By David Morgan, Associate Editor
HAMPTON, Ga. – Ryan Blaney’s defense of his 2023 NASCAR Cup Series title starts in earnest this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with hopes of returning to the championship podium 10 weeks from now at Phoenix.
Having made the run through the postseason to capture his first Cup championship a year ago, Blaney and his No. 12 Team Penske group have a blueprint of what it takes to get it done, but explained they won’t be able to use a carbon copy for the 2024 Playoffs, given the intricacies of each postseason run.
“It’s nice that we’ve done it before coming off it last year and you feel like you have a decent idea of, hey, we did this really well last year. How can we kind of have some kind of a similar way to get there?
“You can’t just do the same thing. Things change every year and you’re gonna get put in different situations, but the mental toughness that we had through the playoffs last year, I was super proud of.
“Not every race in all 10 weeks is gonna be perfect. You’re gonna have some holes you need to crawl out of. But I thought we did a good job of like being resilient and just understanding, hey, we’re not in the best spot right now, but hey, we have another week. Or we have two more races, you know, in this round to kind of get where we need to be.”
Though it has been a struggle the last two weeks with DNFs at Daytona and Darlington, Blaney explained that hasn’t dampened the spirits of his team for the postseason, where he enters Sunday’s Quaker State 400 situated fifth in points, currently 15 points over the cut-off line.
He also comes into a track where he finished second back in February in the thrilling three-wide photo finish with Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch and will have a front row start when the green flag drops for the 260-lap event.
“I think this group is really geared up and ready for it,” Blaney said of his team’s mentality for the Playoffs. “And, hopefully, we can do our job the best that we can to continue to move on and have a shot at it again at Phoenix. That’s really all you can ask for is how you get to Phoenix and that’s a whole ‘nother ball game.
“It’s just the gauntlet of nine weeks, like that I think is the toughest part is like getting to Phoenix. It’s super tough because you have to minimize all your mistakes. You can’t really have any big mistakes. You’re racing so many good teams and drivers. That’s…
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