Young talent Blaney is part old school

First-time winner, 23, appreciates ties to NASCAR history.

NASCAR’s newest winner arrived home in North Carolina to coolers filled by Dale Earnhardt Jr. with ice cold beer.

He partied until 4 a.m. and went to sleep after Earnhardt, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Patrick, Bubba Wallace and the rest went home.

Back up at 9 a.m. Monday, Ryan Blaney watched a replay of Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway. It was then that Blaney, 23, really appreciated the significance of driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford to victory.

“It sunk in last night with my guys. It was a lot of fun to have them over to celebrate,” Blaney said. “Some moments I was just like, ‘Man, this is so cool to win for the Wood Brothers.’ Especially when I rewatched the race today.”

It was the 99th Cup victory for the Wood Brothers team, which has won at least one race in each of the past six decades. But the team had not been to victory lane since Trevor Bayne’s upset in the 2011 Daytona 500.

It was an old-school win, too: Blaney drove most of the race with zero radio communication with his crew.

Blaney, who became the third first-time Cup Series winner in the past five races, is a third-generation racer. His father is former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney and his grandfather is former dirt track star Lou Blaney, who died in 2009.

Ryan wears caps that tout the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and retro T-shirts that support his appreciation for Bill Elliott and other Hall of Famers who raced before he was born.

So it was no surprise to see Blaney in a vintage Wood Brothers shirt in party pictures posted Monday.

“I feel like I’ve always been that way,” Blaney said. “I enjoy the history of the sport, and driving for the Wood Brothers has made that come out more.”

But Blaney is very much part of the rapid changing of the guard in NASCAR.

With 12 races remaining before the playoff field is set, Blaney, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse are in because they earned their first career wins. Kyle Larson is in thanks to his second career victory.

Meanwhile, former series champions Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Earnhardt are all winless.

In a touching moment Sunday, Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski received the Fox Sports microphone to conduct an interview with Blaney in victory lane.

Keselowski gave Blaney his first big break — in 2012, when Blaney was 18. He earned Truck Series starts with Keselowski’s team.

Keselowski also got Blaney hooked up with Roger Penske, and Penske has Blaney stashed with the Wood Brothers this season under the teams’ working agreement. So Keselowski is a de facto teammate, and Blaney’s first boss in NASCAR.

“I would be nothing if it weren’t for him and taking a chance on me,” Blaney said.