When Ryan Blaney won just a few days ago in Nashville, it felt like a breath of fresh air. He’d been the most consistent Penske car this season, but without a win to show for it. “I never gave up hope that’s for sure,” he said after the race. It was a feeling Blaney was all too familiar with. And what better way to celebrate that glory than for it to coincide with one of Blaney’s greatest moments on track. We’re not talking about his 2023 Championship win. This story goes back to 2017. It’s one that Blaney has a special memory about.

Let’s rewind a little farther. It was 2015, and Wood Brothers Racing had just handed Blaney a part-time Cup car seat. Despite finishing in 10th at Talladega, his subsequent qualifying attempts were washed out due to rain.

However, the team had seen what he could do and handed him a full-time Cup car. Their investment paid off at Pocono Raceway in 2017, in a moment that not only delivered his maiden Cup Series triumph but also etched the storied Wood Brothers Racing team’s 99th victory into the record books.

Recalling the win, Blaney said, “I obviously knew where their win count was at. I knew they were at 98, and you know, at that point of 2017, that I was already going to the No. 12 Penske. So we knew that in my mind, I was like, all right, we got to get two of them, because I want to get 99 and I want to get 100. For the Wood brothers.” Having secured a ticket to Team Penske, two wins with the team would be perfect goodbye for a team that gave Blaney everything.

Entering that weekend, the Wood Brothers Racing had notched 98 Cup Series wins over decades, a remarkable feat for a single-car organization that had only sporadically tasted Victory Lane in the 21st century. For Blaney, chasing No. 99 was not merely a statistic but a mission to honor their heritage and vindicate the faith placed in him by a small operation up against multi-car juggernauts. It didn’t keep him from putting up a fight. That day featured a fierce battle between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. The battle heated up on Lap 148 as a race restart spiced up the action. Busch, on older tires, had started to fall behind. Blaney saw his opportunity on Lap 151. Racing Busch’s No. 18 Toyota down the Long Pond straightaway, he held down the gas pedal through Tunnel Turn and just managed to clear the Joe Gibbs Racing car.

But the battle wasn’t finished. Following Blaney was Harvick, who managed to clear Busch. With just 8 laps to go, Harvick put up a relentless attack, but Blaney was fighting for every single inch. By the time the checkered flag came, Harvick was only 0.139 seconds behind. Blaney had done it. 99th win for the team, and he knew how special it was. “I think it exceeds the dream a little bit. I grew up watching my dad (Dave Blaney) race on this race track, and it’s so cool to get the Wood Brothers in Victory Lane, number one, and to do it here at a race track that is really close to Ohio – a home to me – is pretty awesome,” he said at the time.

In the months that followed, Blaney kept trying to bring in the 100th win for the team. He came incredibly close twice, once at Kansas when he finished in third place, having started from 40th on the grid. Just a few races later at Phoenix, he started in first place, but in the end, after leading just 11 laps, he eventually finished 17th. Despite this, Blaney had made history. He was the first driver for the team to taste victory since Trevor Bayne took the checkered flag in the 2011 Daytona 500.

Equally meaningful is the full-circle moment involving Brad Keselowski. The day before Blaney’s Pocono win, he interviewed Keselowski in Victory Lane for the Xfinity race. The next day, Keselowski returned the favor after Blaney’s first Cup victory. As Blaney recalled, “It was so cool the next day when I won my first cup race, you know, Brad did a lot for me. And he came to Victory Lane and did the interview. He was the TV interview guy.”

For now, let’s see what Blaney has to say about Team Penske.

Blaney vows loyalty to Penske amid Indy 500 controversy

In recent weeks, Team Penske has faced turbulence off the NASCAR oval due to an IndyCar qualifying controversy that led to the dismissal of key executives following rule violations at the Indianapolis 500. In this environment, Ryan Blaney has publicly reaffirmed his commitment to the organization, underlining that the NASCAR side remains unified regardless of the upheaval in other series.

When addressing the situation, Blaney stated, “I mean, Roger said it very well. I’m not really concerned that it’s going to bleed over into our deal. We just got to move forward for it. It’s definitely unfortunate for them. I feel for those guys in that group. But yeah, it’s just, how do you go forward from it?” His stance reflects a professional driver’s view: separating operational issues in IndyCar from the Cup program’s objectives while acknowledging the personal connections, such as with Tim Cindric, who had an early influence on Blaney’s career.

For Blaney, maintaining focus on performance and preserving team unity amid external pressures demonstrates the same strategic clarity he applied in chasing those Pocono milestones eight years ago. It also underscores his growth from a rookie chasing first wins to a seasoned driver balancing on-track ambitions with broader organizational loyalty.