“I haven’t shown it even to my wife”: Ryan Blaney delivers crystal clear message about NASCAR’s exclusive ‘secret’

Ryan Blaney gave his crystal clear verdict on NASCAR's "secret" journal's exclusivity. The 2023 Cup Series title holder revealed the tradition is only for the champions and that even his wife Gianna can't have access to what's inside.

The NASCAR Champion Journal is a decade-long tradition started by the seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson in 2010. The exclusive diary contains confidential messages written by every Cup Series title winner since 2010. It features diary entries from drivers like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, and more.

However, whenever a driver fails to defend his title, he is bound to pass it to his championship successor. The most recent example is Blaney losing the 2024 title to his teammate Logano. Similarly, Logano handed the diary to Blaney when the latter claimed his first NASCAR title in 2023.

Nonetheless, the contents remain exclusive to the eyes of the title holder only, something Blaney took very seriously and didn't let his wife Gianna enlighten herself by what's written. The Team Penske ace iterated the 'closed eyes' aspect of the Journal during the NASCAR Awards event, saying (via Sportsnaut).

“That’s a secret. The Champions Journal is something that, you know, a driver started, you know, over a decade ago and all the champions write in it. Each year it gets handed off to the next champion and the next champion. It was a fantastic chance. Only champions get to read," Blaney said.

"I haven’t shown it even to Gianna because it is a closed eyes’ only thing," he added.

It will be the third time Joey Logano will enter his words of wisdom for the next NASCAR champion.

"I left it at home": When Joey Logano opened up about the whereabouts of the Journal amid Ryan Blaney's NASCAR championship

2023 was bittersweet for Logano. Bitter because he failed to defend his Cup Series title, and sweet because the NASCAR Journal successor was none other than his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.

Blaney was slipping away from the title fight but things flipped after his remarkable win at the 2023 XFINITY 500 hosted by the Martinsville Speedway. The race preceded the Championship 4 battle at Phoenix and the win guaranteed Blaney's #12 Ford a spot in the penultimate race.

Even though Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain dominated the 312-lap event at Phoenix, clinching his second win of the season, Blaney took the championship. Despite leading two laps, the Ohio native performed when it mattered the most -during the final overtime restart -and finished second.

Thus, Logano was bound to pass the Journal to Ryan Blaney. However, he revealed that he left it at home because he wanted to know who would be the successor beforehand.

“I left it at home,” Logano said before qualifying 17th for Sunday’s 312-lapper via NASCAR. “Just because you don’t know who’s gonna win, you can’t write a message to somebody you don’t know who you’re writing to. So we’ll see who it is, and I’ll try to get it to them for the banquet.”

It's worth mentioning that Ryan Blaney's teammate Joey Logano is the only driver except Jimmie Johnson to have earned the Journal for a third time.