Ryan Blaney remains confident in finding momentum to defend Cup Series title

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Only once has a driver pointed their way into Championship 4 from 20 points or more below the elimination line after the first Round of 8 race.

Being 47 markers down, it would be easy to close the book on Ryan Blaney’s chances of repeating as NASCAR Cup Series champion, especially when you consider his three finishes of 32nd or worse in the postseason and an average finish of 18.9 through seven playoff races. Numbers would suggest that the No. 12 team doesn’t have the momentum needed to make a second title bid.

However, in each of the last five seasons, at least one driver below the elimination line after the Round of 8 opener has raced their way into the finale. With a 27-point gap on the bubble being the largest deficit in playoff history after an opening-round race, Blaney and Co. remain confident that no matter how the standings look, they can right the ship over the final two Round of 8 contests.

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“I feel like we’re controlling everything we can as a group very well. We’ve just been wrong spot, wrong time, and it’s kinda hurt us a little bit,” Blaney said. “We’re still in it. We still have a chance in two weeks with two really good tracks for us [Homestead and Martinsville], so hopefully we can step up.”

So much of the mentality for the 2023 Cup Series champion has been to reset to whatever the next challenge is and adapt in order to get back to Phoenix Raceway with a shot to go back-to-back.

“This group is so good at just like putting the past behind us, good, bad or indifferent and just moving on, like, ‘What’s the next job? What do we have to do have to do next?’ And we’re ready for that this weekend.” Blaney said. “We’ve done a great job. It’s just been a little bit more of a rougher year than I would’ve liked to have nothing really much of our doing. Just the way it goes sometimes.”

Blaney finished runner-up in last year’s Homestead race before closing out the Round of 8 with a dominant victory at Martinsville Speedway. However, he was one of the outliers in hoisting the Bill France Cup after not locking into the Championship early. With Joey Logano, his Team Penske counterpart, already locked in and having two weekends to prepare for the title race — in addition to the challenge of trying to gain points on contenders like Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and William Byron — Blaney is more focused on finding momentum he can ride to the desert.

“I think there’s some advantage to winning early, Joey doing in ’22, Larson doing it ’21, you know, having a couple weeks to prepare. But like in our scenario [last year], a win at Martinsville, we rode that momentum right to next week, right? So it’s like, yeah, maybe you want a couple weeks to prepare, but there’s only so much you can do to prepare.

“I am a big believer in momentum. I do believe in that stuff, and anything, it’s a confidence thing and firing everybody up, and it’s belief that you can do it.”

Even with how much has gone wrong for the No. 12 team, they aren’t hitting the panic button at all, and Blaney’s found it easy to handle the growing pressure with his prior championship experience.

“There’s pressure in big moments,” Blaney said. “Being in these situations and understanding what’s at stake, and how do you handle that, right? How do you approach it and accept it and understand the pressure and just try to figure out how to kind of use it to your advantage where maybe people don’t handle it well.”

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No matter if a win comes in the last two races or if Blaney points his way into the title bout, he and the team have always had Phoenix in the back of their minds.

“You take all the necessary precautions no matter what happens,” Blaney added. “No matter what scenario we’re in going into next week, we’re going to have a car ready for Phoenix like we’re going to run for the championship.”