Ever since he won the Cup Series for the first time, Ryan Blaney has been showered with love, respect, and appreciation by experts and fans alike. According to Dale Earnhardt Jr, there is more to be acknowledged about the Team Penske man apart from his on-track successes. Blaney’s contribution to the sport over the years has impressed the 49-year-old, who doesn’t believe he did as much during his time as a full-time driver.

Being the Cup Series champion brings with it a new set of responsibilities. Ryan Blaney will now have more off-track duties in terms of promotions and media appearances than other drivers. However, if Junior is to be believed, this will not be foreign territory for the Team Penske star.

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On a recent episode of Kenny Conversation with Kenny Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr revealed Ryan Blaney’s selflessness when it comes to promoting NASCAR. According to Junior, the 29-year-old has seldom said no to a promotional campaign no matter what he has been asked to do.

From traveling across the country to starting a whole new show just so that the sport may reach a larger audience, Blaney has done it all. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that the 29-year-old was never offered an enormous amount of money for any of it. He just did it for the betterment of the sport he loves.

Talking to Wallace, Junior said, “The other thing that people may not entirely realize is that everything that anyone has ever asked Ryan to do that would promote the sport, he said yes. Going out to the West Coast to do sitcoms, any interview, he started his, you know the glassholes podcast.”

“All of those things were just, you know, he didn’t make a lot of money. It wasn’t like somebody said here’s a briefcase full of money, do this. It was just, ‘hey man, I want to promote myself, I want to help promote the sport’, he’s always really been active which I admire a lot,” he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr might be one of the most popular figures in NASCAR today, but the 49-year-old admitted to not doing as much as Blaney as done during his days as a full-time driver.

“I was doing a lot of things in my young career to promote the sport, but they weren’t my ideas. They were Budweiser and all these other people were pushing me in this direction. He has more foresight and vision to understand how valuable that work is outside of the race car,” Junior added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was one of the people who picked Ryan Blaney to win the championship. However, the reason why he did so did not have anything to do with his on-track performances.

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Junior didn’t pick Ryan Blaney to win the Cup Series on merit

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The two-time Xfinity Series champion revealed that he picked the Team Penske man due to his image. Junior believes that Ryan Blaney being successful would have been good for NASCAR. Dale didn’t take his on-track performance into account in that respect.

“Well, I’ll be honest. I think I picked Ryan Blaney to win the championship because I think Ryan Blaney as a champion and as a successful in NASCAR, and is good for NASCAR. I didn’t pick Ryan because I saw something, in his performance. I just knew that a Ryan Blaney championship would be positive for us,” the former Hendrick Motorsports driver revealed.

Ryan Blaney does seem like a driver that audiences can relate to, especially one from a younger demographic. At a time when the sport’s popularity is declining, NASCAR must market the Team Penske man optimally to get the best possible results.

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