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NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCEJuly 5, 2017Ryan BlaneyTHE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to be with us today. We're joined now by Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney. Not only is he the driver of the iconic No.21 Motorcraft Quick Lane Tires Auto Center Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, he's a man of many talents. You can hear him every week on his popular podcast, "The Glass Case of Emotion," and on Monday, July 10, you can watch him compete on NBC's "American Ninja Warrior." That's going to be cool. But Ryan, before we talk about glass cases and ninjas, let's talk about Kentucky Speedway, where you have two NASCAR XFINITY Series wins. How excited are you to get back to the Bluegrass State this weekend where you'll be pulling double duty in the XFINITY Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series? RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, it's nice to get back to a racetrack where we've been fairly successful at in the XFINITY car, and I think our Cup cars have actually been really good there, too. We haven't really got the great finishes that I feel like we should have gotten there. But I'm excited to get back. I've always enjoyed the racetrack and the atmosphere around it, and the repave of that place, what they did last year, I think hopefully will start to widen out and we'll be able to have multiple grooves there like it used to be. But it's going to be nice to try to get there and just have a solid rebound from Daytona last week, getting caught up in one of the many wrecks there late in the race. Just try to put a solid race together and try to build some momentum before the playoffs start here in a little bit. Q. I'm here in Daytona Beach, saw all the races and stuff. How deflating is it to have a really good car and then get involved in one of those crazy crashes? RYAN BLANEY: I mean, I wouldn't say it's deflating, it's just something that happens. You know, it's obviously a little disappointing at the time, but you know, that's kind of the‑‑ sometimes the outcome of speedway racing, and I think you've just got to look at the positives of it and know that we had a fast car, and that's something to look forward to when we go to Talladega here for the playoffs in a few months. But yeah, it's obviously a little bit disappointing, but that's just sometimes how those races go. It's part luck and part skill as far as luck, missing all the wrecks that happen, and there were a bunch of them Saturday night, and we missed most of them, just didn't miss the last one, unfortunately. But you know, you've just got to take the positives out of that and not dwell it on too long. You just have to move forward and look forward to the next races as soon as you can. Q. You've got a win now; you're in the playoffs. Are you concentrating on the stage points at this point? RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I mean, I don't think we're really doing anything different from what we have done all year even before we got the win. You go out and you try to win stages and win races just like before and just do what we all have been doing all year. I think we've done a pretty decent job at it. We've won a few stages and won a race. You're just kind of trying to keep building your playoff status and trying to cushion everything from each round that just carries over. We really haven't changed anything. We just go try to win races and stages and run up front like we've been trying to do all year. Q. Ryan, there's obviously been a lot of talk this year about kind of the changing of the guard in the Cup Series with some of the guys who are retiring and have retired and some of the exciting younger drivers who have come into the series. As one of the younger drivers, do you feel a responsibility sort of picking up the mantle for the sport, and do you guys talk about that at all among yourselves? RYAN BLANEY: You know, it's neat to be a part of that younger group. It's just nice to kind of be part of the club, really, and there's a lot of great young race car drivers that are coming up from Chase and Larson and Erik Jones and Suárez. They do a great job, and it's just nice to be in that group. You know, in the past few years, a lot of drivers have retired who have been big for the sport, from Tony and Jeff and with Dale Jr. retiring this year, it's definitely going to be some change for sure. I would hope those fans still enjoy the sport and want to pick new drivers, but I don't really feel like there's any pressure to kind of take their spots. You know, I don't think‑‑ we're never going to be a Tony or a Jeff or a Dale Jr. We can be our own people, and hopefully the fans enjoy that. But we don't really talk about it. I just feel like we just go try to do our job and hopefully the fans enjoy what we do, whether it's on the track or off the track and become interested. But like I said, I think it's a pretty neat time for the sport right now with a lot of young drivers coming in, with a lot of great drivers who have been around the sport for a long time who are still winning races and competing highly. It's a pretty neat combination, and I think that's exciting for the fans, exciting for the sport in general, and like I said before a couple times, it's just nice to be a part of it, and hopefully we can help grow it and be part of it for a long time. Q. We've heard Roger recently talk about how he thinks about bringing you in house and adding a third car to the Penske operation. Where are those discussions at with you, and what are your intentions to race next year and with what team? RYAN BLANEY: You know, I don't really think about that stuff. Yeah, there's been talks about it for years, really ever since I got with the Penske group, and things just haven't really come together. I love the Wood Brothers, and driving for them has been really special for me and my family. I couldn't ask for a greater group of people. But the things I'm mostly concentrated on now is trying to win race 100 for the Wood Brothers. That's something I would really like to achieve, and I think we can do it. I believe we can really do that. The discussions with what Roger says, yeah, that's been trying to go on since 2012 ever since I got over there, and we're just trying to build up that, and I don't really know what's going to happen. I'm going to be happy wherever I end up, whether it's the Wood Brothers or Penske or whatever. I'm really happy with the Ford camp and that family, so we'll see where everything goes, but I'm more kind of a here‑and‑now kind of guy, and we're trying to win Kentucky is my main priority, and we'll go try to do that. But I'm sure we'll figure something out here soon, but as of right now, I'm just driving the 21 car this year and pretty happy to be where I'm at. Q. Ryan, I had a couple questions. I know that the Lou Blaney Memorial is