Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse, shared his perspective on the upcoming Talladega race during a recent Q&A session with the media. With the Talladega playoff race on the horizon, Blaney discussed his mindset, preparation, and how the team is addressing the challenges, anchoring his approach around his signature resilience and experience. The Ryan Blaney Talladega race outlook emphasizes that despite the intensity and unpredictability associated with superspeedway events, his strategy remains steady as he pursues both stage points and the win.
When asked about the tire issue that led to trouble in a previous race, Blaney explained that the cause remains elusive, stating they had not pinpointed a specific problem. He elaborated,
No, I don’t really think we found anything that really stood out that we could point to and say, ‘Oh, yeah. That was it.’ So, whether it got cut or was low air over the bumps and it just kind of worked through it, we don’t really know. It’s not inconclusive, but the result was the same, unfortunately.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Mindful Preparation in the Playoffs Amid Points Pressure
Addressing how his current position in the points standings affects his strategy, Blaney described a balanced approach that still values collecting stage points without becoming locked into a “must-win” mentality. He noted,
No, I don’t think so. It stinks where we are on points, but we’ve still got two races left and I don’t personally think we are in a must-win quite yet. At Talladega, you never know what can happen. You can go have a massive points day and be short of the win, but maybe a couple other guys don’t have as good of a points day and you go into Martinsville maybe in a spot where you could point your way in if you go have another good day short of winning. Our prep is really no different. It’s how do we try to be efficient through the stages and gather up all the stage points. That could change. Let’s say the first two stages don’t go our way and, alright, maybe now it’s a must-win type scenario. That might switch up a little bit, but as far as our prep this week, it’s kind of business as usual and try to go gather the most points we can and go try to figure out a way to win the race, so pretty similar.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Blaney emphasized that the unpredictability of Talladega means “anything can happen” and noted that simply surviving the chaos can produce significant shifts in the playoff standings. When the schedule moved Talladega to the Round of 8 instead of 12, Blaney maintained his focus, explaining that fewer competitors to track simplifies the approach rather than fundamentally changing it.
When they came out with the schedule and I saw that Talladega was in the Round of 8 as opposed to 12, I didn’t really think anything of it. It’s still Talladega in the playoffs and it’s gonna be just as important as always. Honestly, my mind was like, ‘OK, I only have to worry about seven other guys as opposed to 11.’ It’s just less guys to keep your eye on and have to worry about winning or racing for points, so it didn’t really change my outlook. You should have a superspeedway race in the playoffs. I fully agree with that. You’ve got to have all forms of racetracks in the playoffs, but I didn’t really think anything of it with the round change.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Teamwork and Trust at Team Penske
With a culture built around collaboration, Blaney described Team Penske‘s information sharing as constant and highly valued, regardless of circumstances. Blaney credited Roger Penske’s leadership for creating a unified environment where drivers, crew chiefs, and engineers pool knowledge transparently, leveraging shared experience to enhance performance across all cars. He illustrated this with an example from the previous year’s championship battle, explaining,
I feel like, no matter what situation that we are in as an organization we’ve always had an open notebook of sharing info, the drivers getting together and just talking through things, crew chiefs and engineers all working together. We’ve always had that, so I don’t think there’s gonna be any more or any less of that. A great example is Joey and I were both in the championship race last year and there was no difference in our communication. There were no secrets being held. It was, ‘how do we all be better to where the two of us can run for this thing and run one-two,’ and we were able to do that. So, I just think that’s the culture that Roger has built over there. What’s the point of having three or four cars on your team if no one talks to each other. Then you’ve just got three or four separate teams in your building, so we’ve always really made it a highlight and he always has made it a highlight of, ‘let’s lean on each other and let’s learn from each other,’ and that part, I think, is very strong and doesn’t waver.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Discussion between drivers remains open and constant, as Blaney reinforced,
Yeah, I’d say we’re all-in the whole time. No matter if we were way to the good on points or in the position that we are in, I think that’s wide-open all the time.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Handling the Mental Challenges and Decision-making at Superspeedways
Blaney spoke at length about the mental side of racing at Talladega, emphasizing the importance of preparation without succumbing to stress or overthinking. He described superspeedway events as unique in that drivers must make split-second decisions, often with little time to process information, while also managing the endless variables outside their control.
