NASCAR sure made the competition more interesting with the introduction of play-offs in 2004. Over the years, this has undergone a fair few changes; the most recent one was done in 2017. Essentially, the entire Cup Series season is divided into two halves. There’s the regular season, which is until race day number 26. And this is followed by the next 10 races which are the playoff races. Regardless of how a driver performs in a regular season, it’s the playoff points that matter the most as they provide us with the season’s champion. And it’s the playoffs that made all the difference for Ryan Blaney, who went on to win the 2023 Cup Series.

Ryan Blaney from Team Penske won the championship despite not having the best of the regular season. The win at Charlotte Motor Speedway secured his playoff seat which was only one during the first 26 races. It sure was a balancing act for Penske’s number 12 as he only had four top-five finishes during the regular season. He sure pulled off a major turnaround in the playoffs where he was consistent and nudged out the competition to claim the championship. However, in a recent interview, Blaney did share that there is scope for improvement when it comes to his regular season races.

Blaney highlights the importance of balancing act between the regular season and playoff rounds

Martin Truex Jr had the best regular season with 3 wins and eight top-five finishes. Joining their  Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell too put out a good display. Especially Bell who had the most pole positions (6) throughout the season. The HMS duo of Kyle Larson and William Byron were also on a consistent run of form. This is where Blaney feels like he needs to make his mark as a single win won’t always guarantee him a playoff spot.

Ryan Blaney was present at the Ford headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, speaking to The Detroit News in an interview. The city of Detroit is heavy on sports such as Baseball and Basketball, both of them do feature the playoffs system. The interviewer asked Blaney, how a driver prepares for season balancing between the regular season and the playoff. This prompted him to choose between consistent plays in the regular season or peak performance in playoff rounds.

To which Blaney replied, “It’s a little bit of both, right? You try to run well every week but yeah, obviously, the most important time is in the playoffs. You have to perform well through the year to get in the playoffs . . . that’s honestly what we did. We had a decent year, decent regular season. But when the playoffs came around, we just found great speed and stepped up our game and executed perfectly and were able to come away with a championship. So it’s a balancing act between the two.”

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Starting his 9th full season with Team Penske and Ford, Blaney sure had become a fan of the brand. So much so that he has a private collection of Ford cars and trucks.

Ryan Blaney is head over heels for his Ford GT350R

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Ford has been a manufacturer that put out some iconic machines ever built on the planet. Blaney who has been under the Ford banner for nearly a decade now, himself is a fan of the brand and is just impressed by how the company manages to bring exciting things to their vehicles. His collection includes a Ford Bronco and he is planning to get a Ranger Raptor soon but it is the GT350R that is the prized possession of his mini Ford collection.

“I have a GT350 R and I do love it. Ford’s always coming up with new and exciting things with any vehicle, right? But all the Mustang stuff they have going on right now is spectacular for me to see personally. That GT 350 R is a spectacular machine, and I don’t drive very often just because I don’t want to ruin it. It’s probably got 10,000 miles on it. It’s like a mini racecar. I need to take (it) on a track day, to see what it will do. I’m sure it’ll set some records.”

With the championship defense on the cards, Ryan Blaney will surely ante up his efforts in getting more consistent results as he will have to start from the scratch come Feb 4.

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