Ryan Blaney did not win the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at the Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. But the 29-year-old driver did enough to win the Cup Series championship for the first time in his career. Blaney finished second in the race while Ross Chastain finished first. He was one of the four drivers who qualified to compete for the title, with the other three being Kyle Larson, William Bryon and Christopher Bell. Larson and Byron finished third and fourth, respectively, while Bell finished last since he couldn’t finish the race due to a mechanical failure.
During the press conference after the race, Blaney talked about what he took away from last year’s playoffs that he applied to this year. “We had a good shot to get here last year. I made mistakes at Vegas and Miami that kept us out,” Blaney said. “That was pretty brutal for me, for our whole group, right? Whenever you are the one personally making those mistakes, you take it the harshest, right?”
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“Everyone on the 12 group supported me really well. We set into, Hey, what do we need to get better? What are the areas we need to get better? We did that over the off-season, was able to get here this year. I think we learned a lot from last year from multiple sides.”
Blaney also talked about what winning the title meant for the Blaney legacy. “It’s fantastic. I mean, just coming from a racing family in general, right?” he said. “Grandfather, Lou, winning a bunch of championships the Northeast. Dad being the Outlaw champion. Dale winning the All-Star championship. Now for me to kind of add some asphalt into there is pretty good because that’s what I grew up doing.
“Just special. Growing up around the racetrack, watching Jimmie and Jeff, Tony, Mark Martin, I love those guys. I saw them win championships. I wanted to be that way. For it to come full circle is special. I couldn’t think of a better spot of my family being there and them being able to witness it.”
Blaney has finished in the top 10 in the NASCAR Cup Series standings every year since 2017. During the 2023 season, Blaney won three races, finished in the top 10 18 times, finished in the top five eight times and earned six stage wins.