I think it’s really important to be as prepared as you can. Preparation is a massive thing, but, like you said, on overthinking, I think it can eat you alive and everyone looks at everything differently, but, in my mind, it’s like, ‘Alright, let’s try to gather all the information that we can to be as prepared as possible for all these scenarios,’ but not try to drive yourself crazy doing it because it is, at the end of the day, Talladega. Things can happen. Things can change outside of your control and it’s how do you adjust to that, so I think it’s important to keep an open mind in that and not get set in your ways, but not just being fully free and going in and like, ‘Oh, yeah. We didn’t plan. We’re just gonna go see what happens.’ You have to prepare the best you can, but it’s a fine line of gathering all of the info and prep work that you need, but also not overthinking it and chewing your fingernails off, which it is stressful. It’s an important race. It’s your season, but, at the same time, you can’t go crazy thinking about it. You’ve just got to get in the zone that you need to be in from a crew chief and driver and spotter mentality and that’s all you can do. I hope that we’ve done that correctly.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Reflecting on how his mentality evolved with experience, Blaney admitted to overthinking earlier in his career. He now places greater emphasis on controlling what can be controlled, trusting instincts, and accepting the unpredictable.
I think I used to overthink it, for sure, because there’s a lot going on and it’s easy to get overwhelmed when there’s so much information being thrown at you, but, at the end of the day, you just kind of do. You don’t have time in the moment at these places to think on something, contemplate it, and then make your decision. You just kind of have to do, and sometimes you make the wrong decision and sometimes you make the right decision. That’s just kind of the way it goes. You’re not gonna make the right decision every time, but do what you think is best in the moment, and I’d say I used to sit around late at night earlier in my life and just run through all these different scenarios and drive myself crazy of, ‘well, if this happens, that happens, and it can go downhill like this,’ it’s kind of a spiral, so I think it’s a getting older type thing of, ‘hey, I can only control so much and let’s just try to do the best job we can at controlling what we can control,’ and the rest of it, good or bad, is gonna play itself out and you just hope the stars are aligned for you. So, yeah, I think it’s just a product of getting a little older and a little bit more experienced. Those things come a little bit easier and things like that.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Blaney summarized his ideal mindset at Talladega as maintaining focus and patience, especially given the unique nature of superspeedway races.
Blinders on, I guess. Always wanting to go forward, but if you’re in a spot you have to defend, you have to defend. Superspeedway racing is such a different mentality than everywhere else. The way the drivers and crew chiefs and spotters approach it is way different just because it’s a different style of racing, so I always try to be patient there in moments. I feel like it’s super easy to get, ‘I’ve got to go now. I’ve got to go now.’ And there are sometimes where, OK, yeah, time is tight and you’ve got to get going, but I’ve always tried to be, and Denny Hamlin has talked about this for a long time, is I try to keep in my head that I’m gonna have another shot, so don’t try to get super antsy and get in your head that you’ve got to go right away. Just try to let everything play out and just be patient and hopefully it lines up for you. He was talking about that years ago and I kind of took that to heart, and I try to apply it to what I do.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Communication Dynamics: In-Race Preferences and Superspeedway Nuances
Blaney explained his preference for minimal information at most tracks, allowing him to focus on his own performance. However, at superspeedways, he values extensive updates on points, gaps, and situational awareness from his team.
