For 59 races, Ryan Blaney heard the same questions over and over again. Was he really elite? Could he actually close out a championship run? Then, almost overnight, everything changed in 2023. Blaney snapped the drought at the Coca-Cola 600, caught fire during the playoffs, and delivered Team Penske back-to-back Cup Series championships alongside Joey Logano. But winning one title only made the next loss hurt more. And after coming painfully close to repeating in 2024, Blaney now admits tasting championship glory became its own kind of addiction.

“I have said like we ran second the year after in 24 and I think like my and my team’s hunger to win the second was greater than the first because like you get a taste of the championship and like that feeling and it’s like eating the forbidden fruit and it’s like you want another bite of that thing, dude. So there was a bummer to come so close in 24 from going back to back,” Ryan Blaney recently admitted on the Racin’ With The Boys podcast.

Failing to win a championship wasn’t the most difficult aspect of 2024 for Ryan Blaney. It was realizing how close he was to becoming the first back-to-back Cup Series winner in over 10 years in NASCAR.

Coming into the 2024 season, the No. 12 Team Penske crew raced with the assurance of a team that now firmly thought it belonged among NASCAR’s top, and the pressure that had dogged Blaney for years abruptly vanished. And honestly, they backed it up all season long. Ryan Blaney was one of the most consistent drivers in the garage throughout 2024.

He collected multiple wins (Iowa, Pocono, and Martinsville) or consistently finished near the front, such as at Atlanta (2nd), Indianapolis (3rd), and Homestead (2nd). He once again became one of the strongest playoff performers when the stakes got highest. Remember how, heading into Martinsville Speedway, Ryan Blaney was in a must-win situation after tough outings at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami? He delivered his most clutch performance of the year, driving from 10th on a late restart to win and punch his ticket to the Championship 4.

More importantly, unlike several contenders who went through huge performance swings during the postseason, Blaney and crew chief Jonathan Hassler stayed remarkably steady. That consistency is ultimately what nearly delivered another championship – ‘nearly.’

By the time the Championship 4 arrived at Phoenix Raceway, Blaney arguably had as much momentum as anyone left in the field. Team Penske cars were fast nearly everywhere during the playoffs, and for large stretches of the finale weekend, it genuinely looked possible that Blaney could pull off the repeat. Instead, he came up agonizingly short.

Ryan Blaney finished second in the final championship standings after Joey Logano and team simply executed better over the closing runs at Phoenix. It wasn’t a collapse. It wasn’t a disaster. It was almost worse than that. The No. 12 team did nearly everything right and still watched the championship slip away by inches rather than miles.

That’s why Ryan Blaney’s “forbidden fruit” analogy hits differently. Drivers spend their entire lives chasing one championship because they don’t know if they’ll ever get another opportunity. But once they actually experience the celebration, the trophy ceremony, and the feeling of reaching the top of the sport, it changes the way they think forever.

Why Ryan Blaney doesn’t have his Championship trophy

The pivotal event in Ryan Blaney’s career to date is still his 2023 NASCAR Cup Series victory. Surprisingly, though, the Team Penske star does not even have his championship trophy at home. Blaney discussed what truly occurs when a driver wins NASCAR’s largest prize in an interview with the Racin’ With The Boys podcast.

“The owner gets one, I get one. And then there’s a replica out there that they take to events and stuff. But mine right now is actually in my crew chief’s office. I gave him; my dad made a big, awesome stand for it [with a] bunch of pictures of all the guys from that year, so it’s sitting in his office still. I don’t know if I’m gonna get it back.”

Now, for Ryan Blaney, that decision wasn’t random.

“Those guys were just as big a part of it as I was, so they should be able to see that every day and be able to relive those memories,” he revealed.

Blaney has grown to be one of the most well-liked drivers in the garage over the past several years, which is likely due to that mentality. He still discusses the title as a team accomplishment rather than an individual one, even after reaching the pinnacle of the sport. To be honest, that strategy could be the reason the No. 12 squad is still a title contender in the 2026 campaign, despite the multiple pit road errors.

After narrowly missing out on a repeat title in 2024, Ryan Blaney and crew chief Jonathan Hassler have stayed among the strongest combinations in NASCAR. So if Blaney finally manages to grab another championship this season, there’s a very real chance another trophy might end up sitting inside the crew chief’s office again.