NASHVILLE: Ryan Blaney was far from an overnight success.
Before winning the 2023 NASCAR Cup championship, the 29-year-old racer had scored just 10 victories over eight full seasons of racing.
But over the last year—particularly during the final two rounds of the Playoffs—Blaney elevated his game to a new level.
“It’s been a long journey for him,” said team owner Roger Penske. “Remember it was 2012 when his dad (Dave) came into our motorhome at Richmond and we talked. Here’s this young guy with lots of passion and wanted to be a champion. We bought into his package at that point.”
Blaney was just 19. The third generation was searching for an opportunity. He talked to JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. At Brad Keselowski’s urging, Penske offered him an opportunity.
“I got lucky at the time from the Penske side, from Brad’s side and Brad was a huge part of it as well, getting me in there,” Blaney said. “I think Roger had a lot of respect for my dad and he liked what he saw in the short little brief period. I think Brad put in a lot of good words in his ear, too.
“It’s just a lot of people, fortunately, speaking fairly good about me – not that I deserved it, especially back then just getting going, but it gave me opportunities, so however they convinced him to give me a shot is pretty spectacular. And not only giving me a shot in 2012 but sticking with me for 10 years says a lot about his character and his trust in people.”
Blaney won behind the wheel of the Brad Keselowski Racing trucks. In 2013, he won his first of seven Xfinity Series races with Penske.
“We saw that he knew how to be a winner,” Penske said. “I think that’s one of the first things we try to do is ‘Can you be a winner?’ And then you’ve got to jell in with the team.
“As he moved on his career with our technical partner, the Wood Brothers, I think that’s when we really saw his capability was in 2017 when he won the race at Pocono. It’s ironic, racing (Kevin) Harvick, who is retiring now, and Blaney is the champion, but that really showed us that he had the mettle to be a winner.
Blaney not only realizes the importance of his first win but the time spent with the Wood Brothers was invaluable.
“You get your first win in the series, and internally, it gives you confidence,” Blaney said. “‘Hey, I can win at this level. I can be here.’ I think that was fantastic, whenever you get your first one, but then you still have to prove yourself. You can’t just be one and done, you have to continue to try to do better and continue to grow as a driver and as a person.
“I think winning for the Wood Brothers there was great, and I can’t wait to talk about Eddie and Len tonight, and Leonard and Glen, so that was a really special one, and it opened up a lot of doors.”
The following year, Blaney and his crew chief Jeremy Bullins returned to Team Penske where they revived the No. 12 team. He joined veterans Keselowski and Joey Logano—and learned under their tutelage. Keselowski won the 2012 title for Team Penske. Logano went on to win the 2018 and 2022 championships. Surrounded by greatness, Blaney knew mediocrity would not be accepted.
Blaney remains appreciative of the opportunity afforded him by Penske.
“Not only giving me a shot in 2012 but sticking with me for 10 years says a lot about his character and his trust in people,” Blaney said. “There’s a reason why there are a ton of people at Penske who have been there for over 10 years, over 20 years. He puts his faith in people and just lets them grow. That’s the kind of amazing person he is.”
Still, Blaney has experienced growing pains along the way. Penske knew Blaney had speed, but could he continue to close the deal? There were issues on pit road. Could Blaney clean up his problems in the pits? And more importantly, who might be best suited to guide Blaney to the finish, particularly after crew chief Todd Gordon elected to step away from the No. 12 team following the 2021 season?
In one of the more recent personnel moves, the Captain aligned the young driver with crew chief Jonathan Hassler in 2022. Hassler’s tenure with Team Penske started in 2008 when he came aboard as a performance engineer. He was well familiar with the company’s philosophies and systems.
“We started with the support of Joey and everyone else on the team and then Hassler coming on board in 2022 – it wasn’t like he just showed up on the scene…In ‘22 we had speed. He won the All-Star Race that year, so we saw that he had that capability, but coming into ‘23, I know everybody has talked about how we kind of looked at we didn’t really have any speed at the beginning. I think we were learning about the car, and it took us some time.
“But the effort that we always do at the end of the season for the championship is build new cars with all the things that we learned through the season and I think that Hassler, along with Jeremy Bullins, certainly Paul Wolfe (No.22 crew chief) and Brian Wilson (No. 2 crew chief), the chiefs all got together as we got into that last eight and they really put their shoulder against this car and I think we just knew that he was a champion.”
Blaney’s first marquee win came in May in the Coca-Cola 600. But winning in the postseason has proven to be the ticket to the title. Blaney was forced into two must-win situations over the final two stages of the Playoffs and delivered with victories at Talladega and at the penultimate race at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4.
That’s when Logano saw his teammate transform into a champion.
“About seven weeks ago in the Playoffs,” Logano said with a laugh. “I think that’s what we all saw. We’ve all seen the amount of speed Blaney has had his whole career—just raw speed. The kid is as quick as he can be. But it seems it took a minute for the race craft to meet up to the talent that he has.
“And really, in the last seven weeks, what he was able to put together was exceptional—really, really good—and he put them both together. Now, I tell you, he’s going to be tough to beat for a long time now that he’s got confidence on his side. He’s done it already. He’s going to be tough for a long time. He’s so young. So that’ll be a tough one to compete against for a long time.”
And nothing could make Penske prouder.
“His persona, the fans liked him,” Penske said. “I think one of the things that I said to him was the biggest thing that you did in winning this championship is your reputation in the garage area with the other teams and the other drivers, and I think that he raced fair.
“I know there are comments that at one point Kyle Petty made some comments that he was Kasey Kahne or something and wasn’t a champion, but putting together those last races in the last six was amazing and then the proof of the pudding, really, was racing Kyle Larson – forget everything else – racing Kyle Larson those last 20-25 laps and being able to win the championship. Nobody gave it to him.
“It’s that domain knowledge which makes a difference and I think his connection with the people, the support and I think the partnership that he has with Joey, that took time, and with Brad. It took time for those guys to really say, ‘Hey, we can help each other.’ But it’s amazing how they worked off each other for the last year or so. It’s a long answer to your question, but it’s a journey.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
