Ryan Blaney reacts to his dad Dave Blaney retiring from racing after final win

A week ago, Ryan Blaney’s dad Dave Blaney retired from racing after one last Sprint Car victory in the Lou Blaney Memorial. For the third time in his career, the former NASCAR driver won the race named in honor of his father.

Dave Blaney has raced on dirt for decades. His prolific and Hall of Fame career in Sprint Cars led to Blaney landing a ride in NASCAR. While he never quite achieved everything he wanted in stock cars, his dirt racing record speaks for itself.

Of course, Ryan Blaney was supportive of his dad’s decision. He knew ahead of time that if Dave won the race at Sharon Speedway, he was calling it quits.

This week at Kansas, Ryan is racing once again in the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Playoffs. He told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports what it meant to see his dad go out on top.

“He told me like, ‘Well, if I win this one, I’m done.’ You know, that’s the only race he cares about winning nowadays is his dad’s race,” Blaney explained. “He’s the only one who’s repeated winning it and that was his third win of it. So that was special for him to go out on top like that. Yeah, it was bittersweet when he told me, I was like, ‘Well, I hope obviously you win because you care about that thing so much. But it’s like, man I don’t want you to stop racing.’ But at the end of the day it’s his decision.

“He’s been doing it for so many years, decades and decades. It’s going to be odd not seeing him race or kind of hearing updates of how it’s going or where you going next year. Even though he only ran ten, fifteen times this year, last few years.

“So, yeah, just a little bittersweet but it’s nice that he went out on top in a meaningful race to him that means a lot to our family. Excited to keep that car of his, put it in his shop somewhere and sit on it. Looking forward to hopefully putting it in a shop of my own one day and have a collection of some of his cars. He never kept cars, growing up. That was his one regret that he said, he’s like, ‘I wish I had kept cars.’ But at the time you’re trying to figure out the next step. I’m happy he’s going to keep that thing just how it was, just how it came off the racetrack and uh, it’ll be a good memory for everybody.”

Dave Blaney had such a great career. He should be proud of his accomplishments on the track. Ryan Blaney is obviously very proud of his dad and all he has done. Over his four decades-plus in professional racing, the Buckeye Bullet made a name.

Of course, Ryan is racing in Kansas this afternoon. That is set to be a major race for his championship hopes. A win today will put him in the Round of 8. From there, it’s just a few races from Phoenix and another championship.

Good news for Ryan Blaney, he starts P7. He will be in a great place to at least score stage points early. If he can manage to avoid wrecks and mistakes, he should have a decent day at least. Maybe by the end of it, he will be fighting for the win.

Toyota has been very strong at this track in the recent past. But there is room for Chevy or Ford to break through. Kyle Larson won the race in the spring. Will we see another photo finish today?