Is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion on Track for Another Championship Run?
The first spot in the Round of Eight has been clinched for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Ryan Blaney took the win in the Mobil 1 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway to punch his ticket through to the next round after a dominant weekend. Blaney was the sixth-fastest in practice, qualified on the pole, and led 116 laps for the win. He had to fend off a hard-charging Josh Berry and battled with his teammate Joey Logano for the majority of the day. This race evoked flashbacks to Blaney’s 2023 and 2024 championship performances, as he finished second at Phoenix in each race, a track comparable to New Hampshire, which is also a flat one-mile oval.
In the past 10 races, Blaney has become the most consistent in the entire series. He has nine top 10s, two wins, and an average finish of 5.6. Chase Briscoe is the closest to Blaney in average finish in the last 10 races at 8.5. Briscoe also has two wins in the previous 10 and seven top-fives. Blaney may have a bigger advantage, given Team Penske’s record recently at Phoenix and the fact that Blaney has won a championship before. It again proves the point of Team Penske finding its stride in the playoffs, as Blaney won the title in 2023 with a strong late-season push, and Logano did the same in 2022 and 2024.
Six races remain in the 2025 season. With this many to go in 2023, Blaney won twice, finished second twice, and won the championship. His average finish in those six races was 4.0. Blaney has been stronger to this point this season rather than in his championship season. Five of the final six races are at the same tracks as in 2023. The lone difference is that the series will now visit Kansas Speedway for one of the final six races in 2025, having previously gone to Homestead Miami Speedway, which was moved to the regular season for 2025. If he can continue the long stretch of momentum into this final push to the end, Blaney could easily leave 2025 as a two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion.