Saturday night, and I know you've got a tattoo of his car and his number on your chest, and I was just curious about, one, why you did that and how long ago that was, and if you can kind of talk about, I guess, the relationship you had with your grandfather because obviously you never got to see him race but obviously there's quite an impact that he's had on you for you to do that. RYAN BLANEY: Yeah. The Lou Blaney Memorial is Saturday night at my dad's racetrack up in Sharon Speedway that he's owned for quite some time, and that's a pretty special night. It's unfortunate I can't make it out there. It's always a pretty cool night. They have a bunch of drivers out, and it's always nice to kind of meet everybody from that area where they talk about my dad when he was racing up there just getting started or my grandpa when he was racing back in the '70s or really all the way up to the early 2000s. I always like to go to that night. But yeah, the tattoo of him, I've got a couple for him, and the first one I got was I think in 2014, just his number on his chest, just something to remember him by, and then last year I got that one a little bit lower on my ribs and stomach. That was a picture of his car from 1970, and it was in black and white, and I figured out all the colors and a good friend of mine did it for me. But I didn't know my grandfather that well. He passed away in 2009, and I wasn't old enough to really understand what he did and how long he was around the sport, and that's why I like going up to Ohio is to hear all the stories about him and where he used to race and all these races he won. He was actually‑‑ he actually got sick even years before he passed away, and I never really got a huge chance to even talk to him then. But he's the one who really started the whole racing deal in the Blaney family. He got my dad and uncle in it and ultimately got me into racing. I feel like tattoos are something to have meaning, close meaning, and family to me is I think the biggest meaning in life, and something to remember of someone who kind of started this whole thing. I think that was appropriate. But it's pretty‑‑ I get a lot of questions about that stuff. But no, that's nice to ‑‑ the Lou Blaney night is Saturday night, and shame I can't be there, but yeah, I know he's a great person, a good pioneer for dirt racing, and he was the one who started it all, so I thought that was appropriate to get. Q. I also wanted to ask you briefly, you talk about the dirt racing and obviously with your family's history, your dad, when you look at somebody like Kyle Larson and he's not doing it every night, but to have success and he's done it against the Outlaws, the All‑Stars and the Posse, maybe for someone who has a little bit better perspective of things, how do you view what Kyle has been able to do the last month just even in a sprint car? RYAN BLANEY: I mean, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely insane what he can do behind the wheel of any race car and his versatility to go from Cup car, XFINITY car to dirt sprint car racing. He does maybe 15‑‑ 10 to 15 sprint car races a year, and I think he's won six in a row now, sprint cars from Outlaws to All‑Stars to Posse stuff. It's unbelievable. I think that he's just a super talented race car driver who can jump in anything and go fast and win. I feel like the people who race dirt growing up‑‑ he would run hundreds of races a year before he got on the NASCAR side, and that's just‑‑ you talk about seat time, that's the ultimate seat time right there is you see people doing double duty, that helps them for a reason and running hundreds of races definitely helps you, too. But it's unbelievable what he's been able to do. He's probably one of the best race car drivers out there right now in the world, and I don't know anybody who can jump back and forth between series like that or different forms of racing and go win. That's unheard of. It's really impressive what he's been able to do in the last month alone. Q. Ryan, when you won your first NASCAR race at Pocono, you had to do some great driving on that last couple of laps, passing cars, looking in your rear view mirror. Fans have asked me and they've wondered, how much does that really eat you up inside? I know that driving eats you up, but something like that on the last lap, how does it eat you up? RYAN BLANEY: It really doesn't eat me up at all. People were always asking‑‑ they asked a lot of questions about how nervous were you or things like that, and to be honest with you, you're not really nervous, you're just trying to do whatever it takes to try to stay in front of that car and do the best you can to not make a mistake and really just been doing what you have been all day and just trying to run smooth laps. You don't want to look out the rear view mirror very much, but you do every straightaway you get, just to see if you got a little bit better corner off of that person or maybe they got off the corner a little bit better than you so you can change up something. But you just try to stay as calm as you can and really not get too rattled. I feel like once that happens, your mind kind of isn't in the right place and then you start making mistakes. You just try to do the best you can, and my team did a good job of kind of reminding me of that and making sure you worry about what's in front of you rather than behind you. THE MODERATOR: Ryan, before we close today, I know your fans are eagerly awaiting the next episode of "The Glass Case of Emotion." A, when can we expect that, and B, what are you guys going to talk about? RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, it's been really neat to have that podcast and it take off like it has. I meet fans every single weekend more and more that are listening to it and becoming fans, and that's really cool. You know, we have fans for driving cars, but when it's something away from racing and it's just a podcast where you talk about silly things, that's pretty special and it makes you feel good, too, that they listen to things that they don't have to. They don't have to go out of their way and listen to the nonsense you talk about every week. But they do, and that makes you feel really good, so I can't thank NASCAR enough for letting us do that. It's been a lot of fun this year to do with Kim Coon and Chuck Bush. We're recording one in about 45 minutes, and we'll put it out today. We usually record on like a Tuesday and then put it out Wednesday, but with yesterday being the 4th, that couldn't happen. But yep, we'll have one out today. There's some things we'll talk about. We'll talk about Daytona stuff, and then we have some more things to talk about. I can't give everything away right now, but I'm sure we'll find some nonsense to argue about. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Ryan, for taking the time to join us today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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