Blaney Falls Just Short Of Consecutive Cup Series Titles

Ryan Blaney (12) is chased by eventual NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. (HHP/Andrew Coppley photo)

AVONDALE, Ariz. – In racing, sometimes it’s your turn to be on top of the world, and other times it simply isn’t your day. Such was Ryan Blaney’s experience Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

After fighting and clawing throughout the NASCAR Cup Series championship race to defend his series crown, Blaney fell one position short of earning back-to-back titles at the sport’s premier level.

It wasn’t only a reflection of winning the championship a year ago, just to fall short the following season. Sunday also represented the swing from Blaney’s walk-off win at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Nov. 3 to make the Championship 4 to the agony of losing out on another championship to Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in a dramatic finish.

After starting 17th due to a sub-par qualifying effort, Blaney got around the cars he needed to quickly in order to get to where the championship was in front of him. He charged forward 11 positions in the first 60 laps to put himself into contention, before passing William Byron on lap 74 to take control of the title fight for the first time.

It took him until just before the end of stage two, but Blaney finally chased down then-leader Christopher Bell to lead the race outright on lap 178, going on to win stage two with a strong long-run car.

On lap 201, however, Blaney’s Ford began to fade as Logano surged ahead. After that point, Logano and Blaney went back and forth, with the former standing in Blaney’s way for the championship.

Later on in the race, the caution came out on lap 251 when Zane Smith crashed with a flat right-rear tire, bringing all four championship contenders down pit road for four fresh tires. After the final restart with 54 laps left, Blaney meticulously got around Kyle Larson and fellow title contender Byron, after Logano had passed Byron for the race lead and the provisional championship.

With time expiring and the sun beginning to set, Blaney chased down Logano over the final 22 laps and was in pursuit of the lead inside of 10 to go. But the High Point, N.C., native’s No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse Mustang finally stalled in forward progress, with his advantage going away as he got in dirty air behind Logano.

The 30-year-old didn’t give up and exhausted all options: going high, going low and in the middle around the one-mile desert oval trying to find a way past Logano. However, the late steam that Blaney had garnered ran out and he was forced to settle for second, after restarting fifth and driving his way forward.

Blaney was visibly exhausted after climbing from his race car, giving it everything he had in trying to become the first back-to-back champion of the elimination era.

“Just worn out really and just couldn’t quite get there. I tried really hard to do so, but the restart didn’t really work out and Logano got too far away from me,” said Blaney. “It took me a while to pass a couple guys and I just could never get by Joey. I ran out of time.

“I was kind of nervous that if I ended up getting close to him, a lot of my stuff would be burned up, and it kind of was,” Blaney added. “I feel like if I came out behind Joey on the restart and didn’t have two cars in between us that I had to pass, I would have been able to have a better shot.

“But the restart didn’t work out, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

It was a bittersweet end to a rebound day where Blaney led 12 laps, won stage two, and contended for the majority of the race despite his lackluster qualifying effort. He was still happy for his teammate, though.

“I hate it for everybody who really puts a lot of effort into our program. We were super-fast, just didn't quite have enough there at the end,” he noted. “At least a Penske car won it, but heck of a battle.

“But congrats to the No. 22 team; Pennzoil and Ford. They put together a great playoff, and we’re happy as an organization. If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was him and happy to finish one-two for Roger Penske and get three [championships] in a row for him.

“I hope the fans enjoyed it, and hopefully we come back even stronger next year.”

Blaney’s season this year maintained the performance level he’s largely had since breaking out as a weekly threat in 2021. He won three races, had 12 top fives, and 17 top-10s, with 567 laps led.

His clutch win at Martinsville, as well as coming just short of consecutive titles, has cemented Blaney as a superstar headlining the new generation of the sport.

“I feel like our speed in general … we had great speed all year. Just wasn’t the most consistent year of getting torn up [and having] a lot of DNFs. But I feel like our pace has been really good, and we ended the year really strong on speed, so I'm proud of that effort.

“This team does a great job of rising to doubters, and I’m really happy with our year because of that,” he said. “Like I said, I’m really happy for Roger Penske, Joey Logano, Paul Wolfe, and all those guys. We’ll try to restack and go after it again in 2025.”

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season begins Feb. 2 with the Busch Light Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, N.C., before the 67th Daytona 500 takes center stage at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway on Feb. 16.

Broadcast coverage of both races will air on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90. Specific start times will be announced during the offseason.