FANTASY NASCAR Racin

is an American professional stock car racing driver. A third generation racer and son of Sprint Cup Series driver Dave Blaney; Blaney started his racing career in quarter midget racing, winning his first race at age 9; At age 14, Blaney debuted in late model racing at Orange County Speedway, while in 2009, at age 15, he began competing in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS)-sanctioned South Super Late Model Series, finishing second in points and winning the series' Rookie of the Year award; he finished third in the PASS national points as well. 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 two additional wins on his way to a second consecutive second-place finish in the PASS South championship standings. He also made his debuts in the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East in 2011, scoring top ten finishes in every start in the three series; In 2012 he signed with Tommy Baldwin Racing to compete in six NASCAR Xfinity Series races, driving the No. 36 SealWrap-sponsored Chevrolet, starting at Richmond International Raceway in April Blaney qualified in the Top 10 in his debut at Richmond International Raceway, and finished seventh in the race. In July 2012, Blaney announced that he had signed

a contract to drive for Penske Racing a minimum of three races in the 2012 Xfinity Series season, starting at Iowa Speedway in August. He also ran selected races in the NASCAR Truck Series for Brad Keselowski Racing, finishing sixth in his debut in the series at Bristol Motor Speedway. 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. Blaney returned to the Truck Series in 2013, driving the full schedule for Brad Keselowski Racing and competing for the series' Rookie of the Year award. Blaney won his first career pole in the series at Kentucky Speedway in June, then won his second

career Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway in August. Blaney also competed in the Xfinity Series at Iowa Speedway in June, substituting for Joey Logano after a rain-out created a schedule conflict; Blaney finished ninth in the event. Blaney competed in a second Xfinity 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. Blaney was the only race winner in the 2013 Xfinity season to not have any Cup experience. In January 2014, Blaney announced that in addition to a full Truck Series schedule with BKR, he would be running 15 Xfinity Series and two Cup Series races for Team Penske during the year. In his first Cup start he would drive the #12 SKF Ford. He made

his debut at Kansas Speedway, finishing 27th. In August, it was announced that Blaney would be running in the Xfinity Series for Penske in 2015, and would also run twenty Cup Series races for Wood Brothers Racing in the No. 21 Ford during the 2015 NASCAR Cup Series season. Blaney won his second career Xfinity race in August 2014 at Bristol Motor Speedway, beating Kyle Busch in a green-white-checkered finish. The next week, Blaney won his first Truck race of 2014 in spectacular fashion at Ron Fellows' own Canadian Tire Motorsports Park raceway, edging German Quiroga by 0.49 seconds in a photo-finish. In the Cup Series, Blaney performed well for a rookie in the No. 21 for the Wood Brothers team. He picked up his first Top 10 at Talladega in the Geico 500, running as high as

second and finishing 4th. He didn't qualify for three races due to rain-outs. 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 at 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 Cup at Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 finishing seventh. 2016 saw NASCAR impediment the Charter system and the Wood Brothers racing team was not awarded a charter by NASCAR. Hence; Blaney would have to qualify in on time at every race for the 2016 season. He did so with no

problems often running up front in many of the races and posted three top five finishes and added nine top tens. In 2017 the Wood Brothers rented a Charter from GoFas Racing. Blaney showed he was one of the new 'young guns' in NASCAR as he placed second in the season opening Daytona 500. He later won at Pocono to get win #99 for the Wood Brothers. He was knocked out of the hunt for the Championship the race before Homestead; ending the season ninth in points. He also won two of 13 starts in the Xfinity series and finished in the Top 5 in all but one of those starts. For 2018, Blaney is splitting from the Wood Brothers and being hired to wheel the #12 Ford for Roger Penske. Blaney's move to Penske for 2018 was a success. Like in 2017 Blaney would post one win (Charlotte Roval) when the two leaders crashed on the final turn. He would also post eight Top 5's and 16 Top 10's. He qualified

