Star race. I’m good either way, but as long as everyone has a good time, I’m there for it.”

Blaney currently has 362 points and is 16 points behind Chase Elliott for fourth in the standings. The current leader is Kyle Larson at 469 points, who has a NASCAR-leading eight top-five finishes this season. Meanwhile, Blaney has the third-most top-five finishes with five.

The Ohio native finished second last year in the NASCAR Cup Series, just five points behind fellow Team Penske racer, Logano.

He says the NASCAR season is long, but it’s “what you sign up for” and you have to “dig your teeth in” during the 38-race season.

“Just keep doing what we’re doing,” says Blaney on the key to finishing the season strong. “It’s kind of been a scrappy year so far. Had a few more DNS than I like to have, and we’re still fifth. I feel pretty good about where our group is at as a whole. That’s really all I’ve ever cared about is, how well are we doing together as a team, and are we doing all we can, week in and week out, to maximize our potential? I feel like we’re doing that.”

The veteran driver gives credit to his crew at Team Penske and says the key is to keep “maximizing” their potential.

“It’s just that some things haven’t gone our way,” says Blaney. “So just keep doing it. We’ve had a great last couple of years and contended for championships, and just got to keep doing what we do. I have a good group behind me, so we just have to keep maximizing our potential.”

Ryan Blaney To Show Off New Paint-Out During Coca-Cola 600

The Coca-Cola 600 will also be notable because Blaney is showcasing a new paint-out during the race coincides with BodyArmor’s CHILL release. The CHILL product line is a limited edition release during this summer and includes frozen cherry, frozen orange and frozen berry.

Blaney — who has been partnered with BodyArmor since 2017 — says it’s been a “fun partnership” and says that the drinks help big time with the hydration process of being a NASCAR driver going through hundreds of laps during a race.

“BODYARMOR being with a sport like ours is just a match made in heaven,” says Blaney. “It’s just the physical kind of beating that we take with the hydration side is pretty brutal. I couldn’t ask for a better partnership. It’s always fun also to show we can showcase different paint schemes and different products that they have on our cars. The fans always enjoy that, and I always like to see what BODYARMOR has to come up with. It’s one of the best partnerships I’ve ever had, the people are amazing, and I look forward to the future even more.”

He details that the paint-out will be red, white and blue to pay tribute to Memorial Day weekend during the Coca-Cola 600.

“We got BODYARMOR chill on the car this weekend, great, red, white and blue looking car for Memorial Day weekend,” says Blaney. “That’s the BODYARMOR Chill, that’s an LTO, limited time offer this summer. That’s just a great combo of pumping out something new for the summer that’s only going to be around for a few months. There’s no place better to do it than the 600 and on a special weekend like that.”