I would say outside of superspeedway racing I’m not a huge wanting information type of guy. I just try to do my own thing and stuff like that. Through the week, I look at where everyone is at on points. Then I look at it once or twice and I don’t really look at it again. I might ask updates through the race like, ‘Hey, what is the point scenario,’ just so I know what I have to do. Do I need to really try to get a lot more points? Is this guy kind of out-pointing me?’ You know that. You see everybody out there, but at superspeedways I like a lot of information. I want to know everything around me, gaps, lanes that are coming or going, opportunities that might have been presented. I’ve always thought at superspeedway racing that over-information is good, but at other places I always try to keep less information. Like I said, there’s just such a different style of racing that I try to change up my mentality a little bit. Here, I like to know as much as I can what’s going on. It just helps me process everything.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Reflections on Adversity and Growth On and Off the Track
Discussing the challenges experienced this season, from DNFs to personal developments, Blaney expressed gratitude for his team’s resilience and adaptability, describing how increased maturity has helped him maintain forward focus and not dwell on setbacks.
It’s definitely been a challenging year from that side of it and having a lot of DNFs. I wouldn’t really point the DNFs at anybody, it just kind of is what it is and we’ve just had a little bit more than we would have liked, but, I look at our team on the 12 car and I’ve been really, really happy with how we’ve been going about things, how we’ve been able to bounce back from bad weeks and just go do our job the next weekend and not really let it change our outlook on things and go to the racetrack confident every single week. I think it’s just the thing of getting older and having more experience and understand you’re gonna have ups and downs and it’s just how do you not really let them get to you. How do you learn from down times, if there was anything you can do about it, and you move on. I told myself like, ‘Hey, you can be upset with the Vegas deal Sunday, but when you wake up Monday, we’re gonna be full-on looking forward and heads-up looking forward to Talladega and then what challenges come at Martinsville.’ So, I think it gets easier as you get older and you’re outlook on things change and you’re just trying to look ahead a little bit more. I think some of it come naturally and just natural growth, but other is just having these conversations with myself years ago of, ‘Hey, I want to kind of change this up about me,’ because early in my career I would stew on things a little bit longer and now I try to just drop things and move on from them, so it’s a little bit of both, but I think that’s the healthiest way I’ve been able to deal with it.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
The personal milestone of becoming a father has also shifted Blaney’s perspective, helping him see life and racing with new priorities.
If I have a bad day in my job, that’s one thing, but it has put it into perspective for me watching my wife go through having a child grow inside of her – of things that she has to deal with too from that level. The way that she’s been able to overcome things that her body is changing and things that maybe aren’t ideal that come up through her pregnancy that she has to deal with and just how do we move forward together. I think you just realize that there are bigger things out there. Your job is obviously important, but other things are just as important if not more, so Gianna has honestly been amazing. It puts it into perspective for me like, ‘Hey, if I have a tough day, it’s nothing compared to if she has a tough day’ because she is having to deal with this and making sure that our child is all good and that she is being healthy.’ It definitely changes your outlook and then when he arrives it’s gonna change your outlook even more.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Confidence in Talladega and Martinsville: Leaning on Past Success
Blaney highlighted his optimism for both Talladega and Martinsville, noting both tracks have delivered strong results for himself and Team Penske in the past. His confidence in the team and trust in their preparation set the foundation for his positive outlook, noting,
Yeah, I try to go into every weekend with optimism and thinking we can go compete no matter where we go, but, yeah, looking at Talladega a lot of things can happen that can benefit you or hurt you, or benefit your competitors or hurt your competitors. I think the points thing at Talladega, why I say it’s not a must-win yet, is the same thing can happen to somebody. A couple guys get tore up early who are in the playoffs and you can go have a big day and big point swings can happen at these type of racetracks. And then our history at Martinsville we’ve been able to do a really good job there the last couple fall races and I hope that trend can continue to where we can go compete there as well. So, I like the next two tracks, for sure. We’ve definitely had a great track record at those two, and I think we can go into either one of those and run well and hopefully compete for the win, but that’s kind of everywhere. I have so much faith in this team with the guys that I’ve got working around me and the level of trust in each other, I just love going to the races every single weekend. It’s definitely nice when you’re in that spot, so hopefully we can dig into some previous success and experiences that we’ve had and can lean on those the next two weeks and see what happens.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
On the subject of the new Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) in place for the race, Blaney acknowledged it adds a strategic layer for teams dealing with incidents, allowing more opportunities for teams to repair and return to the track.
