NASCAR CUP SERIES: COKE ZERO SUGAR 400

August 28, 2021

Geoffrey Billows

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: Ryan, congratulations.

RYAN BLANEY: Thanks.

THE MODERATOR: You were in the same seat last week, back again for another round of celebration.

Tell us a little bit about the final laps from your seat in the race car.

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, starting off with how we kind of got through that one wreck, I mean, the big one. We were in the middle lane. I don't know how the path opened up and we were able to get out of there unscathed.

Put us on the bottom for the restart. Got a great push by Corey LaJoie. That was the big push that got us ahead to the lead. I think he pushed me so good, I mean, me, Corey and the 4 all got single file, we could kind of halfway control it.

Yeah, just wild. A lot of blocking. These cars drove a little bit differently than the ones before. I feel like you could tandem a little bit more in these cars with this package. Yeah, pretty crazy. We were able to be ahead there when that last wreck on the backstretch happened.

Cool to get our second win in a row. That's really special. Happy to put Bodyarmor back on the car for their final race of the year.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Winning the Daytona is a big deal. You've come close before. Do those experiences make it more satisfying to break through and win at this particular racetrack?

RYAN BLANEY: It does. It does. You try not to think about the races that you lose, especially the 500. We didn't. We didn't throw it away. Just things didn't work out for us. You try not to think about that too much.

But you do. It kind of eats at you. We got so close here twice. I know this race isn't the 500, but it's still Daytona and it's still really special, especially to me.

I remember coming here watching dad race for years and years and years in the 500, then the July race, what it was back then. Just super cool to me.

I had kind of a surreal moment sitting in Victory Lane of kind of just looking out at the lights shining on you. You see the big sign of Daytona, World Center of Racing. Just really cool.

As a kid, it's neat, I grew up here a lot watching dad run. It's really special. Proud of everybody. Cool to be in Victory Lane at a place like this.

Q. With your teammate Brad Keselowski moving forward, what steps are you and the 12 team taking to emphasize the leadership role you're taking?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, Brad moving on, he's been (indiscernible) for a long time. I consider Brad a bit of a role model of mine because he's the one that gave me a chance with his truck team in 2012 which led to driving for Penske, Xfinity, the Wood Brothers, now Cup cars.

I look up to Brad a lot. He's done so much for me. Honestly, I wouldn't be here without Brad giving me an opportunity back in 2012. It's pretty crazy to think it's back that long ago.

That role with Brad moving on, Joey and I kind of being the veteran guys I guess you could say over there right now, just more experience than Austin and Harrison on the Cup side, it has to be your role. You have to be a leader. Definitely Brad is a leader, Joey. I think it's time for me to step up and be that guy, too. Me and Joey really need to be mentors and leaders to Austin and Harrison and make our team strong. Brad does that really well.

I've been really excited to kind of be in that role for sure. Hopefully we can continue to work on that and get better and better. It's been fun to work with Todd. Todd has been a big part of that. Forever thankful for him. It's been a pretty neat ride.

Q. Two weeks ago you knew you were already in the Playoffs. Over the last two weeks you picked up two more wins, now you vaulted up to the second seed. Does your perspective change on the possibilities in front of you?

RYAN BLANEY: I mean, it's just nice to build momentum, that's for sure. We won that Atlanta race in March. It's been a long time since we won last week. Obviously this week, too.

Yeah, it's just good momentum. It's good for confidence. Not only my self-confidence, but everyone on the team, it's just huge. You can really have good momentum. Momentum is a huge thing in sports especially. What we do. Confidence is big in not only motorsports but sports and life. If you have confidence in yourself, you can achieve something, know what your goal is, go out there and do the best you can and achieve it, that really helps you out.

That part has been really neat. It's great that we've kind of really got a lot of Playoff points here because that's something that alluded me in my previous Playoff runs, not a lot of Playoff points when it comes to the end of the year. It's been really cool to capitalize on all this stuff. It's what you need, that's for sure.

We're going to celebrate tonight. But Monday morning it's on to Darlington. We have 10 hard weeks ahead of us. We really have to do our jobs and concentrate. I look forward to that challenge.

Q. While we've had several new venues and races this season, the Playoffs are familiar. How do you feel about the 10 tracks in general?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I feel good about them. Obviously we got kicked out in the first round last year. Just had a couple bad races. Can't have that. But the good thing is at those two races we had bad runs at, Richmond and Darlington, I thought the races we had earlier this year were really good. By far the best full races we've put together at those tracks, places I've kind of struggled with in the past. I was really happy with the way we ran at those two places.

Look forward to kind of getting into the notebook, going back to it. It's weird, when you run bad at a track for a long time, you don't really know what you need to go fast. Kind of the same way with me and Martinsville. One race you kind of figure it out. Oh, this is what I need to go fast, this is what I got to do. You do it, you understand it.

I kind of feel like I had that at Darlington and Richmond earlier this year. I kind of understand what I need to go fast at these places so let's build off that. I look forward to getting better at those tracks.

The first round, there's a couple tracks that will be a little bit of a challenge, but I feel confident in that. We got to get by the first round, first. I'm not thinking of any of the other rounds personally.

