NASCAR CUP SERIES: COKE ZERO SUGAR 400

August 23, 2025

Ryan Blaney

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MDERATOR: We have our race winner, Ryan Blaney. We'll start with questions, please.

Q. Two questions for you. The first one, just kind of half joking. You don't do burnouts. Was this burnout because you finished a race at Daytona after some recent struggles here?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, maybe. I was fired up, man. Multiple reasons. Whenever you win at these speedways, it pumps you up. The last two laps we had was pretty awesome, like how we came from 14th or wherever we were up to get the lead.

I didn't know if we got it initially at first, and yeah, the burnout stuff is kind of fun. It's so cool to win here, and it was a big night.

Also, I mainly did it for Advance Auto Parts because that paint scheme at speedways has been cursed. I've gotten right hooked with that scheme more times than I can count. The CEO, Shane, told me, I think we've paid our dues with that paint scheme at speedways. He's like, I've got a really good feeling tonight.

And it was super cool to pay that off and have their whole team here. It was a big night. It was a lot of things culminating, and I thought it deserved one.

Q. I'm glad that you brought up the last two laps because this package is not known for passing at superspeedways. I'm curious how exactly did you manage to go 13th to 1st in only two laps?

RYAN BLANEY: It's just situational stuff. On the restart, I was behind Cole. I told Timmy to tell Cole's spotter if you want to jump to the third lane, I'm on board. You've got a wing man. I feel like we would drag other people up.

It was big to try to be the first guys up there, like before it gets log-jammed. He never went for a while, and so I never went because I'm like, I'm going to wait on Cole to go. If he wants to go -- unless it's the last lap, then I'm going to jump up there and see what happens.

It kind of worked out in a way of the top opened in the tri-oval and we got hooked up at the same time to where we had great speed through 1 and 2 and then got hooked up at the perfect time down the backstretch. I think it was coming to the white. Got hooked up great down the backstretch, and then we were really in the ballgame.

Got him clear, and Justin blocked the top, which he should have, and then he blocked Cole all the way down, and now I'm like, well, I'm leading the top now, and Daniel gave me a good push and was able to kind of play the middle top lane to sneak it out.

Just the situation, it just kind of worked. We took a big run to the top and it was open and no one blocked it, and we were able to just carry big speed, and I thought our cars were really fast. I thought the Fords were super fast. It was nice it was able to show it a little bit there at the end.

Q. In the process because of the win, the 5 bonus points, but you essentially gained 9 playoff points tonight moving up in the standings. How impressive is it to finish second in points despite all the troubles this year with the seven DNFs?

RYAN BLANEY: I think it speaks volumes to how good we have been when we've finished races. Obviously you don't want to have that many DNFs on the card, and I'd say half those DNFs we had a good chance of winning the race or at least running top 5.

It just shows that we've been running good through the races and the stages and maybe not gotten the finishes we deserved, but we just powered through it and go into next week, and this group has been really good all year to be honest with you.

Just had a little bit of misfortune, which you're going to have that in racing. But it's been nice to have the last month and a half kind of be just smooth and for us to finish like I feel like where we should finish, just have those normal race days and just work through the day.

Hopefully that just continues, but I'm really happy where we're at, and I think it speaks volumes that we could be P2 in points and have kind of the DNFs and stuff like that through the regular season. I think it really speaks of how good this team is, and hopefully we can show it over the next 10 weeks.

Q. Alex Bowman says he owes you 7 million beers.

RYAN BLANEY: Oh, I'll take 5 million. I'll save him some money. Someone told me that he got in because I won. Like if the 41, the 7, 99 would have won, he would have been out. I'll take that offer.

I do need a refill if he's still here. I can start with one.

Q. When you're racing against guys who need a win to get in, do you feel like are they racing ultra aggressively, and are you surprised at all that you were able to make the moves and nobody just blocked you or just said, I'm putting my season on the line?

RYAN BLANEY: Honestly, I didn't see any massive -- I was in the media center yesterday and kind of explained my thoughts on bad blocks and the situations, and I didn't really see that tonight. Maybe I missed some maybe if it did happen, but I didn't see those guys that maybe have to win, like they throw just massive blocks.

The biggest one I saw tonight was probably Justin Haley on Cole, but that's -- I thought that was fine. It is what it is. It didn't cause a wreck. They got through it. It cleared the way for me.

Yeah, I thought they raced really smart and well and didn't throw their cars in any foolish situations. I thought everyone did a great job of having a great race but also keeping it clean as well.

I think props to everybody where you didn't have a guy that needed to win that was just the absolute hammer out there. They were really, really respectful of everybody else, and it was a good race.

Q. Ryan, not only were you the last Ford winner in the Cup Series before tonight, but you snapped that 11-race-long summer dry spell for Penske and for Ford. How needed was this win, maybe not from a pure speed standpoint, you said you've been fast, but just as a shot in the arm at the right time?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I think it's big, yeah, for sure. I think you explained it perfectly. It's been a little bit of a dry spell for Fords. It was nice to get back in Victory Lane and do it at a place like this that's really fun.

