"We've way better speed" - Ryan Blaney reflects on progress entering the 2024 Cup Series playoffs

Heading into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Ryan Blaney is feeling confident with the speed of his Team Penske No. 12 Ford Mustang. Despite falling short of a top-10 finish in the last four races, the 30-year-old driver assured the car was still up to speed.

In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the defending Cup Series champion discussed how the team struggled last year to deliver an optimal car performance. He added that this year, the car has more speed compared to what it had before the first race of the 2023 postseason.

“I definitely feel better about [kind of] where we’re at at this point this year than where we were last year. Last year this time, we were [kind of] scrounging to try to figure out how are we [going to] find speed in our cars to compete efficiently enough to make it through these rounds, whereas this year, I feel like we have way better speed than what we did last year at this time,” Blaney said.

“Especially the last really three months and some finishes might not really show it," he added.

Ryan Blaney is eyeing to qualify in the Championship 4 at Phoenix with the car and the team he has right now.

“I feel like our group is executing really well, I think our speed is where it needs to be. Now, it’s a matter of just can we continue that momentum, and can we run clean races here in the first two rounds to get through and get to the round of 8 where I hope our speed is still there to where we can, you know, have a shot at Phoenix or shot to get to Phoenix," he said.

Last month, Ryan Blaney finished in 18th and 29th at Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, respectively. In the final race of the regular season at Darlington, the No. 12 Ford was taken out by the No. 19 Toyota Camry of Martin Truex Jr. as early as the third lap.

Ryan Blaney has a championship title to defend in the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs

Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney is looking strong heading to the playoff rounds, finishing fifth with 2,018 points from two wins, three stage wins, seven top-5s, and 11 top-10s. He beat his teammates Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, who finished ninth and 10th in the standings, respectively.

Ryan Blaney got taken out by Martin Truex Jr. in the last race - Source: Imagn

However, Kyle Larson, who is the top seed, should put up a fight for the championship, along with 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion Tyler Reddick and 54-time race winner Denny Hamlin.

Speaking to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass on Wednesday, Ryan Blaney expressed how confident he was heading into the postseason. The one-time champion said he still feels like the defending champion following the last few challenging races in the regular season. He said (via Pockrass' X):

“I still feel like the defending champion. We got closer to the playoffs, and playoff talks started to come about, and all these things come out of Blaney trying to defend his title and stuff like that. So, you're still the defending champion for the whole year until someone takes away from you. So yeah, we're still in title defense.”

The first playoff round will kick off at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8. The season will conclude at Phoenix for the Championship 4 in November where he can have a chance to go back-to-back.