Ryan Blaney happy to 'close one out' at Martinsville to advance to Championship 4
With one single win, Ryan Blaney was able to check a lot of boxes. Most importantly, he’s going to the Championship 4. Blaney has two wins in the NASCAR Playoffs this year, it was his first win at Martinsville, and it is his first-ever championship race.
Team Penske will have a shot at back-to-back championships. Phoenix is a track Ryan Blaney has performed well at in the past. Are things starting to line up for Blaney and the 12 team?
After the race, Blaney was fired up. He won at Charlotte earlier this year and now at Martinsville. Those are both of his home tracks being from High Point, North Carolina. Talk about home-field advantage.
“It’s awesome. I grew up in High Point, so not too far from here,” Blaney said, breathing hard. “Closer to High Point honestly, closer to Martinsville than Charlotte. It’s really cool I’ve been wanting to win here for a long time just super close for many years and awesome to close one out.”
Overall, Ryan Blaney and his team have been solid these playoffs. They struggled a little in the Round of 16. However, they advanced and then got to work. Since then, they’ve been excellent.
“I mean we’ve uh, I thought we’ve put together a really strong playoffs,” Blaney continued. “Especially the Round of 8, we had a good run the whole Round of 8. Overall just really proud of the whole effort. … RP [Roger Penske] couldn’t be here unfortunately but I know he’s watching and this is awesome. So, can’t wait to get to Phoenix next week.”
A big step for Blaney in his NASCAR Cup Series career. Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, and Tyler Reddick were eliminated.
Ryan Blaney advances to Championship 4
In Phoenix, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron will all face off for the Bill France Cup. Larson, Bell, and Blaney all won a race to advance to Phoenix. Byron advances based on points.
This is a really solid Championship 4. Larson and Byron have won races at Phoenix before. Blaney has three pole awards and four top-5 finishes in the last four races at the track. He arguably could have beaten Joey Logano last year in the championship race, but didn’t force the issue.
Bell doesn’t have a top-5 at the track, but he has a few top-10s. Let’s not act like he isn’t a good short-track racer. He has also been great in qualifying lately.
I’m not sure who I would make the favorite. Probably Kyle Larson if I had to pick. But can he stay out of his own way long enough to get the job done? I think Byron is the best restarted in the group, especially late in races with the win on the line.
Ryan Blaney has a good argument to be the favorite. We’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully, we get a great race with an exciting finish next Sunday.