By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net
During Ryan Blaney’s media availability through Ford Performance, the media including myself talk to Ryan about a variety of issues and catch you up to speed.
Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2023 and comes into this year’s event with back-to-back third-place finishes in Texas and Kansas. He took time this afternoon to answer questions from the media about his expectations this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU HAVE HAD A LOT OF DIFFERENT RESULTS AT CHARLOTTE. IS THIS A TRACK THAT YOU CAN CONQUER? “I hope we can still conquer it. We’ll find out this weekend, but it was cool to win this race a couple years ago. I grew up going to this race a lot watching dad run it. I spent a lot of time with the family. Memorial Day Weekend is always really special. Being able to see a lot of troops and meet their families around the racetrack and meet those families with their son or daughter that’s riding with us on our windshield is always a really special moment. It was neat to accomplish and a huge feat two years ago. Last year, I thought we had a decent run going and unfortunately we didn’t finish it, but it is a tough place. No matter what race it is at Charlotte, whether it’s the 600, whether it’s the Roval. It used to be the Bank of America 500 before the Roval and it’s just a tough place. The 600-mile race is just another test of your grit and your determination and what teams can outlast, what teams can stay in it all night and be where they need to be at the end. It is a tough racetrack, but that’s what makes it really gratifying if you can do it.”
HOW MUCH DOES ADAPTABILITY STILL FACTOR IN WITH THE TRANSITION FROM DAY TO NIGHT? “You really have to be able to adjust. That’s a huge swing. We all talk about it. It’s a big part of our meetings. What does the track normally start like and then once it starts cooling off, where does it usually go? And you keep that in the back of your mind. It’s like, ‘OK, my car is doing this, but when the sun goes down it’s gonna change.’ Is it gonna change for my benefit? Or is it gonna change for our detriment. We have to be ahead of that, so that part is a huge piece of what we look at and what we try to prepare for, and that’s another big thing of staying in the game. Sometimes your race doesn’t start off how you want. You’re kind of off the pace, but maybe it’s gonna come to you. You have all night to work on it. The track is gonna change. Things are gonna figure themselves out, it’s just how can the teams adapt to everything, so that’s a huge part of the 600 and that’s why you see a lot of guys who are strong early and struggle late, or guys who are struggling early and then come on at the end of that race. That’s why you see this huge change in the field.”
YOU WENT TO MEXICO CITY WITH CHASE AND DANIEL A FEW WEEKS AGO. WHAT WAS IT LIKE DOWN THERE AND WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THAT RACE? “That was great to go down there. We had a fantastic time. I appreciate everyone for hosting us, seeing the racetrack in person, getting to tour it a little bit and getting toward the area. I’m really excited. I’ve been excited since Day 1 and they announced we were gonna go down to Mexico City and run that racetrack. I used to watch Busch races out there. I’ve watched the F1 races. It’s just a great facility and one of the best parts about it was whether it was the media that was there when we did the press stuff or the fans that came out to the events, they’re all incredibly excited for us to be there. They’re really welcoming us with open arms and that’s all we can ask for because you never know. All of these new places we go, whether it’s there or Chicago or went to North Wilkesboro again a few years ago, you never know how they’re going to receive us, but it always makes us feel good as competitors like, ‘OK, they’re really excited for this race,’ and hopefully we put on a good show. I look forward to it. I can’t wait to get down there and then go compete.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI WAS PRETTY OPEN ABOUT SAYING NORTH WILKESBORO SHOULD BE A POINTS RACE AND THE ALL-STAR RACE SHOULD GO BACK TO CHARLOTTE AND DROP THE ROVAL. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE OF CHARLOTTE’S TRACK LAYOUTS SHOULD LOOK LIKE? “I watched Brad’s presser and I agree with a lot of what he said. I liked what he said. I was asked all week last week at North Wilkesboro it was like, ‘Should they have a points race? Should it stay the All-Star Race?’ Honestly, I could go either way. As long as we’re going there in some regard, I’m fine with it. Points or All-Star Race. As far as the Charlotte race, whether it’s two ovals or still keep it like we are, the oval puts on such a good show nowadays that it’s hard to not want another oval race there. The Roval puts on a good show as well, but I’m biased. I run better at the oval than I do at the Roval, personally, so I’ll side with Brad on that one and I’ll be on his team.”
