NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 3, 2024

Ryan Blaney

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our race winner, Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Ford for Team Penske.

Ryan, obviously familiar position that you were in a year ago. You guys won this race, went on to win the championship. You came in today needing to win again to advance to Phoenix. You did it again. Talk a little bit about coming into this week, how this weekend played out for you, then ultimately how it feels right now.

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I mean, it was a week of, I don't know, giving a race away at Homestead last week when it looked like we had a shot to get to Phoenix, definitely bummed us out on Sunday. Our group did a great job of Monday morning we're going to go back in and do our jobs and figure out what we need to do to win Martinsville. That's the way this team operates. That's why I'm really proud to be a part of this group.

They just understand the next job, what's the next task, what do we have to do next, then we go do it, or at least give our best effort into doing it. That's all I can ask for from a team.

Special to be a part of this group. Awesome to do it here tonight. We did it last year. Feel like it was definitely a little bit different last year because we weren't in a must-win scenario. We just had to have a good day. Winning that one obviously was huge momentum.

Coming into tonight needing to win, I feel like that was definitely more excitement, at least for me, and I think our guys, too. Just super proud of everybody. It's really fortunate that we get to go back and try to win another championship.

THE MODERATOR: We will open for questions.

Q. You said a year ago you thought the momentum from winning this race carried you into the Phoenix. Is a win like this again something that can carry you through, even though you are behind the eight ball compared to the 22 and 45?

RYAN BLANEY: I definitely believe in momentum. I believe in confidence and stuff like that. I think this is the same at last year, right? You carry it into next week.

Honestly, yeah, I mean, those guys had a couple weeks to kind of prepare. It's like you can only prepare so much, right? When your car is built, your car is built, right? We even have guys that are working on the car like it was going to the championship. Everyone does in the Round of 8, just in case it does happen and no matter what week it happens. People ask me, Which one would you rather win? I don't care, any of them to get to Phoenix.

This team is really prepared to do it. Hopefully we can carry that momentum that we had last year winning this race on to next week, as well, so...

Q. The consensus throughout the year was if the 20 car got to Phoenix, they were the favorite because of the success in the spring. The 20 car isn't going, neither is Larson. Team Penske has been great on flatter tracks. Do you feel like this is either you or Logano's championship to lose at this point now?

RYAN BLANEY: No, I don't think that way. Everyone is going to be strong. Us, the 22, the 45 and the 24, we're all going to be really fast.

No, I don't think there's, like, any favorites, to be honest with you. I never look at favorites when it gets to the Champ 4 because everyone is there for a reason, and all teams are really fast. They can be fast no matter what, any given weekend, any given track.

It is nice, though, that we have two shots at it, with us and the 22 guys. It would be special to bring Roger another championship, third one in a row for this team.

It's nice to have two of us locked in and up a rod. Now it's time for all of us to perform.

Q. When you passed Byron with around 40 to go, you were three seconds back of Larson and Elliott. Did you still think you had a shot to get them? When you heard the times going down, what was going through your head then?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I guess my strategy was the restart deal didn't help us. When he lost his wheel, I lost two spots there. I didn't understand. We didn't pass the start/finish line when the caution came out, at least I didn't think so. I lost two spots. Damn, I had to restart like 10th.

When I got to Byron, I guess I was fourth. The 5 kind of seemed pretty far away. I didn't think I had a ton of laps left. I tried to keep in mind, They're going to catch the back of the pack and slow down a lot 'cause that happens every run. You slow down, like, three-tenths when you catch dirty air as the leaders. I've done that previous runs to this race.

Honestly, I just, like, beat into my brain of saving rear to tire for that moment. I used up rear tire trying to pass the 6 earlier in the race. I ran him down quick, had no tire. I had to stay disciplined knowing they would back up to me and I needed something to try to pass those guys and have something on corner exit.

Yeah, I didn't know if I was going to get there. I knew there was a shot. Really my focus was just saving rears in case I did get a chance, I would capitalize on it like I wasn't able with the 6 because I burned my stuff up.

Long way back we came from. Saving a little bit there and being mindful of rears when I got to traffic allowed me to be a little bit more versatile when I got to those guys.

