NASCAR’s Ryan Blaney joined FOX 32’s Tina Nguyen to talk about the NASCAR season, what makes racing in the Chicago Street Race unique, his love for WWE and more.
Subscribe to FOX 32 Chicago: https://www.youtube.com/fox32chicago?sub_confirmation=1
Watch FOX 32 Chicago Live: https://www.fox32chicago.com/live
FOX 32 Chicago delivers breaking news, live events, investigations, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from Chicago and across the nation.
Watch more FOX 32 Chicago on YouTube:
FOX 32 Headlines: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2-nR6U1joOT92lWD_QLYoNijiDo9uYaP
Good Day Chicago: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2-nR6U1joORm02SSjflpEVzL0ydEqeFu
Special reports and stories: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2-nR6U1joOTGGgDx9B31HcT9IM60Al0-
Download the FOX 32 Chicago News app: https://fox32chicago.onelink.me/KNQ9?pid=social&c=youtube&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fox32chicago.com%2Fapps
Download the FOX 32 Chicago Weather app: https://www.fox32chicago.com/apps
Follow FOX 32 Chicago on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fox32Chicago/
Follow FOX 32 Chicago on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fox32news/
Follow FOX 32 Chicago on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fox32chicago/
Subscribe to the FOX 32 Chicago newsletter: https://www.fox32chicago.com/newsletters
Right now, let’s welcome in NASCAR driver Ryan Blay to our Fox 32 Chicago studios. Ryan, first off, thanks so much for carving out some time and hanging out with us. Yeah, thanks for having me. Uh, I know you’ve had a busy week. We’ll get into that a little bit, but you were actually in town as a judge for the NASCAR themed academic challenge with Chicago public schools. First off, what was it like out there today? Yeah, uh, STEM and Steamfest was awesome. Um, I was really happy that Chicago asked me to come out to it. Uh, there was about 625 kids out there. um ranging, you know, from elementary, middle school all the way to high school. Um really putting their knowledge to the test and they had great questions for me. Okay. How does, you know, what they do? If they’re interested in engineering, whether it’s like mechanical engineering, software engineering, how does that apply to our sport? And we’re always looking for people, you know, so they might have some nice futures in NASCAR, which is good. But I had a great time. Um incredibly smart, you know, human beings and uh was a fun day. You are in the middle of the NASCAR season right now. We are just two months away from the Chicago Street race. You finished 10th last year. But uh when you look at this course, what makes it so unique here in Chicago? Yeah, I think a couple things really stand out to me. You know, one, you know, all the other courses we go to, right? They’re designed to be as smooth as possible and you get natural bumps over time, but when you go to a street course, there’s millions of cars running on these roads every year, right? So, they naturally get really rough and bumpy. And in race cars, it’s probably 10 times worse of a ride than in a street car, right? So, we feel every bump and also it’s just narrow, right? The streets are narrow. So, one little mistake can be mayhem. But that’s what makes it fun is the challenge of trying to figure it out better than most. What is the biggest challenge for you though racing on this course here in Chicago? Yeah. Don’t knock down a wall. That’s that’s uh one of the things. And I mean, you’re you’re judging, you know, inches at a time, you know, of of trying to figure out how close can I get without touching the wall because then your day is ruined, right? So it’s just riskreward type deal. So that’s what I always find it the most difficult is how do you maximize your speed because maximizing speed is getting as close to the wall with as much speed as you can but the risk is big you know so it’s how do you balance that out obviously when you hear I know you’re locked in preparing for the race but do you get the chance to kind of enjoy the city of Chicago a little bit? How do you unwind there? Yeah, I’m hoping um my wife and I are going to try to come up early this year so I really get some time here in Chicago. I love the city. Um, I didn’t spend a lot of time here as a kid. Um, so I’ve really tried to embrace it as an adult. Even when we come here to compete, we try to go out and and see different parts of it. It was my first time at the Field Museum, which is amazing. When I come back, I want to get the full tour uh cuz I love like dinosaurs and stuff. So, got to see Sue uh up at the Field Museum. So, that was neat. And uh so, yeah, I love the city and uh it offers a lot. and we appreciate them like welcoming us with open arms for the weekend and shutting down your traffic for like 3 days. Uh but yeah, we get to spend some time. Hopefully, we get to spend some more time here in a couple months. Have you found a favorite restaurant, a favorite food here in Chicago yet? Um we’re hoping to really hit up some restaurants when we come back. I love Chicago style pizza. Okay. Uh so I try to find uh the best spots for Chicago style. I know some people who are not living in Chicago, they don’t like Chicago style pizza, but I personally really enjoy it. So, um, I try always find some good spots. So, if you have any suggestions, I’m I’m all ears. So, I mentioned at the beginning of this interview that you’ve had a busy week. The race on Sunday, you were at WWE Raw on Monday in Kansas City. Have you always been a WWE fan? We saw you ringside, great seats, the beverage, and repping a Stone Cold Steve Austin shirt as well. Yeah, I had a vintage Stone Cold shirt. He was one of my favorite guys growing up. Um, you know, I kind of grew up like in the Attitude era, right? So, like late 90s, early 2000s. Um, you know, so all those guys, you know, Kane, Undertaker, all those guys were were just the wrestlers I loved watching. Stone Cold and the Rock. And the atmosphere at a WWE event is just unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Um, and I like to think our fans are rowdy. WWE fans are absolutely I mean, they go above and beyond. So, they’re very passionate and it was cool to be in an environment like that and just be a fan, you I don’t get to be a fan very much. I go to sporting events, but to be that close to the action, to see what they came up with that night and the rivalries and the partnerships, it’s uh it’s pretty neat to see. Certainly not a bad way to unwind one bit. But also, what has it been like to see the crossover between WW fans as well as NASCAR fans? Yeah, it’s it is a fun crossover. I feel I met a lot of fans out there in Kansas City the other night that were, you know, race fans. Um, it was cool to hear that, you know, their story of of uh, you know, how did you become a Race fan? How did you become a WWE fan? That crossover is pretty, uh, pretty natural, I feel like. Um, but yeah, I was really hoping to get in the ring and hit someone with a chair, but I feel like I feel like you have to get hit first with the chair. Okay, someone’s got to initiate it first. It’s like getting tased, right? Like if you have to get tased before you actually get a taser like in the police. So, um, I don’t want to take a chair shot. So, I I couldn’t find myself hitting someone with a chair if I haven’t taken one. Anything surprised you about wrestling that you didn’t know about beforehand? I feel like in person, okay, the athleticism of them is amazing. Like, you know, you see it on TV and you see them high-flying and stuff like that, but it gives you a whole new perspective in person, you know, of how committed they are to their craft. Um, so yeah, I think just the athleticism just blew me away. Uh, before we let you go, my final question for you. The second season of Full Speed on Netflix premieres next week, May 7th. I know you can’t give us too many details, but what can fans look forward to watching this season? Well, I was excited that Netflix wanted to do a second season. Um, we really enjoyed having them around, you know, in 2023. Um, and for them to follow us around again in the playoffs of 24 following me around and my team trying to defend our title was a blast. that my wife and I just kind of opened up our doors to them and and I felt like it it gave people a lot of relatability, you know, to to see who the person is and not just the athlete because I feel like we’re two different people, right? When you’re competing, it’s different than when you’re at home, you know, when you’re relaxing. So, I think for folks to watch that at home really understands like, okay, this person’s personality is this way, you know, and I like them because of that or I don’t like them because of their personality. So, it gives fans a great perspective and uh brings a lot of new eyes to the sport, too. Ryan Blay, thank you so much for your time and good luck the rest of the season. Thank you.
