Editor’s note: This continues the series where we review each 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver in reverse order of championship finish.
Season in review: Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
Crew Chief: Jonathan Hassler
Final 2024 Ranking: 2nd
Key stats: Three wins, 12 top fives, 18 top 10s, one pole position, 567 laps led
How 2024 ended: Blaney’s title defense proved he undeniably belongs among NASCAR’s elite. A late regular-season lull continued early in the playoffs, but the defending champ navigated through a pair of disasters — getting collected in wrecks at both Watkins Glen International (38th) and Talladega Superspeedway (39th) — before methodically working through each round to advance. When elimination loomed in the Round of 8 after another tough race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and heartbreaker at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Blaney delivered his most clutch performance of the season at Martinsville Speedway, dominating the final run to secure his Championship 4 spot with a win for the second straight year. At Phoenix Raceway, he had a shot at back-to-back titles until teammate Joey Logano held on late and the No. 12 couldn’t catch him. The runner-up finish capped a playoff run that included five top fives and a trio of runner-ups to close it out, silencing any doubts about the No. 12 team’s staying power at the top of the sport.
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Best race: With everything on the line at Martinsville, Blaney delivered his defining performance of 2024 and possibly his career. Still stinging from a late-race loss at Homestead a week prior, he arrived at the Virginia short track in a must-win situation to advance. The defending champion responded by putting on a short-track clinic late, grinding it out over the final run to hold off pal Chase Elliott and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson to halt their title hopes. The win — eerily similar to his championship-advancing performance at the same track in 2023 — punched his ticket to the Championship 4 and reminded everyone why the No. 12 team thrives when the pressure peaks.
Other season highlights: A slew of DNFs from other drivers’ mistakes could have derailed Blaney’s season, but the No. 12 team turned adversity into fuel – which was crucial, with four crash-related DNFs in the final 12 races. A midseason win in the inaugural Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway clinched a playoff spot for Blaney, but not until the 17th race of the year. This put some pressure on the No. 12 team, which started facing some questions not too long before then on if it would even make the postseason in its title defense. That win turned a corner for the team, which won again just a handful of races later at Pocono Raceway.
Stat to Know: Blaney’s playoff performance was particularly strong, recording the crucial Martinsville win, five top fives and seven top 10s during the championship run. Coming alive late was necessary for Blaney’s title contention because his 15.2 average finish for the season was his worst since a 17.3 result in 2017 while driving for Wood Brothers Racing.
Quotable: “That’s what I’ve told my guys: I want to scare every other team. Like, I want you guys to be so good that everyone is nervous about us when we unload. That’s the kind of mindset that we’ve tried to have because I think that’s a great mindset for everyone on the team to have. Like, you want everybody worrying about you because you can be that dangerous, and I think we definitely are.”
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Looking ahead: Back-to-back Championship 4 appearances have firmly and finally transformed Blaney from rising star to established force at the top of the heap. His runner-up finish proved 2023’s title run was just the beginning of his superstardom, not the peak. At a fresh 31 years of age, in top-tier equipment and with a team that has clearly figured out how to win Cup Series championships at a consistent clip, Blaney isn’t going anywhere from the title picture for at least the next decade. The No. 12 team’s evolution from occasional race winner to perennial title threat suggests 2025 could be another chapter in what’s becoming one of NASCAR’s most compelling success stories. The only question now isn’t if Blaney will contend again — it’s how many more championships he’ll add to his resume over the coming years.