A third-generation racer and son of then-Cup Series driver Dave Blaney,[2] Blaney started his racing career in quarter midget racing, winning his first race at age 9;[3][4] he also competed, and won, in Bandolero cars at a young age.[5] Moving up to Legends cars at age 12, Blaney won the Lowe's Motor Speedway Summer Shootout and the Young Lions Winter Heat Points Championship, as well as three divisions of the Carolina Fall Nationals in quarter midgets. He also won the Concord Speedway Young Lions Winter Heat Points Championship in Bandaleros.[3]
Continuing to compete in the PASS South Super Late Model Series in 2010, Blaney scored his first career win in the series at Dillon Motor Speedway, adding wins at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and Newport Speedway on his way to a second consecutive second-place finish in the PASS South championship standings.[3] Blaney also competed in the Champion Racing Association (CRA)-sanctioned Southern Six Pack series, winning the series championship for 2010.[4]
Returning to the PASS South Super Late Model Series in 2011, Blaney won two races in the series, at Dillon Motor Speedway and Ace Speedway, winning the series championship.[3][6]
For 2012, Blaney returned to the PASS Super Late Model Series in the Carswell Motorsports No. 98 car.[7]
NASCAR
K&N Pro Series and ARCA (2011–2013)
In 2011, Blaney made his debuts in the ARCA Racing Series and the NASCARK&N Pro Series West and East in 2011, scoring top ten finishes in every start in the three series;[6] he won his first career NASCAR race in the K&N Pro Series West season finale at Phoenix International Raceway winning by over two seconds in his only series start.[8]
For 2012, Blaney, who had won praise from Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick for his driving skills,[9] returned to the K&N Pro Series East, running six races for family-owned DB Racing, driving the No. 10 car.[10]
In July 2012, Blaney announced that he had signed a contract to drive for Team Penske a minimum of three races in the 2012 Nationwide Series season, starting at Iowa Speedway in August.[13] He also ran selected races in the Camping World Truck Series for Brad Keselowski Racing,[14] finishing sixth in his debut in the series at Bristol Motor Speedway.[15] Blaney won his first career Truck Series race on September 15, 2012, at Iowa Speedway; at the time, he was the youngest winner in Truck Series history at 18 years, eight months, and 15 days. The previous record was 20 years and 18 days set by Kyle Busch in 2005.[16][N 1]
Blaney returned to the Camping World Truck Series in 2013, driving the full schedule for Brad Keselowski Racing and competing for the series' Rookie of the Year award.[18] Blaney won his first career pole in the series at Kentucky Speedway in June,[19] then won his second career Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway in August.[20] Blaney also competed in the Nationwide Series at Iowa Speedway in June, substituting for Joey Logano after a rainout created a schedule conflict; Blaney finished ninth in the event.[21] Blaney competed in a second Nationwide Series race in 2013, at Kentucky Speedway on September 21, and led 96 of the race's 200 laps to win his first career race in the series, beating Austin Dillon and Matt Crafton.[22] Blaney was the only race winner in the 2013 Nationwide season to not have any Sprint Cup experience.[23]
In January 2014, Blaney announced that in addition to a full Camping World Truck Series schedule with BKR, he would be running 15 Nationwide Series and two Sprint Cup Series races for Team Penske during the year.[24]
Blaney drove the No. 29 truck full-time for Brad Keselowski Racing. He had many Top 10 but failed to win in the spring. However, his year's turning point was at Dover in late May 2014, when he came up short to Kyle Busch who beat him by 0.5 (one car length) seconds for the win. After the race, Blaney was one of the drivers who said that because Kyle was winning a lot in the truck series, the Cup series drivers should no longer race in any division besides the Cup series.
