Full media availability with Ryan Blaney at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Friday June 21, 2024.
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that’s right we’re going to go ahead and continue our availabilities for today we are now joined by Ryan blay driver number 12 forward for team Pensky um congratulations on last week’s win Ryan we’ll go ahead and open it up for questions if you have one please raise your hand and we will get a mic over to you who would like to start we’ll come down here to Mark I’ve got two questions Ryan fir first off how does this change the season now that you’re in the playoff does it change it at all your prep for the playoff um I mean definitely I feel like you know winning last week was just I wouldn’t say kind of pressure off you know just kind of little bit of relief of man you know finally got in a Victory Lane I feel like we’ve been close you know a couple times and thought we had one you know one at Gateway and didn’t work out for us and it was nice to you know string together you know a few good runs in a row there with you know Gateway and Sona I thought we were really good and then Iowa last week so hopefully we’re kind of hitting our stride and learning things that I think we can apply um and just hope to keep learning and keep uh keep learning things on tracks I think our short track stuff’s pretty good right now it’s just a matter of trying to get the mile and a half and and bigger kind of worked out um so hopefully we can continue this kind of momentum within our company of of running a little bit better I’m doing a story on on Chicago and Shane Van Ginsburg and on a dry track do you expect him to kick everybody’s tail like like he did a year ago what kind of race I don’t know I mean it’s going to be interesting to see um I mean obviously he’s really talented I’ve been enjoying watching his kind of inaugural xinity season he’s a good guy I’ve gotten to talk to him a good bit and um he loves the sport and really enjoys it so yeah I don’t know I mean I think uh I don’t know if we’ll have as much of an advantage this year because everyone everyone was kind of in the same boat last year as far as first time there but he raced on a lot of Street courses on the V8 stuff um and the rain and all that craziness that went on he he probably had a little bit of a leg up on everybody and it showed and he took advantage of it and won the race but um hopefully we can all draw a little bit closer to him at that place uh to where he doesn’t embarrass us like he did last year and uh we’ll see though we’ll come right here do you have a question Amy worry chasing a checker um you’re still chasing your first cup win here at New Hampshire so um what are some of the challenges that this track presents for you um and especially this weekend given the weather yeah I don’t know what the weather’s going to do um nobody knows um yeah I feel like we’ve always run pretty good here uh I thought we had a good shot to compete for the win last year and we had a problem on Pit Road last sto the race and kind of took us out of it but uh yeah I feel like this place has been been fairly good to us and like I said earlier I think our short trp program is kind of getting to be fairly decent you know that stuff changes week to week you just try to stay on top of it and and try to keep learning from previous years and weeks but uh I’ve always wanted to hold the lobster ever since I was a kid so um hopefully we can keep adding to our Entre we had corn last week and lobster this week and trying to add a full play to dinner so we’ll see uh we’ll see what we can do but I love up here I mean the area is beautiful I I love the fans up here are great and um hopefully the weather is nice to us we’ll come right here and then go over to Lee Luke meski Fox 44 news corn and lobster do go well together too be a good good one too um the three times that peny cars rolled into Victory Lane this year were with the short track package what um has been clicking really for the team on these short tracks and are there any notes coming in to loud that are being carried over from the other tracks yeah I definitely think we can carry over wor notes um you know this place some similarities to like Iowa last week as far as rough entries you know I think entry to turn three is super rough uh you can see it on TV um you know and it’s kind of the same a little bit kind of different angle in the corner but turn one entry at Iowa last week was super rough also so okay did we learn some stuff last week that helped us get in the corner at Iowa that might help us get in the corner here um so yeah there’s all these things you kind of piece together you can’t just Bolt what was in the car last week right but I think there’s maybe some ideas of uh what you can change and here you’re kind of limited you know we don’t have the long practice like we did so locked into Springs and and stuff like that so you hope to hit it fairly right to where you can tweak on it um but yeah I think it’s uh it’s a short tracks have been a strong suit for us this year um last year I even would say the same thing as far as