Ryan Blaney is “riding the wave” of Charlotte

Written by Bailey Defoor

Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images

Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Charlotte 600 winner, has experienced high success and unfortunate lows at this track. Heading into this weekend, Blaney is focusing on the bigger picture.

In an interview with DIVEBOMB, Blaney opened up about how the mental toll of racing in Charlotte affects his performance and how his luck fares at Charlotte.

“A big thing that I try to work on all the time is how do you deal with highs and lows. I always call it just riding the wave. You’re gonna be up and down, and it’s just how you get over that,” Blaney said. 

In last year’s Charlotte 600, Blaney had a tyre problem and had to retire on lap 150. In 2023, Blaney won the race after leading almost half of the laps. An accident led to Blaney’s retirement in 2022, and he finished outside of the top ten in 2021. Then, in 2019, Blaney finished fourth but was promoted to third after a post-race penalty. 

“I’ve had all of the above at Charlotte, from a bunch of success there to not finishing the races, and that’s just the way it goes in this sport.”

“I work really hard on trying to just be always looking positive, forward, and no matter how good or bad it’s going, to always try to look at what we can do next, and how we can continue working and just be better as a group week to week," Blaney stated.

"Luckily, I have a great group of people around me that have that same mentality, no matter if we don’t finish the weekend before, if we win the weekend before, it’s the same type of hunger and drive to be better all together the next weekend.”

Coming into this weekend, Blaney is optimistic that this could be a turning point in his season heading into the summer stretch and hopes he can ride the wave back to victory lane.