HOW IS YOUR CONFIDENCE WITH BACK-TO-BACK THIRD PLACE FINISHES? “I think it’s gonna be a really good racetrack for us. I enjoy going there. We’ve put together really good mile-and-a-halves so far this year and hopefully that translates. I was actually able to be a part of a tire test in Charlotte a couple months back, so it was nice to get a little bit more track time. We don’t really get to test very often anymore, so it was good to spend a couple days going through some tires, working on some things we could work on with the race car, so I have high hopes. I hope they stay high come Saturday and seeing what you’ve got on the racetrack and when you unload. If you’ve got to go to work, you go to work, but I’ve been happy with where our program has been this year. Hopefully, it can continue and we can continue to improve.”
THE WINNER OF THE 600 GOES TO ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY THE FOLLOWING YEAR. AS SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN THROUGH THAT, WHAT’S IT LIKE TO EXPERIENCE? DOES THIS RACE HAVE EXTRA WEIGHT ADDED TO IT? “It’s a really important weekend. I was lucky I was able to see it when I was younger and when dad was racing with what that weekend meant. It’s not just a race going on. You have to understand what Memorial Day Weekend is about and that experience when I was able to go to Arlington, honestly, before I won it I didn’t know that was a thing that they took the previous winner to Arlington and had a whole day. We got to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, do the wreath laying ceremony, just being a part of all that was really, really special. I tell you, it just puts it into perspective for you. I put it when they asked me about it a couple years ago, it puts it into perspective of how small you actually are in the grand scheme of things of what actually matters. A lot of people that have laid down their life to let us do what we do on a week to week basis, it really just reigns it all in. You kind of understand what’s really important. It was a humbling experience. I’m really hoping that I get the chance to go back to Arlington because I’d love to bring my dad to see everything. I think he would really appreciate the people you meet, hear the history, meet family members and things like that at Arlington. It’s definitely a special weekend. I think NASCAR does the best job out of any sport, whether it’s honoring our current military members, remembering the ones who have lost their life, I think NASCAR is second to none when it comes to that and I’m very proud of that. That’s the way it should be.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU SPECIFICALLY LIKED ABOUT YOUR MEXICO TRIP AND HOW THE WEEK WILL UNFOLD? “We had a fun couple days down in Mexico City, whether it was going to the Luchidor match, which I really enjoyed because I like wrestling. I was a big fan as a kid, so doing that and just going to a couple of the local eateries and being able to see the culture. It was really neat to me. I’ve been to Mexico many times, but it was my first time in Mexico City, so just learning about it. I learned about the city. I didn’t realize how many people lived in the Mexico City area. It’s like the second-largest city and that it was built on a dried up lake bed. I didn’t know that either, so I was doing a little bit of history reading before I went, so I just love visiting new places, experiencing new things, experiencing different cultures and part of my sport, racing, is like you find motorsports fans anywhere around the world. It’s just cool to have that connection, so I had a blast. I can’t wait to get down there. We’re there for a long time. We’re there Thursday to Monday, so if I can sneak away a little bit and find some new eatery spots or if you have any suggestions, I’m up for anything.”
THERE ARE SOME GOOD TACO PLACES. “I forget the one taco place we went to. I got a hat from it, but it was one of the best spots I’ve ever been to. I’m gonna wear that hat. I’m bringing it with me. I’m gonna free advertise for them.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO WINNING THE LONGEST RACE OF THE YEAR? “The key I feel like is just staying in the game. Like I said earlier, there are gonna be ups and downs all night. The racetrack is gonna change. You’ve got 600 miles to figure it out, so just mentally staying in it, not only me, but all the guys staying in the game, doing their job right and what you want your race to look like at the 450-mile mark. I try to break it up that way into quarters – 150, 300, 450, 600. Where do you want to be at each stage of this race and what does it look like for the end of this thing. You’ve got to persevere all night and we were able to do that two years ago. We were really good early. We weren’t the best car in the middle and we got to be the best car at the end, so it was just like staying with it and staying in touch with the lead and what your car needs is some of the most important things.”
