Ryan Blaney addresses aero blocking after Phoenix championship race

A Team Penske battle for the NASCAR Cup Series championship came down to Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney at Phoenix Raceway. While Blaney had a fast Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Logano was able to hold him off.

The biggest complaint I would have about Sunday’s championship, we saw the same issues show up at Phoenix that we see every time. It gets hard if not impossible to pass the further up in the field you go.

Ryan Blaney gave his teammate Joey Logano all of the credit for winning.

“Yeah, obviously he did a great job because he’s a great race car driver and did everything he needed to do to win. It’s hard for me to say if it’s anybody else, would it have been a different outcome? I don’t know; there was only one guy, and it was that outcome.

“Yeah, Joey is a fantastic race car driver, obviously, three-time champion, and he did an amazing job of doing what he needed to do to win the race.”

Blaney addressed defensive driving in his postrace comments. It is the nature of the racing at Phoenix.

“The defensive line is so powerful of dirty air. You have to do it if you have a faster car behind you coming down in these moments,” Ryan Blaney continued.

“I don’t blame them for doing it. Is it the funnest thing in the world? No. Because I’ve lived that story many, many times. But yeah, I think it was multiple. Like I knew — like I said, I had to work my ass off to get by the 5, and I had to work my ass off to get to the 24 and pass him, and I had to work my tail off to run Joey down from a long ways back.

“As I’m doing it, I’m thinking to myself, I think I’m going to get there, get close; but I don’t know if I’m going to have anything to pass him, but I can’t save because I’m never going to get there if I save.”

Ryan Blaney is a driver who gets frustrated behind the wheel. His words on the radio during a race don’t exactly reflect his more level-headed takes. If he was in the lead and had a faster car coming behind him, he would block as well.

Joey Logano is a three-time champion. He has clearly mastered the art of the Championship 4. Team Penske has cracked the code. At this point, it is on the Hendricks and Joe Gibbs of the Cup Series to do something about it.

Whatever approach Penske is taking to the season ends with them winning in November. That is the one goal every team has starting the season. Win the Bill France Cup. Complain about the driving, the track, playoffs, or whatever. Everyone played by the same rules.