the end of the year so hopefully uh you know that stuff continues to get better and you’re always trying to stay on top of the competition yeah we’re right now but that could change you know in a week and um you just have to continue to to learn with each other and your team and your teammates and um but at the same time you have people in the background working on mile and a half stuff you know how can we be better at those places so um the the neatness of what we do in our schedule all different types of racetracks that you have to figure out how to be good on all of them but that seems to be a strong suit for us right now we’ll go to Lee and then to Reed Le Spencer sh SE askar radio and catch.com how relieved were you last suay and when did it sink in I and I know you’re not going to LIF from here to Phoenix but still how much how was it how reliev were you to get the monkey off your back that was nice you know like I said earlier I feel like we had a couple chances to win already this year and and just hasn’t really you know gone our way and it was nice that put a really good night together um I was proud of the effort from our whole group of the changes we made from Friday to Saturday and Sunday I didn’t really feel good Friday um I knew we had a lot of work to do and and they did a great job of figuring out what we needed to do to be better and it showed in qualifying it showed in the race and we got better through the night especially the last two runs of the race so um yeah it is good and like you said I mean I don’t you know I don’t sit around and think about races you lose um you know like Gateway but you know you get asked about it every weekend of you know how much does that kind of still staying and it was just nice to kind of redeem ourselves from that one and and no one on our group kind of hung her head and uh just just kept thinking about man we gave that one away you know it’s just we knew that we’ve been running good and let’s just utilize this while we can and try to get them while while we have a little bit of a leg up on everybody on the short tracks so um I mean it sank in right away I think it sank in the most when my a lot of my family came to Victory Lane that was pretty cool um was neat to have my parents there my Uncle Dale obviously all the babes my mom’s side the family that were there so um yeah I sank in pretty quick and uh it’s cool to do it at a at a place like that where I’ve gotten Support over the years by so many of those folks that are just from down the road so and a lot of them um you know maybe never been to Victory Lane like I get lucky to go to Victory Lane if you get a chance to win the race and uh to be able to bring your family into something like that especially the younger ones like that’s pretty cool experience for them so uh to see that it’s uh it’s cool I feel like a cool Uncle whenever you can do that and um just add to the cool Uncle pot so uh but no it’s a big big weight off our shoulders and and hopefully we can keep keep this going and uh continue to keep running you know pretty strong like I know we should and try to get back some of those races in the month of May that we had a really bad races you know Charlotte and Darlington and getting wrecked out early like try to get back a little bit in this points battle um and and keep trying to climb back the ladder and I’m curious how much of a game changer was winning Pocono that first win um and winning it with a a team as iconic as the Wood Brothers Oh Pocono um I mean it’s one of my favorite wins you never forget your first one um you know and especially to do that uh you know with those guys and I remember walking into the race shop in 2015 before we did the part-time deal that year and you know you see everybody up on the wall they have every winners uh all the winners up on the wall and um you know Pearson and yoro and all those guys and you’re like man I want to be on the wall I want to be on the wall in their shop up in up in Stewart and uh I never forget the day they hung that picture of me up you know and and even though it was a very small contributing factor to their 90 wins like you’re still part of it and you still have something to do there so those guys are family even when I you know started driving for Pensky you know they they still consider me part of their family which is great and I love seeing Eddie and Lyn and Leonard at the racetrack Leonard sneak up on you I never know when he’s coming but he’ll find me on Pit Road and it’s always good to see him and he’s he’s doing good so uh that definitely means a ton and um like I said you never forget your first one like you uh he worked so hard to get to that point of you know watching people win in the cup season series I was able to grow up around it and watch it and uh you want to be there you want to be there you just want what you want to do and you work ever since you were young to to try to get to that point and have an opportunity and then to do it like it’s just uh all comes full circles so um yeah it’s it’s something I’ll never forget and standing with Eddie and land and Victory Lane to Pocono after the race for