Blaney Punches Ticket to Round of 8 with New Hampshire Win
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By Dennis Krause
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney held off a charging Josh Berry Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to claim his third win of the season and advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
“Massive props to all of Team Penske, Wood Brothers,” said the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We did a great job leading up to this race and preparing, through the weekend, practice, qualifying in the race. Our cars are really fast. As a whole, like as a whole company. That’s something they should really be proud of.
“I’m just in the fortunate situation I get to drive a fast race car. Yeah, it speaks volumes of the hard work that they’ve done, and I think for us to run first, Josh to run second, was Joey [Logano] third or fourth? Top five, stage win, that’s a great day. Huge props to them. Couldn’t be prouder of them. It was nice we were able to capitalize on having such fast cars.”
After the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas swept the three races in the Round of 16, the Penske Fords were the dominant team at New Hampshire. Blaney admits he was a little surprised the Gibbs Toyotas weren’t as strong on Sunday.
“Yeah, I didn’t think they had the pace that I expected out of them. I saw it in practice a little bit. Like Denny [Hamlin] always runs really good here, Christopher Bell, and they didn’t seem to really be as good as they have in the past.
“This sport is just ebbs and flows,” said Blaney. “It’s waves, up-and-downs. Never know how you’re going to unload. Just try to do the best job you can in prep and setups through the week, and you never know where it can wind up.
“We just hit it really good this weekend, and we’re just a little bit off from what they normally were. I don’t know if it’s the tire or what. These things make a big change. When you have a big tire change like this, it can really turn you around. That’s just motorsports. You never know who’s going to be good and who’s going to need to find a little bit of pace any weekend.”
Sean Gardner/Getty Images
According to Blaney, advancing to the next round of the playoffs by winning, especially the first race of a round, is big.
“It’s huge. Any time you can win in the playoffs, it’s just momentum. I’m a big believer in momentum and confidence. Not to say, I think all of us — you go into every weekend confident that you can do it. Your whole group is going in like heads held high, like we can do this.
“When you win in the playoffs,” the 31-year-old Ohio native offered, “it’s just a little bit extra. It’s definitely not something to where like you don’t get to relax. That’s a big thing to me, like we’re not going to go relax for two weeks. We’re not going to go kick our feet up and just ride around. Like we’ll go try to win two more races. Got to stay in that mode. Got to stay in that on kill mode. That’s super important. It’s nice when we can do that.
“It’s just a confidence boost for everybody. Maybe a little weight off your shoulders to where you don’t have to worry about points or anything. Still at the same time, you’re trying just as hard every week to win. Whether you’re way out in points got to win or you’ve already one or you’re looking good on points, to me it’s the same goal every week.”
Coming off this win, does the 2023 title winner feel like this could be another championship year?
“I don’t think the win makes me feel any more that way. I felt really good about I think we can contend. This team has been really good all year. It’s a championship contending team. It’s a championship winning team a couple years ago. It’s pretty much the same group of guys.
“My mindset really hasn’t changed. I believe we can do it all season, and this win doesn’t make me believe we can do it even more than what I felt like going through the whole year.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.