While there were never any thoughts from Ryan Blaney that he wasn’t going to win again in the NASCAR Cup Series, the driver who admits he lacks self-confidence did doubt himself during a winless drought.
“Like, am I good enough to compete?” Blaney reflected late Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Am I as good as I was a year ago? Can I still do this? Am I progressing and getting smarter as a race car driver and still have the same skills I had two years ago?
The 59-race winless drought in points-paying races was finally snapped in the postponed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first crown jewel win of Blaney’s career and his first drive into victory lane since the summer of 2021 when he won back-to-back races in Michigan and Daytona.
“I don’t think I ever thought, like ‘I will never win a race again,’” Blaney continued. “It’s just sometimes you doubt your abilities when things don’t go your way or you make mistakes. Like, ‘Gosh, I’m getting kind of messy with the way I’m doing things.’
“I was very excited because I haven’t won in a long time, and it was the 600. So, I was pretty pumped up. There were multiple reasons there, but no, I didn’t think that we could never win again.”
The typically calm and cool Blaney admitted he might shed a tear after getting from his car on the frontstretch. And so pumped up from the win and the fans still in attendance, Blaney pulled an uncharacteristic move of going into the grandstands like his Team Penske counterpart and Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden had done Sunday.
“A big weekend, and obviously, winning the 600 is massive,” Blaney said. “I grew up coming here watching my dad race for a long time as a kid. It’s just what we did every summer. (It’s) really cool, and it was cool for my parents to be here as well. So, that was a special moment.
“Fun night, that’s for sure. Monday races seem to go really well for me. I don’t know what it is, but definitely a fun night.”
There were no mistakes made by Blaney or his team through 600 miles. Unlike other races that slipped through their fingers after strong performances or cruel misfortune not of their doing, the No. 12 was locked in at Charlotte.
No penalties were called on Blaney or his team on pit road. Each restart went according to plan, and there were many. And many where Blaney lined up on the front row either as the leader or in second place.
Blaney’s Ford Mustang looked as good as it did before the race as it did after 400 laps. Whereas Blaney — and the team — have been criticized in the past for not closing races, this time the group was perfect and left no room for condemnation.
“I’m really proud of the effort of our whole group tonight of doing everything right and not making any mistakes,” said Blaney. “Yeah, I’m used to disappointment, especially after the last year and a half, and it’s nice to be able to pull one off and have the speed that deserves to win – and actually win. A handful of times last year, I thought we had plenty of speed to win, and just something happened. That definitely gets tiresome. Tonight, I’m really happy it was able to work out.”
At times, Blaney acknowledged, it could feel like an eternity between career win number seven and eight. He won three races in 2021 — the first time in his career he won multiple races in a single season. The 20 top-10 finishes Blaney earned that season were also a single-season best.
The same execution lacked in 2021: three DNFs, no wins, and three fewer top-10 finishes. But the opportunities were there, as shown by the laps led (636) and average finish (13.6). Winning, however, doesn’t come easy in NASCAR, and Blaney learned it the hard way over the last year and a half.
When a win does come, though, it really does cure a lot.
“Sometimes you just get in these streaks where things just aren’t going right,” said Blaney. “And then you feel like you’re doing everything right, maybe your cars aren’t fast enough to win races or you’re making too many mistakes. It can definitely be frustrating.
“It’s easy to get down on yourself when you don’t win. You’ve got to think to yourself, can I still do it? Can I still compete at a winning level? So it’s easy to kind of doubt yourself. But at the end of the day, we all pulled together, and everyone in the 12 group did a good job of working on things that we could get better.
“Yeah, it does feel like an eternity. I told Jonathan [Hassler, crew chief] and those guys what a cool first one to get together. Winning the 600. That’s a super cool one to win.”