Ryan Blaney reveals what’s in his NASCAR driver code of conduct

Inside the car, Ryan Blaney is an outspoken driver who often lets his rivals know when they’ve annoyed him. And as a veteran of over 350 Cup races with 14 wins (including last weekend at Nashville), he has plenty of thoughts regarding how he wants to be raced and how he chooses to race others.

While this unwritten driver code of conduct varies throughout the field, Blaney helped create his with guidance from his father Dave, who started 473 Cup races in his own career.

The dos and the don’ts of racing in NASCAR

Three-wide battle for the race lead with William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford, and Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Michael Bush – Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

“Everyone’s line is different,” said Blaney is a Saturday press conference. “I can’t really speak for anybody else. My father [Dave] raised me. He raced for a long time, so I had that going for me that he was able to teach me the do’s and don’ts. I’ve been chewed out a lot when I was younger for doing the wrong thing – at being overly aggressive and costing somebody else. My dad chewed my ass out when I did that. 

“I did it a few times in late models when I was like 13 and he said it right. He set the line. He said, ‘This is wrong. You do not race this way. This is just how it is.’  It was one of those situations where I’m racing someone hard and I made a mistake. I slipped up and I spun him out. It wasn’t intentional, but even those mistakes dad would really make me clean up right away. That’s just how his dad raised him.”

Blaney is also a driver who welcomes “hard racing” on the track, accepting that contact is a byproduct of that. Especially in modern NASCAR, where passing is extremely difficult and the field is so close together.

Learning from your mistakes

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

“Everyone races hard (and) contact is going to happen,” said Blaney. “I think it’s an issue if it happens repetitively, like a lot. I think that’s when it starts becoming an issue. It’s like, ‘Do you learn from your mistakes?’ You can say you’re sorry all you want, but if you don’t learn from them and make a change, then everyone thinks you’re lying and you don’t feel sorry about that.”

As for where the line is, Blaney drew it right about where Carson Hocevar hit Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville. Blaney himself had an issue with Hocevar at Atlanta after getting run into from behind while entering Turn 1.

“To me, over the line is if you get run over in the rear bumper and you get spun out and wrecked, then you have a brake pedal. You ran into that guy. I’ve read some stuff this week and people are like, ‘Well, Stenhouse could have cut him a break.’ I’m like, ‘How can Stenhouse cut him a break?’ I don’t understand. I think the #77 [Hocevar] could have cut him a break if you’re gonna talk about breaks. I don’t even think that situation was cutting somebody a break. That was just getting run over.”

Blaney did praise Hocevar as a natural talent who knows how to go fast, but he wants to see him learn and grow from these recent moments.

“All of us have been young,” continued Blaney. “We’ve all been aggressive. Everyone has a heavy right foot when they get going and that’s good. I think he’s a very, very talented race car driver. He’s one of the best guys out there. It’s hard to teach speed. I think he just has to refine a little bit of what he does. I don’t think he has to change who he is because this is what got him here, but I think he’s got to possibly think of some situations that he’s been in and just try to learn from them. That’s really all you can do, so I don’t really critique anybody. I’m not critiquing him at all. That’s just my stance on it is when guys keep spinning off the front of your bumper that becomes an issue. I’m not a huge fan of that. I’ve been a part of it. I got turned at Atlanta getting run into from behind. It’s like, ‘How many times are you gonna keep doing this until you learn?’ So, we’ll see.”

Hocevar and Stenhouse did talk this week, and according to the driver of the No. 77, they may have buried the hatchet in their short-lived feud.

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