Ryan Blaney’s 2022 NASCAR Cup Season so far – 3rd place with no wins
The biggest story going around about Ryan Blaney at the start of this year was how much younger he looks since he shaved off his signature beard and cut his hair. People kept commenting on how he was unrecognizable, and speculating that the team owner had required a more clean-cut look.
Since the NASCAR season has started, he has given everyone something a bit more exciting to talk about.
Blaney finished 2021 at No. 7 after his best season so far. He had three wins, 11 top five finishes and 20 top 10 finishes. He led 423 laps. This season, it looks like he’s setting out to do what he couldn’t do last year and make it to the Championship 4.
The question everyone is asking isn’t if he can do it – he’s currently sitting at No. 3 and is in great form – it’s whether he can do it without any race wins. He has the skills but can he get the points he needs to stay in contention?
Knowing whether or not to bet on Blaney as a serious contender for the cup is a serious question. Despite his obvious talent behind the wheel, sometimes it just seems like there’s something stopping him from closing in on a win.
Yet he is almost always near the front of the pack and has enough leading laps and races where he’s won a stage that he has to be considered a major threat to the race leaders.
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Ryan Blaney’s enjoying the perks of being a winner without actually having won a race. Let’s look at Blaney’s career so far and how this year has played out.
Ryan Blaney’s background
Ryan Blaney is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, and grandson of famous modified dirt track driver Lou Blaney. With a pedigree like that, it’s no surprise that Blaney began driving at a very young age. He was <a “color: red;” href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Blaney#Early_career”>winning races by age 9 in quarter midget and Bandolero racing.
His NASCAR career began in 2012. From 2012-15, he competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Between the two, he had nearly 100 top 10 finishes over the course of his career. He moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series full time in 2016.
Blaney <a “color: red;” href=”https://www.snaplap.net/2017-nascar-cup-series-pocono-400/”>won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in 2017 at the Pocono 400. Since 2017, he has finished every season in the top 10. He has only won between one and three races each season but still managed to maintain his place in the standings. Blaney has been driving for Team Penske since 2018.
The 2022 NASCAR Cup season so far
Ryan Blaney has had a great season so far, with the one major exception of not having won a single race. He has finished in the top five seven times, and three other times in the top 10. He’s only had one race where he finished below 30th.
Blaney was the Stage 1 winner at the 2022 Toyota Owners 400. He was the Stage 2 winner at the Ruoff Mortgage 500, the 2022 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, the 2022 DuraMAX Drydene 400 and the 2022 Kwik Trip 250. This alone shows he knows how to finish strong.
Looking at the stats, Blaney has as many stage wins as current No. 1 Chase Elliott. He is also No. 6 overall for laps led, with 392 laps. With six races left to go, he has a good chance of breaking his record of laps led from last year.
The unofficial slogan for qualifying for the NASCAR playoffs is “win and you’re in”, because the points a driver gets from winning a race are basically enough to guarantee a playoff spot (as long as the rest of their season has gone well).
This year, however, has been an odd one. In 20 races, there have been <a “color: red;” href=”https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a40652435/updated-nascar-playoff-standings-how-christopher-bells-win-changed-the-picture/”>14 different winners and there are still six races to go. This has evened the points field and has made it likely that some star drivers won’t qualify.
Currently, Blaney has enough points to qualify without a win – if no other winless drivers win. A win would make that points cushion even more comfortable and secure him a spot. Blaney understands this, so it will be interesting to see if he manages to pull a win out in the next few weeks.
It’s not entirely fair to say that Blaney hasn’t won a single race this season – he was the winner of the All-Star Race at the Texas Motor Speedway in May. This is an exhibition race that doesn’t provide points – but it does feature all of the top racers and is a great test of skill.
Any other year, Blaney probably wouldn’t need a win to qualify for the playoffs. With how this season has gone so far, though, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a few more winners added to the list. Hopefully, Blaney will be one of them so he can have another shot at the championship race.
