Ryan Blaney is in the middle of an eccentric season. While his highs are indubitable with a victory, 8 top tens, and 7 top fives, his lows are despicably low. Blaney recorded his 6th DNF in Atlanta last weekend, just one wreck away from his DNF total of 2024. Yet while Blaney grapples with his Cup Series season, the Team Penske driver is working on another potential NASCAR project. And this would benefit not just him, but the entire racing community.

Owning race teams or race tracks after substantial success in one’s career is a common path. For instance, Jimmie Johnson owns Legacy Motor Club, and Kyle Larson runs High Limit Racing. Ryan Blaney also embarked on a similar path recently, but the sentimental roots may run deeper for him.

Ryan Blaney wants to see his family jewel shine

Well, the 2023 Cup Series champion is hardly the first brilliant racer in his family. Ryan Blaney’s grandfather, Lou, was a dirt racing legend. Lou Blaney’s name is carefully preserved at a 3/8ths mile clay oval in Hartford, Ohio – Sharon Speedway. It holds the Lou Blaney Memorial, a 410 sprint car race celebrating his 121 Modified wins and 11 Sprint car wins. Ryan’s father, Dave Blaney, is also entwined with this track, having amassed 40 wins at his home track of Hartford.

Ryan did not trundle down his family’s well-trodden path of dirt racing, making a name in stock cars instead. However, the 14-time Cup Series race winner has now found a way to preserve and promote his familial heritage.

Two months ago, Ryan Blaney became a part-owner of Sharon Speedway, along with his dad, Dave, and his dad’s fellow dirt racer Will Thomas. In a recent episode of Door, Bumper, Clear, Blaney talked about his childhood experience of Sharon: “Myself, Dad, and this guy, Willie Thomas, who Dad grew up with, all three of us own it…It’s really neat to be a part of it. Sharon meant a lot to my family. I grew up, like, selling programs and answering phones even though I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about when I was answering phones. I just made sure it didn’t ring out. I would just pick it up and hand it to my mother.”

Now that Ryan Blaney has a strong voice for taking care of Sharon, he wants to go all-in. Although predominantly a dirt racing track, Sharon Speedway also had a NASCAR presence. In 1954, Lee Petty won a 200-lap National Series event at the venue. Tony Stewart’s SRX held its 2022 season finale here.

With a view to bringing NASCAR back, Blaney announced his plans of improvement: “My next steps for that are like, alright, how do you improve fan experiences? The racetrack is beautiful the way it is, but there’s always upgrades you can do. How do you increase purses for weekly shows? Like that’s the biggest thing for me…You know, the Outlaws go there, the All-Stars go there. I think High Limit goes there once, maybe. But how do you have a couple of bigger shows? We have a great group there, looking forward to seeing where it goes.”

Clearly, Ryan Blaney intends to go all in to showcase his family heritage to bigger audiences. His father is also rooting for his son’s efforts.

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Trusting the future in his son’s hands

Sharon Speedway has a big history. It dates back to 1929 and hence ranks as one of the oldest and continuously running tracks in the country. Dave Blaney, who grew up around and attained success at the track, knows of its importance. For the last 23 seasons, Sharon has hosted World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, World of Outlaws Late Models, All Star Circuit of Champions, Super DIRTcar Series, and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Until Ryan Blaney’s arrival, the track belonged to Jim Weller Sr., Ron Kirila, and his father, Dave. However, the passing of Dave’s partners prompted the dirt racing champion to think about Sharon’s future.

The 62-year-old Dave Blaney reflected on his past partners and the contribution they made. He said in May: “The Weller family and Kirila families were great partners for the last 20 years. We were very sad to lose Jim Weller and Ron Kirila this winter.”

Accordingly, Blaney felt glad to hand over the baton to none other than his own bloodline. He has utmost faith in Ryan Blaney’s intentions to upgrade the track: “I feel very fortunate to have Ryan and Will Thomas as partners in Sharon Speedway. Looking forward to the next chapter in the speedway’s long history.” He added, “Ryan’s enthusiasm to be part of the speedway is a big boost for all of us. I’m very excited for the future of Sharon Speedway.”

Hence, Ryan Blaney now heralds a prestigious responsibility. Let us see how well he executes it, and whether we will see NASCAR return to Sharon or not.