Scarred by Miami, Ryan Blaney sends ‘aggressive’ message on NASCAR’s upcoming visit to the ‘slowest track’

Ryan Blaney enters the upcoming race at Martinsville with a triple-header of DNFs from the last three races. One of those involved a blown-out tire during practice in Las Vegas. Given the experience, Blaney revealed he prefers the soft tires for Martinsville, a slower track that reduces tire blowouts at high speeds.

Blaney showcased impressive pace in Homestead-Miami, leading a race-high 124 laps and placing himself in contention for the win. However, Blaney's No.12 Penske Ford blew out smoke on lap 208, causing him to retire from an engine failure. The race marks his third straight DNF of the season, following Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Having won at Martinsville twice before, Blaney shared his thoughts ahead of the race.

"The soft tire has been good, and I think it's helped. I think we can continue to be aggressive on it because that's the place to be most aggressive with tyres. It's the slowest track, and you don't have to worry about massive blowouts at high speeds, so I think goodyear has continued to work their way softer, which is a good thing," he said.

Ryan Blaney experienced a blown-out tire during practice in the Penzoil 400 at Las Vegas, causing him to spin out and hit the outside barrier. After enduring significant damage, he was forced to sit out of qualifying and started from the tail end of the pack at 36th.

Blaney experienced another tire-related issue with a slow pitstop in stage one, causing him to fall back two laps. However, he chased down the field to reach the top five before being involved in a multi-car wreck that ended his race. Blaney finished a single spot above his starting position at 35th.

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Kevin Harvick weighs in on Ryan Blaney's engine failures

Former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick reflected on Ryan Blaney's engine failures in Miami and Phoenix, hinting at a larger issue rather than an isolated one. However, he also highlighted Blaney's impressive pace in the same races.

In addition to Las Vegas, Blaney experienced an engine failure on lap 290 of the Shriners Children's 500 in Phoenix. He retired with 22 laps remaining, losing his top-10 run at ninth.

On an episode of the "Happy Hour" podcast, host Kevin Harvick discussed Blaney's situation.

"He was dominating this race and had some trouble on pit road, got run into, had some things get banged up and then the engine blew up. It grenaded. And that’s the second one," he said.

Harvick also pointed out the short timeframe between the two engine failures, suggesting a widespread reliability issue with Ford.

"Having these engines close together like that means that they’re not probably on the same rotation of the same engine batch. Definitely probably a different engine. Well the engine at Phoenix is gone because it blew up too,” he added.

Ryan Blaney currently sits 10th in the rankings with 162 points as he heads to Martinsville. On his last outing at the track in November 2024, Blaney secured his spot in the championship four with his third win of the year. Coincidently, the win also marked Team Penske's 100th win with Ford.