"You better be ready": Ryan Blaney comes clean on diversity aspect in NASCAR's July lineup
Ryan Blaney recently shared his thoughts on NASCAR's diverse schedule in the next few weeks. After this Sunday's Cup race at Michigan, the Cup schedule would land in Mexico, which will be followed by Pocono, Chicago, Sonoma, Dover, and Indianapolis.
The diversity in NASCAR's current schedule was something Ryan Blaney gave his thumbs up to. The 2023 Cup champion claimed he likes the schedule, and the diversity aspect is now a part of it. He elaborated:
"You look at every week and understand that you’ve got some things coming up. I think the road courses are gonna be big. It’s gonna tell you a huge tale of where you’re sitting and you better be ready because there’s a lot of them coming up from road courses and street courses and things like that. We’ve only had one road course to start the year. What have teams learned from COTA and how are they gonna be better at Mexico and Chicago and Sonoma? You have a big variation of them, so it’s a fun part of the schedule where you’re going to very different places each week, and I think teams really enjoy that – at least I enjoy it because it really switches it up and keeps it fresh."
Having said that, Ryan Blaney mentioned how the diverse schedule can also become frustrating for drivers if they aren't necessarily good at certain tracks. Because of this, Blaney said some drivers can have 'some bad weeks', hoping that he's not one of those.
The Team Penske star emphasised that he likes this part of the schedule, which has 'a lot of different things' going on in the summer.
Ryan Blaney wants NASCAR to bring back this iconic racetrack.
With NASCAR heading to Mexico after Michigan, the first overseas Cup race since 1998 in Japan, Ryan Blaney was asked whether he had a wishlist for tracks he wants the sport to race on. Blaney applauded NASCAR for 'getting bold' with fixtures like a street race at Chicago and the international race at Mexico.
He claimed he was a big advocate for pushing for an international race, be it Mexico or Canada. As for where else he wants NASCAR to go, Ryan Blaney said:
"They’ve proven that they can kind of do it anywhere if you put the resources and the time in it. You can make a street course. You can go to different road courses that are already existing. Maybe even some tracks that we used to go to that we don’t go to anymore like a Chicago – the Joliet racetrack. My name is in the bucket for that."
Blaney claimed NASCAR should go back to Joliet because it has potential to be 'a great racetrack' and always was. The Penske star added that while it is NASCAR who set the schedule and make the big decisions, he'd 'sure as hell' like to see Joliet come back on the calendar.