As Team Penske lost its grip on the Talladega race, both Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano head into Martinsville next Sunday with their backs against the wall in a must-win scenario. Blaney, despite being 47 points below the elimination line and nine more than Logano, enters as the favorite. He has won the last two fall races at Martinsville, yet the No. 12 Ford driver’s confidence seems to have taken a hit despite his recent success on the paperclip-shaped track.
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Before Talladega, Blaney trailed by 31 points but kept his chin up, finding hope in the chaos that defines NASCAR’s wildest superspeedway. He insisted he hadn’t reached a “must-win” situation to make the Championship 4. But now, with the weight of expectations and anxiety mounting, given his past two penultimate wins at Martinsville, pressure seems to be creeping in.
Frustrated after a dismal P23 finish at Talladega, where Blaney seemed mad about Brad Keselowski being soft on Logano‘s bumper to push him ahead, which ultimately cost the two remaining Ford drivers in the postseason considerably, didn’t mince words before the media.
“So what? We’ve won there twice. Up and down. You never know what’s going to happen year to year. You have people who have been saying, Oh, Blaney’s going to win Martinsville. That’s bullshit. It’s hard. I don’t know what speed we’re going to have. It’s nice we’ve won there a couple of times, but we’re going to have to dig down deep for this one, for sure,” he said.
Ryan Blaney on Martinsville being next: “So what? We’ve won there twice. Up and down. You never know what’s going to happen year to year. You have people who have been saying, Oh, Blaney’s going to win Martinsville. That’s bullshit. It’s hard. I don’t know what speed we’re going…
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) October 19, 2025
Last year, Blaney had walked into Martinsville 38 points below the cutline after heartbreak at Homestead-Miami, where a late slip in Turn 3 opened the door for Tyler Reddick’s race-winning move. This season, déjà vu strikes; he returns with an even steeper deficit and another sting of disappointment at Talladega.
For two straight seasons, Blaney has owned the final elimination race at Martinsville Speedway, turning it into his personal fortress. If he pulls another win out of the short track this weekend, he’ll again cement his reign as the modern-day king of Martinsville, with the highest average finish among active drivers.
