Ryan Blaney is a third-generation motorsports athlete who comes from an elite line of racers before him. His grandfather, Lou Blaney, was a master of dirt tracks and was inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame, among several other accolades. His father, Dave Blaney, was also a dirt track specialist and he became the World of Outlaws champion in 1995. While many would assume that Ryan Blaney started his racing career on dirt, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion recently revealed that it was not the case.

The Team Penske man won the Cup Series against all odds in 2023, keeping the legacy of the Blaney family in motor racing alive. However, unlike his father and grandfather, Ryan is an asphalt racer who has little experience in dirt racing. In a recent episode of Kenny Conversation, the 30-year-old revealed his racing upbringing and how Bobby Labonte indirectly played a part in it.

Location played a major role in Ryan Blaney’s career

It’s all about location. Not every single state in the country has the best dirt racing facilities. Ryan Blaney revealed that his family had moved to North Carolina by the time his father was racing in the Cup Series. At the time, the state had better asphalt racing facilities than dirt racing, so naturally, that is where the 30-year-old went.

“Everyone thinks that. Everyone thinks because of my dad and grandpa, you know, that’s how I started and I did very little dirt. Very very little and I’ve run a dirt modified a couple of times, I ran a dirt sprint car a couple of times but I haven’t sat behind the wheel of a sprint car in over 10 years and it was really just location. Where I grew up. By the time I was old enough to start racing, Dad was in the Cup side and we were in North Carolina. Especially then, there weren’t a lot of dirt options around, it was kind of mainly asphalt country in North Carolina,” the 30-year-old said.

A lot of people had the misconception that Blaney would be great oon dirt tracks given his family’s history, which might have included some NASCAR insiders as well. A popular belief was that the 2023 Cup Series champion would do fantastic in the Bristol dirt race. However, Blaney said that he was quite clueless in that particular race.

“If I grew up in Ohio I probably would have done the dirt route and I don’t know where I would have ended up, but yeah location is why I didn’t do too much dirt. Everyone asked me, especially at the dirt race at Bristol like, ‘Oh you’ll be really good, you’re a dirt guy’. I’m like, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing’,” the reigning Cup Seris champion said.

Contacts also play a big part in deciding a race car driver’s career path and in Ryan’s case, most of his father’s contacts were on the asphalt side of things. The 30-year-old also revealed how Bobby Labonte indirectly played a part in him becoming an asphalt racer.

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How Bobby Labonte indirectly influenced the reigning Cup Series champion’s career choice

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Ryan Blaney’s career in racing on asphalt began with Quarter Midgets and then Legend Cars and Bandoleros Cars. After moving to North Carolina, one of the first facilities he trained in was built by the legendary Bobby Labonte. He also revealed that there were more opportunities in asphalt racing than dirt at the time, which also played a big role in his career path.

“Bobby Labonte built a great quarter midget track in Salisbury…that was really close to where I grew up, High Point and that was a great avenue for me to get started with Dad because it was all these great people around and that led to the Past series. The pro All-Star series was really big in the super late model side so yeah from Quarter Midgets to running in Legend Cars and Bandoleros to the Past series, you know it was just a lot of opportunities and asphalt and that’s really who dad knew at the time. He was really into…knew everybody on the asphalt side and that was really the reason,” the 30-year-old said.

He might not have gone his father and grandfather’s way, but Ryan Blaney has certainly made the family proud. Winning the Cup Series is one of the biggest achievements in motorsports and there is no doubt that his family is glad he took up Cup racing.

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