In 2015, Blaney began his Xfinity Series schedule at Las Vegas in the Boyd Gaming 300. After leading two laps, he was briefly in contention for the win. After spinning out fellow driver Erik Jones late in the race, Blaney restarted the final restart in eighth place. Despite this, he drove from eighth to second in the final 21 laps. Though he caught up to race leader Austin Dillon with three laps to go, Blaney was unable to force his way by Dillon. Blaney finished second to Dillon by a three-car-length winning difference. He nearly won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Xfinity race, finishing second to Kyle Busch after being passed on the final lap. He won at Iowa and nearly won at Road America in his debut on the track. He again won at the Kentucky standalone race in September beating Ty Dillon on a late-race restart. Blaney got his second top 10 of his career in Sprint Cup at Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 finishing seventh.
Cup Series (2014–present)
Team Penske (2014)
2014: Limited exposure
In January 2014, it was announced that Team Penske was going to re-open a third car, the No. 12, for Blaney to make two starts in during the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.[24] He made his debut at Kansas Speedway, finishing 27th. His second start came at Talladega in the fall, where he notched a 22nd-place finish.
Wood Brothers Racing (2015–2017)
2015: Part-time conquest
In August 2014, it was announced that Blaney was to run twenty Sprint Cup Series races for Wood Brothers Racing in the No. 21 Ford during the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.[25] Blaney performed well, picking up his first Top 10 at Talladega in the GEICO 500, running as high as second and finishing fourth. He didn't qualify for three races due to rainouts. He picked up a seventh-place finish in the fall at Kansas and ended the year with 15 starts in total.
Blaney began competing full-time in the Cup Series in 2016 with the Wood Brothers despite the team being excluded from NASCAR's new Charter system implemented before the 2016 Cup Series season.[26] He got his third Top 10 of his career at Las Vegas, finishing 6th. Before the race at Auto Club Speedway, Blaney and close friend Bubba Wallace drove together from Phoenix to Fontana and stole the headlines one evening when they took over NASCAR's Snapchat account and filmed themselves mimicking drivers such as Carl Edwards, Danica Patrick, and Paul Menard.[27] Blaney picked up more top tens at Phoenix, Talladega, Dover, and Pocono for a successful first half of the season with his best finish being a fifth at Kansas. At Chicagoland, Blaney ran well all day and for the final restart, he gambled and stayed out, and got the race lead. However, on the restart Martin Truex Jr. overtook him easily due to having fresher tires and held on to get the win, with Blaney finishing 4th. He put up a fight for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award, but lost to Chase Elliott.[28]
In 2017, fellow single-car team Go Fas Racing announced that they would loan their charter to the No. 21 Wood Brothers team, guaranteeing Blaney a spot in every race of the 2017 season. During the Daytona 500, Blaney, despite being caught up in an early wreck, charged from 5th on the final lap to place second to Kurt Busch. Blaney had a better race in April at Texas Motor Speedway, qualifying second to Kevin Harvick. He then passed Harvick early in the race to lead the next 148 laps and win the first two stages. However, a late-race pit stop error cost Blaney the race. He recovered from his mishap and finished 12th. At Kansas, Blaney won his first career Cup Series pole. The race was primarily a duel between him and Martin Truex Jr. After battling Truex for 3 restarts, Truex pulled away to win the race while Blaney finished fourth.
In June, he won his first career Cup race at the Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. After passing Kyle Busch with 10 laps to go, he held off Harvick to claim the victory, qualifying him for the playoffs.[29] On July 26, Blaney announced he would move to Team Penske's new No. 12 car for the 2018 season.[30] At the end of the regular season, Blaney entered the playoffs ninth in points, courtesy of his win at Pocono and three stage wins.[31]
During his playoff run, Blaney made it into the Round of 8, highlighted by a third-place finish in the Round of 12 race at Kansas, despite having to start last after his car failed post-qualifying inspection.[32] Blaney then scored consecutive top-ten finishes at Martinsville and Texas, but despite winning the pole for the Round of 8 finale at Phoenix, he faded outside of the top ten by the end of stage one. He rebounded to secure eighth by the end of stage two, but could not improve his standing on the track, ultimately finishing the race in 17th and being eliminated from the playoffs.[33] Blaney wound up finishing 29th in the season finale at Homestead-Miami, securing a ninth-place finish in the final Cup Series standings with his one win, four top fives, 14 top tens, four stage wins, and two poles. His ninth-place points finish was also the highest for a driver for the Wood Brothers since Morgan Shepherd finished sixth in the final Cup standings in 1994.
