Blaney’s bookends: ‘Just so special to win here today’
Ryan Blaney talks how special it is for him to win at the same site he earned his first career Cup victory.
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00:00Boy, Ryan, a month ago you guys had zero wins, two in the last five weeks.
00:04What has clicked?
00:05I think just, you know, things are really kind of falling into place for us.
00:10I feel like we've gotten to a great place on speed, the last two months especially.
00:14And I feel like we honestly had a couple races slip away from us, which I thought we had
00:18a good shot at winning.
00:20So it was nice to just stick to the plan today, you know, and kind of our plan was just try
00:24to have track position at the end because I knew our car was fast enough.
00:27So I was super proud of Jonathan.
00:29The whole 12 boys.
00:30I mean, the wabash Ford Mustang was amazing.
00:32Appreciate Menards, body armor, the worth group, advanced auto parts, decks imaging,
00:38everybody who makes this possible.
00:40So cool to win here again.
00:41I went here seven years ago for my first cup win, so awesome to be back.
00:45The crowd, you guys are amazing.
00:46Thank you guys for being here all weekend.
00:47I was going to ask you, you and I talked about how important this place is to you.
00:52Would nine-year-old Ryan Blaney have believed when you were winning quarter midget races
00:56out there outside of turn three that you would have now two cup wins here?
01:00At the time, I just wasn't thinking of that.
01:02I was trying to figure out how I was going to have fun that weekend and how to win that
01:05night.
01:06No, I mean, it was super special seven years ago to win here with the wood brothers.
01:10It's just a special win here today.
01:12You love tracks that have special meaning to you, places you get your first win and
01:17things like that.
01:18So this place means so much to me.
01:19My fiance, a ton of her family is here, so I can't wait to see them, can't wait to see
01:23Gianna's family.
01:25So proud of the effort.
01:27Looking forward to hopefully continuing this momentum to next week at the Boston track
01:32up in Indy.
01:33So let's talk about how this team is right now, Ryan.
01:36You turned it on at the right time to win the championship last year.
01:39As we sit here in mid-July, is this the best the 12 team has ever been?
01:43I definitely think we're in a better spot at this time this year than we were last year
01:46at this point.
01:47I feel like our speed is better.
01:49Like I said, our execution is great.
01:51I think we're doing, we are doing everything as a 12 group the best that we can.
01:56Some other kind of unforeseen circumstances kind of have hindered some finishes and possible
02:01wins.
02:02But I'm just proud of the whole team, penske group.
02:04All those men and women at the race shop, they worked their butts off to try to get
02:08better and deal with the drivers who say we need to get a lot better.
02:12So appreciate them.
02:13Appreciate all the work they do and continue to do.
02:17Go USA.
02:18There you go.
02:20The crowd gets to celebrate with Ryan Blaney.
02:22He'll grab the checkered flag here in a moment and find a young man or a young woman to hand
02:26that to in the crowd, Rick.