{"id":1570409,"date":"2023-06-02T13:39:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T17:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1570409"},"modified":"2023-06-02T13:39:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T17:39:01","slug":"ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan\u00a0Blaney\u2019s Coke 600 Win Debunked The Notion that He Has a Major Weakness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The biggest knock on Ryan Blaney since the second-generation driver\u2019s full-time move to the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/motorsports\/\">NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series in 2016 has been his inability to put winning race cars in the place that winners go: Victory Lane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After all, Blaney has just eight points-paying triumphs in 284 starts at NASCAR\u2019s highest level \u2014 a winning percentage of .028. In case you\u2019re not into decimals, that means <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/ryan-blaney-hasnt-made-impact-of-bubba-wallace-chase-elliott-others\/\">Blaney wins just under .03 percent of the time<\/a>, which isn\u2019t a whole lot by any reasonable measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what Blaney did on Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway should at least temporarily give his sharpest critics reason for pause with the popular theory that he <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/ryan-blaney-worst-closer-in-nascar-no-excuses\/\">lacks the killer instinct<\/a> necessary to get the most out of his equipment and put the field away when he has the fastest car on the track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ryan-blaney-came-painfully-close-to-winning-several-times-during-his-drought\">Ryan Blaney came painfully close to winning several times during his drought<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Talladega: Breaking down the last-lap wreck involving Ryan Blaney &amp; Bubba Wallace | NASCAR Race Hub\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qky6n5CEoTQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While it\u2019s been thoroughly documented in the last few days that Ryan Blaney had been riding a winless streak stretching back 59 races to August 2021, far less noted has been the fact that Blaney actually performed well enough to win on numerous occasions over his lengthy dry spell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider, for example, that Blaney accumulated enough points to finish eighth in the standings last season despite being the only driver in the 16-driver playoff field <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/ryan-blaney-somewhat-crossroads-nascar-cup-series-career\/\">not to find his way to Victory Lane<\/a>. Perhaps an even greater testament to how much speed Blaney had in his No. 12 Team Penske Fords was the fact that he earned a series-high nine stage wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blaney also led over 100 laps in three races and rang up a dozen top-fives, only to never pop the winner\u2019s champagne. The first 13 races of the 2023 season had been a similar story for the 29-year-old High Point, North Carolina native. Specifically, Blaney finished on the podium three times but was unable to bring it home a winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then came Monday\u2019s breakthrough at the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/most-nascar-cup-series-wins-charlotte-motor-speedway\/\">1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway quad-oval<\/a> in Concord, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ryan Blaney proved that he absolutely can close the deal by winning the Coke 600<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ryan Blaney speaks on his first place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte | NASCAR on FOX\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S1LLpJoiPjA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If there\u2019s one thing that almost every Cup Series driver agrees on, it\u2019s that the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is NASCAR\u2019s ultimate test of survival. Not only is the race the only one over 500 miles on the Cup tour, but it\u2019s also the only one with four stages. Therefore, to be successful in the Coke 600, a driver must be in tip-top condition both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blaney \u2014 despite his history of saving his worst for last \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/3-cup-series-drivers-who-are-hot-3-who-are-not-gateway-week-edition\/\">held the top position for the final 26 laps<\/a> and maintained a comfortable distance down the stretch between himself and second-place finisher William Byron, who ultimately took the checkered flag over six-tenths of a second in arrears of Blaney\u2019s Roger Penske-owned Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After jumping out of his car on the fronstretch to celebrate, a visibly emotional Blaney was quick to acknowledge that it had been a long time since claiming his last trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou start to get to feel like you can\u2019t win anymore,\u201d Blaney said to FOX Sports\u2019 Jamie Little in a live TV interview. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t won in a while, and that can get hard. I want to thank the 12 team for believing in me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After what Blaney did in <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/coca-cola-600-nascar-longest-race\/\">NASCAR\u2019s longest and arguably most grueling race<\/a>, there\u2019s no reason for anyone not to believe in him now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you thought that Ryan Blaney couldn't close out a race and reach Victory Lane, it's high time you reconsider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":1570427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[253795],"tags":[118377],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ryan\u00a0Blaney\u2019s Coke 600 Win Proved His Major Weakness Is a Thing of the Past - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The biggest knock against Ryan Blaney has been his ability to reach Victory Lane. The Coke 600, however, has put that idea to bed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ryan\u00a0Blaney\u2019s Coke 600 Win Proved His Major Weakness Is a Thing of the Past - Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The biggest knock against Ryan Blaney has been his ability to reach Victory Lane. The Coke 600, however, has put that idea to bed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-02T17:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-02T17:39:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Ryan-Blaney.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"817\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jared Turner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jared_turner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jared Turner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/\",\"name\":\"Ryan\u00a0Blaney\u2019s Coke 600 Win Proved His Major Weakness Is a Thing of the Past - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/ryan-blaneys-coke-600-win-debunked-the-notion-that-he-has-a-major-weakness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Ryan-Blaney.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-02T17:39:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-02T17:39:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/23db61794cbcc036a237162f9cabb0bd\"},\"description\":\"The biggest knock against Ryan Blaney has been his ability to reach Victory Lane. 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He has interviewed 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX \u201cX\u201d Award for \u201cXtraordinary\u201d job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career.   A former member of the National Motorsports Press Association, Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work, studying both Communications and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa. 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