For his tenure at Team Penske, it was announced that he John Menard Jr. and Menards, which sponsors the team's IndyCar operations, were signed to a primary sponsorship deal. He also brought over personal sponsorship from BodyArmor sports drink. Blaney won his Can-Am Duel and was a favorite to win the Daytona 500.[34] He led the most laps on the day, spending 114 laps, over half the race, leading the pack. He finished seventh after contact with Kurt Busch late in the race forced him to pit for repairs.[35]
Blaney won the pole at Las Vegas, and win a stage at Martinsville, and appeared to have the car to beat early on at Bristol, but was involved in a large crash near the end of stage one.[36] Blaney once again fell short at Kansas and blew an engine in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Blaney won another pole at Pocono and finished in the top ten; He did the same the following week at Michigan. Returning to Daytona in July was not kind to Blaney, as he could not replicate his success from the 500, being caught up in The Big One and finishing in last place.[37]
A run of good finishes to round out the summer stretch, none lower than 15th, put Blaney in the playoffs despite going winless in the regular season; as he managed to put together a strong coalition of five top-fives, 12 top-tens, and five stage wins. Blaney ran solidly at Las Vegas and Richmond, putting him barely over the cutoff line going into the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Roval. While running in third on the last lap, leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson wrecked each other going into the final chicane. Blaney passed both to score his first win of the season and his first win with Team Penske. The win advanced him to the Round of 12, where he was eliminated after the fall Kansas race and finished the season tenth in points.[38][39]
Blaney remained consistent within the top 10 in points in 2019. At Watkins Glen, he spun Jimmie Johnson out of contention, leading to an argument between the two after the race.[40] The animosity between them lasted until Michigan a week later.[41] At the Charlotte Roval, Blaney finished eighth to advance to the Round of 12.[42] Blaney won the Talladega fall race in a photo finish of 0.007 seconds over Ryan Newman and advanced into the Round of 8, despite an early spin onto pit road.[43] Despite finishing third at Phoenix, he was eliminated in the Round of 8.[44]
On the final lap of the 2020 Daytona 500, Blaney gave a push to leader Ryan Newman, sending him into the outside wall and into a violent crash. Blaney lost the race to Denny Hamlin in the second-closest finish in Daytona 500 history. Blaney later stated that the incident had taken a tough toll on him mentally, and that speaking with Newman on the phone after his release from the hospital was a key factor to helping him become at peace with it.[45] Blaney crashed out at Phoenix, and have mediocre runs at both Darlington races before two back-to-back third places in the doubleheader races at Charlotte paved the way for a consistent streak.[46] He dominated early at Bristol, leading 60 laps, before a wreck with Ty Dillon resulted in a last place finish.[47] For the next four weeks, Blaney recorded three straight top-fives, capping it off with a win at the GEICO 500, defeating Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 0.007, his second photo-finish win at Talladega.[48]
He had transmission issues at Kentucky, forcing him to drive through the turns one-handed because his car kept jumping out of fourth gear. Nonetheless, he held the lead for a small part of the final lap but hit a drain on the apron, finishing sixth. Blaney led the most laps at Texas and finished fourth at Michigan, putting up a strong coalition of runs going into the playoffs.
Blaney made the playoffs with his win at Talladega, but was eliminated in the Round of 16 due to mediocre finishes at Richmond and the Bristol Night Race.[49] Blaney put up a strong fight at the end of the season despite his elimination, with three top-fives and two-top tens in the last five races of the season, with a highest of second at Martinsville. Blaney finished the season ninth in points.
