“I’m waiting on dad”: Ryan Blaney teases his father’s ‘excuse’ amid NASCAR Cup Series trophy case comedy

NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney recently shared a comical story about his father's effort to make a trophy case for the coveted Cup Series title. Blaney secured his spot in Championship 4 following a victory in the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway last Sunday.

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, piloting Team Penske’s #12 Ford, is in his seventh full-time season with the team. Blaney has claimed 13 Cup Series wins, adding to his seven Xfinity and four Truck Series victories. Notably, the Ohio native clinched the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race and celebrated a major victory in the Coca-Cola 600 during his championship season, marking a career milestone.

During the media day ahead of the Championship Race at Phoenix, Blaney shared a humorous story involving his father, former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, who is working on building a trophy case for the former champion. Blaney shared(via Bob Pockrass on X, formerly Twitter):

"My dad's been supposedly building a trophy case for the champ trophy last year and he hasn't even started on it yet. He has my trophy and everything for like measurements, but he hasn't even started. And his excuse is why does he know if I need to build one or two. So, uh, well, that's a pretty good excuse. So, uh, but yeah, we'll figure out where we put that thing. But I'm waiting on dad to see if he wants to build one."

Ryan Blaney added:

"Or if I can make him work even harder and have to build two of these trophy cases[...]No need to start on it now you know, let's just wait and then hopefully I make a lot more work for him in the winter, and make him build two of these things."

Blaney is joined by his Penske teammate, two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano in the final four. Both Penske drivers have a good track record at Phoenix and would battle it out on track to add another title to their tally.

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Ryan Blaney lays out expectations for the championship race in Phoenix

Ryan Blaney recently shared his expectations from the Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. The former champion has secured a top-five finish in his last six trips to the 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track in Avondale.

During the same media session, the Ohio native outlined his expectations from the final race of the season at Phoenix.

"I really hope that us four can just race it out, you know, because that's how it should be. I understand other people racing, right? You have to deal with the whole field. but when it's a little egregious, like in some instances that we've seen, that's kind of that's not really racing, like you're just, that's not letting the four guys kind of do their thing, so I hope no shenanigans go on on Sunday at Phoenix."

Ryan Blaney mirrored the events of last year's Xfinity 500, where he secured a spot in the 2023 championship race, the same year he won the Cup Series title. Can the #12 driver repeat history and defend his championship? Tune in to NBC Sports, MRN, and SiriusXM at 3:00 PM ET on Sunday, November 10 to watch the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.