Ryan Blaney is a NASCAR rookie driver who has been making quite a name for himself in the 2016 Sprint Cup Series. The young driver is now racing full-time for one of the oldest teams in all of NASCAR, Woods Brothers Racing. Last year, Ryan Blaney drove part-time in the Sprint Cup Series and collected one top five finish and two top tens. This year, the #21 Motor Craft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion has reeled in one top five finish and five top fives in only eleven contests and sits in 16th place in the point standings.
Ryan Blaney was born on New Year’s Eve Day in 1993. Son of NASCAR Spring Cup Series driver Dave Blaney, the up-and-comer is no stranger to the racing scene. At the tender age of 9, he was competing in the Quarter Midget series and found his way to victory lane that year. By age 12, Blaney move into the Legend Car Series and won the Lowe’s Motor Speedway Young Lion’s Winter Heat Point Championship. The fierce competitor also won in three divisions of the Carolina Nationals in Quarter Midgets.
Late Model racing was where Ryan Blaney found himself at only 14 years old, where he competed impressively, allowing him to move forward into the PASS South Super Late Model Series in 2010. That year, the speedster recorded three wins and finished second in points. The following year, Blaney won two more races in the series at Dillon Motor Speedway and Ace Speedway on his way to his first PASS South Super Late Model Series championship.
At the same time he was competing in the PASS Series, he also gained valuable experience as a part-timer behind the wheel in the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series. Ryan Blaney recorded top ten finishes in every start and ripped off his first NASCAR Series win in the K&N Pro Series at Phoenix International Speedway.
The way that Ryan Blaney was handling his on track responsibilities caught the eye of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series legends, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. By 2012, Blaney had signed a contract to race six races with Tommy Baldwin Racing in NASCAR’s minor league Nationwide (Xfinity) Series. In his very first race at Richmond, the son of NASCAR driver Dave Blaney qualified in the top ten and finished in an impressive seventh place.
In mid July of the same year, Ryan Blaney announced that he would be competing in the Camping World Truck Series for NASCAR regular Brad Keselowski. On September 15 of that year, Blaney raced his way to his first series win at Iowa Speedway. At the time of the win, the phenom became the youngest driver to ever win in the Camping World Truck Series. He was a whopping 18 years and eight months old. NASCAR’s defending 2015 champion, Kyle Busch, held the previous record at 20 years and 18 days old.
Ryan Blaney began his Xfinity Series racing schedule at Las Vegas in the Boyd Gaming 300 in 2015. He was in contention for the win after leading two laps during the event. After spinning out fellow racer Erik Jones in the last minute of the race, Blaney restarted the race in eighth place. The #22 Ford Mustang moved from eighth to second in the final 21 laps of the contest. After he caught up to Austin Dillon, the race leader, with three laps to go, the hard-driving challenger was unable to get by. Blaney finished second to Dillon by only three car lengths.
What really impressed his fellow competitors was the way the talented young driver excelled in the Sprint Cup Series as a part-time driver that same year. In the NASCAR Series, Ryan Blaney performed admirably for a part-timer in the No. 21 for the Wood Brothers team. He picked up his first Top 10 at Talladega in the Geico 500, running as high as second and finishing 4th.
Ryan Blaney failed to qualify for three races due to rainouts that year, but he almost won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Xfinity Series race, finishing second to Kyle Busch after being passed on the race’s final circuit. Blaney won again at Iowa and nearly won at Road America Raceway in his debut at that venue. Blaney got his second top 10 of his career in Sprint Cup at Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 finishing seventh.
Sky is the limit for this infusion of new racing blood. The Highpoint, North Carolina native should continue to impress as it looks like there is no slowing down. I fully expect Ryan Blaney to find his way into several more top five and ten places as the season progresses. NASCAR fantasy players are starting to realize that not having the speedster on their tickets is costing them a chance at weekly pots.