Yeah, that could definitely come into play. You never know what your damage is until you can assess it and ‘hey, can we repair this thing to get back out?’ You might see that, for sure. So that changes it in that way to where, like as before, if you got in a little accident and you can’t fix it on pit road, you’re done. Now, you at least have a shot, which I think is the right way to be. So, yeah, you could definitely see a little race within the race like you said depending on what goes down throughout it.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Blaney’s Philosophical Edge and Influence from Sports Entertainment
Blaney is known for drawing inspiration from several sources, including the unique persona of Randy “Macho Man” Savage, which he referenced to describe his own current position. He shared,
I don’t think there is a person before or after him that could cut promos quite like that guy. If I’m sitting at home and I’m bored, and maybe I’ve had a couple drinks, I will go watch Randy Savage interviews, just because I think he was amazing (laughing). What was going through that man’s head, but that’s my favorite one. He keeps pulling out the creamer and unjustifiably in a position I’d rather not be in, but the cream will rise to the top, and I hope that is what we can use for this weekend. I thought that was a perfect comparison to my situation, so, thank you, Mr. Savage.
— Ryan Blaney, Driver
Chris Buescher: Competitive Consistency and the Talladega Factor
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Kroger/Thomas’ High Protein Bagels Ford Mustang Dark Horse, also addressed the media to reflect on the season so far and share his outlook for Talladega. Buescher highlighted his team’s consistency across different track types and the incremental improvements made by RFK Racing. He acknowledged that while their performance has been steady, the playoff format places greater value on wins than on consistent finishes.
Yeah, there is certainly some good to internally discuss on that front. Unfortunately, consistency isn’t rewarded very well in this format, so, for us, we’ve been good. We haven’t quite been great and we’ve got a couple little steps to take here or there, but we’ve certainly been able to be a lot better rounded and enabled to be more competitive at any different style of racetrack and that’s been a lot of fun throughout the years, whether it’s been short tracks, road courses, superspeedways, and mile-and-a-halves. I think we’re close on all of them and some are a little stronger than others, but we just have this small step to take forward across the board to be in the hunt to win consistently, I guess, is when it really starts to pay off. So, there’s nothing to be ashamed about, for sure, and proud of the work we’ve done. Everybody has done a great job. Our pit crew has been fantastic. We’ve had a handful of races that really had excellent shots to win and weren’t able to pull it off and get all the details right on that weekend, so as it winds down we’ve got a couple more opportunities ahead of us here and a couple of good racetracks, so I’m excited about that. As we go into Talladega we know our RFK Fords will be working together and able to be up front and have speed, it’s just a matter of executing correctly and having a little bit of luck on our side.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
Buescher explained that the move of Talladega into the Round of 8 injects even more unpredictability into the playoff system, where one mistake can drastically influence the outcome for many drivers. He said,
It’s a little madness (laughing). There is a skill set to speedway racing. There are teams that have handling figured out and speed. There is a strategy to it, but there is certainly a much more elevated luck factor involved as well. With that, we all know that and that’s accepted throughout the year, but it certainly puts a lot on the line for a day that, and not that this can’t happen any given week, but one mistake from a single person can wipe out 10, 12, 15 cars in an instant at Talladega, where that’s much less likely at other places. It’s part of racing and it is what it is, but it certainly makes it difficult to get through all the way to the end and feel like you have the most deserving cars fighting for a playoff at the end. Maybe I’m talking a little bit out of turn because we’re not in it, but certainly I know we’re good at Talladega and Daytona and these style of racetracks, so on one side you want to be selfish about it and say this is just more opportunity, but, at the same time, you want everything to feel like you have the most control possible and you certainly give away a good chunk of that when we go speedway racing.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
