AVONDALE, Ariz. — Modern-day NASCAR Cup Series drivers can rarely accomplish something Jimmie Johnson did.
Ryan Blaney has that opportunity Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.
The defending Cup Series title winner will fight for his second consecutive championship in the season finale Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock). No one has won back-to-back titles in the Cup Series since Johnson, when he won an unprecedented — and since unseen — five in a row from 2006-10.
MORE: What to Watch: Championship Preview | Phoenix schedule
Blaney is far from ready to compare himself to Johnson, who earned a record-tying seven Cup championships and 83 wins, tied for sixth all-time. But Blaney enters the Arizona oval with an air of confidence that he and his No. 12 Team Penske cohort can pull off the long-unseen feat this week.
“I feel like we’ve been incredibly strong all year, really,” Blaney said during Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day. “I mean, it doesn’t really show how great we’ve been really as a 12 team. It’s easy for me to see it, how they are operating. I feel like it has been just unbelievable.
“This place has been pretty good to us in the past. I feel like our performance at these types of race tracks this year have been really, really strong. Hopefully, that continues.”
The stats indeed back Blaney. The 30-year-old has finished runner-up in each of the past two season-enders at Phoenix, where his 10.9 average finish is fifth-best of any track Blaney has made two or more starts. And of Blaney’s three wins in 2023, two came on flat short tracks — Iowa Speedway and Martinsville Speedway — with the seven-eighths-mile Iowa comparing more similarly to the 1-mile track at Phoenix.
Becoming a champion at the sport’s highest level has directly impacted Blaney’s mindset on the track in 2024.
“Behind the wheel, it gives you more confidence, right?” he said. “You’re always looking for confidence — at least I am always looking for confidence. I think as an athlete and driver, you’re always trying to find reasons why you deserve to be here, why you deserve to have the job that you have. When you can accomplish things like that, it definitely in your mind solidifies those. It makes you feel good. That confidence just keeps stacking and helps you out.”
That confidence, perhaps, could guide him back atop the championship stage at Phoenix by Sunday night’s end.
Consider some of the names of those who have been fortunate — been exceptional — enough to win consecutive championships: David Pearson. Dale Earnhardt. Cale Yarborough. Richard Petty. Jeff Gordon.
Each of those drivers is enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
With 13 Cup wins to his name and his 2023 title, Blaney may still have work to do before his resume is deemed worthy of Hall entry. But at 30 years old, Blaney appears to have plenty more years ahead for him to accrue those starts. And a consecutive championship Sunday would do wonders toward those efforts.