Q. This win feels like you've had to dig more than anything you've ever had to in terms of finding something extra. What did you learn about yourself in that moment tonight?

RYAN BLANEY: I'll be honest with you, that's the most tired I've been after a race in a long time. My God, I was tired. I still am. It's the most worn out I've been, for sure.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we stuck with it all night. Yeah, it's nice when things work out like that for you. I laid the bumper to more guys than I would have liked tonight. I don't really do that. That's not my MO. I kind of had to do it in certain moments. I don't think anything was super egregious. I wasn't ever going to lay the bumper to the 9, especially for the lead. It was nice we were able to race without contact there.

Yeah, a couple guys I just kind of had to go. Yeah, I don't know. I guess fight and determination. Yeah, the drive was great. How much time we made up is awesome. You can make up that time when your car is really good. We got our car really good. Makes me look like a hero. At the same time Jonathan and those guys did an awesome job of getting us where we needed to be. Definitely a joint effort.

I think just grit, knowing where we restarted, knowing we didn't really have a ton of laps to get there, having the car to do it. This 12 group is just dogs, man. We've dealt with a lot of adversity through the year, ups and downs, getting wrecked, getting caught up in BS that's not our fault.

Everyone kind of overlooks this group, to be honest with you, especially in the Playoffs. We'll have a good week, then we'll get wrecked the next week, then a decent week. The ups and downs. This team has been fantastic all year. Just hasn't been the smoothest of years.

Yeah, it's cool to go to battle with them every week. Looking forward to going to battle again with them next week.

Q. Your performance today is like a guy like Kevin Harvick, a closer. What is making you so clutch in these situations?

RYAN BLANEY: I feel like our group does a really good job, and I've worked really hard on this with Jonathan and my guys, of focusing on what I need at the end of these races. Like the last two runs of race, where is the track going, how do we get ahead of the track that's going to change. Especially today, the sun started to go down, track changed pretty significantly.

I just tried to look forward to the end of the race. We've done a really good job of, like, preparing that, looking at past history, what's worked for us in previous races through the year when the track does start to change.

I feel like that's been great for us. I didn't really do that very well when I was younger, my first few years of racing in the Cup deal. I took it one lap at a time, didn't focus on the end of the race or changes that the racetrack was going through.

We worked really hard on that the last few years. I feel like it's paying off.

Q. Were you more worn out physically tonight, mentally, both? What made this one so much different for you?

RYAN BLANEY: Tonight? I don't normally get worn out physically. I was beat up tonight. I mean, I was tired. My freaking shoulders hurt. My chest hurts for some reason. I don't know why. My hand hurts from banging on the roof of that thing (smiling). Wasn't a smart move.

I think more physically driving really hard. I've been more mentally worn out after certain races. This one maybe not as much. The pace is fast, you're sliding around. There's a lot of work going on in the car. Shifting four times a lap, that's a lot. Every race here is more physically demanding than what it used to be.

Q. Was there any point tonight where you thought it wasn't in the cards?

RYAN BLANEY: I knew it was going to be hard to get there from where we restarted at the end. We restarted 10th. I figured it was going to be pretty difficult to get there. Was going to have to pass a lot of cars, a lot of good cars.

The tire stuff is a bit of a mixed bag. The 2 stayed out. I knew the 9 was on four. The 3 and 13 were on 14 ahead of me. The 6 and the 11 were on two. The 24 and 25 stayed out. The 24 and 25 honestly kept more pace than I thought. The 5 struggled when he got to traffic.

Yeah, I knew it was going to be a tall task. Once I got clear into fourth, it was still a long ways away for me. I didn't know if we were going to have enough pace to run them down, if my car was going to hang on, they were going to fall off. My car just hung on better than those other guys.

Especially the guys on older tires, the 5 and the 24. The 9, he started to struggle there on corner exit. Rears were pretty burned off of it. I knew it was going to be a tall order.

Really at no point tonight I figured we were out of it. I figured, I had the thought and confidence, Let's just see what happens. If I get there, great. If not, we had a good night. Just wasn't meant to be.

