Blaney vs Toyota? That’s not how the Penske driver sees the Chase playing out

Ryan Blaney might be the thorn in Toyota’s side. Or at least that is how one can look at the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings as the Chase begins at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

Blaney and his Team Penske Ford stand out in the middle of a heavily dominated top six in the standings by Toyota. The series champion of 2023 is second in the standings to favorite Denny Hamlin, with Tyler Reddick, the early season dominator, not far behind. Then come the rest of Hamlin’s teammates.

And if NASCAR's statistical modeling is to be believed, the Cup Series champion is going to come from the top six in points. Blaney, however, doesn’t look at the championship battle as a story of him versus Toyota.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said earlier this week during Chase Media Day. “I think there are a lot of guys who can go out there and do it. All 16 teams in this thing, I think, are very, very good and can really go on runs. But the Toyotas are incredibly fast; we’ve seen that all year.”

Toyota has been the dominant and fastest manufacturer in the series this season. Its cars have won 12 races and put seven of their 10 full-time drivers in the Chase.

Blaney has three wins for Ford. The manufacturer’s other three wins have come from Joey Logano (two) and Ryan Preece (one).

The highest-ranked Ford driver in the standings to begin the Chase, Blaney is joined by Logano, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric and Preece. But Blaney would be given the best odds in the group to win the title.

“I think the Fords, for myself, the (Nos.) 22, and the 2 and 60 and 17, I feel like we’ve had a really good two to three months and closed the gap there,” said Blaney. “I’m curious to see where we’re at the mile-and-a-half (tracks) when we have those three in a row. That’s going to be a huge sign of where we’re going to be and stack up with the Toyotas.

“And then the (Nos.) 5 and the 9 are incredibly good, too. So, no, I don’t think it’s us versus the Toyotas. It’s versus 15 other people. That’s how I look at it.”

Darlington Raceway, an intermediate, begins the Chase. Blaney finished third at the track in the spring. Then come two flat tracks with St. Louis and Bristol, and those have been Team Penske’s strength. The three-in-a-row intermediate stretch is Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Blaney remaining in the championship hunt through the first half of the chase should position him well to make a run at the end. He won at Phoenix Raceway in the spring, and Team Penske has always been strong out west. Talladega Superspeedway will be a question mark because of its unpredictability. But the final two races, Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, are not places where he should be counted out.

“I think we have the opportunity to go perform well at every track,” said Blaney. “I said earlier the mile-and-a-halfs are a place where we know we have to continue to improve, and I feel like we’ve made steps from Chicago. Indianapolis isn’t a mile-and-a-half, but it’s a bigger track, and the (No.) 22 had a heck of a run there, so that really shows me that we’ve made a step in the right direction. I’m just curious to see when we do get to those … but then I think all the other places we’ve had really good runs.

“But you can’t rely on that. You have to continue to try to improve, no matter if it’s your best racetracks or forms of tracks, or tracks maybe you’ve struggled at. It’s all week-to-week type stuff, but I think we feel good about it. It’s just a matter of who can put the best 10 together, and someone is going to do that. Hopefully, we’re one of them that can do it.”