Roval Throwback: Ryan Blaney steals the win in 2018 at Charlotte

For this week’s throwback, let’s go back to 2018, the first Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A major win for Ryan Blaney. Not only did Blaney get his NASCAR Playoff win, he got his first win with the No. 12 team. This was a major turning point in Blaney’s career.

Let’s also not forget that Ryan Blaney just won at Talladega. After a photo finish, with the eventually disqualified Kevin Harvick, Blaney is coming on at the right time. The Roval is a course that he can win at, but he doesn’t have to.

In the 2018 edition of this race, it was Martin Truex Jr. against Jimmie Johnson. The 48 was aggressive coming into the last turn and spun. Truex almost made it out but was spun out as well.

Ryan Blaney, running third and cruising into the next round on points at the time, stole the win as the 78 and 48 failed to get going quickly enough. Blaney couldn’t believe it.

Watch the full race at NASCAR Classics or any of the other Roval races in the last five years.

Unfortunately for Ryan Blaney, he didn’t make it out of the Round of 12 that season. He finished 10th overall that year. Blaney has been close to the Championship Four in the past but has never been able to get over the hump. Is he poised for a championship run this season?

Ryan Blaney has to back it up after big win

In the 2021 season, when Ryan Blaney closed out the season at Michigan and Daytona with wins, it felt like he was going to march to a championship appearance, at least. He did not. That season, he was undone by Kansas in the Round of 8. At Martinsville, he couldn’t save himself.

The thing is, Ryan Blaney is really good at Phoenix. In his last nine starts, he has eight top-10 finishes, six of which are top-5 finishes. He’s been runner-up in the last two Phoenix races and has won the pole three times at the track.

Right now, I hope that Blaney and his team are preparing for Las Vegas. If they are able to put all of their focus on that race, then they might get lucky and win like Joey Logano did just a year ago. If they are able to lock up an early win, then the focus goes to Phoenix.

BetMGM only gives Blaney 28-1 odds to win the Roval 400. I think some of that has to do with the fact he already has a win.

The 22 team wrote the blueprint last year, and I think multiple teams, including William Byron and Denny Hamlin, are looking to go all-in at Las Vegas in the hope they can ignore Homestead-Miami and Martinsville and focus on that championship race.