Ryan Blaney celebrating one of his 2021 victories(Photo: Getty Images)
Ryan Blaney’s career seemed to be moving along at a steady but somewhat less-than-extraordinary pace coming into the 2021 season. The 27-year-old driver had won a NASCAR Cup Series race in each of the past four seasons and had made the NASCAR Playoffs in each of those years. However, there appeared to be somewhat of a ceiling on his performance as he raced for Wood Brothers Racing until 2017 and then for high-powered Team Penske.
While, yes, the High Point, North Carolina native and son of top Sprint Car driver Dave Blaney had a four-year winning streak in America’s highest form of motorsports but there seemed to be a limit. Between 2017 and 2020, Blaney won only one race in each of those seasons. As talented of a driver as he seemed to be and driving for a top-tier organization, he was winning but less often than teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano who were achieving multiple race wins during that same time period.
But 2021 provided a breakthrough for this driver and his No. 12 team.
The Ford Mustangs driven by Blaney rolled into victory lane a total of three times in 2021 registering victories in Atlanta, Michigan and Daytona. It was the first time in his Cup Series career that Blaney had won multiple races in a single season. And more, it was the first time he had scored more wins than his two championship winning teammates as Keselowski and Logano earned just one checkered flag each.
This breakthrough came at a pivotal time for both Blaney and Team Penske. As has been well documented, NASCAR will be debuting its new Next Gen car in 2022 which will put pressure on each organization to develop the machine to their individual driver’s needs as they seek a competitive edge. And while, as reports indicate, very little information from the old car translates to the new one, coming into the venture with momentum and positive feelings can’t hurt.
But the importance of Blaney’s step up in performance is big for Penske in another way. Keselowski, who was generally looked at as the leader among the team’s three drivers, has left that company to take on a driver and part ownership position with the newly rebranded Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing operation. As a result, both of Penske’s remaining pilots will take on more of a leadership role as they will be joined at the Cup level by rookie Austin Cindric.
While there may be some momentum in play for Blaney and his crew, Team Penske crew chief Jeremy Bullins pointed out in a recent interview with InsideCircleTrack.com that everyone is essentially starting out with a clean sheet of paper in 2022 because of the new car. That momentum could prove to be short lived if this driver, current crew chief Jonathan Hassler, and the rest of Team Penske find that getting a grip on the handling characteristics of the Next Gen(or Gen 7) car proves to be difficult.
Still, Blaney took an important step in his career this past season. He had already proven that he could win at the NASCAR Cup Series level, which is something many drivers have never been able to do. And in doing so, he showed that he is ready to join that upper level of stars who can win multiple races in a single season. The next step is to show he can be a serious threat for a championship by advancing all the way to the Championship 4 in the season finale.
Will 2022 be the year in which that happens?
Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association
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