Ryan Blaney won the Xfinity 500 for the second time in a row last Sunday to secure his seat in the upcoming Cup Series season finale in Phoenix. His victory was a hard-earned one backed by some splendid short-track racing that saw him employ an extremely delicate level of aggressiveness. In Phoenix, reporters swarmed him with questions about this approach in Martinsville and how it might change in the finale.
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The No. 12 driver first explained his craft last weekend. He said that he was cautious enough to not commit any blatantly aggressive move or spin any driver out of the way. What he instead chose to do was carefully nudge competitors out of his path. Knowing the car that he had and the situation that he was in, running behind them wasn’t an option.
One of the drivers that he put behind him in this method is Kyle Larson, with 25 laps to go. He added, “I tried to do it in a way if I did have to lay the bumper… Like, not just blast somebody out of the way.”
“Like, you just kind of shove them in there a few miles an hour faster and get them up off the bottom and go.” Fortunately, this ended up working out for him and he won the race.
But this might not always work. Particularly not in a high-stakes situation like the season finale. When asked if he would change his mindset for the championship battle, he answered, “Everyone has their line, right? What line are you not willing to cross? Everyone’s line is different. How they think of what they need to do at the moment.”
Ryan Blaney, a believer in not spinning his contenders on purpose
He continued to express the personal level of ethics that he holds himself to. He said, “I’ve always been a pretty huge believer in, I’m not going to spend somebody out on purpose. And I don’t really ever want to get to the point where they could possibly spin out.” Does this mean he will give up a title if it means throwing a slightly gray move? No.
He added, “But, you know, if you do have to possibly get aggressive and nudge people out of the way I mean that’s just what it is. You got to understand what you’re going for. So, that’s all situational.” Blaney has the unique opportunity to be the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson.
He knows better than to miss out on that for something as punitive as shoving a competitor out of the way. But then again, one can never be too cautious with how volatile NASCAR’s officiating is. He wouldn’t want to land himself in a situation like Austin Dillon did in Richmond.
