LOUDON, N.H. — Ryan Blaney remains one of the top championship contenders as the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begins this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The Team Penske driver, who won the Cup Series title in 2023, enters New Hampshire on a consistent string of top-10 finishes and feels his team is ready to win at the one-mile track.
“I feel like New Hampshire has been one of those tracks to where we have run well and just not really finished where we deserved,” Blaney said. “I felt really good there last year. We were running up front before the rain. We were running second during the rain and got turned around there on one of the last restarts, but I think just trying to stay in the mix. The first part of it is trying to have a car that runs up toward the front.
“I am happy that New Hampshire has gotten a playoff race. It’s always been that way for a while, and I was a part of a couple New Hampshire races in the playoffs and I’m happy it’s back because they do a great job and the crowd up there is always fantastic.”
Blaney says his team is peaking at the right time.
“I feel like our group just keeps getting better and better every year,” Blaney said. “I pretty much have the same guys I’ve had from that championship year and just that camaraderie and working together year after year, week after week, everyone gets closer and just build that bond and I’ve been really happy with how they’ve been performing.
“Over-the-wall, mechanics and how they’ve been communicating. Jonathan and the engineers with myself, I feel like we’ve gotten into this good rhythm and that stuff just grows over time. I just think we’re executing the way that we need to. I feel like our mindset is just in a good place right now, where everyone is extremely confident in themselves and their ability and they believe it, and that stuff definitely helps. It’s the belief that we can do it. We’ve had the belief that we can do it the last two to three years. They’re poised to do it and it’s really fun to be part of a group like that, that has that mindset. Everyone is clicking together. Everyone has each other’s backs.
“If I make a mistake, they’re right there to support me. If they make a mistake, I support them. That’s just how a team works, so I just think we are a pretty well-oiled machine. I feel like all year our team has been performing really well.”
While Blaney and his team are consistently running up front, he is very aware that the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas have won the past three races.
“I’m happy with the way we’ve been performing and you just try piece by piece get a little bit better week to week,” Blaney said. “The Toyotas are really strong. The last three weeks you can’t take that away from them. They’ve been incredibly fast and all of the teams have been executing really well, but I think we’re really close to where we need to be. I have confidence that we can get on that level.
“We’ve been doing a good job of getting to where we need to be, and now it’s just a matter of executing and finding little things here and there that can continue to catapult you along.”
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