Both Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson have had amazing starts to the 2024 Cup Series season. While Larson managed to make it count at Las Vegas last weekend, Blaney still hunts for his first win of the campaign. After coming intensely close to winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the defending champion feels strongly about his chances on Sunday.

Currently, with two top-five finishes, Blaney sits second in the standings table. While he will be keen on registering another championship win, his past record at Phoenix gives him confidence.

Ryan Blaney feels strongly about his chances at Phoenix Raceway

Last weekend, Ryan Blaney had a decent run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a P3 finish. However, it was Kyle Larson who stole the show with an amazing run to register his second consecutive victory at the 1.5-mile track. Currently, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has three wins with five top-five finishes.

While it has been an impressive run, Blaney believes that some tracks very well fit select drivers. Speaking to the media ahead of the Phoenix race, the Team Penske driver spoke in detail about his chances. With a P2 finish last November, Blaney went on to win the championship and looks positive for the weekend.

He said, “Yeah, I don’t know for whatever reason I’ve always enjoyed this place and it fits whatever we do as a company. It’s funny like certain track drivers talk about it well. It kind of fits our mindset as to how we set up our race cars and what’s successful for us. And it’s really weird how those things just kind of work.”

Blaney then took Larson’s success at Las Vegas as an example. He said, “You see it with like the #5 [Larson] has been great at Vegas for a few years and that’s a track that works for what they do. And here’s [Phoenix] kind of been the same way for our group.”

The 30-year-old explained how racing at Phoenix has worked for him and his team. He said, “It’s just kind of worked with how we prepare our race cars and our mindset on setups, me as a driver, I like it, so hopefully that continues. Hopefully, we can be as strong as we’ve been here the last couple of years.”

Blaney has an impressive record of five top-five finishes in the last five races at Phoenix Raceway. In fact, for the last three consecutive times, he has finished as the runner-up. He added, “You never know how you’re going to unload compared to everybody else or what everyone else has found or if you’ve done your homework enough to improve. So, yeah just kind of works for us, and hopefully that trend continues.”

However, with the new short-track aero package making its debut on Sunday, things might get a bit tricky for Blaney.

Despite championship glory, Ryan Blaney prefers moving Cup Series title showdown away from fortress Phoenix

Ryan Blaney remains unfazed by the introduction of NASCAR’s new aero package

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Last December, Ryan Blaney along with a few other drivers tested NASCAR’s new aero package for short tracks. With the package set to be introduced on Sunday, things could turn out to be a tad different than expected. However, Blaney believes it to be a step in the right direction. He doesn’t think it will hamper his chances.

Speaking to the media, the #12 driver was asked if he would be expecting competition from similar opponents as last time. To this, he said, “No, I never really try to go in the weekends expecting who’s gonna be good. I think it can be a toss-up any week, right? So I really try not to get too focused on that. I try to just focus on my deal and how we can be our best.”

He further explained his strategy. Blaney said, “Then whoever’s fast in practice fast in practice, and then you kind of focus on those guys and looking at their data seeing what they’re doing and where are they good. I never really come into a weekend like I think these are the five drivers that are gonna be good just because you never know.

“I mean it could be – there are 25 teams at least out here that can be up towards the front and especially with the new rules package, you don’t know, even though it’s not wildly different, you never know who’s going to be going to be good.” It is indeed interesting to see how the new package works. Hopefully, the NASCAR fans are in for a treat on Sunday.

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