Flashy? Maybe not. Reliable? Absolutely. Clutch? As they come.
Ryan Blaney missed out on a second straight title by 0.33 seconds in 2024, but on the way established himself as a racer who will remain in the championship conversation on an annual basis. 2025 should be no different.
Before winning the ’23 title, Blaney was pegged as a young talent who could win, but who also tended to find trouble like a magnet. Races always looked promising until ol’ Bad Luck Blaney reared his head. A wreck in front him, a flat tire, a rough restart … it wasn’t always his fault. But it didn’t matter. If something could go wrong, it did.
But even when Lady Luck wasn’t on his side, Blaney still logged solid results. In nine full seasons in the Cup Series, Blaney has finished inside the top 10 in points eight straight times. He’s racked up 14 or more top-10 finishes in every season since 2017 and led a respectable total of 4,239 laps in that time. In addition, he’s won three races in each of the last two seasons, maturing from the driver who shoulda, woulda, coulda had multiple wins every year to the one who does.
Starts | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles | DNF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
36 |
3 |
12 |
18 |
1 |
7 |
Prior to 2023, Blaney did well enough in the playoffs. Then, facing elimination in the final race of the Round of 8, he produced a career-defining moment, winning Martinsville to set up a title run.
In 2024, he did it again. After crashing early in the opening race of the Round of 8, Blaney’s back was against the wall at Martinsville. He responded with an eleventh-hour victory that gave him a chance at the title. It was a thrilling comeback, even if he ultimately fell short after getting held up on a late restart in the championship finale.
Blaney rode the wave of late-season Blue Oval success. After a slow start in 2024, Ford looked as if its drivers were at a disadvantage, but Team Penske unlocked the Mustang’s speed by mid-May. The manufacturer won 12 of the final 24 races and five times in the playoffs, reestablishing its frontrunner status. Four of those five playoffs wins came from the Penske stable.
art of learning the ropes so quickly comes from an underrated voice atop the pit box. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler enters his fourth season with Blaney, and the pair has flourished after going winless in 2022. Hassler makes smart strategy calls and knows how to ride the rollercoaster of an often-emotional Blaney on the radio. They’re a well-paired duo whose success trickles down to the rest of the No. 12 team.
The High Point, N.C., native is also a popular driver who attracts the solid backing Penske commands. Menards, Advance Auto Parts, and Body Armor lead the charge, with Wurth, Discount Tire, Dent Wizard, and Wabash among those taking turns as long-term primary sponsors. He’s always been a good draw for companies due to an affable nature and willingness to be himself; his long-term position within this organization is secure and leads to the stability one needs for success.
Blaney has wins on most track types, from road courses to short tracks to superspeedways. His average finish is consistent across the board, ranging from 15.0 at short tracks to 16.3 at the 2-mile and larger venues – partly due to the unpredictable nature of Daytona and Talladega.
The biggest challenge for Blaney could come from within his own organization. While Logano tends to struggle in odd-numbered years (IYKYK), the duo spent the final moments at Phoenix battling over the same piece of championship hardware. Both have deep respect for one another but how those dynamics continue to play out internally remains to be seen. Over time, for example, Jeff Gordon flared up a rivalry with Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick when the latter started collecting championships and displaced Gordon on top of the leaderboard.
Years | Starts | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
11 |
342 |
13 |
81 |
149 |
10 |
Blaney also needs to watch out for a developing pattern of slow starts. Eight of his 13 career wins have come in the season’s second half; he’s only won once before the middle of May. Ford has developed a strategy of peaking at the right time but in the springtime, the pressure of being a winless defending champion led to some unnecessary criticism and stress. Should the playoff format change down the road, he risks falling too far behind early.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Blaney was a solid young driver with potential. Now, the 31-year-old is the complete package. A second-generation Cup racer who’s learned to race for wins and titles is in the conversation because he’s made himself impossible to ignore.
Car: No. 12 Ford
Team: Team Penske
Crew chief: Jonathan Hassler
Years with current team: 8
Best points finish: 1 (2023)
Hometown: High Point, North Carolina
Born: Dec. 31, 1993
Anonymous takes from drivers, crew chiefs, and assorted industry insiders
“Can you call a guy that finished second in the championship one year after he won the championship underrated?” asks a rival team owner. “He isn’t appreciated enough, and he’s also a good human. He’s the most underrated top driver I’ve seen in my time in NASCAR.”
The reason why might be explained by a fellow driver: “He is a championship contender; I feel like each year. You can’t count them out. They kind of have up and downs, you know – these moments throughout the season – and maybe we just forget about them.” At the same time, another driver says, “He is just like everyone at that team right now in that they pick their spots. They don’t need to win five regular season races because it’s more important to them to be ready to win five playoff races.”
“He is the absolute best to deal with and we would be better off with twenty Ryan Blaneys in the garage,” says one media member.
A broadcaster agrees, saying, “Blaney is the personification of what it means to drive for Roger Penske. He goes about his business and understands what is role is on and off the track. He is a great ambassador for the sport and could be the face of NASCAR someday.”
The only question this broadcaster has is if a Penske driver, with the starched shirts and slacks, can be the face of NASCAR. But Blaney does the best job of blending that with his rugged, blue-collar disposition. Literally not a single person polled had anything negative to say about the 2023 Cup Series champion.