Q. You go into this next week as the defending champion. Joey won a championship. Does that give you guys an advantage going into Phoenix over the other two? What's your prep mode at this point?

RYAN BLANEY: I mean, I don't know if that gives us an advantage over the other two. I think just understanding what the week's like is pretty nice. Having gone through it, it's Tyler's first time going through it. It was mine last year. How different is the week? All the different stuff. There's a lot asked of you, for sure.

So, yeah, I don't know. I think experience always does help. I don't know if it's like a massive, massive advantage. At the end of the day you're still racing, you're still trying to beat the other three guys just like I normally would. You try to beat everyone else.

It's nice to join Joey and the 22 group in there. Like I said, another Ford that can try to get it done. It will be exciting.

Q. You being in a must-win situation, this was the focus. Jonathan said you did about 20% of work for Phoenix. Sounds like there might be long nights before you head out to Phoenix.

RYAN BLANEY: Those guys are built on long nights. They're ready. They'll be down for it. They're ready to go.

Yeah, I mean, same way last year. It turned out pretty good for us. See if we can do it again.

Q. What is it like emotionally to hit the walk-off home run?

RYAN BLANEY: I guess this could be the equivalent of it, yeah, like a must-win situation, things like that. I'm trying to think. I don't know if I've won in a must-win, last race of the round before to get in. Like, I don't know if I've done that before.

Yeah, I don't know. The emotions, I was pretty fired up afterwards. That's a rarity for me outside the car, to bring that emotion.

Yeah, I mean, you just understand that you focus on what you want to do and understand that you had to win. There was no other option. If we ran second on back, you're not going to go to Phoenix.

I think just doing it in the fashion we did, and I was pretty pumped up about how much ground we made up. I made up a lot of ground. It was just cool that we all came together, you get another shot at it.

We were fortunate to have a chance at it last year, did our jobs really well. All you can ask for is another chance. Hopefully we do our jobs just as good if not better.

Yeah, definitely emotional for everybody. Super proud of everybody to stick with it and never get down on, like, situations that aren't going your way. They just have always tried to get better themselves. That's a cool group to be with. Yeah, I'm proud for everybody.

Q. We saw Bubba come up and give you a few words. What does it mean to you to be racing with teammates on track but with some friends as well?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I was really fortunate to grow up with a few of these guys. Bubba and Chase, we've known each other for over 20 years. Started racing together when we were really young.

Yeah, I've been really lucky to have friends that you became buddies when you were children. We're pretty lucky to be racing at this level today. You never know how things work out, who is going to get what opportunity.

Yeah, I've been really lucky to have those guys that you can kind of play back and BS with who do the same job at you, be really respectful of each other on the racetrack. We race each other harder than anybody just because we trust each other. You trust your friends and you want to beat your friends more than a lot of people.

It was fun to race Chase for the win. That was storybook thing there. Both of us have to win. My good buddy. Let's go. Luckily our car was a little bit better than his at the end.

Yeah, been lucky to have some really good guys, fellow drivers around me, that I grew up with, childhood friends. Not a lot of people can say that. I'm really lucky.

Q. NASCAR has become such a legacy sport with Bill and Chase, drivers and their dads. How much of the lessons have you learned from your dad in preparing a win like this?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I was lucky as a kid to watch Dad -- me grow up as a kid watching Dad do this. It's a pretty unique thing as a kid to watch your parent do. That's all I wanted to do. I just wanted to do what my dad did. Was really lucky that I got a chance to do what my dad did.

He taught me everything that I know. He still comes today. He was here with my mother, my uncle Dale, his brother. It's always nice to have them around. His support for me has been the only reason I'm here, right?

If he didn't support me when I was a kid or teenager, I wouldn't be here at all. It's great that even though he retired from racing this year, he's still here and always giving me words of wisdom. It's neat how that father-son dynamic changes over times a you get older. Your relationship changes with your family and your dad.

Yeah, just always special to have him here. I've been lucky to have great family around me. My mom lost her mom a couple weeks ago. It was nice to have her here tonight and try to cheer her up from losing her's.

