William Byron and Ryan Blaney’s sister, Erin, have been dating for over four years now. While the 2023 Cup Series champion has had plenty of time now to adjust to having a potential family member racing alongside him on the grid, he wasn’t very well pleased when he came to know about the romance that was brewing under his nose.
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Talking to Rutledge Wood in the 2020 offseason, Blaney revealed how he’d come to know of Byron’s relationship with his sister and called it a “low blow” from the Hendrick Motorsports star. The issue for him was that neither Byron nor his sister had kept him in know about things and he’d heard about their courtship from a friend.
He said, “Yeah, someone else told me that they were dating before I figured it out from either one of them. So, it’s a low blow.” With the revelation to Blaney made moments before the 2019 First Data 500 at Martinsville, he had been particularly aggressive towards Byron on the track. Byron looked back at the memory months later and said, “No wonder he raced me so hard that day.”
Years have passed since that day and the two drivers could not be more pleased with each other heading into the 2024 season. A reflection of their affinity for each other surfaced when Byron pushed Blaney to the win at the 2023 Talladega race and helped him advance in the playoffs.
The duo are key title contenders heading to the Ambetter Health 400 next weekend.
When Ryan Blaney asked William Byron to break up with his sister
Both Ryan Blaney and William Byron were among the Championship 4 contenders at Phoenix last year. Questions heated up on NASCAR’s media day ahead of the finale about the Byron-Erin romance, leading to the Team Penske star hoping that Byron had broken up with his sister just then.
He laughed it off to Byron, “Y’all should have broken up for his week then after the season got back together. We wouldn’t have had to answer so many questions about it.” Answering the media’s questions, Blaney mentioned that he’d be happy should he end up losing the championship battle to his sister’s boyfriend.
He said, “I probably would be upset for a little bit, right? You just lost. But I would be happy for them, him as well, that he did win. I would show him a bunch of respect.” As fate would have it, Blaney ended up being the champion and, thankfully, holds no ill towards Byron for matters of old.