Our cars have always been really, really fast here. They do a great job of building the cars we need to be fast. I feel like it's always a matter of getting to the end with our cars, whether it's our bunch or RFK and Front Row and stuff, and I feel like we always have a good game plan of working together. But half of us get wiped out, and we lost Austin early in that wreck. So we were kind of down to me and Joey and Josh and whoever we could grab.

It was big to get one for those folks and Roush Yates. Really important to do it, and good momentum for next week, and we'll see. Hopefully we can keep getting some Fords in Victory Lane.

Q. I'm curious, I recognize that comparing anyone to Earnhardt at Daytona is probably sacrilegious, but is there a part of you that felt a little Dale Earnhardt at the end of that 13 to 1st run? Not remotely?

RYAN BLANEY: No.

Q. But to take it a step further --

RYAN BLANEY: Further?

Q. I'm going to try until I get something.

But a lot of people have made that comparison. And a lot of people say, regardless of it being a direct Ryan-Dale thing, that you're very good at this, and the stats reflect that, and even sometimes crashes don't show that. Do you feel like you're one of the best at doing this? Can you give yourself credit on that front, that you feel like you're one of the elite at superspeedways?

RYAN BLANEY: I think, yeah, I feel like I do a decent job. I feel like it comes from -- I got to learn from a couple great guys. Like watching Joey and Brad when I got to Penske and just being around them and following them and got to see that for years, and I just was able to soak up all that information, how they went about it, and pick their brain.

And then I was able to turn it around and apply it to my racing as I got a little bit more comfortable and experienced in it.

I just try to be patient. It's easy to get impatient in this deal, in the Daytona, Talladega things. I've got to take this run right now. Sometimes you just have to let it play out and see what happens. I try to be that way. I try to be patient and disciplined and in it for the long haul, and that's what we were tonight.

I tried a couple moves that were kind of long shots and they didn't work and I kind of settled in and I said, well, be patient and try to wait for an opportunity, and one came. Just fortunate that it worked out for us.

I had a couple good teachers. But, yeah, I do feel like I try to do a decent job at this. I work really hard at it with me and Timmy and trying to figure out what spots to be in. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I just try not to cause any big wrecks. That's the biggest thing.

Q. I spoke a little bit with Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson about what they were and weren't able to do based on whether they had teammates nearby them. I saw Josh Berry finish in the top 10, but you didn't really have any teammates with you when you were able to make those moves there.

How do you think you were able to be so much more effective without any direct help on the last lap there versus the other drivers who kind of were having some issues without a teammate?

RYAN BLANEY: Kind of what I said before, in this situation it worked out for me to where I had Cole in front of me and Ford, and it lined up to where Suárez was behind me on the top, and I know Suárez is going to go for it, he's got to win, so I felt pretty good about the help behind me as well.

It lined up well, and Cole knew I was committed to him. I told him under caution, like, I'm going to be committed to you to try to get to the front. Wherever you go, I'm going to try to help. So I knew we were dragging a lot of people along.

Then a lot of times those situations, you have nowhere to go. You're kind of forced to help that guy. When Cole and Justin went down the backstretch and they kind of faded at the bottom blocking, Daniel is three wide top, he has nowhere to go but push me. So I kind of picked the momentum lane.

Yeah, it worked out to where everyone decided we're going to line up and try to push forward. Just didn't really happen to be teammates, but at least I was able to help Cole be up there, too, and at least give one of us a shot.

Q. You are the first pole sitter to win here since 2015, to win a race at Daytona, so that says a lot. Kind of along the lines of what you were just talking about, how confident were you that you were going to be able to get back out front because you led all of your laps way, way earlier in the race?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, kind of just the way the strategy played out. Kind of forced our hand a little bit of starting on the pole, having to run really hard in the first stage because you can run the whole thing, trying to get a bunch of stage points to win the stage.

So I'm burning a lot of gas to try to stay up there, where other guys halfway through the pack can save, and there was a couple cautions to where guys pitted in the first stage and we stayed out because we're racing for points with the 9 and the 5 and the 11.

So we had to take a lot of gas in Stage 2 -- or the Stage 1 caution, which set us back, and then Jonathan just made the call, like just save as much gas as you can. So I kind of just rode around the back and really, really became a hybrid back there. Tried to benefit us for the green flag stop and jump a lot of guys in the green flag stop, and we didn't get that green flag stop.

But we were able to stay out the whole run in Stage 2. I never pitted in Stage 2 because I was able to save a lot on the front end.

Kind of our same strategy was in stage 3, because we didn't pit in Stage 2, so we had to take a bunch of gas, so we were in the back, and that was my strategy, was just take less gas at the green flag stop. Didn't get it. But it allowed us to go harder earlier than others and kind of establish ourselves a little bit to where we could then position ourselves for what happened essentially.