a long time just talking about it all is uh it’s pretty cool so we’ll go to Reed and then to Holly a read Spencer with a NASCAR wire um Fords and Toyotas have combined to win 16 of the last 17 races here at New Hampshire um do you really think that there are tracks that favor one maker over another or over that long period of time or is that just a crazy stat that is a crazy stat I didn’t know that um I don’t know I I don’t really know if tracks necessarily like form well with like a manufacturer or anything like that I think that’s just kind of a coincidental thing I look at Gibbs I look at Pensky they’ve we both been really good here steuart hos um you know have been good here um you know for for a number of years and um you say that and there might be a Chevy and victory land you never know I mean it’s just one of those funny things that might happen but yeah I don’t I don’t think it’s like a manufacturer thing um I think it’s just kind of Coincidence of what teams figure some things out here and and what manufacturer they are and um but that is a nice stat hopefully we can add to that streak we’ll come down here here to Holly Holly Kane with the NASCAR wire service I apologize for my voice Ryan um are we at the point in the season where we see or where you can expect guys to get a little bit more I don’t want to say desperate but racy those guys that maybe are really trying to get in the playoffs I mean are we at that point where you notice that as you’re racing yeah yeah definitely um definitely pay attention to that um I mean I look at the points once a week like on Sunday night when yall put it out and then I don’t really look at it the rest of the week and um yeah I mean there’s is it nine to go till the playoffs start um so yeah it’s getting down to those final you know two and a half months of hey it’s going to get pretty pretty dicey here um with guys who are close to the cut line guys who need to win um you kind of start seeing that develop I feel like within the last two months of the regular season so and then you have you know funky tracks coming up Chicago and and um you know Daytona and Indie I don’t know what anyone thinks Indie is going to be like um so a lot of opportunities you know I feel like for for teams to do some do some things that uh might be bigger risks but they have to do it because they need they know what they need to do to get in and then you always have the little points battles you know of a handful of guys who are close to the line and um those are always interested to watch like through the stages and end of the race and and all that that stuff so um it’s nice to not be a part of that right now we just kind of worry about getting wins and and trying to pass a couple guys that were close to in points and um so yeah it definitely is that time of the year you know teams kind of you figure out where you’re at where you’re settled in and you never know who can jump up and win any single week I mean it’s just a product of this Sport and this car but uh yeah it’ll it’ll it’ll be definitely kind of a race within the race I feel like sometimes watching on TV like you’ll have this battle and then you’ll have these battles kind of going on on you know for points and playoff spots and things like that those those are always fun to see so hopefully TV does a good job covering all that stuff because it’s a lot that goes on but it also is a good storyline um if you can kind of weed that into your race program there any last questions for Ryan we’ll take one last one uh from Mark following up on that question Ryan Mark AR PRN do you keep like a little bit of um you know a little notebook on that so you you’re racing some guy late race like okay this guy’s like 90 points below the cut line he’s going to be desperate to win or whereever do you do you sort of keep some of that in the back of your mind as to what these guys may think they have to do yeah I feel like you do have a little memory bank all that stuff kind of where everyone’s at um and I feel like sometimes I get told that in certain scenarios if I’m not like I get reminded of like hey this guy’s might be desperate to win he’s out by a good bid he’s got to win the race so that just kind of gives me a little bit of heads up of hey you know might be some desperation moves that going to be thrown just so I can be prepared for it um so yeah you definitely keep that in mind um you’re not going to give up any positions for anybody like that’s just not the way it is but yeah it’s it’s nice to know that if someone throws a hay maker you know you never know um but you have to understand at least I try to understand in my shoes if that does happen like well that gu you I get it I’d do the same thing if I was in that person’s position um if we race for the win and they need a win and I get roughed up like you know that’s just part of it I get it so um but it is nice to have that reminder every now and then just uh just to make sure you know what might be coming all right Ry thanks every thanks for your time today good luck this [Music] weekend all right there’s the Checker play great job driver
1 Comment
lets get it blaney