for the Chase and was eliminated after the second round. He finished tenth in the points. 2019 saw Blaney driving the #12 car and he had a fairly decent season. He advanced to the Chase via points. Then he won at Talladega when he nosed out Ryan Newman at the finish line and that advanced him to round three of the Chase. Although he had finished of fifth, eighth and third in that round; it wasn't enough for him to make the finals at Homestead. He ended up tied for sixth in the final season rundown. He returned to drive for Penske in 2020. Blaney once again had a competitive season. For the fourth season in a row he won a race; this time coming at Talladega; which locked him into the Chase. Blaney started off the season with a second place finish at Daytona. He

had back to back third place finishes at Charlotte; before be fell out early at Bristol. The next four races his worst finish was fourth; capped with his win at Talladega. When the Chase started he had three bad races in a row; and had a best finish of 13th. That knocked him out of the Chase after the first round. He finished out the year strong as he had a worst finish of seventh in the final five races. For the year he had the win; along with 11 Top 5 and 17 Top 10s. Blaney had a good 2021 season. He was the best performing driver at Penske Racing. He got his first win in the fifth race of the season at Atlanta. He would win again at Michigan; and again the next race at Daytona in August. He advanced through the playoffs; but missed making the Championship race when he was eliminated at

the end of the third Round. 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 also won the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race. With the advent of the new Next-Gen car in 2022; competition was at an all time high; and there were 16 different winners in the first 26 races that locked drivers into the Chase. Only a concussion at Pocono received by Kurt Busch, opened up a spot for a driver to get in based on points. Busch's concussion kept him side-lined the rest of the year and forced eventual retirement from full time racing. 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 third in over all points after Daytona and Truex was fourth. It had to be tough on Truex to be fourth in overall points and MISS advancing to the playoffs. Blaney was eliminated from championship contention after the round of eight where he finished third at Martinsville. Despite being winless, he finished the season eighth in the points standings. Blaney was again at the controls of the #12 driving for Roger Penske in 2023. At the end; the season ended up being a success. The year started off well with an eighth place finish at Daytona. And continued on as he

posted a second at Phoenix and at Talladega. He won the Coke 600 at Charlotte locking him into the Chase, but after that their performance tailed off. Starting at race #16 at Sonoma; he only had three top 10 finishes the rest of the regular season. (All of them ninth place finishes at Atlanta, Michigan, and Watkins Glen. In the Chase, the team still continued to struggle but managed to sneak out of round one and make it into Round Two. In round two; Blaney pulled off a win at Talladega which advanced him to the round of eight. After the win; the teams seemed to catch it’s stride as he ended round two with a 12th place finish at the Roval. In the round of eight, he started with a sixth at Las Vegas; and then a second at Homestead. Still with two different winners in those races; that occupied two of the

spots to make it to the final four; so it was still going to be a battle. Like Christopher Bell the year before; Blaney pulled off the win at Martinsville to make it to the finals. At Phoenix it was a dog fight as the four drivers in the hunt for the championship battled at the front. William Byron led 95 laps and was strong all day. Kyle Larson was also strong; but not as good as Byron. Christopher bell run up toward the front until he had a brake rotor explode and put him in the wall. Blaney’s car was off at the start; but the crew worked on it every time they had a chance to get their hands on it. Blaney was tenth at the end of stage

one; and had improved to sixth at the end of stage two. The final stage his car came to life and he was able to bypass his competitors for the Championship. But no one was as good as Ross Chastain as he led 102 of the final 122 laps to drive to the win. Blaney was right on his tail; and worked hard to try and get by as Larson and Byron was closing in. As the race wound down, Blaney could never find a way around, but neither Larson nor Byron could catch the lead duo. They finished third and fourth as Chris Buescher came home fifth. Blaney will be back in the #12 again in 2024. To date, Blaney has ran 306 races over 10 seasons. He has ten wins; including a win in the Coke 600. He has ran 70 races in the Xfinity series with

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

RYAN MICHAEL BLANEY - 12/31/1993