
via Getty
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 12: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Peak Ford, speaks with the media during the NASCAR Cup Series 62nd Annual Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway on February 12, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

via Getty
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 12: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Peak Ford, speaks with the media during the NASCAR Cup Series 62nd Annual Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway on February 12, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Ryan Blaney did not go easy on the celebrations after he won his first Cup Series title last weekend in Phoenix. The driver of the #12 made sure that he did massive burnouts after he took a victory lap around the Raceway. As you would know, burnouts are a common way for a driver to celebrate race victories. And when the cause for celebration is a Cup Series win, the celebration is bound to be bigger and more epic. Some people, however, share an interesting view regarding the matter.
As it turns out, burnouts are a thing of the present. They weren’t very common during the 1900s. So drivers and crew chiefs of that time may find it hard to get behind such celebrations. After all, it is the car and its engine that takes the brunt of the damage, and not many people from that era support that. Two such people are ‘The King’ Richard Petty and his legendary crew chief, Dale Inman.
The celebration has started, but it’s going to be a while before it ends. @Blaney | #Championship4 pic.twitter.com/WCGuquVGHh
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 6, 2023
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Legendary NASCAR duo gives their take on Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney’s celebration
Everyone knows who Richard Petty is, but probably a few people know about the man who made ‘The King’. Dale Inman is considered to be the greatest crew chief in the history of NASCAR. Along with Petty, the 87-year-old won a whopping 188 races and 7 Cup Series championships from 1964 to 1979. It was this era that got him the most victories as a NASCAR crew chief, at 193. But that’s not all. He also won a championship with Terry Labonte in 1984 with Hagan Racing.
As people tend to take people with so much success quite seriously, Inman had an interesting view of Ryan Blaney’s massive burnout celebration. While he didn’t criticize the Team Penske man, it was a rather humorous comment, which even got Richard Petty to chuckle.
“I turned it [the channel] to the football game. As quick as the thing was over cause Dallas and Philadelphia were playing and I did not see that,” Inman said.
It was Richard Petty himself who shared a serious view on the matter. Petty is not a man who was used to burnouts during his time as a driver. Back in the day, cars weren’t as sturdy as the ones today. It is doubtful whether they would have been able to even take burnouts as well as the Next-Gen, without damaging it. So it is no wonder that the 7-time Cup Series champion had a skeptical outlook.
“Being he burnt it down the last race and they knew they weren’t going to use that engine or car or stuff for next year, then I would probably approve it but if it’d been next to the last race, I’d have been upset with him,” Petty said.
Q3: Did you approve of Blaney burning it down after the race considering he just won the championship?
Question via Facebook user, Chester Maszczenski Jr. pic.twitter.com/s3RTCfoOfW
— Richard Petty (@therichardpetty) November 10, 2023
Surprisingly, Ryan Blaney was never one to do burnouts. He did do a burnout celebration earlier in the season when he won the race at Talladega, but that is understandable. The Team Penske star claimed to have been very excited after beating Kevin Harvick to the line by milliseconds. Even back then, the man who dissuaded the 29-year-old from celebrating in that manner was none other than Dale Inman.
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Team Penske star reveals a hilarious reason for abstaining from burnouts
The reason Dale Inman gave Ryan Blaney to not encourage him to do burnouts is incredibly hilarious. The Team Penske man had revealed the reason earlier this year, and it had the racing fandom in tears.
“Oh, you don’t know?” Blaney asked, as per Top Gear, when questioned about his reason for not doing burnouts. “Dale Inman pulled me aside one day and he said ‘Hey, you don’t see the winner of the Kentucky Derby get off his horse and start beating the **** out of it.”
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Ryan Blaney might not have been one to do burnouts with every single victory, but it is more than warranted when you are the Cup Series champion. Well, at least metaphorically, the Team Penske fans will hope to see the 29-year-old do more burnouts in the years to come.
WATCH THIS STORY: Bubba Wallace Insider Urges NASCAR to Respond to Ryan Blaney’s Plea for Help
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