Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Ryan Blaney Interview After Winning at Phoenix | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Ryan Blaney’s dramatic NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix Raceway featured pit road setbacks, late-race strategy, and a comeback drive that saw the Team Penske driver pass 49 cars on his way to victory. In this week’s Victory Lap interview, Kaitlyn Vincie is joined by Ryan Blaney to break down how the race unfolded, the key strategy call that helped him secure the win, what he has been most impressed with from his team early in the NASCAR season, and how he is approaching the upcoming race weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you have days like that, you have a couple knockdowns through the day and to fight back and find yourself in victory lane. Those definitely are very gratifying. Consistency matters more. The first 26 races are incredibly important and you're seating for the chase. Welcome into the victory lap. I'm Caitlin Vincay here with Kevin Harvick's happy hour and so good to have Ryan Blaney, the big Phoenix winner joining us on the program. And Ryan, with everything that you and your team faced in that race, would you feel like this is maybe one of the more hard fought wins in your career? Yeah, simply up there. That's for sure.

You know, we we did a great job of overcoming some of our mistakes and issues. You know, so I'm really proud of that. And, you know, we just persevered through the whole day, you know, and if we did have a problem, right, it's just we focused on what's the next task that we have to accomplish. You know, so I was really proud of everybody for having that mindset. And that's a great mindset that we have with this 12 team. and, you know, everyone's going to make mistakes, but it's how do you learn from them and how do you move on?

And, you know, we had a fast enough car to make up a lot of it and find ourselves in position and in the game towards the end of the race to take two tires. And that was a great call by Jonathan and that allowed us, you know, to get the lead here on the restart like you're seeing. And then hold off the 20 car who was, you know,

really coming on four tires there at the end of the race. But yeah, definitely a day, when you have days like that, that kind of, you've had, have a couple knockdowns through the day and to fight back and find yourself in victory lane. Those definitely are very gratifying, I feel like, for your whole group. I was going to say, how does that speak to the strength of the team and just the depth of the team that you have when you can overcome those types of things?

Yeah, I'm very lucky to be with such a great group of people, you know, and that's what this whole sport is, is the people. And I've been really fortunate to have been surrounded by really hard workers. people who share the same mindsets, you know, across the board. And, you know, we've built that community up, you know, with everybody. You know, Jonathan's done an amazing job of putting this amazing group of folks together that, you know, want to work hard and get through the hard times together and enjoy the good times as well. So it's a fun community that we've built over here, not only, you know, our 12 group, but all of Team Penske. And it's fun to go to battle with those guys every week.

You mentioned Jonathan, your crew chief several times, obviously had the correct strategy call in the end. What kind of an asset do you feel like he has been to your career in the program? Oh, I've had an absolute blast working with Jonathan, you know, since 2022. And it's hard to believe it's been, you know, 22, 23, 24, 25, you know, we're in our fifth year together. You know, it's hard to believe that, you know, it's just because it feels like just yesterday, you know, we started working together. and we've been able to do some really great things together. He's such a hard worker, incredibly smart human being, and it's just becoming this.

He already is, but I feel like every single day, he becomes more and more of an amazing leader as well. And so I've been, like I said before, I mean, I'm really lucky to be surrounded by great people, and Jonathan's at the pinnacle of it. And so, yeah, it's been a lot of fun with him. And I couldn't ask for anybody else. He's such a good, not only good crew chief,

but such a great human being as well. And that's pretty fun when you have those similarities. Yes, you seem like a great pairing together. So this race in terms of what we saw with the tires strategy at the end, was it about what you anticipated it was going to be? Honestly, yeah, I thought it was a great race. Like the increased horsepower, I'm going to say this was our first, like, oval with increased horsepower.

I'm not going to count Bowman Gray just because you barely get wide open there. but I thought it was awesome. Like you could really make your rear tires angry if you weren't conscious of how you were kind of running them early on. And I think that's good. That's when you see big comers and goers and stuff like that. And so, yeah, I thought it was a great race. The track getting really hot and slick yesterday. I thought it really opened up a ton of lanes.

That's the highest we've run in three and four in, you know, a handful of years. So I thought it just opened up the track a little. little bit. And that's always, that's always good when the track gets pretty wide and everyone's slipping around. That's always based for a good race. Well, you certainly were able to capitalize. And your post-race interview, you mentioned winning feels different as a dad. You have since returned home to Charlotte and seeing your family. What was that moment like? Yeah, it was, they were all sleeping when I got home. But yeah, it's just, it definitely hits different. You know, I mean, yeah, like I said yesterday, I mean, winning is great, you know, and that's what we're

doing this for is the win and all those emotions you go through. But, you know, and then coming home to your family, like, that's, that's even better, you know, and it's, it's something I've been lucky enough to experience, you know, and first time win as a dad is always pretty cool, even though Charlie has no idea what's going on, you know, I remember I'll show him when he's older, like, hey, bud, this is the first one that your dad won, you know, and ever since I had you. So, yeah, it's just fun, fun memories, fun moments. It was, it was awesome to, you know, see them this morning when everybody woke up. And, uh, and yeah, that's, that's great. So I hope, you know, we're able to win with, you know, Gianna and Charlie at the racetrack. And that's going to be a fun family picture in Victory Lane. Charlie's got a cool dad. That's for sure. So big picture this season, you've led laps in every race. Where do you feel like your team is at just kind of as a whole? I know it's still early, but where do you feel you guys are at? Yeah, I feel like we're in a great spot. going into the year, you know, the first three races are all kind of, you never know what can happen, right?