I owe Dad a lot. It's always fun to have him on the journey.

Q. I noticed that you and Kyle ran 103 laps in practice. More practice laps than anybody. Was that a matter of trying to figure out the tires in practice, or were you trying to practice your long run speed?

RYAN BLANEY: I feel like us as a group on the 12 team, we've always really paid a lot of attention to long runs, laps on tires, things like that. That's kind of been our MO for the last few years with this car.

I think you see it a lot. Like practice, we don't put up a huge lap. Qualifying, we're just kind of okay. Our long run pace is just really great.

Sometimes it bites you. Sometimes you get some short runs at the end of these races and you can't fire off as fast, it doesn't work. Sometimes you get some long runs and it works for you.

We've always put a huge emphasis on how does the car change throughout the run, how do I need to change my driving style up, how do we need to change the race car to be decent through the run.

We've always made a lot of laps in practice. Jonathan loves giving me old tires. But I've enjoyed that, as well, because I think it makes our race just that much better.

Q. In other team sports the mantra goes like you want to be playing your best as the post-season rolls around. With the exception of Watkins Glen, Talladega, do you feel like you've been racing your best so far?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think this group's speed honestly has been pretty spectacular. I look at the Glen, I look at Talladega, Vegas was a long weekend. One race in each round has been just awful for us, just getting in a wreck. Nothing really we've done. Just has happened.

It's nice to fight and persevere through that and still make it to Phoenix. Hasn't been the smoothest of Playoffs for us, but we've dug down deep and really believed in each other, trust find each other.

I've said it many, many times. That's what I love about this group I have around me. They don't ever really get bummed out. Maybe for a little bit, a night, but then they just move on. They figure out where we need to be better, how we need to be better.

Yeah, even though it hasn't been the smoothest for us, I feel like we've been performing the best that we've ever performed and doing everything as a 12 team better than we ever have.

You always just want to improve each year. I think we've improved from where we were last year, and '22 as well. You kind of help doing that.

I have a question. What happened at the end of the race? I have no idea. I have no clue what happened. People came up to me in Victory Lane and someone asked me. They said, Hey, how about that? I have no clue what happened. I don't even know who is in. The 24 is in?

Q. Byron got in. Took them 27 minutes to decide. They determined that Bell rode the wall after Bubba slowed down with a flat tire, allowed Bell to pass. They were like an armada blocked behind Bell. That's the Cliff Notes. But there's a lot more.

RYAN BLANEY: There's a lot more? I'm going to have fun on the ride home (smiling)?

Q. Are you glad you're not in any of the controversy?

RYAN BLANEY: (Expletive) right I am. So happy I'm not in it (smiling). That's crazy. I didn't know anything about it. I had no clue, who was in, who was out, what people were talking about. Why they started cheering and booing on the frontstretch. I had no clue. 20 minutes later I was onstage, they were making a big fuss. I had no clue.

Q. There's plenty of video to enjoy on the way home.

RYAN BLANEY: Cool (smiling). Maybe for once I won't pay attention to my radio as much.

THE MODERATOR: Ryan, you have an opportunity to defend your title next week in Phoenix. Tyler Reddick has an opportunity, as well. Both of you came through the same development team with BKR back in the day. Did you think back then when you guys were in Truck that you would at some point battle each other for a championship at the highest level?

RYAN BLANEY: No. I mean, I hoped it would happen. I just hoped at that time to get to the Cup Series and drive for Penske, be able to do something.

Yeah, I mean, I think it just shows Brad's program there. There's been a lot of great, great drivers that have come through that. I was really fortunate to be part of it. Between myself, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Daniel Hemric, Austin Cindric was part of that. There's pedigree over there. BKR was amazing. I owe Brad a lot. He gave me my first chance in NASCAR with BKR and Team Penske.

Yeah, it's just neat to kind of have that connection.

No, I never would have thought it back then. It's funny, I ran for his Truck team in 13 and 14. It's 10 years now that we were over there, and now we're here.

Just a dream come true. Lucky along the way that people have trusted me, believed in me. That definitely means a lot.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations.

RYAN BLANEY: Thanks, everybody.