Nine years ago, as one driver’s career ended, a champion’s spell began. Dave Blaney was the proudest person standing in the victory lane when Ryan Blaney won the 2023 Cup Series trophy this year. But the seeds of this success were planted 31 years ago when Blaney’s father and former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney ran his first Cup race. Here’s a trip down memory lane to a now-defunct race track that started it all. 

Dave Blaney made his NASCAR debut eight years before his rookie season

“I can see the path to a championship.” Dave Blaney might have said this to his talented son Ryan on his way to the series trophy this year, but the 61-year-old driver trudged the foundation of that path before his son’s birth in Rockingham. Blaney Sr was a successful dirt and sprint racer before he made his move to stock-car racing in NASCAR. The winner of the Chilli Bowl Midget Nationals and the Knoxville Nationals could not translate those achievements into a Cup race win. 

In 1992, Dave Blaney drove the #80 Pontiac at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham. Blaney started 36th and finished 31st in the 492 laps race eventually won by Kyle Petty. For the next 16 years, Blaney Sr made another 472 Cup starts and his best finish came in the #77 Ford in 2002. With five Top 10 performances, Dave Blaney finished 19th in his third season as a full-time driver. 

Interestingly, his rookie season came eight years after that one-off stint with Hover Motorsports. It wasn’t until the qualifying session at the Kansas Speedway in 2014 that Dave Blaney knew it was time to step aside and become the support system for a young driver who qualified for the race. In doing so, Ryan Blaney knocked his father out of the qualifying line-up of the race. 

Ryan Blaney effectively ended his father’s career with his Cup Series start

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Twenty-two years after his father, Ryan Blaney made his Cup Series debut in Kansas. Team Penske’s #12 driver became a full-time racer two years later. But in 2014, Ryan Blaney qualified 21st and finished 27th in his first-ever Cup race with his championship-winning team. As reported by ESPN, Blaney recalled the conversation he had with his father after his Kansas qualification.

Watch this story: NASCAR Legend’s Surprising Take on Ryan Blaney’s Victory Celebration

He said, “I went to him to apologize for knocking him out of the race and before I could say a word, he was grabbing me and saying, ‘You’re making your first Cup start and you had to knock me out to do it! I wouldn’t have it any other way.'”

At the end of this season, an emotional Dave Blaney embraced his champion son at the Phoenix Raceway. He knew that race in Rockingham was leading up to this very moment in which his son Ryan Blaney held the trophy for which every driver dreamt of a NASCAR debut all their lives.

“Probably Shortened His Learning Curve” – Dave Blaney Flexes His Racing Pedigree That Launched Ryan Blaney’s Success Story