You have two super speedways with Daytona and Atlanta and then a road course at Cota, which, I mean, we're familiar with all those tracks. But I guess we could, you know, it's a little funky. You just never know where you're going to, you know, pan out at the end of them. And I think one of our biggest things that Jonathan and I talked about before the year was just not putting ourselves in a hole, you know, the first three weeks of the year. And, you know, we didn't finish Daytona, but then I thought we put together really good weekends and finishes at Atlanta and Cota. And then obviously this weekend. So I think we're fired on all cylinders. I love where our, you know, our speed this weekend was really good.

And I look forward to seeing what we're at at Vegas this upcoming weekend, kind of our first, you know, intermediate mile and a half track. And then we'll get a really good idea. So proud of the effort so far. Just got to keep going, though. Can never get stagnant. You know, you're always trying to learn every single weekend, no matter how it's going. You mentioned the mile and a half. First one we're going to in just a few days at Las Vegas.

But what is challenging about it? I mean, mile and a halfs all have their unique elements to them. What is tough about Vegas? Yeah, I think the few things we look at going there is obviously like the tunnel bump in one and two is pretty large. And that's how do you, how do you make it over that? The high temperatures there, it's going to be really hot in Vegas this weekend. so track's going to get slick. And then like the wind.

The wind is always a pretty big factor there, which is not much you can do about that, but you just always have to prepare for it. But yeah, I think that the tunnel bump is something that's always on people's minds. You know, hey, how can we get over this bump? And efficiently enough, but then how do we also get through turns three and four,

which is pretty smooth? So there's always that kind of that little bit of a cat and mouse game with your setup of, you know, do you kind of completely just look look at one and two and try to get over the bump good and just live over in three and four, or is it going to be vice versa? So those are always the challenges when we get out there. So you're in a good position in terms of the points. But ever since NASCAR announced we were going back to the old type of format, how does the mentality change as a driver to this more orthodox way of going after a championship?

Yeah. I mean, I, the goal every week is to win races and finish as good as you can. Like, so I don't like that mindset doesn't change, but I feel like there is more thoughts in the back of your mind of, you know, not wanting to throw away a bunch of points, right? Whether that's, and I said this earlier, like before the season started, like bad days are going to hurt even worse in this points format because now you have to make up, you know, that much more. You know, no more win in your end type thing. You can't lay back on that. Like winning is a lot of points, but like there's, you're not guaranteed. spot in the chase if you've won a race.

So I think it's just consistency matters more, which I think is good. I think that's the way it should be. So yeah, I find myself looking at the points more often than what I did in prior years just because you know, you're always curious of where you're at because that's your, the first 26 races are incredibly important and you're seating for the chase. So I'd like to say it doesn't really change our minds that much, but there's always that little little inkling in the back. your mind that like, man, just don't want to have a bad day here. And I think I think everyone's

mindsets that way. Right. Yeah. Well, you're certainly in a good position to start the year. So the final question I have for you is just a banner weekend for Team Penske overall, what that was like, being a part of the double out there in Phoenix and what this organization means to you and what it's like to be a part of those huge moments for that company. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we couldn't have drawn up a better weekend at Phoenix. You know, it was really great having the Indy cars there. And I'm a big fan of IndyCar racing, you know, obviously with the team that we have here, you know, I cheer on Scotty and Joseph and David, you know, I pull for those guys. I want those guys to do well. And it goes both ways, right? I had a blast. I just walked around the grid on Saturday before the race and talk to those three guys, talk to their teams. And, you know, got to be a huge race fan with the team that I am like really pulling for. So that was a lot of fun. And getting to watch. scene of car race with with roger up in the suite um you know there wasn't a lot of banner going on he's on the radio like he's listening to everything that's going on and um and stuff like that so it's just

it's just neat to see his involvement in it firsthand um and then for all those guys to stick around for sunday and cheer us on was was great i think it just speaks on the the team that we have here you know no matter what series you're in you're always pulling for each other and supporting each other and um we are one big team penskees so uh awesome We can sweat both poles, got both wins. Joseph definitely put the pressure on us, uh, winning Saturday. Um, that's for sure, but luckily we were to do it and to have Roger there, um, just makes it even more special. Yeah, great weekend overall for team Penske.

Ryan, always nice to hear from you. Congratulations on the Phoenix win and best of luck to you in Las Vegas. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks, Kate.