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Ryan Blaney's wife Gianna called her husband "the best" on Instagram following the Team Penske driver's fifth-place finish during last weekend's NASCAR Cup race at Darlington Raceway.
Blaney qualified in ninth place and came close to winning the Goodyear 400 but things didn’t go his way in the end. The No. 12 Ford was leading the race before a late caution and the consequent slow pit stop ended his chance to take the win. Denny Hamlin pulled ahead after a fast pit stop and Blaney earned his second top-5 finish of the 2025 season.
The 31-year-old reflected on his performance in a recent post on Instagram and wrote:
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"The 12 Team was great and we were there to win it at the end. Proud of the way we improved and fought till the end. Good weekend overall."
Gianna, who got married to Blaney last December, commented on his post and wrote:
"Best driver out there."
Ryan and Gianna met in 2018 in Las Vegas and began dating in 2020. They got engaged in December 2023 and married exactly a year later in a winter wedding at Hotel Jerome in Aspen.
After the end of the second stage, Blaney's slow pit stop pushed him to the middle of the field. However, Blaney passed Tyler Reddick for the lead with just four laps to go after his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler's strategy to pit later.
It looked like he had the win in hand, but another caution came out after Kyle Larson hit the wall and the race went into overtime. Blaney lost spots during the final pit stop and was not able to get back to the front, finishing fifth at the 1.366-mile oval in South Carolina.
The NASCAR Cup Series will move to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for the ninth race of the season.
Ryan Blaney pushes through setbacks this Cup season
Ryan Blaney had other incidents of bad luck this season. He had three straight DNFs at Phoenix, Las Vegas and Homestead, two of which were due to engine issues. The former NASCAR Cup champion made a comeback at Martinsville Speedway the next week with an 11th-place finish.
"These are the people I want behind me. This 12 Crew is solid. We fought all weekend to get back to where we belong - up front. Looking forward to keeping the momentum going into Darlington," Ryan Blaney wrote on Instagram on March 31.
Blaney's first top-5 finish came at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and he was placed seventh at the season-opening Daytona 500. He is currently seventh in the NASCAR Cup points with 236 points, behind Kyle Larson.
