NASCAR cup series champion Ryan Blaney returns to Phoenix Raceway to defend title

AVONDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — The NASCAR season will culminate here in the Valley with Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway in November.

Last year, Ryan Blaney won his first Cup Series title. He was back at the track in Avondale recently and talked about the experience of becoming a champion and his drive to do it again.

“It’s odd…for something that you want to accomplish your whole life, but I grew up admiring these guys and winning championships,” Blaney said. “I want to do that. I want to do that. I’m working my whole life for it, and you finally do it, and you don’t know how to feel about it.”

Reaching the pinnacle of their sport is something few athletes get to experience.

“You’re obviously elated and happy, but I don’t think I would even know, like, did it feel like I expected? Because you can’t. I didn’t expect to feel a certain way,” Blaney said. “It didn’t let me down. It didn’t exceed my expectations.”

Blaney described getting a taste of the title as taking a bite of the “forbidden fruit.” It has only increased his appetite.

“Our championship hunger is more you know this year, like you said, because you’ve got an experience of it. You want it again. You want to get that feeling again,” he said.

He has a chance to get that feeling again when NASCAR’s Championship Weekend returns to Phoenix Raceway for a fifth straight year in November.

“I’ve always enjoyed this place,” Blaney said. “Unique racetrack…with, you know, two very different ends of the racetrack.”

In 17 career races at Phoenix Raceway, Blaney has eight top-five finishes, including the last six in a row.

“I think it’s just gotten better over the years of how it races and the lanes you can choose,” he said.

And the fans keep showing up, as November’s championship race is already sold out for the seventh straight year.

“I think seeing that amount of crowd here, seeing the campers, seeing their excitement, that really drives us, right, that makes us feel good and makes us think we’re doing a good job of showing them a good time,” Blaney said.

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