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Ryan Blaney Interview Following His Win at New Hampshire | VICTORY LAP

Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX Sep 22, 2025 7 min

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About this episode

Ryan Blaney reflects on a dominant weekend at New Hampshire, highlighting the smooth execution by his team and the importance of tire tests in gaining a competitive edge. He praises Team Penske's collaborative culture, emphasizing smart, respectful racing among teammates without explicit team orders. Blaney also shares a personal moment about receiving his first pair of Jordans from Michael Jordan, adding a unique human touch to the conversation. The episode blends technical insights with behind-the-scenes team dynamics and personal stories.

Topics: race strategy team collaboration tire testing driver communication team penske playoff racing driver gear michael jordan connection

Fresh off his New Hampshire win, Ryan Blaney joins Kevin Harvick for this week’s Victory Lap on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. The two break down Blaney’s blazing-fast car and the dominant performance by Team Penske, explaining what makes Penske so strong when it matters most and how the organization consistently sets itself up for postseason success. Blaney also shares insights into his playoff mindset, what he thinks will separate contenders from pretenders, and why Team Penske’s formula works so well in pressure situations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's fun when you have weekends like that and you could really take advantage of the raw

speed that was in the race car.

I had my first pair of Jordans.

Those things are one-for-one.

Well, Ryan, congratulations on what I would categorize as a pretty dominant weekend from

the time that that thing rolled out of the trailer.

Wow.

That had to be fun to drive.

Yeah, just one of those weekends to where everything went smooth.

Practice was great for us.

I thought we were in the ballgame in practice and put up a good qualifying

effort. And then, yeah, just raced and was really competitive and just got a

little bit better and better through the day.

And Jonathan did a great job of not only preparing through the week of

understanding where we needed to be, but also, you know, calling a grid race,

adjusting on our car through the race.

And so, yeah, it's fun when you have weekends like that.

And it all works out for you that everybody executed and you could really

take advantage of the raw speed that was in the race car.

Yeah, it's so crazy when you have cars like that.

I can think back and you can as well.

Just think back to how many times that something went wrong or you got in a

crash or something that happened along the way to take away

that dominant car.

But when you talk about that dominant car, we talked about it on the show.

And I think about when you go and everybody, the manufacturer is trying

to make it fair for who gets to go do these tests.

And I think about Logano going up there.

And I think back to last year, you think back to North Wilkesboro

and kind of the trajectory that it changed the path.

How impactful, you know, I mean, I think back to just those two

moments are those tests and being able to just find two or three little

things with as competitive as it is today.

But man, that that seems like a pretty impactful moment from those tire tests.

I think it has been.

We've we've been able to utilize those tests very well.

You know, that whole 22 group has been able to go do that.

And, you know, those tire tests are interesting because,

you know, you really have to take advantage of them when you get selected

for one because we don't get to test much anymore.

In general, really the only tests we have are tire tests.

And they and then you don't know exactly what tire you're going to run.

When you're running through five, six, seven different sets of tires,

you know, so they just did a great job of building a big notebook

of what they thought it was going to be like.

And then kind of looking back at everything they did.

Hey, we think this is a good direction and then tinkering on it,

you know, in the time between that test and the race weekend

and a huge props to all of Team Penske Wood Brothers

like brought bringing awesome speed all weekend.

And that's a big testament of the work that they do.

And I think we've done a great job at that of utilizing the things

that when we can learn, we definitely learn from them a lot.

And it just speaks to the people that we have here

and are involved in our program.

And this is a huge part of what they do.

So they should be incredibly proud of that.

Yeah. And when you look at the end of the race

and one thing that that I think that the whole garage is jealous of

and and, you know, you look at the, you know, the situation

between the 11 and the 54 is just that communication

and how you guys all work together.

Is that something that that Roger preaches?

And because it just seems like that's just how you who you guys are now.

It's it's I don't even know if he has to even tell you anymore.

But you think back to you and Joey racing for the championship.

But you listen to Josh Berry talk about it after the race this week

and how far he would have not pushed things in order to to win the race

to be respectful. Is that a conversation that you guys have to have anymore?

No, you know, there is never any team orders that come from Roger.

The only thing that is kind of preached is he expects us to race each other

just as hard as everybody else.

But it's just don't wreck each other doing.

Yeah. Don't don't wreck each other running one to trying to win the race.

And we work so closely here at Team Pansky from the drivers

and crew chiefs and engineers like it's one big group.

It's a it's a joint effort to be competitive.

And I personally feel like we do that better than any group

of just working together and figuring out ways that our whole company

can be successful. And it comes down to the racetrack too.

You know, hey, we race each other really hard.

Like moments yesterday, Joey and I were racing the heck out of each other

for the lead, me and Josh at the end of the race, race each other super hard.

But we're not going to run into each other.

And hey, I'm not knocking, you know, the other deal that went on.

I'm just this is kind of how we've operated for a long time.

And it just stems from what what Roger has always expected

is to to race hard and go for wins when you can get them.

But be smart about it and, you know, don't don't go out there

and kind of do something that is going to jeopardize the whole team.

And it's fun when you can have that, you know, you trust those guys a lot.

And we have a lot of respect for each other behind the wheel

and as teammates and their whole teams.

And it's it's fun when you can go out there and race hard

with the guys that you work with on a day to day basis.

That's pretty impressive.

And you guys are pros and execute it well.

So last question is from the peanut gallery

from the third chair over here.

But I'm told that I'm told that I that I needed to ask you

about your driving shoes from the weekend.

Did you get new driving shoes this weekend?

Yeah, I had my first pair of Jordans this weekend.

I've been bugging Michael Jordan for a pair for probably six months

and finally got them sent to me warm for the first time this weekend

in practice. The souls were a little different.

So I had to spend about 10, 15 laps in practice

kind of getting used to the different souls on them.

And yeah, those things are one for one.

So they have a good track record and pretty pretty cool to do that.

Pretty amazing to I've been really lucky to have, you know,

create a friendship with with MJ, just an amazing human being.

Someone I admired growing up and still do this very day

and pretty nice gesture that he was got me a pair of shoes

and to do that stuff.

So yeah, those things are they got a good track record so far.

So we'll see, we'll see what else they can do.

Well, that's pretty awesome.

Well, congratulations, man.

You guys absolutely put it together and kick butt this weekend

and good luck for the rest of the playoffs.

Awesome. Thanks, Kevin. Appreciate it.

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