For Ryan Blaney, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has been a vivid portrait of patience, perseverance, and pinpoint execution. After clinching the 2023 Cup title, expectations were sky-high for the Team Penske star, and while the journey through this season hasn’t been flawless, it’s been a testament to how far he has come. A long-anticipated win at Nashville Superspeedway a few weeks ago snapped a winless streak and reignited the momentum that had been flickering all spring. Blaney’s consistent Top-10 finishes and calculated aggression on track have helped him in playoff contention, and perhaps more importantly, have reminded the garage that he is still hungry for more. But Blaney’s current form is only the latest chapter in a story that began long before his name appeared on championship banners.
Born into a racing lineage, Blaney’s trajectory in NASCAR has been both old-school and refreshing. The son of former Cup Series driver Dave Blaney, Ryan made his way up through the ranks, showing his promise in the Xfinity and Truck Series before making his Cup debut with the Wood Brothers. His calm under pressure and maturity beyond his years quickly earned him a seat at powerhouse Team Penske, where he has now become a cornerstone of the organization. And now, as NASCAR returns to the tricky triangle of Pocono Raceway, Blaney finds himself eyeing stage points but also chasing a memory down the victory lane that includes some of the most versatile NASCAR veterans and rivals like Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
Pocono Raceway sets the stage for Ryan Blaney’s full-circle moment in NASCAR
This weekend’s race at Pocono represents more than just another stop on the calendar for Team Penske’s lead driver. With his earlier win at Nashville and with the team’s current pace and newfound chemistry, Blaney is approaching the race with a quiet confidence. In a recent interview with Kurt Becker on the “NASCAR Live” broadcast, Ryan Blaney reflected on that one race at Pocono in 2017 that is worth remembering for him and his entire team.
“Let’s take closer order on Pocono,” recalled Becker. “You’ve got quite a history at the track, you’ve won there in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and of course your first NASCAR Cup Series win came at Pocono in 2017. I went back and looked at the footage of that race, you had to deal with getting around Kyle Busch with 10 to go that day, then you had to deal with fending off Kevin Harvick. Did you even have time in that final 10 laps to really think about the fact, ‘Hey, I’m on the brink of my first win?’”
Blaney was quick to recall the iconic win that made him one of the most renowned drivers in the Cup Series, just 3 years after his debut in the Series driving the #12 Team Penske Ford in 2014. “Not much, not until it was over,” Blaney replied. “Now you said, there was so much going on, we had to go up there and get the lead and for a moment when I got the lead, I was like, ‘Ok, I might drive off in the sunset here,’ and then the next thing I know, I got Harvick breathing down my neck and giving me all sorts of trouble and then it turned back to, ‘Hey, ok, I can’t make a mistake here. I got to do all I can to just run the best laps that I can,’ and luckily, we were able to do that.”
In an electrifying finish at the Pocono 400 race, 23-year-old Blaney executed a late-race charge that stunned many as he overtook Kyle Busch with approximately 10 laps remaining, using fresher tires and drawing praise for a clean but aggressive pass off Turn 2. With 8 laps to go, Kevin Harvick loomed just a car-length behind, yet Blaney kept him in his rear-view mirror, holding his composure amid the pressure and never letting his wheel slip, ultimately crossing the finish line a mere 0.139 seconds ahead. “Kevin raced me very, very clean, which was super great,” continued Blaney. “So, it wasn’t an easy one by any stretch of the imagination, but I think what makes it more special is, ‘Hey, we had to drive up here and get the lead and then we had to fend off Kevin.’”
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Practice Nov 8, 2024 Avondale, Arizona, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney 12 during practice for the NASCAR Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Avondale Phoenix Raceway Arizona USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 20241108_mjr_su5_021
The victory not only marked his first NASCAR Cup win, but it also earned him the distinction of being the youngest first-time winner with Wood Brothers Racing since Trevor Bayne in 2011, solidifying his reputation for clinching victory under fire and immense pressure. “So those moments are very special when you work so hard and things finally go your way and you just do your job, and you do your job right,” Blaney reminisced. “So that was a very special day for me and all that group with the Wood Brothers. It wasn’t only my first win, it was a lot of those folks on that team, it was their first couple win as well, so to be able to share that with all folks was definitely a very unique experience and its cool to have that first altogether.” And now the memory is coming to a full-circle moment with NASCAR’s return to Pocono Raceway this weekend for ‘The Great American Getaway 400’ race.
Ryan Blaney, who broke through for his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2025 season at the Cracker Barrel 400, held on June 1 at Nashville Superspeedway, driving the #12 Ford Mustang, was also seen reflecting on his past performances this season. “I feel like our group is doing great,” said Blaney. “It was nice to win, a couple weeks ago in Nashville. Finally get to Victory Lane. So, I’ve been proud of our efforts so far and hopefully things can smooth out a little bit for us so that we can get a little bit more consistency.”
Blaney’s journey from a hungry rookie to a composed Cup champion might just be redefined this weekend. With Team Penske firing on all cylinders, he returns not to chase validation but to build on it, and as history shows, Pocono has a way of rewarding those who rise when the pressure peaks.
Ryan Blaney turns up the heat as in-season challenge looms
As NASACR prepares to launch its inaugural In-Season Tournament, Ryan Blaney admits the stakes are finally sinking in. Heading into Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway, which will finalize the seeding for the $1 million showdown, the Team Penske driver finds himself seeded 23rd. Although the seeding process began at Michigan International Speedway two weeks ago, Blaney confessed that the bracket wasn’t exactly on his radar until recently. The tournament kicks off next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Blaney knows now is the time to get serious.
“I don’t see anything negative about it, at all,” Blaney said. “I can’t say I was too hyper-focused on it at Michigan, and even at Mexico City, I wasn’t crazy hyper-focused on the seeding.” His outlook shifted dramatically once he saw the preliminary rankings post-Mexico City. With the possibility of being matched up with strong competitors early in the bracket, seeding suddenly mattered. Despite knowing that Atlanta Motor Speedway‘s unpredictable track levels the playing field, Blaney understood that there’s a real moment and momentum on the line. “Then I saw a chart of the seeding as of right now after Mexico City and I was like, ‘Oh man, I need to get my seeding up,’” continued Blaney.
“Atlanta being the first race, it doesn’t really make a huge difference. I think you’re going to see a lot of upsets at Atlanta just because of the way the track is,” Blaney said. He believed the bracket format would bring a unique flavor to NASCAR, especially with one-on-one matchups embedded within regular races, something uncommon in motorsports. As a result, the mid-pack battles could become more intense than ever, adding more storylines to an already chaotic stretch of the regular season run.
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