Ryan Blaney Accuses NASCAR of Complicating the Cup Finale at Goodyear’s Expense

In just a few hours, we will have a new NASCAR Cup champion on our hands. This Sunday is a year in the making and it will see four of the best from the 2023 Cup Series grid compete for the crown. Ready to press down hard on the throttle among the ultimate 4 is Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. Upsetting the favorites of a major crowd with his Martinsville win last weekend, the #12 Ford hero is riding atop the hugest of momentums.

However, his qualifying position might appear to be a slight hiccup in his drive to the chequered flag. In Saturday’s trials, Blaney qualified at P15, the last of the Championship 4. Talking to the media in the post-qualifying interview he gave his thoughts on the ordeal and had no one else to blame, but NASCAR and Goodyear.

Championship 4 contender Ryan Blaney is not pleased with NASCAR’s decision

After the practice session and qualifying lap, we now have a gist of how the cars of the finale contenders will be racing on Sunday at the Phoenix Raceway. Ryan Blaney’s outcome though was one of mixed results. While he had the fastest single lap among the four in practice, he also ended up getting a qualifying spot behind them all. Talking to the media after practice, Team Penske’s #12 crew chief Jonathan Hassler had said, “The conditions tonight were quite a bit different than what we’re going to have on Sunday […] The exact setup that we need tonight isn’t what we’re going to need for Sunday”.

In his post-qualifying interview, the chief’s driver reflected the same thought. Albeit, with a confusion that stuck out. Answering a question about the feel that the new tires from Goodyear gave, he made use of the opportunity to express his predicament. Claiming that the tires seemed alright, he explained why that couldn’t be the same case during the race.

He said, “Last night’s practice was a tough one. I don’t know why they scheduled it at that time. To be honest, that’s going to be so much different from the race tomorrow. Maybe they do it on purpose so teams are scratching their heads in the race tomorrow when it’s hot and slick.”

Continuing about the tires, he talked about how he would be able to feel it better only when all the cars were on the track and they were at least 50 laps into the race. For now, all he had were guesses.

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Responding to a reporter who wondered if Blaney’s voice being flat in the interview was because of the qualifying result, the driver said, “I’m a pretty flat person”. While there is little reason for Team Penske to fret owing to the P15, they certainly would have liked a better spot on the grid. However, they do have a lot going on for them heading to the 1-mile oval.

Momentum is all that a driver needs at times. And Ryan Blaney has found it at the perfect time. His last win before the playoffs had come during the summer in this year’s Coca-Cola 600. While many had cast him off from their favorites list, he made one of the biggest comebacks in the playoffs. In just the last 5 races, he converted a sinking ship into a large steamliner with 2 wins and 1 runner-up finish.

Having all the odds stacked against him for most of the season, having it once more going to race at Phoenix has little stressed the driver. He said of his qualifying spot, “We have qualified bad before here in the playoffs and we have been able to race our way forward. (…) But yeah, it definitely is something, our group wasn’t really stressed out at all after qualifying”. Hopefully, for the #12 team, that case remains the same in the finale. There really isn’t any ceiling now for any of the contenders. The title is up there and it is for them to grab it!

Read More: “We’ve Had the Best Speed” – Ryan Blaney Shows-Off Team Penske’s Surprising Playoff Dominance