Ryan Blaney’s Coca-Cola 600 Win Leads Him To Become A Title Favorite

Ryan Blaney doesn’t come across as an emotional guy. He’s usually calm, cool and collected while maintaining a straight face.

But on Monday evening, Blaney finally broke his 59-race winless streak that dates back to the 2021 regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. His red and green camouflage No. 12 Ford dominated the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, leading 163 of 400 laps.

After Blaney yelled out a scream from his racecar, parked on the finish line, he ran into the stands, just like fellow Team Penske racer Josef Newgarden did when he won the Indianapolis 500 a day prior. But as reality hit that Blaney just ended his winless streak, he teared up.

“I’m not the most self-confident person out there to begin with,” Blaney said after the win. “So when I do get in doubt of your abilities to do something, it’s really hard to pull yourself out of it, at least for me personally, just because I don’t have that self-confidence that some guys have. It takes me a little bit more convincing.

“It’s easy to get down on yourself when you don’t win. You’ve got to think to yourself, can I still do it? Can I still compete at a winning level? So it’s easy to kind of doubt yourself.”

This is Blaney’s eighth career Cup Series win since he entered the premier series in 2014 – and full time since 2016. He’s now all but locked up a spot in the playoffs, marking the seventh consecutive year he’ll be eligible for the postseason.

“It’s nice to run up front all race, lead a bunch of laps, have one of the most — have one of the quickest cars out there, top two or three cars out there, and then pull it off,” Blaney said. “That’s always super cool.

“I don’t think it crossed my mind like I don’t think you’ll ever win again. You just start doubting yourself, like am I good enough to compete — am I as good as I was a year ago? Like can I still do this? Am I progressing and getting smarter as a racecar driver and still have the same skills I had two years ago?”

Before the season started, Blaney predicted that 2023 is his best chance to win a championship. Along with his win, he has four top fives and eight top 10s with an average finish of 11.7 – second in the series, only behind Alex Bowman who missed three races – through the first 14 events.

By earning a race-high 64 points on Monday, Blaney is just one point behind Ross Chastain for the regular season championship lead, which guarantees the points leader after 26 races earns an additional 15 points entering the playoffs – the equivalent of three race wins.

“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.”

With a win in the basket, Blaney can focus on honing in on his craft prior to the start of the playoffs. His breakout season in 2021, when he won three races, is not far behind him, and he knows what Penske is capable of after his teammate Joey Logano won the 2022 title.

“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.”

Of the seven racetracks Blaney has victories at in the Cup Series, the series will visit four of them before the end of the regular season. Atlanta, however, has since been reconfigured.