During the 2021 season, Blaney won at Atlanta and Michigan, scoring his fifth and sixth career wins in the series respectively. The Atlanta win was emotional for Blaney as it came 20 years after his dad almost won the same race, only to lose because of a broken wheel.[50][51] For the first time in his career, Blaney had back-to-back wins after he won the last race of the regular season at Daytona International Speedway the following week. Both wins gave him his sixth and seventh career wins. After only winning four races in the five seasons before 2021, Blaney captured three wins in the Cup Series regular season. He went into the 2021 Cup playoffs as the second-seeded driver with three wins on the season behind Kyle Larson, who had five wins.[52] Blaney made it to the Round of 8 before being eliminated after Martinsville. He finished the season seventh in the points standings.[53]
Blaney started the 2022 season with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. Despite scoring no wins in the first 13 races, he stayed consistent with four top-fives and six top-10 finishes. He would lead the most laps at Talladega and be in position for a race win, but would fall short after being involved in the Big One on the last lap.[54] He also won the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race.[55] Despite being involved in a multi-car crash on lap 31 of the regular season finale at the Daytona night race, Blaney rallied to finish 15th to clinch the 16th and final Playoff spot of the season, beating Martin Truex Jr. by three points. Blaney was eliminated following the Round of 8 after finishing third at Martinsville.[56] Despite being winless, he finished the season eighth in the points standings.[57]
Blaney started the 2023 season with an eighth-place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500 despite getting caught in a wreck early. Blaney found himself within striking distance of the win at Phoenix a few weeks later but finished second after a late restart. At Bristol in April, Blaney would be his Cup teammate, Joey Logano's spotter for the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt. Logano won his Heat Race and the Main Event. He led the most laps at the GEICO 500 at Talladega, but finished second to Kyle Busch on an overtime restart after a bad block from Bubba Wallace.[58] He finally broke his 59-race drought by winning the 2023 Coca-Cola 600, doing such in a dominating fashion by leading the most laps and winning a stage.[59] A sixth-place finish the next week at Gateway put Blaney on top of the points standings.[60]
A poor performance the next week at Sonoma was followed by a scary moment at Nashville; Blaney had a violent impact into the inside wall of Turn 1, leaving him suffering with concussion-like symptoms.[61] He later went on to say that he felt it was the hardest impact he has felt in his entire racing career.[62] Blaney urged NASCAR to install a SAFER barrier on the wall that he impacted, a sentiment that was echoed by NASCAR's Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer.[63] Two weeks later at Atlanta, Blaney won stage one and finished second in stage two. He was one of several drivers attempting to stay in the lead until a caution for rain came out, but wound up finishing ninth.[64] The remainder of the summer stretch was mediocre for Blaney with two more ninth-place finishes at Michigan and Watkins Glen being his only top-tens. In the regular-season finale at Daytona, Blaney charged to the front late in the second stage but was involved in a hard crash from the lead after Ty Gibbs was turned by Christopher Bell, causing The Big One.[65]
During the playoffs, Blaney advanced through the first round after solid runs at Darlington and Kansas, earning stage points in both. Blaney was caught up in an accident with 12 laps to go at Texas, putting his hopes of advancing to the Round of 8 in jeopardy.[66] Blaney won his way into the next round at Talladega, in a photo finish with Kevin Harvick, the margin of victory being 0.012 seconds.[67] He finished sixth at Las Vegas, but was disqualified after post-race inspection discovered a left-front damper that did not meet specifications; as a result, Blaney dropped to last-place and the bottom of the Round of 8 cutoff line.[68] NASCAR later rescinded the penalty and restored Blaney's points after an issue was found with the damper template.[69] A second place finish at Homestead would propel Blaney to ten points above the playoff cutline entering Martinsville, the first time in his career he would enter the penultimate race of a season above the cutline. He traded the lead back and forth with Denny Hamlin for most of the race, but won stage two and held off a late-charging Aric Almirola to get his third win of the season and lock himself into the Championship 4.[70]
