Ryan Blaney got hot at the end of last season and rode that momentum through the playoffs all the way to the NASCAR Cup Series championship. No one would have been surprised if the No. 12 team came out of the gates slow in 2024, victims of a championship hangover — a phenomenon not uncommon in sports. However, that’s not been the case at all.
The 30-year-old started the season with a 30th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, but his final result, as is often the case at the superspeedway, didn’t tell the whole story. He was involved in that massive crash with under 10 laps to go that ended an otherwise good day. Before that incident, the Team Penske driver led 12 laps, including Lap 130, the Stage 2 break for his first stage win of the season.
Taking another look at the three-wide finish between Daniel Suárez, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney at Atlanta:
(Chills) pic.twitter.com/JmAJyNUUNK
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 26, 2024
While the casual NASCAR fan might see the Daytona box score and assume the defending champ had a bad day, in the three other races in 2024, Blaney’s left no doubt on the quality of his performances. In those three events at Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, he’s been consistent from start to finish, his lowest stage finish, 12th in Stage 1 at Atlanta. What’s more impressive is in each race, he’s steadily moved up in each stage.
He moved from 12th to third in Stage 2 at Atlanta before slotting second in behind Daniel Suarez in that incredible three-wide photo finish. A week later at Las Vegas, he went from 11th in the first stage to fourth in Stage 2, before recording a third-place finish. And in Phoenix, where he captured the title just four months ago, the Penske pilot started 16th, moved up to 7th to conclude Stage 1, sixth to close out the second stage, and gained another position in that final stage, earning a hard-fought fifth place.
Ryan Blaney on Blazing Hot 10-Race Stretch
Ryan Blaney has raced like a champion to start the 2024 season, consistently moving his way forward throughout the race and finding himself in the contention conversation when the checkered flag flies. But for those diehard Blaney fans who nerd out and dive into the stats on their favorite driver, his performance to open the 2024 campaign is nothing new. It’s just an extension of how he wrapped up 2023 and the road to his first Cup Series title.
It all goes back to that October 1 race at Talladega. After a pair of rough 22nd and 28th-place finishes at Bristol and Texas, respectively, Blaney won in a photo finish of his own over Kevin Harvick on the superspeedway and took that momentum with him through the rest of the postseason. The following week he finished 12th on the Charlotte Roval. No one could have known that would be his worst finish for the rest of 2023.
How good has @Blaney been in his last 10 races? Damn good like @torchystacos. There's no such thing as a championship hangover for the No. 12 Team Penske team. pic.twitter.com/jcZlOxtMSG
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) March 12, 2024
The No. 12 team followed it up with a sixth at Vegas, before ending the season with a pair of runner-ups at Homestead and the championship race in Phoenix, sandwiched around his first career win at Martinsville. For those counting, that’s five top 10s in the season’s final six races, with four of them top-fives, including a pair of wins.
What a Difference a Year Makes for Ryan Blaney
What’s incredible to think about is how it was just a year ago that Kyle Petty appeared on the “NASCAR on NBC” podcast and didn’t sugarcoat what he thought about Ryan Blaney.
“I look at the Fords, and I look at Penske, and I look at Joey and Ryan Blaney,” Petty said. “For me — I’m going, to be honest, man — Ryan Blaney is the new Kasey Kahne. Potential unfulfilled. Everybody wants to talk about what he can do, but he never does anything for whatever reason. For whatever reason, he just never gets past that hump.”
He sailed past that hump in Phoenix back in November en route to claiming his first Cup Series title. On Sunday, he made another pass through the desert and based on that result and his start to the 2024 campaign, he’s a favorite to make a return trip to the Championship 4 later in the year and makes what Petty said a year ago sound even more ridiculous.