Ryan Blaney 2020 season in review

By Jeff Wackerlin, MRN.com | Published: December 10, 2020 10

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

1 of 10

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Ryan Blaney finished ninth in the final NASCAR Cup Series standings after making the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

2 of 10

Rob Carr | Getty Images

The 2020 season marked Blaney's first with crew chief Todd Gordon.

3 of 10

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Blaney led the standings following the second and third races of the season. On March 6, Team Penske announced a multi-year extension with Blaney.

4 of 10

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

In the month of June, Blaney put together a streak of four consecutive top fives that ended with his second consecutive win at Talladega.

5 of 10

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

Blaney led the series with 346 stage points earned in the 36 points-paying races. He won four stages this season, including a sweep of the opening two stages at Texas in July.

6 of 10

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Blaney headed into the playoffs at Darlington Raceway as the seventh seed. However, he lost 26 points to the cutoff after a 24th-place finish and a 10-point penalty for an improperly mounted ballast before the race even started.

7 of 10

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Following an average finish of 18.7 in the three races in the opening round, Blaney was eliminated from the playoffs. He missed the cut to the Round of 12 by 37 points.

8 of 10

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Blaney finished fifth at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval to begin a streak of five consecutive finishes of seventh or better to end the season.

9 of 10

Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images

Blaney led 668 laps in 2020 to eclipse his previous best season mark of 660. He also ranked fifth in the series in number of fastest laps run with 590.

10 of 10

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Blaney: "Big thank you to Todd Gordon and this entire team. I felt like we made a bunch of progress throughout the season with communication, even with the challenges of this year. I look forward to coming back stronger in 2021."