Ryan Blaney Prepares for the Unknown as NASCAR Playoffs Begin at Darlington

The 2025 Cup Series postseason is days away from kicking off with a wild race at Darlington Raceway. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will be readying his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse with one goal: becoming a two-time champion.

As he does so, he is strongly aware of how unpredictable the game is from here on out. He expressed his wariness to the press on playoff media day. 

He was asked if it would surprise him if someone who is expected to have a long run gets eliminated early, and conversely, if someone who is expected not to perform well reaches far and deep. 

The driver answered, “Yeah, you never know. Both of them can happen. Somebody who people don’t expect to move on does or wins, and maybe somebody who people think might make a deep playoff run could have a couple bad races, and next thing you know, you’re out.”

Blaney used the example of his teammate, Joey Logano, and his 2023 misfortunes to make his point. Logano had won the championship in 2022 and was a favorite for the title in 2023. But he had a couple of bad races in the playoffs. He then got into a wreck at Bristol, and got eliminated in the Round of 16.

“That can happen to anybody,” Blaney added. “So, you just try to control your own fate and try to do the best you can. But, you never know what’s going to happen.”

He has accepted the fact that it is in the unforeseen occurrences that the most entertaining storylines are written. For his part, he just hopes that the No. 12 crew isn’t among those with the bad luck.

Will the playoffs revolve around fuel-saving strategies?

Neither drivers nor fans are big on racing to save fuel. Driving half-throttle takes the fun quotient out of things and leaves every stakeholder with boredom clouding their brains. And yet, that’s what needs to be done for many races to be won today.

In 2025, more than in any season before, fuel-saving strategies were deployed often. The same was pointed out to Blaney, and he was asked if this trend would continue in the playoffs as well.

“It could be,” he replied. “I think those races that that happened, it was just circumstantial. Just the caution coming around the fuel window of guys being close or not.”

Blaney doesn’t think that most races are intentionally focused on saving fuel. But he doesn’t rule out the same from happening in the playoffs.