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“Go be Ryan F—ing Blaney.”
Those were the last words Blaney’s then girlfriend, now wife, Gianna Tulio, told him prior to him winning the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Fortunately for Blaney, that’s all he’s ever known how to be. And now he’s showing that to the world as one of the main focuses of the second season of Netflix’s NASCAR: Full Speed docuseries, which was released on Wednesday.
Blaney, who describes himself as reserved and enjoys talking about both Star Wars and country music star Sturgill Simpson – two of his more prominent interests – is known as a fiery character once he enters the race car. That attitude is not too dissimilar to the one displayed by Team Penske teammate and three-time series champion Joey Logano. But his interest in participating Full Speed, which he and Logano both do, came down to the matter of connecting with fans.
“I’d say, honestly, when it comes to this season, I was even more open to having Netflix be around than I was the first season,” Blaney says. “I was like ‘hey, you know what, come do this stuff with me.’ It’s giving you – whether you’re a fan or not – a different perspective of these people that you see on TV. We do this certain job that you watch. But at the day, we’re just people.”
While Blaney was more than willing to have the camera crews around, he did admit that there are times when a boundary needs to be set.
“You have to get comfortable with having these people in your home. And that is a bit of an adjustment,” he said. “But I turned down a lot of stuff that they wanted to show where I’m like ‘No, I don’t really know if I wanna show that side of it or that scenario.’ But you have to balance it out with what you’re comfortable showing and kind of just opening yourself up to the world.”
While the current season of Full Speed documents the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, the 2025 season has proven to be a roller coaster of sorts for Blaney.
After Logano’s win on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Blaney became the lone Team Penske driver not to win in 2025, including Wood Brothers racing partner Josh Berry. But it’s not for lack of trying. Blaney ranks sixth in the series with 200 laps led this season, and his 90.6 driver rating ranks fourth in the series.
Ryan Blaney Is Keeping His Head Down Despite Difficult Start To NASCAR Season
So, how does Blaney perceive the tumultuous start, which has included four races he was unable to finish due to engine troubles or crashes?
“It stinks that we haven’t gotten the results or the wins that I feel like we could have had,” he says. “I mean, it’s easy to say woulda, coulda, shoulda stuff. I’d love to live in that world. But I think we’ve been doing a really good job on our side of things. I’ve been really happy with that. I just hope things eventually start going our way.”
But Blaney, who probably deserves more credit for optimism than he gets, had a productive view of his team’s unfortunate circumstances.
“People ask me all the time, ‘Man, does it suck more having race-winning speed and not finding victory lane?'” he says. “I’d much rather have the speed and things kind of just slip away, and you’ve gotta get your heart broken, than run 20th every week. So we’re in a good spot.”
While it was Logano who picked up the win in Texas, Blaney and his team yet again showed their might. He looked to have the fastest car for much of the day before finishing in third, marking his third top-five finish in four races.
He’ll now head to Kansas Speedway on Sunday – yet another place where he’s run well but failed to win – looking to finally kick the door down. And he’s confident in his ability to do so
“When you keep finding yourself in positions to win, you’re gonna win,” he says with both a confident yet hopeful tone. “You just have to keep running up front and lead laps and put yourself in a spot to capitalize on these races. I’m sure we’ll find it if we just keep bringing this type of speed to the race track.”