Ryan Blaney 1-on-1: On being the reigning champ, planning for a wedding
Ryan Blaney heads to Phoenix Raceway this weekend (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX) and should have good memories going to the track where he has finished second in the last three races — with the most recent finish the one where he clinched the NASCAR Cup Series title.
The 2023 Cup champion sits second in the Cup standings after three races and came just 0.003 seconds short of winning at Atlanta as Daniel Suarez captured the victory.
Blaney talked with FOX Sports last week in Las Vegas about returning to Phoenix, having a new aerodynamic package for the race, championship-race locations and wedding planning (he got engaged to Gianna Tulio during the offseason).
What will it be like to go back to a place where you won your title?
I haven't thought too much about it. It will be nice to go back and kind of see it. I tested there in December, so that was kind of nice to go back shortly removed from the championship. It probably will bring back special memories that's for sure. ... It will be nice to go back.
It's also a place where you run so well. So I assume anytime you go back to Phoenix, you're looking forward to it?
Yeah. It's a place that's been really good to us, our whole [Penske] group, really, for a long time, and especially the last two or three years. I've had a few seconds there in a row, so hopefully we can figure out how to get one spot better.
This will be your first race with the new short-track aero package. What does a driver look for?
I got to fiddle around with it in December a little bit, something close to what they were planning on running for that package. But for me, as a driver, the biggest thing for that is just traffic — how does it run in traffic? Are you going to put yourself in traffic situations in practice? Probably because we have a longer practice. So that will be nice. But then also just how everything affects it, the underbody and all that stuff.
There's always talk about moving the championship, but as good as you are at Phoenix, are you like, hey, just keep that in Phoenix every year?
No. I'm fine moving it anywhere. I honestly think it's good that it can get possibly moved around every few years. You give a venue a handful of good years there then hey, maybe you move it. You're kind of limited that time of year to where you can go. But Miami has always put on a good race. Phoenix has put on good shows. And there's a handful of other ones that you could possibly go to as well. So give it a few years, but I'm not really biased anywhere.
Ryan Blaney describes what he is looking for in the short-track aero package
The championship tour continued last week with you having to go to Chicago to promote that race. Are you enjoying the extra focus and notoriety and everything?
We were just in Chicago to promote the street race coming up, but they brought the trophy and everything like that. It was a multi-purpose deal. I never get tired of it. I enjoy doing that stuff. Whether it's raising awareness for this year's races, talking about last year. I enjoy that stuff. It's better than sitting at home not doing it. You're pretty privileged to be able to go do that stuff because of what you accomplished last year. And so that part's been nice. I've been open to all of it.
Do you feel like you have more of a voice now?
Yeah, maybe a little bit. I've never been one to fully always speak out. If I do, it's something really important to me. But I feel like the bigger voice comes from maybe more people listening and maybe you have a little bit more weight behind what you say. So I think that's even more important to have to choose your words carefully. You just can't spout out about anything, You have to be kind of precise in how you speak because I feel like it's a little bit more weight with your words.
What you said after the duel (and the way people raced at Daytona) maybe carried a little more weight? Maybe more ears perked up?
Maybe a little bit. But I would have said the same thing after the duels, championship or not. It was just a frustrating situation in that heat of the moment [being] upset I got hooked multiple times. I was just tired of it. Three times in a row here I've gotten hooked in the right rear, and I was sick of it.
After the Daytona 500, you were like "That's Daytona" and then after Atlanta, you were like "That's an awesome finish." Would you have had the same reactions last year, not being a champion? You almost seem to be more relaxed and more confident and just more — I don't know if I'm reading too much into a couple of weeks and some mannerisms or not?
I think I have been a little bit more laid back about some things and tried to have the same mentality of what we had the last few months of the season last year and carry it over to this year. I feel like we were kind of the same way — just trying to be relaxed about it and not get too bent out of shape about things. I feel like it's a little bit of a mentality from the end of last year and then the championship, too. I feel like you're kind of more confident. You don't take things as harshly and as deeply. You're just like, "This is part of it." try to be a little bit more relaxed. I feel like that's better.
How's your dad doing on making the case for the championship trophy?
He's got the parts. He's just trying to figure out how to put them all together. So it's been fun. I just put the trophy in my house last week. I just brought the box home. It was in my office at Penske for a while, but he was starting to get going on it. I'm excited to see the end product.
Ryan Blaney breaks down his wedding planning strategy
And you got engaged during the offseason. Have you started wedding planning yet? And how involved are you going to be?
That was the day after [we got engaged] we were wedding planning. And we picked a venue out. We locked that in. So that was a big part of it. And I'm learning how much work goes into wedding planning. It's a lot. Picking the venue out was good. That took a lot of weight off our shoulders of Gianna and me. I try to just give her the reins on everything — just do it, like, you've got full control of this. But she wants to include me in a lot of it, which is fine. But I usually just agree with her. She's like, "What do you think about this?" And then I'll just ask her "Well, what do you think?" And then I'll just agree with whatever she says.
You're engaged, Denny Hamlin's engaged, I know at least one other driver is engaged. Do you all compare dates or anything? Do you trade notes? Or make sure that you're not on the same day?
I haven't talked to anybody about that. But there's only limited days out of the year that we can do it like it's either your off-weeks, which you're probably not going to do it there. And then it's the winter. We're going the winter route just to make it a little bit more relaxed and enjoyable. And it sets a date for all my friends, too — Blaney‘s definitely got to do in the winter so we'll keep our schedule clear there.
Now I remember — Suarez is the other one who is engaged.
Oh yeah. ... I'm going to go to it. I'm excited to go celebrate with Daniel and Julia. And that should be a lot of fun.
How close do you get to them (me thinking of that close finish at Atlanta)?
It will be fine. It's cool. Daniel and I have known each other for a long time.
So no hard feelings from Atlanta?
I was happy for Daniel. I can't be mad about losing one by three inches. I've won probably more than I should have by a couple feet. I've been on the good fortune side of that stuff. And when you lose them by that little, there's not really much you can do. You can't be too mad about it.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
