“That’s the beauty about it” - Ryan Blaney on “learning under fire” and the high-stakes of the playoff races

NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney recently reflected on the intense competition that defines the playoffs. His race at Watkins Glen ended prematurely after he was the most affected in a multi-car wreck during the first lap of the Go Bowling at the Glen playoff race.

Blaney, driver of the #12 Ford for Team Penske, is in his seventh full-time season with the team. Blaney has 12 Cup Series wins in his career, along with seven in the Xfinity Series and four in the Truck Series. The Ohio native also won the 2022 NASCAR All-Star race and drove down victory lane in the Coca-Cola 600 in his championship-winning season.

Blaney began the playoff race at Watkins Glen from P30 but was the first driver to exit, resulting in a P38 finish. Despite the setback, the reigning Cup Series champion described it as a valuable learning experience that would make him a better driver. Blaney said:

"We do sim work before these races and stuff. But, at the same time, like you don't particularly know how you're going to be, especially against the competition. Like you might know, okay, 'Hey, we're running this in the sim and my car feels okay in the sim', but until you get out there, you don't know what everyone else has got, right?"

"And now I got to push harder or we got to work on our car to try to get there. So then that's the beauty about it, you know, and that's the beauty of sports. Like you don't know what anyone has until they go down the field or get on the race track, and then you find out everything and you're trying to learn under fire and you're trying to learn quickly," he added.

Blaney also claimed that this was a deciding factor that makes a team perform better than the rest:

"And that's what makes, I think, great teams great is they can figure it out fast and they can figure it out quicker than everybody else."

Ryan Blaney dropped down to P8 from being the leader in the driver standings after the race at Watkins Glen. However, The #12 driver has a comfortable 29-point cushion from the Round of 12 cut-off line. Watch Blaney in action at the Bristol Night Race on Sunday, September 22, at 7 PM ET.

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Ryan Blaney expressed his views on the early exit at Watkins Glen

The multi-car wreck in the first lap of the Go Bowling at the Glen started with the #8 of Kyle Busch spinning out following contact with Corey LaJoie right out of the bus stop. This led to a chain reaction involving Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Blaney.

However, while Hamlin and Keselowski were able to rejoin the race, Blaney's #12 suffered a broken steering column and had to be towed off the track. Reflecting on the incident, Blaney said (via Bob Pockrass on X):

"I don't know, just running easy through the bus stop. I don't know who got into who or spun. Thought I had missed it, but we just kind of hit pretty lightly and I hit the left front at the wrong spot."

"I get caught up in early wrecks all the time. It's nothing new. Should've qualified back there, that's I guess what I'm getting out of it," he added.