Blaney wins 1st career NASCAR Cup race at Pocono Raceway
LONG POND, Pa. — Ryan Blaney was stationed in victory lane with a headset on as a guest pit reporter just the day before at Pocono Raceway. But to get there again, on his own in the No. 21 Ford, he’d have to zip past a pair of hardened NASCAR champions with just 10 laps left.
Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch may not be ready yet to officially pass the torch to the next generation of drivers. So it’s up to young 20-somethings like Blaney to yank that torch — that checkered flag — and knock ‘em off their perch.
Driving for owners with roots steeped in NASCAR history, Blaney blazed his way down the stretch past Busch, held off a hard-charging Harvick, and won his first career NASCAR Cup race Sunday at the raceway.
That’s career win No. 99 for the Wood Brothers.
No. 1 for Blaney, well, that felt pretty good.
Blaney, a “Star Wars” nut, was tongue tied when he met actress Daisy Ridley in March. An hour or so after confetti fluttered on him in victory lane, he offered an open invitation to Ridley to join the postrace party.
The bash might last as long as a “Star Wars” marathon.
“Maybe she watched the race today,” Blaney said. “She better get on a plane right now. It’ll actually be going on all night, so she’s got plenty of time to get here.”
The 23-year-old Blaney, son of NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, grandson of dirt track star Lou Blaney, won for the first time in 68 career starts and partied again in victory lane. He was a guest reporter for Fox during the Xfinity race.
Blaney interviewed Xfinity winner Brad Keselowski in victory lane on Saturday as part of an all-driver broadcast by Fox. Keselowski finished fifth on Sunday and returned the favor by crashing the broadcast and interviewed Blaney.
“What was going through your mind? You’re in victory lane, man!” Keselowski said.
“I just didn’t want to make a mistake,” Blaney told Keselowski. “That would have been the worst thing we could do.”