DOES THE WEEKEND AT NORTH WILKESBORO PROVE THE SHORT TRACK PROGRAM ISN’T AS BAD AS PEOPLE MAY THINK? WHY WAS IT SO RACY THIS YEAR? “Don’t get me wrong, the short track package can definitely be better. There are always things we can do to get it better. I think why you saw a really good race at North Wilkesboro was the track, even compared to last year, was a little bit wider this year, so it just gave you more options and more lanes to search around and get clean air. I just wish that this car would work better in not as clean air, where you don’t need a full lane or three-quarters of a lane of clean air to get it. I wish it was more like a quarter of a lane of clean air you’ll be fine, so I just think the track got wider and I think that’s one of the biggest things. A lot of these short tracks we go to really don’t have that wide of a racing surface. Martinsville, you’re on the curb where it’s hard to get clean air. Richmond, we run around a little bit, but the fastest lane is on the bottom. Bristol is like two lanes, either the bottom or the very top, so it’s just hard to find clean air at some of these places, but Wilkesboro had three, four different lanes that you can search around and find out where you need to go. I think that’s why you saw a pretty good race there.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TIRE TEST YOU HAD AT CHARLOTTE AND RACING WITH IT? “We went through a lot of different tires at that test over two days. It’s easy to lose track of what compound and what mixture is that and that. I need a spreadsheet of what everything was, but I think it’s important we continue to work down that road of softer tires and things like that. I give it to Goodyear. They get a lot of grief sometimes, but it’s a hard job that they do trying to figure out what is the right mixture of everything. They don’t get a lot of tire tests and they just present it at the racetrack and they just cross their fingers and they hope that it’s a good race and tires don’t blow out and it’s what we asked for. That’s a hard job. It’s neat to work with those folks trying to figure out what is the best way, but it is important to continue to work down as soft as we can get, just tire wear, fall off. That’s just a big thing and they’ve done a good job. They’ve been working hard and being on the teams and drivers of what we think and listening to feedback, so I applaud them for that and hopefully we can continue down that path that we’re on. I think it’s a good path.”
WHAT IS THE TOUGHEST PART OF THE 600 FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT? “The physical side, I think, is tough. It’s a long time being in there. It takes it out of you. It’s usually fairly warm this time of year. The mental side is I think just as tough of staying in the game for 600 miles, trying to stay focused for that long. I always just try to look towards the future of that race because I know it’s so long, so I think just mentally staying in it is really, really tough. It’s a fast racetrack. You’re really putting your body through it each corner, but the physical said – I wouldn’t say it was easy, but I’ve always found that to be – I train for these situations and I do it every single week to make sure that I can physically be as good as I can, and then it’s just mentally how do you train to keep your mind in the right spot for that long and how to stay locked in for that long. I think just trying to combine those two things is a pretty difficult thing to do, but the guys who can do it the best end up succeeding and that’s one of the biggest rewards of that thing. If you can put in a long 600-mile night’s work in and if it pays off for you, my gosh, it’s so rewarding when you can do that and hopefully we can pull it off again.”
NASHVILLE FOLLOWS CHARLOTTE AND IT’S THE ONLY CONCRETE INTERMEDIATE TRACK. HOW DOES THAT MAKE IT DIFFERENT TO A TYPICAL ASPHALT SURFACE? “Multiple things. It takes rubber differently. I always think it’s fascinating that I tell people to look for at a concrete place like that is to watch the progression level of rubber as we get on it. The track starts off pretty white and then it just gets darker and darker as we get rubber down and you can really see lanes and where the top of the groove is and things like that. Sometimes on asphalt it’s hard to tell because the asphalt is dark already and rubber laying it down it’s hard to see the edge of grip, so it’s easy to point out where the edge is there, and then I think another tough thing from the driving side is, unlike asphalt, they pave concrete in sections. It’s like these blocks that they lay, just like driving. You get to a concrete section on the highway and you hear that noise. That’s what we go through in the race car, but we’re just going really fast and that’s amplified, so trying to get over those humps every 20-30 feet is pretty tough and it makes for a handful for the drivers. The different tire compounds. Goodyear builds a little bit different compound for a concrete track as opposed to asphalt just as a driver trying to find the grip level from pavement to concrete is definitely a tough one.”
