In one of his November podcast episodes, right after the season finale, Denny Hamlin shared his two cents on the secret recipe for nabbing a championship. “You gotta just be good at Phoenix now. I mean, is that the new riddle to the championship? It appears that riddle works. It’s just, focus on a couple of races,” he mused, throwing a not-so-subtle nod toward Ryan Blaney.

But Hamlin wasn’t the only one to chime in. Many racing buffs noticed that Ryan Blaney, who had been more of an under-the-radar contender throughout the season, suddenly shifted gears as the playoffs approached its end and ultimately crossed the finish line first. But now, Blaney’s stepping up to set the record straight, ready to give Hamlin and the rest a dose of reality about the whole scenario.

Ryan Blaney thinks going to the bottom is inevitable

Ryan Blaney recently hit back at his critics during a chat on Kenny Wallace’s show, where he unpacked his team’s late-season surge. Blaney didn’t mince words as he laid out the facts. “People thought that oh they ran bad all year. Well, not really like I mean we won the 600 in May. I was the points leader after the 600. And then we just went through a slump in the summer. […] You’re going to, you’re going to go to the bottom at some point, you’re going to struggle for speed and then you find it and it’s all about finding it at the right time.”

He further credited the win at Talladega as a pivotal moment for the team. “I always refer Talladega as like the tipping point for our team. We were on the verge of, ‘Okay we’re running better, I think we have good speed. We just need one good thing to happen to us and then it’s like full speed ahead. We’re going to be dangerous’. And we won Talladega and it was just on, you know. We had a great run at Vegas, had a shot to win Homestead. Ran up towards the front […] It was a huge confidence boost for us it’s like all right we found the location and the spots where we need to get our cars faster. […] Once we won Talladega, we were dangerous.”

With the 2024 schedule introducing a new hot spot for the Cup Series and bringing back a couple of fan favorites, it’s going to be quite the ride to see how this year unfolds for the reigning champ.

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For the first time, the NASCAR Cup Series will tear up the track at Iowa Speedway, a fan and driver favorite, in June. The race comes just over a month before they head to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the much-awaited return of the Brickyard 400. Indy’s race is shifting gears back to its oval track, leaving the infield road course behind after several years. Plus, the Bristol Motor Speedway’s spring race in March is going back to its concrete roots, after three years of kicking up dust on dirt.

And that’s why this year is especially pivotal for Ryan Blaney. Not only is he defending his champion title, but Iowa Speedway also holds a special place in his racing journey. It’s where he etched his name into the history books back in 2012. Behind the wheel of his No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing truck, he crossed the finish line first, becoming the youngest winner at 18 in the NASCAR Truck Series history.

Following Popular Demands, Ryan Blaney Is On The Verge Of Racing Against His Father

Without a doubt, it’s shaping up to be a thrilling year. All eyes will be on Ryan Blaney to see if he can carry his 2023 momentum and clinch back-to-back championships repeating his maiden track victory at Iowa.