It is always sweet to taste victory and it couldn’t be sweeter for Ryan Blaney and his team, Team Penske, to win the Crown Jewel race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600. But the road to victory is seldom easy, and no one knows it better than Blaney himself.
It was cathartic for the No.12 Ford driver, as he ran toward his fans to celebrate his victory with them. His fans could easily spot his moist eyes behind his big smile. But Blaney had all the right to be emotional after Monday’s race, as it finally ended his self-doubt and his 59 races of winless drought.
This overwhelming sense of emotion seemed to pluck the right chords. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr and his co-host Mike Davis emphasized that in their latest episode of Dale Jr Download.
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Ryan Blaney Let His Actions Speak Louder Than the Words as a Reply to the Hall of Famer
Performing well and performing consistently is perhaps what drives the racers of NASCAR. But the endless effort to outperform the other drivers on the grid eventually takes a toll on the driver and their performance. And Ryan Blaney could easily say that he was the living proof, until Monday’s race, which seemed to have changed the course of direction on how he perceived himself. He had expressed in his post-race interview, “You start to get to feel like you can’t win anymore when you don’t win in a while,”
And it was none other than the co-owner of JR Motorsports who could resonate with the feelings of the victor of Coke 600. In his podcast episode, his co-host, Mike Davis, asserted the fact, “Kyle Petty was vocal, about whether Blaney was on his way to be Kasey Kahne, which I don’t think I know what he is trying to get at. But still, Kasey Kahne also won the 75 NASCAR greatest drivers.”
“So I’m just saying that people started questioning, you were questioned. I remember Darrell Waltrip, maybe Dale just needs to go to Truck Series, everybody has a solution for you. Everybody has a solution for Ryan Blaney and honestly, the way he reacted in his win and got emotional. Made me think he’s been going through it. We’re not basically aware of it.”
As per USA Today, the Hall of Famer Kyle Petty had earlier in the ongoing season revealed in the NBC Podcast that, “For me, and I’m going to be honest, man, Ryan Blaney is the new Kasey Kahne — potential unfulfilled.” He also revealed, “Everybody wants to talk about what he can do, but he never does anything. For whatever reason … He just never gets past that hump.”
Ryan Blaney couldn’t be any more thirsty for a win, not only to prove otherwise to Petty but also to diminish the self-doubt that had started to haunt him. In his interview with Charlotte Observer, Blaney disclosed the facts, “I’m not the most self-confident person out there, to begin with,” Blaney said. “So when (you) do get in doubt of your abilities to do something, it’s really hard to pull yourself out of it, at least for me personally, just because I don’t have that self-confidence that some guys have. It takes me a little bit more convincing.”
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Nevertheless, Dale Jr and his co-host before talking about the victor in their show, they also expressed their concerns regarding Chase Elliott. Junior expressed, “NASCAR announced penalties for Chase Elliott. We didn’t think it would happen till today. But they got right on top of it. They did. I think we both agreed that it was going to be a surprise if they didn’t penalize him, they did, they set him out and so that’s that.”
Chase Elliott is set to miss his seventh race of the season, which is scheduled at the World Wide Technology Race. The No. 9 Chevrolet driver was suspended under rule 4.3.A. and 4.4.C and D of the Members Code of Conduct which states, “removing another competitor from championship contention in a dangerous manner when not racing for position based on the available evidence and specific circumstances of the incident.”
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Now that he has made his trip to the victory lane, will Blaney be able to grab some top 3 finish and rise up in the point standings?