Ryan Blaney Believes 2023 Is His Best Chance To Win A Nascar Cup Series Championship

Ryan Blaney will be kicking himself hard if he isn’t competing for the 2023 Nascar Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway in November. The 29-year-old racer for Team Penske believes this season — the second in the Next Gen car — is his time to prove himself.

“I want to win the championship,” Blaney said prior to the start of the season during a media tour in New York City for Nascar’s 75th anniversary. “We have to win races. We made some big mistakes. Early in the year, we had some trouble on pit road that kept us from winning. Later in the year, I made some mistakes that kept us from winning and out of the championship hunt. We have to limit those and apply them for the better.”

Blaney is in his eighth full-time season in the Cup Series, six of which have been in Penske’s No. 12 car. When he moved to the third Penske entry after two and a half years piloting the No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, expectations were high.

While Blaney has qualified for the playoffs each season since 2017, he’s failed to finish better than seventh in the championship standings. He’s made it to the Round of 8 a handful of times. Recently, Nascar on NBC analyst and former driver Kyle Petty said “Ryan Blaney is the new Kasey Kahne — potential unfulfilled.” Petty’s comments come after Blaney had a winless 2022 regular season — though he won the All-Star Race — his first since he joined Penske.

Blaney did end the 2022 season on a high note, finishing runner-up in the season finale at Phoenix as teammate Joey Logano dominated en route to his second Cup title. At Phoenix again this past weekend, the No. 12 car ended the day in the same position, now having four consecutive top-five finishes at the track.

Now, Blaney is putting pressure on himself to succeed.

“Coming off a year of getting to learn the new car and making adjustments – obviously, the end of the year was great for Penske with Joey winning the championship – we have our heads held high,” Blaney said. “We’re hoping that momentum rolls into this year. You take what you learned and develop and change it because you can always get better. I’m looking forward to my second year working with my crew chief Jonathan Hassler. Hopefully, we’re going in the right direction.”

For the 2023 season, Blaney is focused on correcting the mistakes he made in 2022. He believes his No. 12 team can compete for wins on a weekly basis. Plus, there’s extra motivation after watching his teammate win it all and seeing rookie teammate Austin Cindric celebrate his Daytona 500 triumph last year.

“It definitely stunk,” Blaney said of not winning a regular season race in 2022. “There were some opportunities that we missed and you just try to get those better. We have to figure out what we did wrong and how we can change that for the future. Hopefully, the things you learned throughout the year that kept you from winning can be applied in the next season. You have to have your mindset right.”

During the 2022 season, Blaney inked a long-term extension with Penske, including a recent deal that will have Discount Tire as a part-time sponsor for his car for the foreseeable future. Menards, the home improvement chain, continues to serve as Blaney’s primary partner for the majority of the Cup Series season. Last season, Menards was the primary sponsor on the No. 12 car for 22 races, including his All-Star win.

“I’ve been lucky to have the Menards partnership and Advance Auto PartsAAP
and Ford,” Blaney said. “Everybody has been amazing. On the Menards side, they’re been part of motor sports for a long time and John Menard is a huge race fan. He loves everything about racing. I love those guys up there. I relate to them because they’re racers at heart. John does a lot not only for motor sports, but the communities. He’s someone you want to be associated with.”

To continue the relationship with Roger Penske himself, though, is what means the most to Blaney.

“Roger is big on people,” Blaney said. “People make companies successful and they make everybody better, and he’s always been adamant on that. That speaks a lot to me about surrounding yourself with good people to push each other to get better and better. It’s something he does an amazing job at, and he tries to beat it in your head. Human capital is our biggest asset, which is something he says. It’s definitely a good direction for me.”

Through the first four races in the 2023 season, Blaney sits eighth in the standings with a pair of top-10 finishes.