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Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske.
A third-generation racecar driver, Blaney is the son of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dave Blaney and the grandson of modified dirt track racer Lou Blaney. Growing up, Blaney had a very successful early racing career in quarter midget racing, Bandolero racing, and late model racing, which included Blaney winning his first quarter midget race at the age of nine, and in 2009 at the age of fifteen, competing in the Pro All Star Series late model division, finishing second in the final points standings while also winning the series' Rookie of the Year award.
Blaney began his NASCAR career, driving in select few races in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series in 2011-2012 for Tommy Baldwin Racing and Penske Racing. In his first full time NASCAR season in the Truck Series in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski Racing, Blaney finished 6th in points while also winning the Rookie of the Year Award. The following year, Blaney finished second in the final point standings, narrowly losing the Truck Series title to Matt Crafton by twenty-points. Blaney made his Cup Series debut in 2014 driving a few select races for Penske. He signed with Wood Brothers Racing in 2015 driving a limited-schedule in the famed No. 21 car, and remained with the Wood Brothers for an additional two years, driving his first full-time Cup Seroes schedule from 2016–2017. In 2017, Blaney captured his first career Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway and finishing ninth in the final point-standings.
In 2018, Blaney joined Team Penske full-time driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Since joining Penske, Blaney has never finished outside the top-ten in the final championship standings in the Cup Series, which includes Blaney winning the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship, and nearly winning back-to-back titles the following year in 2024, when he finished second in the final point standings to his Penske racing teammate Joey Logano. Blaney is the winner of the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race, and has currently amassed a total of 16 Cup Series victories, including a crown jewel victory in the 2023 Coca-Cola 600.
At the age of twelve, Blaney debuted in late model racing at Orange County Speedway, while in 2009, at the age of fifteen, 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. In addition, he won the Eastern Grand Nationals in Huntsville, Alabama and the Gasoline Alley National Championship quarter midget event in Indianapolis, Indiana.]] 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. Blaney also competed in the Champion Racing Association (CRA)-sanctioned Southern Six Pack series, winning the series championship for 2010. 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.
For 2012, Blaney returned to the PASS Super Late Model Series in the Carswell Motorsports No. 98 car.
For 2012, Blaney, who had won praise from Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick for his driving skills, returned to the K&N Pro Series East, running six races for family-owned DB Racing, driving the No. 10 car.
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. He also ran selected races in the Camping World 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 eighteen years, eight months, and fifteen days. The previous record was twenty years and eighteen days set by Kyle Busch in 2005.|238x238px]]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. 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 Nationwide Series at Iowa Speedway in June, substituting for Joey Logano after a rainout created a schedule conflict; Blaney finished ninth in the event. 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. Blaney was the only race winner in the 2013 Nationwide season to not have any Sprint Cup experience.
In January 2014, Blaney announced that in addition to a full Camping World Truck Series schedule with BKR, he would be running fifteen Nationwide Series and two Sprint Cup Series races for Team Penske during the year.
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. Blaney won his second career Nationwide 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 spectacularly at Ron Fellows' own Canadian Tire Motorsports Park raceway, edging German Quiroga by 0.49 seconds in a photo-finish.
In 2015, Blaney began his Xfinity Series schedule in 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-ten of his career in the Sprint Cup at Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 finishing seventh.
In June, he won his first career Cup race at the Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. After passing Kyle Busch with ten laps to go, he held off Harvick to claim the victory, qualifying him for the playoffs. On July 26, Blaney announced he would move to Team Penske's new No. 12 car for the 2018 season. At the end of the regular season, Blaney entered the playoffs ninth in points, courtesy of his win at Pocono and three stage wins.
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. 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 seventeenth and being eliminated from the playoffs. 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, fourteen 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.
Blaney won the pole at Las Vegas, won 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. 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.
A run of good finishes to round out the summer stretch, none lower than fifteenth, 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, twelve 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.
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. 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.
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 one, leaving him suffering with concussion-like symptoms. He later went on to say that he felt it was the hardest impact he has felt in his entire racing career. 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. 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. 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.
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 twelve laps to go at Texas, putting his hopes of advancing to the Round of 8 in jeopardy. 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. 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. NASCAR later rescinded the penalty and restored Blaney's points after an issue was found with the damper template. 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.
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 twenty laps to go. He hung on to finish second, clinching the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
In June 2017, Blaney became a member of Fox NASCAR 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. 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. The driver-only broadcast format returned for the 2018 Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway as Blaney returned to his pit duties. 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.
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. That same year Blaney also had a cameo appearance as a delivery boy in the film Logan Lucky. 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. Blaney also guest-starred as Shane Powell in an episode of the CBS reboot Magnum P.I. In 2019, Blaney had a cameo appearance as himself in the Netflix's television series The Crew alongside Austin Dillon and Cole Custer.
In 2021, Blaney was one of three drivers featured as cover stars for the video game.
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 , which followed the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
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.
Blaney is married to model Gianna Tulio. On June 1st, 2025, it was announced that the couple would be having a baby.
| † – Qualified for Trevor Bayne |
| 2015 | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 12 | 39 |
| 2016 | 7 | 19 | ||
| 2017 | 36 | 2 | ||
| 2018 | Team Penske | Ford | 3 | 7* |
| 2019 | 14 | 31 | ||
| 2020 | 27 | 2 | ||
| 2021 | 14 | 30 | ||
| 2022 | 7 | 4 | ||
| 2023 | 7 | 8 | ||
| 2024 | 32 | 30 | ||
| 2025 | 16 | 7 |
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points
In 2012 Blaney switched from Nationwide to Truck Series points at Atlanta Motor Speedway in August.
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