Ryan Blaney true to his word on old-school 'no burnout' policy
Ryan Blaney was true to his word after scoring his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.
There was no celebratory burnout. He simply did a slow roll down the frontstretch, acknowledging the cheering crowd, then took the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to Victory Lane.
Blaney made it clear that when he won in the Cup Series there would be no burnout last month when he refused to do one after winning the XFINITY Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
No, Blaney didn’t do one after winning the Hisense 300 – and afterward, he was glad to explain why.
“Everyone nowadays they go down and do big funky burnouts and tear their race cars up and burn the rear tires off of them and blow them out and ruin the motor,” Blaney said then. “Back in the day they didn’t do that.
“They just kind of rolled down the frontstretch and turned around and waved to the fans and got the checkered flag and went to Victory Lane. They’d even pick up a couple crew members on the way. I couldn’t find any of my crew members or else I would have picked them up.
“That’s how they used to do it. Personally to me, that is cooler than doing a big, smoky burnout and tearing up your race car and hurting the motor. That was kind of pre-planned.”
And that is pure old-school.
But what else would you expect from Blaney, who along with his father Dave Blaney became the first father-son duo to win an XFINITY race (or the equivalent thereof) at Charlotte in May? His father won in what was then called the Busch Series at the 1.5-mile track in October of 2006 – when Ryan was 12 years old.
“Back then in ’06 it wasn’t the XFINITY Series, but that was pretty neat for my dad to win here. I remember watching that race … It’s definitely cool to win at a track my father did. It’s pretty cool,” Blaney said that day.
Dad was a little slow to text congratulations after last Sunday's Cup win, however. Or at least Ryan was slow to get it -- telling reporters afterward that he always leaves his phone behind in his motorcoach, so he couldn't see a text until he got back there.
That's when Blaney's crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, chimed in.
"He texted me, so I'm sure he's texted him," Bullins said, nodding at Ryan.
"He probably texted you before me," Blaney added.
Bullins then revealed the message he received from Dave Blaney, who was back at Sharon Speedway, running an event at the dirt track the family partly owns in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Dave Blaney's text to Bullins said, "Congrats. About time."
You gotta love these old-school racers. They keep it simple.