The season finale at Phoenix was a fierce competition between Blaney, Bell, William Byron, and Kyle Larson. Blaney ran in the top ten for the majority of the race, but an early brake failure for Bell allowed Blaney to get a big run on the Hendrick teammates. On Lap 277, Blaney slammed into the rear end of leader Ross Chastain to go three wide for the race lead, but a spin by Kyle Busch bunched up the field for a final restart with 30 laps to go. Larson and Blaney ran side-by-side, dueling for position for nearly eleven laps before Blaney passed Larson for second place with 20 laps to go. He hung on to finish second, clinching the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.[71][72]
2024: Championship defense
Blaney started the 2024 season with a 30th place DNF at the 2024 Daytona 500. At Atlanta, he was leading the last lap but ultimately finished in second and came 0.003 seconds short of beating Daniel Suárez in a three-wide photo finish between him, Suárez, and Kyle Busch.[73] Blaney once again fell short of a victory at Gateway after running out of fuel on the last lap; his teammate Austin Cindric ended up winning the race. On June 16, He scored his first win of the season at the inaugural Iowa race.[74] A month later, he won at Pocono, just over seven years after his first Cup Series win at the same track.[75] During the playoffs, Blaney advanced to the Round of 8, where after a narrow loss to Tyler Reddick at Homestead, he would win at Martinsville to make the Championship 4 for a second year in a row.[76] Blaney ran up front for the bulk of the season finale race at Phoenix, though would be unable to outrun his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who would go on to win the 2024 Cup Series Championship
In media
Blaney participating in the driver-only broadcast at the 2018 Xfinity Talladega race
At the beginning of the 2017 season, Blaney began a NASCAR-supported podcast featuring former Miss Sprint Cup and current Motor Racing Network personality Kim Coon and NASCAR.com analyst Chuck Bush, called the Glass Case of Emotion.[77] The podcast ended at the conclusion of the 2023 season.[78]
In June 2017, Blaney became a member of Fox NASCAR's Cup driver-only broadcast team for the Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway, working as a pit reporter alongside Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.[79] He also interviewed race-winner Brad Keselowski; the next day, the roles were reversed as he won his first Cup race with Keselowski, still in his firesuit, interviewing him.[80] The driver-only broadcast format returned for the 2018 Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway as Blaney returned to his pit duties.[81] Since 2021, Blaney has served as a commentator in the booth for the driver-only broadcast, as well as a rotating driver analyst in the booth for regular Xfinity and ARCA Menard Series broadcasts. [82][83]
Blaney has made numerous guest-starring/cameo appearances in TV and film throughout his career. In 2017, Blaney voiced Ryan "Inside" Laney in the Pixar film Cars 3.[84] That same year Blaney also had a cameo appearance as a delivery boy in the film Logan Lucky.[85] In 2018, Blaney guest-starred in the TV show Taken in season 2 episode 12 "Imperium", as Special Agent Nathan Wood; the episode aired on April 20, 2018.[86] Blaney also guest-starred as Shane Powell in an episode of the CBS reboot Magnum P.I.[87] In 2019, Blaney had a cameo appearance as himself in the Netflix's television series The Crew alongside Austin Dillon and Cole Custer.[88]
In 2021, Blaney was one of three drivers featured as cover stars for the NASCAR 21: Ignition video game.[89]
Blaney was a featured driver in the 2022 USA Network series Race for the Championship, following the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, as well as the 2024 Netflix documentary series NASCAR: Full Speed, which followed the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.[90][91]
Personal life
Blaney is the only son and middle child of Lisa and Dave Blaney. He has two sisters: Emma and Erin; Emma is married to driver Cale Conley and Erin was formerly in a relationship with driver William Byron.[92] Blaney is of Irish descent. He is a close friend of fellow drivers and competitors Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, and Chase Elliott, and an avid Star Wars fan.[93]
Blaney has multiple tattoos, including a Star Wars inspired piece on his right leg, a sprint car on his left side, and the #10 in red on the left side of his chest in tribute to the number he ran most often growing up.[94]
* Season still in progress 1 Ineligible for series points † In 2012 Blaney switched from Nationwide to Truck Series points at Atlanta Motor Speedway in August.
^The current youngest NASCAR national touring series winner is Cole Custer, who won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September 2014 at 16 years, seven months, and 28 days.[17]
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