RYAN BLANEY RACING PHOTO
MUSTANG AND RYAN BLANEY END SEASON ON HIGH NOTE WITH PHOENIX WIN
* Ryan Blaney won his fourth race of 2025 and the 17th Cup race of his
career today.
* This marks the most wins Blaney has had in a single season.
* In addition, today is Blaney’s seventh playoff victory.
* Today’s win is the seventh of the season for Ford and 748th
all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition
* It also marks Team Penske’s 107th series win with Ford.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – HOW DO YOU PUT THIS INTO WORDS? “It’s
just cool to end it on a good note. It’s just cool and obviously we
had a fast car all day. Those other guys were just kind of faster
getting going and I could never retain the lead. Those guys were just
really good and it took my car a while to come in, but it was a really
good call for two there and keeping track position. I got a decent
restart and I was able to kind of roll the bottom in three and four and
eek the 6 out at the line. I’m just really proud of the whole group
and cool to end it in Victory Lane. It’s a shame we weren’t in the
Championship 4. Congrats to Kyle and that whole team. I’m happy for
this team that we could end it the best way we could.”
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THE FINAL RESTART WITH ALL FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
CONTENDERS THERE? “You just go try to win the race. I didn’t really
have any of them in front of me. There wasn’t really two of them
side-by-side. I tried to race those guys really good all day and gave
them respect and tried to let them race it out at time, and at times I
could go if it got gapped, but you’re just aware of everybody that’s
around you. You don’t want to be the storyline to mess up a guy’s
championship, so it was good that we were able to just run our race and
run it clean to the end.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU STAYED
OUT AT THE END AND IT ALMOST PAID OFF. “Yeah, everybody was out of
tires, so I guess a few of those guys must have had some tires left. We
didn’t, so it was kind of a no-brainer for us.” WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO
DO TO COME BACK STRONGER IN 2026? “It’s kind of the story of our
season. We’re just needing a little bit of speed, trying to put
ourselves in position. We were in position as well as we could, I just
wasn’t quite fast enough. Another second place.”
YOU’VE GOT THE LEAD COMING TO THE FINISH LINE. WHAT DO YOU SEE BEHIND YOU AND WHAT ARE
YOU TRYING TO DO COMING TO THE CHECKERED FLAG? “I felt like we were in
a good position, but the 5 and the 12 were just stupid fast. That’s
what we had.” YOU WERE IN POSITION AT THE END. “Yeah, we put
ourselves in position like you said and just didn’t quite have enough
to finish it off, but it was a great day for us, a great day for RFK to
be in position. We just want to be a little bit faster to close it
out.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT’S
GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND. WE SAW EVERYTHING TODAY. “Yeah, we were
close. We needed one more lap, to be honest with you. I was underneath
them all at the line and had momentum on the short cut. I think I would
have cleared them all into one if we had one more, but ifs and buts
don’t really matter. Overall, we had a shot at it, but didn’t
position ourselves far enough forward for the last green-white-checkered
there. We just had a little hiccup on pit road leaving. It was close.
You see the leaders right there in front of you and you think you’ve
got a shot at it but just couldn’t quite pull it off. It’s a good
way to finish the season – solid. Dang it. I saw the win.”
THOUGHTS ON THE TIRE TODAY? “I thought it was fine. If you’re aggressive,
you’re gonna pay the price when it comes to air-pressure. No one
should be blaming Goodyear or anything like that. It’s not on them,
it’s on the teams and the settings that they put in their cars. The
more aggressive you are, the faster it goes and the more likely it’s
gonna blow out. All of us are just trying to figure out where that edge
is.”
THIS FORMAT REALLY PAID OFF WITH THOSE FOUR GOING FOUR-WIDE AT
THE END. “When they’re four-wide across the line in front of you
what more could people want? There were four heavyweight dogs of our
sport that are racing for the win. What else could you want? I don’t
get it. I’m sure they’re not complaining about it now, the format,
as they sit there and celebrate (laughing).”