In March 2023, former NASCAR driver [autotag]Kyle Petty[/autotag] talked about [autotag]Ryan Blaney[/autotag] not living up to his potential. Petty said everyone talks about what Blaney can do but that he never does anything. Well, the Team Penske driver put that narrative to bed at Phoenix Raceway when he finished in second place to clinch his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Blaney allowed Team Penske to secure back-to-back Cup Series titles. The driver of the No. 12 car jumped on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and talked about what it meant to win a championship while taking a final parting shot at Petty for his comments earlier in the year.
A final lap @Blaney will never forget.
Presented by @CreditOneBank pic.twitter.com/dScwdUrlmz
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 6, 2023
“I grew up admiring the Jimmie’s, Tony’s, and Jeff Gordon’s of the sport,” Blaney said. “All those guys are champions. As a kid, you just want to be like those guys. It was super cool to finally see it come full circle.” It takes a lot to be good in this sport. I know Kyle Petty says that I never do anything. But, hopefully, we proved him wrong tonight. I’ve been bottling that up for a while.”
That final line was concluded with laughter by Blaney but he did what any driver strives to do for those who doubt them. In this instance, the 29-year-old driver used Petty’s comments as fuel. At the end of the day, it was Blaney who got the final laugh as he finally broke through. Now, he can call himself a Cup Series champion and no one can doubt him.
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