Jonathan just did a good job of understanding the situation and what we needed to do, and strategically how do we get back to the front.

Q. Have you watched the replay yet, and do you intend to watch it many, many times?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, looking forward to watching it. I bet it's pretty cool. I have a unique view of it, but I can't see what's all around me, so I'm excited to see it from a bird's-eye view.

Q. I'm watching your in-car here. I've watched it several times. As you hear you talk about it, it almost feels like you're downplaying it a little bit. Us mere mortals who don't drive cars at 200-plus miles an hour on a track where you can't pass, to go from 13th to second in two laps seems impressive, but you're saying it's situational.

Is it partially because it's almost like it's not really the moves you make, it's the moves everybody else makes that kind of sets you up for it?

RYAN BLANEY: A lot of things go into it. I can't do it by myself. It wasn't me out there making those -- I didn't just turn left and pass everybody by myself. You have to wait -- which I think the big thing is, what makes a good speedway racer to me, or at least that I try to keep in my head, is you have to be ready for the opportunity to go -- like to make the move, big the big move.

I try to be patient for that opportunity. If it doesn't come, it doesn't come, and that's what it is. Never came, whatever.

But I try to just wait on it, and the opportunity was Cole and I having a big run down the front, the bottom lanes kind of checked for a second, and he took it, and we both took the momentum.

You have no time to think about that stuff. It's bang-bang play. You'd better just go with whatever your gut says. That was our opportunity to do it. If he wouldn't have done that, I don't know if we would have got there, honestly.

It just kind of worked to where he and I were on the same page of we kind of just moved up together and we were able to carry all the momentum. It's all situational and you go with your gut on a lot of things. And I make a lot of bad decisions too out there, but this one tonight just happened to work out.

Q. It seems like Daytona, Talladega always have the flair for the dramatic and winning. Your four wins under green have a combined margin of victory of six hundredths of a second. You haven't seen what happened around you, but where does this one rank among the ones that you've won so far?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I heard we were four wide. I didn't know that at the time. I had no idea. I thought we were three.

Yeah, I don't know. Been really fortunate to win here once in '21 and a few times at Talladega. Tonight I think was super exciting to me because we came from where we did in two laps. Everything just clicked right away, and it all kind of is a blur.

Yeah, been fortunate at these places. I've also been very unfortunate. That's just what you're going to get at these places. But I try not to let it bother me when you are unfortunate here. It is what it is. I got wrecked and I move on. But it ranks up there. And to have my folks here, too, was pretty fun.

Q. This is Team Penske's sixth win at Daytona, and I just want to know what it means for you.

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, it's awesome. It was great to have RP here. Walter, everybody, it's always great to have RP around and Walt. And to see them in Victory Lane, celebrate with them, it's always fun.

It means a lot. Every time you can be successful for Roger, that's all you want to do. That's all I want to do at least, and to have him out and celebrate with him in Victory Lane, that makes my day.

Just happy we could deliver something fun for him tonight, and hopefully the INDYCAR boys, he's heading up to Milwaukee tomorrow, so hopefully the INDYCAR boys can do the same thing.

Q. It seemed like Hassler said that there was still a lot of fuel saving, so handling wasn't too big, but it looked like it played more a factor especially at the end of the race.

Being able to drive from 13th to first in the last two laps from the driver's seat, did you feel like it was just a little more racy throughout the pack that you could make passes a little bit more, and did it seem like handling on your car mattered for the last eight laps?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, maybe a little bit. I thought my car handled really good. But I thought I had great pace. I thought I had just good speed in my car.

Like when Joey and I were controlling the race early in Stage 1, I could really run the middle well and we could kind of keep lanes at bay with he and I working together.

I handled pretty good, but I'd say I didn't handle fantastic, but I was fine with it because our car was fast enough, and I was just like, I'll just handle how I need to handle. It's fine if I'm a little tight here and I'm free here getting pushed, I'll deal with it as long as our car is fast.

I don't know, some cars I saw out there were really out of control. Off of 4 you get those situations of guys getting tight off 4 on the bottom and squirrelly and it checks the lanes up, and I didn't really feel like I had to have a big moment off of Turn 4, which is a huge advantage.

So I think we had a good combination of raw speed and handled it better than most as well, which I feel like we do a good job at these places with how we prepare our cars.

Q. You mentioned your folks; they don't come to -- how often do they come to races?

RYAN BLANEY: Mom and Dad, they haven't been at as many this year as maybe they have in the past. Dad has been busy. But yeah, they'll come to probably a third of the races through the year.

I can't believe they come here. Because Dad hates speedway racing. He hates watching it. Absolutely despises it. My mom is a nervous wreck the whole time. I'm like: Just stay home. They just pace and pace and pace. But it's fortunate that we were able to pull one out tonight, so it was good to see him in Victory Lane.

Q. Why does he hate it, just because it's so perilous?

RYAN BLANEY: Big wrecks. Hates seeing me wreck, as any parent would.