THIS IS A BIG RACE WEEKEND AROUND THE WORLD. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ALL OF THAT AND CAN YOU EXPAND ON THE MENTAL SIDE YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT EARLIER? “It’s the biggest weekend in motorsports. I get up Sunday morning and watch Monaco, and then I get ready for Indy. I usually watch Monaco from my house, at least the first part, and I catch the end of it at the bus, and then I watch Indy at the racetrack, and then I get ready to go, so it’s just a fun day for me too, to watch and then participate in one of the races. Mentally, I think it’s a great example of what you said. People might be walking by the TV screen, take a glance, get distracted by something else and go do something else. I can’t do that. I’m locked in. I can’t get out of this thing. If you break concentration once, your race is over. You’re wrecking or things like that, so how do you operate with 100 percent of focus for four-plus hours, for 600 miles. That’s a pretty difficult task for sure, so we work really hard at that. It’s really tough to keep your concentration for that long and especially in the tense sport of what we’re doing. How do you stay calm in those situations for that long as well? So, attention spans are hard. I’m not very good with my attention span with most other things, but racing I can stay locked in because I care about it a lot and it’s my job, but it’s tough. When you’re in it, it’s easier if that makes sense. When you’re doing it, it’s easier to be locked in than if you’re just watching it. I’m not as locked in as these guys running the Indy 500 because I’m not racing in the Indy 500, but I am locked in when I’m doing my job and you’re in your sport. It just kind of varies. It’s hard to be in people’s shoes for sure, but it’s just something we train really hard for and that’s every week. It’s the same every week, but this one is just a little bit longer.”
DO YOU PREPARE DIFFERENTLY FOR A PLACE LIKE CHARLOTTE, WHERE YOUR RESULTS HAVE BEEN ALL OVER THE SPECTRUM, AND COULD THIS WEEKEND BE A TURNING POINT GOING INTO THE SUMMER? “I hope so. I hope it’s a good weekend. I feel like the big thing that I try to work on all the time is how do you deal with highs and lows? I always call it riding the wave. You’re gonna be up and down and it’s just how do you get over that and if you’re on the down side how do you mentally breakthrough to try to not be in a mental slump? How do you stay confident in yourself and your team and then kind of rise to the occasion. I’ve had all of the above at Charlotte, from a bunch of success there to don’t finish the races and that’s just kind of the way it goes in this sport. That’s just the way it is, but I work really hard on trying to just be always looking positive and forward no matter how good or bad it’s going. I always try to look at what we can do next. How can we continue working and just be better as a group week to week? Luckily, I have a great group of people around me that have that same mentality, no matter if we don’t finish the weekend before, if we win the weekend before, it’s the same type of hunger and drive to just be better altogether the next weekend. I think that’s now we’ve cultured ourselves in the 12 camp and that’s a cool group to be around. When everyone’s mindset is aligned like that, you’ll have this common thinking.”
TEAM PENSKE HAS BEEN LOCKED IN ON INTERMEDIATES ALL YEAR. HOW FAR AHEAD DO YOU FEEL PENSKE IS COMPARED TO THE LAST COUPLE OF YEAR? “I think we’re way ahead. I’ve been really excited with the start of the year that Team Penske as a whole has had. Obviously, I would have liked to have won already, but we’ve been in contention and some of the things that have shown that we’ve had bad finishes, we haven’t really done anything wrong. We’ve had a couple engine issues that we resolved, getting in a wreck early at Talladega and finishing last, and then getting in a wreck at Vegas with a fast car. Our cars have been really, really fast and I think at the end of the day it just comes down to preparation and people and understanding where we need to be better. Last year, in the beginning of the year we had a new car, a new Mustang nose, so I think trying to get in a happy spot aerodynamically with that was a challenge for us and all of the Ford teams to try to figure out, ‘OK, what is the right combination,’ because it was different than the year before in ‘22. It took us a little bit to get our arms wrapped around it, but once we did I think we’ve really taken off and we just haven’t let up. The success that we had from the summer to the end of last year has just carried over. It’s just people figuring it out and trying to find ways to be better. It’s been nice. I’m really proud of the effort of all our folks at Team Penske for putting the effort in and Ford and everybody understanding where we need to be and then applying it. Hopefully, we can continue to build off the speed we’ve had early and keep it through the summer and into the fall.”
