NASCAR takeaways: Ryan Blaney captures inaugural Cup race at Iowa
NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney saw a win slip through his hands two weeks ago when he ran out of gas with about 1.5 miles remaining, but he had all the fuel, and certainly the speed, he needed Sunday night to capture the inaugural Cup race at Iowa Speedway.
The Team Penske driver is coming off a championship season and he seems to be handling the disappointments better this year now that he has a championship ring.
“A lot of last year taught me … just trying to get better at the ups and downs through the week and not just beat yourself up over things,” Blaney said as his first victory of the season locked him into the 2024 playoffs.
“[I’m] just sticking with things and looking forward going into the next week. Last year taught me a lot of that. I’ve tried to apply that this year when you have a bad run.”
Blaney had not had a top-5 in his last eight races and wrecked out at Darlington and Charlotte before running out of gas while leading at Gateway and then a seventh-place finish last week at Sonoma.
“Even when we wrecked at Darlington and Charlotte, I was bummed but I’m not festering over it for days on end,” Blaney said. “I just kind of move on from it and figure out how we need to get better.”
Blaney did say that as he approached the end of the race at Iowa, his history this season meant he wasn’t counting on anything as he led 201 of the 350 laps on the way to the win.
“Normally in my mind, it’s just get to the white [flag for the final lap],” Blaney said. “And now I don’t care about getting to the white, let’s get to the checkered [flag].
“The pain of two weeks ago just pops up in your head. I tried to forget about it.”
Takeaways from Iowa, where Blaney crossed the finish line ahead of William Byron, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