Playoff Implications and Loyalty Among Ford Drivers
Loyalty and manufacturer alliances play a notable role at superspeedway races. Buescher clarified that Ford drivers tend to work together regardless of the playoff context, stating,
Yeah and that’s always been the case. It doesn’t really matter if it’s the playoffs or not. When we go to these speedway races from a manufacturer’s side, everybody gets their groups together and we try to work together throughout the race – pit cycles, strategy, working to try and save fuel at times, probably too much, but that’s always the case, so it doesn’t change just because we’re coming down to the end here.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
Referring to integrity over race manipulation, Buescher noted,
You’re always aware of it. We’re aware of it throughout the playoffs. I think there’s been a pretty clear warning set for race manipulation right now, so I think that there’s certainly a finicky way to go about that and I don’t want to be caught up in that, and I don’t want anybody to ever accuse me of laying over for anybody, so ultimately we are still going to the racetrack to win a race. That’s not something that you would pull over or give anything away. It’s just a matter of awareness. If that means not trying to shove right in the middle of four-wide in a bad situation, then there’s an extra thought that goes into your head at that point, but we’re still going to the racetrack to figure out how to win.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
Growth as a Well-Rounded Driver and Strategic Pit Crews
Reflecting on his own growth, Buescher discussed how surrounding himself with skilled peers, such as Brad Keselowski and talented road racers, has allowed him to refine his skill set for a wider array of tracks. He credited the evolution of the competition and car setups, as well as the adaptive mentality needed to succeed at today’s variety of circuits.
If I had the answer, I would have put it into play a lot sooner, I guess. We’ve been good road racing for a long time. I’ve had some really good road racers help fine-tune what I was able to pick up on as a kid. Brad Keselowski is an extraordinary speedway racer among other things, so I’ve been able to pick up on a lot of that now just from having him as a teammate. I think that our race cars are more competitive now than they’ve ever been, so that helps you when you go short track racing or intermediate racing. Ryan is a short track racer and we’ve been able to lean into that side of things, so I think a lot of it comes from who you’re surrounded by and what you can pick up on and learn, and I’m certainly not gonna sit here and say I’ve got it all figured out at any given style of racetrack. We’re always figuring out how to be better, so there’s certainly an openness to keep after it and try to figure out how to improve a little bit more each time we go to these things and been fortunate to be around very talented people as well. A lot of things go into that, but it’s fun to think about where you came from and how you grew up racing and I’m not a road course racer by trade, but we did a handful of Legends car races growing up because we knew we wanted to do something different. We raced ARCA brand road races. We did a handful of dirt tracks growing up. It’s not my background, but if you add them up through the years we’ve done maybe 15-20 dirt races now in total, but it’s something to round you out a little bit and to have experience for different approaches and different mindsets.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
This season, Buescher noted, productivity has shifted earlier to the race shop given limited practice at tracks, creating even more emphasis on off-track preparation and the strength of the entire team.
Yeah. I mean, you think back and we’ve got to be good off the truck nowadays. One, you don’t even have the tolerance to be able to make any big changes. We’re very much locked into a tight box. Two, you don’t have the time if you did have the allowance. So much of it happens now back at the race shop. Our day is largely set up from Monday to Wednesday or Thursday until that car goes up in the hauler, so, yes, it certainly matters a lot to have good people in all different aspects, so that when you get to the track there’s no guesswork or no trying to dial in from a mile away.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
The Playoff System, Race Manipulation Concerns, and Talladega’s Risks
Both drivers discussed the importance of integrity and awareness amid playoff scrutiny and NASCAR’s warnings against race manipulation through radio communication and tactics. Buescher reflected on messages from NASCAR regarding radio chatter and their effect on the race environment.
