AllRacing

Blaney glad to see Talladega and Martinsville ahead with title hopes on the line

Ryan Blaney is not in the position he wants to be after the first race in the Round of 8, but the good news is that he doesn’t believe there is only one path forward.

“Yeah, it stinks where we are on points, but we’ve still got two races left,” Blaney said Wednesday. “I don’t personally think we’re in a must-win quite yet.”

A blown tire that led to a hard crash in the first stage Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway left the 2023 series champion with a 38th-place finish – last – and one point earned. It dropped Blaney to last on the playoff grid, 31 points out of a transfer spot with two races left in the round.

Blaney and the No. 12 team are looking to advance into the championship race for the third consecutive year. Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 19) and Martinsville Speedway (Oct. 26) will determine the final three spots after Denny Hamlin claimed the first in Las Vegas.

And those two races are the best-case scenario for Blaney. He is a three-time winner at Talladega, including twice in the postseason (2019, 2023). And his two wins at Martinsville came in the last two elimination races.

“I try to go into every weekend with optimism and thinking we can go compete no matter where we go,” Blaney said. “But looking at Talladega, a lot of things can happen that can benefit or hurt you or benefit your competitors or hurt them. Why I say it’s not a must-win yet is … a couple of guys get torn up early who are in the playoffs, and you can go have a big day. Big point swings can happen at these types of racetracks.

“And then our history at Martinsville, we’ve been able to do a really good job there the last couple of fall races, and I hope that trend can continue. So, yeah, I like the next two tracks, for sure. … I have so much faith in this team, with the guys I have working around me, our level of trust in each other. I love going to the races every single weekend, and it’s definitely nice when you’re in that spot.

“Hopefully, we can dig into some previous success and experiences we’ve had and can lean on those the next two weeks and see what happens.”

The optimism is also why Blaney says the team’s approach to this weekend will not change despite what happened at Las Vegas.

“Our prep is really no different,” he said. “It’s how do we be efficient during the stages and gather up all the stage points. That could change – let’s say the first two stages don’t go our way, and all right, maybe now it’s a must-win type scenario that might switch up a little bit. But as far as our prep this week, it’s business as usual. We’ll try to gather the most points that we can and go try to figure out how to win the race.”