NASCAR insiders praise Ryan Blaney's performance at Bowman Gray: 'Short track master'

Ryan Blaney had an impressive showing at Bowman Gray on Sunday night, and two NASCAR insiders had to talk about it. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic reacted to Blaney earning a second-place finish in the Clash after starting the race last.

“Ryan Blaney made even a more impressive statement, though, to be honest with you,” Gluck said. “23rd to second on a track that’s pretty hard to pass.”

Bianchi said Blaney did this “without shoving people around.” He added, “He used the bumper, but he wasn’t like slamming into people. It wasn’t just moving people out of the way. It was slick, smooth, short-tack passing.”

Gluck then gave Blaney the ultimate compliment. “Blaney is like the short-track master at this point,” he claimed. “He is just so elite. …You just look at the ability he has to get around this place and position his car lap after lap the way he wants to do it. …It was really impressive just lap after lap trying to nail that line. Just being able to start from the back like that and drive through the field, that was really something.

Ryan Blaney is ‘smooth and doesn’t make mistakes’

“To me, this is a continuation of Ryan Blaney that we saw really take form in 2023 en route to his winning the Cup Series Championship,” Bianchi explained. “Before that, it was a Blaney that at times showed great speed but couldn’t necessarily close the deal. And now, we don’t talk about that anymore.”

Bianchi also said that Blaney is “smooth and doesn’t make mistakes. …It’s just a guy who quietly goes about his job and does it very very well and does it in a very under-the-radar manner. He’s not creating enemies, he’s not pissing people off, he’s not doing it in an aggressive way, he just quietly goes about and does it.”

Ryan Blaney has picked up from where he left off last season. In 2024, the 31-year-old finished first or second in his final three races and finished second in the final Cup Series standings behind Penske teammate Joey Logano.

In his career, Blaney has won 13 Cup Series races and finished in the top 10 149 times in 342 starts. Last year, Blaney won at Iowa, making him the 10th driver in history to win a NASCAR race in all three national series at the same track.