BRISTOL, Tenn. — Even with a NASCAR Cup Series championship at stake, Ryan Blaney enjoys mixing it up on a rough-and-tumble track such as Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Everyone likes hard racing,” said Blaney, the 32-year-old driver of the Team Penske No. 12 Ford who is seeking a second title to go with his 2023 crown. “This is why we do it and race for every spot you can get. It’s different if you get run over. That’s a little over the line, but it’s all situational.
“That’s why people come to the races and watch on TV. They want to see drivers going 100% all the time for everything that they have trying to win a championship.”
There was no shortage of drivers banging fenders during the first two weekends of the Chase — the 10-race run for the championship that NASCAR resurrected this year after a dozen seasons with a different format for the playoffs — and Saturday night at 0.533-mile Bristol isn’t likely to be much different.
Of the 16 drivers eligible for the title, 10 had problems during the Southern 500 on Sept. 6 at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway, and all but two of the championship contenders were involved in incidents a week later at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.