August 27, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Ryan Blaney won't change his approach in race for final Playoff spots

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.--After 25 races in the regular season, there’s just the Coke Zero Sugar 400 left to settle which of the 15 drivers battling for the final two positions in the NASCAR Cup Playoffs will actually make the cut.

Ryan Blaney has been in the top three in the points standings for 17 of 25 weeks. He just hasn’t won a points race. 

The 28-year-old third-generation racer, who is the defending winner of the summer race at Daytona International Speedway, doesn’t plan on changing his strategy in the rain-delayed regular-season finale, which will be run Sunday at 10 a.m.

“Coming in here, I think our mind-set is just race like normal,” Blaney said. “You always want to go up and try to win the race. You always want to get stage points. You always want to try to stay out of the wrecks. I don't really see having any other thought process and if you think if you can play conservatively, you can find yourself in a bad spot at the end of the race. If you just ride around the back, don't get stage points, you can find yourself in a tough spot. 

“So I think our group does a really good job of just racing and trying to be up front then being there at the end of these things. You always want to race smart. It doesn’t matter what spot you’re in, you want to race smart and I don't really see us having any different mind-set.” 

Team Penske has a remarkable record at superspeedways. Since 2014, Penske has won four races at Daytona and nine at Talladega. Blaney has accounted for three of the victories.

Martin Truex Jr., Blaney’s closest opponent, is currently the 16th-ranked driver on the Playoff grid. Truex, a perennial contender has failed to find his way to Victory Lane either.

If Blaney finishes sixth or higher he locks himself into the Playoffs. A win would also do the trick. If Truex wins, Blaney would also advance because no other driver is close enough in points to leapfrog over the No. 12 Penske driver.

What does Blaney need to be aware of throughout the race?

“You don't want to get fully fixated on somebody else but you're going to be aware,” Blaney said. “Personally, I want to you know, ‘OK, where did I finish in the first and second stage? Where did the 19 finish?’ And then, I'll have them tell me kind of a points update of, ‘Hey, it's 10 points, it's 30 points.’ I think that's really the only update you need is after the second stage is over. 

“Now you just need to know where you need to finish. That's probably the biggest thing is, I just need to know we talked about it started third stage kind of where you're at and then you just go from there. 

“Coming down to the end of the race, hopefully you're still running…Obviously, you're going to do what's best for you and your team coming down to the end of it and hopefully we're in a spot to where we can advance and not have an issue. You just hope you're there at the end of the race and not sitting, watching in the bus.” 

Certainly 23XI withdrawing the medical waiver for Kurt Busch, who won at Kansas in the spring and had secured a Playoff spot, made Blaney’s progression to the postseason a bit easier. But after Blaney watched his father Dave suffer through a head injury following a vicious wreck at Eldora Speedway in 2016, he has great empathy for what Busch is experiencing.

“Honestly, first of all, you hope that Kurt gets better,” Blaney said. “You hate to hear that he's still struggling. I know he's been up to Pittsburgh to see (Dr.) Micky Collins, who’s at UPMC (Director of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program), who we had out to our foundation event. He's a great guy. He's helped my dad and Dale Jr., and hopefully, he gets Kurt the help that he's needing. 

“You never want to see anybody get hurt. We're all competitors, but you don't want to see anybody injured, so hopefully he gets well. In that situation, I didn't know his progress that he was making and when they announced that, you understand the position you're in and move forward. But the main thing about that is just you hope that Kurt gets healthy and could come back at some point.”