Q. Do you feel like something has clicked, like a light switch has gone on for you? You look at your numbers, last week first time you've had multiple wins in a season, now you've had consecutive wins, a first. Five top fives in the last six races, first win at Daytona. It really seems to be clicking between you and Todd, unfortunately since he's leaving.

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I mean, it's a good question. Maybe if we win out, win the championship, Todd will stay. I'll see if I can convince him to.

You know what, I don't think I can really point out anything in particular over the last month and a half, two months that we've been running pretty good. Just everything has been kind of clicking and going well.

I think a big thing actually, if I can pick it out, is when Brad - I kind of talked about this earlier - when Brad announced he was moving on from Penske, I kind of realized I kind of needed to be that leadership role that he was, really give the extra effort to push myself more and just try to get better.

I think it's been paying off on that side of it, just applying yourself more and just trying to make yourself a better race car driver, a better student of the sport. I think that's kind of helped out. I think that's kind of the only thing.

But it goes a long way, that's for sure. Yeah, it's been a good past couple months. You just try to be on that uphill deal right there of trying to gain momentum before the Playoffs. We got that right now. Just got to keep track of it.

I think that's some of it, is just kind of doing some things that I needed to do and applying yourself more and understanding you need to be more of a leader and putting those things to use.

Q. Does the 224 on your hat mean anything?

RYAN BLANEY: I did this last year when Kobe and Gianna Bryant got in the helicopter accident along with the other family. Kobe was a big person in Bodyarmor, a big part of it. Did it last year. Kind of stuck with it whenever I drive the Bodyarmor car.

Q. 60 years from now or when you're 60 years old sitting on the rocking chair, what is one thing you'll remember about tonight's win?

RYAN BLANEY: I don't know. Hopefully I can remember 35 years, 33 years back in the day.

I think the biggest thing tonight, I kind of talked about it earlier, just how special it is. I watched dad race here for so many years. Just wanted to be in Victory Lane. I think about that. Y'all remember that Daytona 500 where the jet dryer exploded, dad was in the lead when the track was on fire. The excitement of maybe dad is going to win the 500, that would be a huge underdog story. Ended up not happening.

Just coming down here a lot, it being special to not only racing in general and NASCAR but my family as well. We've had a lot of great family times down here as a kid. That's what I'll think about it. Everyone wants to win here, whether it's the 500 or the summer race. It's always really special.

Yeah, what it meant to me as a kid and finally achieving it.

Q. From your point of view in the car, what difference did you notice with the package compared to Daytona and Talladega earlier this season?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I thought there wasn't a huge, huge difference. I almost felt like you could tandem a little bit longer. Yeah, I felt like you could stay attached a little bit longer. That was the big thing that kind of stood out to me.

For some reason, I don't know why you could stay attached, less motor or what, but you could just hook up more. Massive runs. Not even massive runs, you could tandem longer, gain speed, push that guy away, longer than the other series, other car, or rules package I should say. That was the biggest difference to me.

As far as handling-wise, they handled pretty much the same. A little bit less power obviously. You kind of feel that on restarts, which actually made the pushing a lot more important on restarts to get the things up and going.

Kind of the tandem thing. You could do it a little bit longer than before. Other than that I couldn't feel much of a difference.

Q. What are some of the qualities from Team Penske you've adapted into your life you feel has made you a more well-grounded individual?

RYAN BLANEY: It's been really special. Actually I was talking to Mr. Penske earlier today -- it was a couple weeks ago at Indy. Kind of got thinking back. You got signed up with in the summer of 2012, it's been nine years. It don't feel like nine years, that's for sure. It's been a really fun ride.

But, no, I think one of the biggest things is, gosh, getting to know RP and everybody. It makes me better as a person, to know his work ethic, how he approaches things in life and professionally. It really helps me out as far as his drive and hunger and motivation.

For someone who has that much motivation, he's been doing it for so many years, he just won't stop. He always has to keep going and going and finding new things, new ways to be more successful and things like that.

It's hard not to notice somebody like that. It gives me more motivation to be better at what I do. That's a trait that I've always really enjoyed being around Mr. Penske, things like that. It's something I try to apply in my professional and my personal life, too.

Q. Give us three reasons why you and your No. 12 team can win the championship this year?

RYAN BLANEY: I'm just saying I'm only thinking about the first round right now. I ain't thinking about that. The first round is my main focus, then ask me if I make it to like the Round of 8 or the Championship 4. I'm just thinking about the first round.

I'll give you a little bit of something, I guess. I just think this team is so good, they can do it. If they really perform to the best of their abilities, and I do as well, I think we have a good shot at it. Capitalizing on opportunities, that's what we've been doing the last couple weeks, putting ourselves in positions to win races. That's what this team does a really good job at. You just try to keep applying that.

I don't want to give you too much. I'm focused on the first round. I'll give you a better answer if we make it further.

THE MODERATOR: Ryan, thank you so much for joining us again this week. Best of luck in the Playoffs.

RYAN BLANEY: Thank y'all. Thank you for your questions.