I think it did make a difference. I don’t have any direct communication for what’s been talked about, but I know it has made it through our competition side. I know that it has made it into the media and I think the message we’ve gotten is clear enough to say, ‘Do it at your own risk, but you’re not gonna like the result.’ Ultimately, I think that’s fair. We had a terrible scenario at Martinsville last year with cars just riding and blocking basically and entire racetrack. We’ve had instances where we’ve seen cars just straight-up lift and not push rows at speedway races. I don’t know if that’s blatant enough to be called this time around if there is radio chatter ahead of that, I don’t know. It’s a hard line for anybody to police and you can always say that balance was an issue. I heard one of the things that came from the ROVAL was something that I actually got told in a purely selfish 17 team state of mind was, ‘Alright, save tires here. Don’t push forward in case we have a late-race restart.’ And then I hear that was one of the things that somebody else said later on that almost got them in really big trouble, so I’m sitting here like, ‘Well, alright, we realistically wanted to make sure we had some amount of tire race for a late-race restart.’ That was not to help anybody other than ourselves, so it’s certainly a hard place to officiate from, but I think that the warning is loud enough and clear enough that nobody wants to be on the other side of NASCAR having to make a judgement call.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
With fewer playoff contenders and high stakes at Talladega, drivers must balance their own ambitions with the requirement to avoid controversial incidents.
Probably a little bit easier, but, that being said, I’m very much in my own space most of the time. There’s an awareness when it’s other Fords, basically, but I couldn’t have told you the playoff scenario for anybody at any of these cut races because it didn’t matter to us and what we were trying to do. There’s just a respect thing among certain people and certainly there’s a respect thing on certain people that you’ve had good, clean racing with through the year and those that you feel like you still owe a little bit so you’re gonna run them a little harder. That’s not for anybody else’s benefit other than our own and feeling like somebody is owed one by us, so, for us, it cleans it up a little bit to where you don’t have to guess if others around you are trying to play those games as much. They probably will to some extent, but I don’t think they’ll be very obvious or in the purely blatant moves that we’ve seen in the past.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
Anticipating Intensity in the Talladega Playoff Showdown
Looking ahead to the race, Buescher anticipated greater aggression levels compared to the mild spring event, noting that in superspeedway racing, unpredictability remains the central challenge. Weather and potential incidents could again play a determinant role, and the playoff context amplifies risk, with every position holding implications.
I certainly had my big one in the spring. I hit a ton. You think about the accidents that happen and statistically where the safest place may be. We got wrecked from the front row – us and the 20 – so there’s no safe place and there’s no saying that if that happens this week and it doesn’t wipe out 10 cars. There was still aggression. There were still moments, it just didn’t end up wiping out as many cars, so I would say I don’t expect it to be super tame, no, but I never really do. Sometimes it just works out easier, I guess. One thing this late in the year, I’d imagine we haven’t dove off into weather until later this afternoon in a pre-race meeting, but it’s probably not gonna be hot enough to make handling a real big issue at Talladega, which means we’ll be mostly in control and what that really comes down to is it wasn’t just a handling mishap, it was just an aggression mishap, so I think when you have that, you have less accidents because people are able to control themselves a little bit more in that sense, but there’s gonna be a lot of different scenarios on the line for a lot of different people in their positions and we’re certainly not gonna be able to keep up with what that looks like for everybody, so I think we just expect the aggression level to be a little bit higher this go-around than maybe it was in the spring. I think it was there in the spring, too, but it was two-car accidents, instead of eight.
— Chris Buescher, Driver
What Comes Next in the NASCAR Playoffs
As the field prepares for Talladega, the intensity remains high. For Ryan Blaney, staying grounded in preparation, maintaining team unity, and leaning into both recent and career experience are essential to capitalize on opportunities. Chris Buescher and his RFK Ford teammates view Talladega as a stage for both calculated strategy and the ability to adapt amid chaos. Both drivers, through their perspectives and responses, signal that the coming race will test not just the speed of their cars, but the psychological and tactical edge of their teams, in a playoff battle where unpredictability reigns.
The next rounds at Talladega and Martinsville will likely see dramatic point swings and the possibility of underdog moments, all central to NASCAR’s playoff theater. The Talladega race outlook, as described by Blaney and Buescher, captures a sport where resilience and adaptability are as valuable as horsepower, and where a single decision, or stroke of luck, can change a season’s trajectory.
