TALLADEGA, Ala. — The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs acts as an avenue for 16 Cup Series drivers to take aim at the championship crown and seize the Bill France Cup. But with the field whittled to 12, only one — Ryan Blaney — has the opportunity to make history not seen in NASCAR’s premier series in over a decade.
As reigning Cup Series champion, Blaney’s opportunity brings an additional level of hunger. Should Blaney hoist the Bill France Cup for a second consecutive year, the 30-year-old would be only the second driver this millennium to win back-to-back titles and be the first to do so since Jimmie Johnson (2006-10).
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While Blaney doesn’t want to get ahead of himself with the second Round of 12 race looming at Talladega Superspeedway, the taste to make NASCAR history is all the more tantalizing.
“I’m confident with our group, and that’s not from a cocky or arrogant standpoint,” Blaney said Saturday. “It’s like I have faith in our group that we can do it and we’re good enough to where we can do it again. I just have so much faith in our team and our guys. So yeah, I mean, I’d like to, obviously. I think we’re in a good position. We just got to keep doing what we can and keep staying hungry.
“It’s funny, I think we’re all even hungrier for a second one than we were the first. … It’s almost like you tasted the forbidden fruit, and you want another bite of it. You want that feeling again. You want to share that moment with all your folks that work hard with you week in and week out and through the years. So yeah, hopefully, we can break that trend. We’ll see.”
And an avenue to perhaps clinch a Round of 8 berth and inch one step closer to the back-to-back title possibility becoming a reality? Win at Talladega, of course. Luckily for Blaney, he’s had success in more ways than one at the 2.66-miler.
Blaney’s Talladega triumphs could almost speak for themselves. Blaney has not one but three career Cup victories there, and all three hold the honor of being three of the closest finishes in Cup Series history. Following his 2023 fall victory at Talladega, Blaney concluded the Cup Series Playoffs with four top-10 finishes and an additional victory (Martinsville Speedway in the Round of 8) in the final five races en route to being crowned 2023 Cup Series champion.
To Blaney, the No. 12 team is even stronger than it was at this juncture in 2023. His Ford is faster. Team chemistry is crisper. And while Talladega might be one track where a win could be a distinct possibility, the No. 12 camp’s mentality is a simple one, regardless of track: execute.
“I don’t go to a certain place looking forward to it more than others,” Blaney said. “I look forward to every weekend and just trying to see what we can bring to the track and how we can utilize our efforts and skills the best that we can, and that’s really all I ask for. Kind of a big thing on our team is do your job to the best of your ability, and if you do the best to your ability, you can at least hold your head high, and whatever happens, happens. If you win, great. If not, you did the best job you could, and I think that’s just something we’ve thought about through the last year and a half, two years, and I think everyone is just kind of taking that in a good way — like I want to give all of myself on this weekend and this day and see what happens to it.”
Fresh off a fourth-place finish at Kansas Speedway, Blaney enters Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) a sturdy 28 points above the elimination line, tied for second with Christopher Bell for second-most and six points behind playoff leader William Byron. And outside of a last-place finish at Watkins Glen International, Blaney has finished sixth or better in every 2024 playoff race to date.
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“Our speed has been great. I look at the other races from Atlanta and Bristol and Kansas and we’ve been running top five every week, so I think our speed is great,” Blaney said. “We had a little bit of execution issues on pit road last week, but you hope to clean all of that stuff up, and they work hard to try to get that better, but I feel great about where our group is at. It’s just a matter of staying out of trouble and just controlling the things we can control, but I love where we’re at right now pace-wise. I think for us to run as good as we did at Kansas last week really showed, that’s a place where we’ve struggled as a company ever since this new car and for us to run as good as we did, myself was fast. Joey [Logano] and Austin [Cindric] were great before they had their issues as well, and luckily, we were able to have a good finish out of it. I feel good about it, and we’ll just try to keep going. We’ll see.”
A fifth-place starting position Sunday sets the stage for Blaney to defend his fall victory at Talladega. And although there is still plenty racing to go before a Phoenix title bout can be a consideration, the aroma of optimism surrounding Blaney and the No. 12 team is as strong as ever. And perhaps, in due time, NASCAR history is made as a result.
The taste would never be sweeter.