Ryan Blaney Quietly Shrugs Away From Being NASCAR’s Torchbearer Despite Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano’s Claims

For over a decade and a half, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have enjoyed being the face of NASCAR. With age and times changing, the responsibility has to be sooner or later passed on further. While both the veterans felt Ryan Blaney could be the right guy to do it, the Team Penske driver has his share of doubts about it.

After winning the championship last year, Blaney certainly has prowess behind the wheel. While it has taken his own sweet time, the #12 driver has become a favorite among the NASCAR faithful. In fact, Hamlin and Logano have some huge expectations from the defending Cup Series champion.

Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano want Ryan Blaney to make big of his opportunities

It is safe to say that Ryan Blaney has had his own share of struggles in his Cup Series career. However, his efforts have not gone in vain as they helped him reap championship success in 2023. Along with on-track triumph, Blaney has managed to gain a lot of popularity among the fans.

Given this recognition, both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin feel the #12 driver can now take it to the next level. In fact, Logano had some words of wisdom for Blaney as reported by The Daily Express US. He said, “I just said don’t let the opportunity be a waste. You can do a lot with the platform that he has, for his own brand, for all of us as a sport.”

Logano feels Blaney now has the power to influence the audience positively. To add more depth to his point, he said, “There’s a lot of really cool things that happen. You can really influence decisions and make the sport better and he should. He’s the current champion.”

While the #22 driver believes strongly in Blaney, even Denny Hamlin spoke on similar lines. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said, “I think he’s certainly enough of a veteran and enough of a young guy that’s got a runway ahead of him that he has that voice and can be very powerful within our sport if he chooses to do that. I hope he does. I think he’s going to be a huge asset to this sport.”

Ryan Blaney was 29 years old when he won the championship. So as far as the recent Cup Series history goes, he became the third driver in the last four seasons to win at the age of 29 or younger. While that’s inspirational in itself, it certainly gives more hope to the young, aspiring drivers of achieving success at the highest level.

For Blaney, it is a compliment how Logano and Hamlin believe in him. While the Ohio-born driver took the advice positively, he has his reservations about going in that fashion.

Ryan Blaney prefers his own style of leading in NASCAR

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Expectations from Ryan Blaney will indeed be more than they have ever been. Being the defending champion certainly adds more responsibility off the track. While Blaney isn’t closing doors on being a leader, he believes his approach wouldn’t be similar to what Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin prefer.

Speaking about it, Blaney said, “I’ve never been one to always raise my hand and speak up with anything that’s on my mind. If I speak out on something, that’s really important to me, and I really have a strong feeling about it. I’ve always thought that fewer words used the right way is better than a lot of words used for nothing.”

While there’s nothing wrong with Blaney’s approach, being a leader in NASCAR certainly demands more from an individual. However, the Team Penske driver prefers to strongly stay true to his own principles.

READ MORE – Ryan Blaney Believes NASCAR Has to Prepare for “Weird Times” as Fans Demand More From the Sport

He said, “I think that’s something I might do a little bit more is maybe bringing up things that I think are important for this sport and bringing them up more, whether it’s internally with NASCAR or if it gets to doing them externally in the public, then maybe I have to, but I’m never going to be one to have a voice just to have a voice.”

Maybe the modern-day NASCAR does require this approach. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Blaney uses his influence and goes on to help the sport in the future. He will be happy to know he has the support of Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano whenever and wherever needed.