NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney signs autographs before a Cup Series practice session Friday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. Blaney won last weekend on the roval course at Charlotte Motor Speedway.DOVER, Del. - NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney earned his first Cup Series win this season - and only the second of his career - when he cruised through a wild finish on the roval course at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday.
Now he can work to stamp himself as a title contender.
The 24-year-old Team Penske driver earned an automatic spot in the second round of the playoffs when he zipped past Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. for the surprise victory as the roval, a blend of an infield road course and the traditional oval at Charlotte, made its Cup Series debut. Johnson had collided with Truex while trying to pass him in the final curve before the finish line, spinning the lead drivers off course and providing Blaney a chance he didn't miss.
Blaney had some fun at the expense of a Fox Sports panel that predicted he would fail to advance out of both the first and second rounds of the playoffs, when the driver field is cut from 16 to 12 and then 12 to eight. He tweeted a clip of the studio show in which panelists left him out of the round of eight and wrote, "Sure hope to prove y'all wrong once again."
"Yeah, to be honest with you, I had a few to drink that night when I said that," Blaney said, laughing. "I saw that and it rubbed me the wrong way. I was just messing around."
He laughed last at Charlotte, but even he is not convinced one win automatically made him a title contender along with former series champions Truex (2017), Kyle Busch (2015), Kevin Harvick (2014) and Brad Keselowski (2012).
"I wouldn't say we're a championship favorite," Blaney said. "I'd say we're in the hunt, and honestly we've been in the hunt all year."
The title chase continues today at Dover International Speedway, with Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway the other host tracks for the second round. The last four drivers standing after three rounds will race for the best finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18 to be crowned the Cup Series champion.
Blaney is still in the mix.
Stewart-Haas Racing's stabble fills four of the 12 spots: Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Harvick. Team Penske is right behind with Blaney, Keselowski and Joey Logano. Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott are in the field as well, with Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing), Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Truex (Furniture Row Racing) making it 12.
With qualifying rained out Friday, today's starting lineup was set by points, putting the 12 playoff drivers in the top dozen spots. Kyle Busch and Harvick are on the front row.
There is some urgency for the contending drivers who don't race for Team Penske to win or post a top-10 finish at Dover: Talladega is on deck, and Keselowski and Logano have combined to win five of the past seven races at the Alabama superspeedway. Larson crashed out of this season's first Talladega race and finished 40th - the kind of result that would knock him from contention this time around.
The Big Three of Kyle Busch, Harvick and Truex dominated during the spring and summer, but the Team Penske trio of Blaney, Keselowski and Logano have been hot lately. Keselowski won the final two regular-season races plus the playoff opener in Las Vegas before Kyle Busch won at Richmond Raceway and Blaney won at Charlotte.
Worth noting: Penske hasn't had a driver win at Dover since Keselowski in 2012.
Logano has just one Cup Series win this season, but it was at Talladega.
"It really does build a lot of momentum within the race team," said Logano, who has been in the top 10 on 20 occasions this year, including last weekend.
"You want to be the driver and the team that brings home the win for the race team, but there are still a lot of good things to see your teammate win that comes along with that. Obviously, the momentum for them, but the momentum for everybody back at the shop. It also motivates you, because you want to be the guy that brings home the wins and it proves that your cars can do it."
Larson, who is winless this season but has six runner-up finishes and topped the speed chart in Friday's practice session, can prove something if he finds his way to victory lane.
A bit of luck was on his side at the roval, where was caught up in a late collision that seemed to wreck his odds of advancing in the playoffs. He had to bring the No. 42 Chevrolet down pit road twice under caution over the final six laps and limped to a 25th-place finish.
He caught a break, though, when a last-lap crash allowed him to make a pass and earn one playoff point - enough to tie him with Almirola and Johnson for 12th in the standings. Johnson, whose seven series championships are tied with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the record, lost the tiebreaker. Almirola and Larson advanced.
"Hopefully, that means something for us," Larson said, "and we can take advantage of the opportunity we were put in last week and go out there and have a good rest of the playoffs and maybe make it to the final four."