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Daytona Favorite Ryan Blaney on a Mission to “Replicate” Dream 2023 Season After Embracing Nascar’s Ambassador Role

Published 02/13/2024, 9:11 AM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

Ryan Blaney made his mark in the world of NASCAR when he won his first Cup Series Championship with flying colors at the Phoenix race in November. In the process, he left a star-spangled trail of glory among fans and teammates. His popularity and demand have surged subsequently, with Blaney taking over ambassador duties for NASCAR.

Now with the new season upon us, will he be able to score back-to-back victories for two years? With the 2024 NASCAR season commencing at full speed, Ryan Blaney expects to shine through this time around as well. Even the odds and votes are in his favor.

Ryan Blaney eager to build on last year’s success

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The Daytona 500, one of NASCAR’s biggest races, is only days away. There is rampant speculation about which driver will claim this honorable title. And Ryan Blaney is on top of that list. He is one of six co-favorite racers in the 2024 Daytona 500 with 12-1 odds, according to Sportsline. With high hopes pinned on this talented driver, it only makes sense that he is representing NASCAR as a whole.

After acing the Championship races last season, Blaney made a lot of appearances in public shows. He opened up recently in an interview with Fox 8 WGHP. “I’ve kind of always been that way, um, of opening myself up to opportunities to grow the sport. Cuz it doesn’t only grow the sport, it grows yourself as well. To me, it’s a win-win for everybody. Cuz I want this sport to be healthy, I want to be in this sport for a long time.”

As a major appearance for global audiences, Ryan Blaney took center stage in the Netflix docuseries ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’. There he fervently strove to disprove the commonly held stereotype about NASCAR drivers. By zooming into the “blood, sweat, and tears” of drivers, Blaney believes that Netflix made the racers more than just “country Southern boys running around in circles.”

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Ryan Blaney plans to bank on his learning from last year’s win to boost to full throttle this year. “Okay, that’s a great accomplishment, but where do we go from here? How do we continue the success and continue to up our game, obviously?” He further said, “We’ve had our time to celebrate, but now how do we replicate it?”

Blaney’s amazing personality on the track and on the podium is derived from a generation of highly skilled drivers.

Blaney credits his family for endowing him with immense potential

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Ryan Blaney hails from a gritty family of drivers. It started with his grandfather, Lou Blaney, who took the wheel in 1958 and won multiple Midwest titles. His father, Dave Blaney, made 473 Cup starts over 17 seasons and was a World of Outlaws champion. Even his uncle Dale was a sprint car champion.

No wonder Ryan Blaney possesses that true spirit of a driver. After his historic win at the Championship last year, he was full of praise for his family legacy. “Obviously, growing up, watching Dad race, that’s just what I wanted to do, and I wanted to be like my Dad,” Blaney said. “I was super lucky to be able to see that at a young age and get the whole spectrum of seeing what it’s like as a driver, seeing how teams operated.”

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Ryan Blaney stunned us with his spectacular performance last year. We are all at the edge of our seats to see what magic he shows this year as well.

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Written by:

Sumedha Mukherjee

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Sumedha Mukherjee is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports who is known for her in-depth track analysis as well as her lifestyle coverage of Cup drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Inspired by the Kiwi's journey so far, Sumedha has also written pieces on Shane Van Gisbergen, predicting how the Supercars Champion would do in the new and unfamiliar American setting. Pairing her research skills with her vast experience as a writer, Sumedha creates stories her readers can easily get lost in.
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Edited by:

Rohan Karnad