“Every lap is a battle”: Ryan Blaney gets 100% real on Darlington’s ‘tough’ mental challenge

Modified Apr 05, 2025 22:22 GMT

NASCAR: Cup Practice and Qualifying - Source: Imagn

Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney weighed in on the challenge of getting behind the wheel for a race at the Darlington Raceway. The driver of the #12 made it known that every lap around the South Carolina track takes extreme mental fortitude.

The 2023 Cup Series champion was asked in an article via RACER about what's it like to race at the track nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame", both in reference to the difficulty of racing there. Unlike other tracks, Blaney believes Darlington is one where you can't take your focus off on any lap. To get through a Darlington race, Blaney said your mental focus has to be to the max.

“It is a tough place. I think it’s one of the toughest places we go, more mentally than anything for me. How do you stay in it for that long? I feel like the mental mush that your brain is in after leaving that race is pretty high, because your concentration level is at 110 percent the whole time. At some places, you can get in these zones of like a relaxation mode to an extent of getting in your flow and doing things… but I feel like every lap (at Darlington) is just a battle to try to find speed and not find the fence," Ryan Blaney said.

Blaney went on to compare Darlington to Homestead-Miami as both tracks often see drivers drive up against the wall as close as possible. The difference, as he noted, is that the Homestead-Miami Speedway is much wider than Darlington Raceway, making it more difficult to run the fence at the latter.

"There’s less room to work, so I think that’s what makes that place so difficult and the two ends being vastly different is definitely a challenge," Ryan Blaney said.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action on Sunday for the Goodyear 400 at the Darlington Raceway. It's the eighth race of the 2025 season and it's also part of NASCAR's Throwback weekend, an annual tradition honoring the sport's history.

Blaney rolls off ninth for Sunday's 293-lap race. The North Carolina native has never won at Darlington with his best finish at the track being eighth, which came back in May 2021.

Ryan Blaney penned fitting IG caption describing Darlington Cup race

Ryan Blaney is still seeking his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season this weekend at Darlington. The Team Penske driver will attempt to win his first race at Darlington Raceway in his 17th start at the track.

Ahead of Sunday's race, Blaney took to Instagram to post a graphic of his #12 machine that he'll be behind the wheel of on Sunday. Blaney referenced one of Darlington Raceway's nicknames, "The Lady in Black", in his caption that read:

"Our dance card only has one name on it, and she doesn’t follow in anyone’s footsteps. Watch us this Sunday at 3PM ET on @fs1 as we take to the stage at Darlington Raceway."

Ryan Blaney aims to make it back to the Championship 4 this season. He's made it to the title race the last two seasons, winning the championship in 2023 and finishing runner-up in 2024.

About the author

John Breeden is a NASCAR content writer at Sportskeeda with over three years of sports journalism experience. His career began back in 2021, when he started writing for The Breeze - a student-run publication at James Madison University that covered a wide variety of collegiate sports. He graduated from JMU in May 2022 with a degree in media arts and design concentrating in journalism. He currently writes for his local publication, the Daily News-Record, in Harrisonburg, VA, where he covers a variety of sports at the high school and collegiate level.

John has been a lifelong NASCAR fan and has followed the sport closely since 2005. He stays informed on motorsports developments through social media, NASCAR.com, and NASCAR podcasts, which help him craft unique and engaging stories. Interviewing Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon at Martinsville Speedway was a career highlight for John, where he wrote about William Byron taking the famed No. 24 car back to the Championship 4.

Beyond motorsports, John enjoys writing about other sports such as football, baseball, and basketball. He believes that NASCAR could reach the global popularity of Formula 1 by expanding its audience with more international races and enhancing its mainstream appeal, just like F1 has done.

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Edited by Tushar Bahl