Ryan Blaney is Pissed off Over “Illegitimate Champion” Tag Given to playoff Era Winners

Team Penske Racing star driver Ryan Blaney has called out the critics of NASCAR champions in the chase format era.

Ryan Blaney is Pissed off Over “Illegitimate Champion” Tag Given to playoff Era Winners

Ryan Blaney (via Imago)

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Since its inception, the playoff era NASCAR Champions have often been discredited by some in the racing community as illegitimate, even at times where the most dominant racer of the year won the Bill France Cup. 2023 champion Ryan Blaney hates this comparison and has called out the haters in ahead of the Kansas playoff race.

With the debate around the format getting intensified, Ryan Blaney asked about his thoughts on the word illegitimate champion being overused. He pointed out that he gets pissed off when he sees people who thinks the current champions don’t deserve the titles, considering everyone has the same opportunities to win.

That word legitimate gets tossed around a lot, and it kind of pisses me off a little bit…People think that the guys who have won in this format aren’t legit champions. Everyone has the same shot to win. That’s just the outside world’s perspective…

Ryan Blaney said ahead of Kansas race via Frontstretch.

Further talking about the point, the Team Penske driver pointed out that it hard to win the championship regardless of the format. At the same time, he understands why not everyone agrees with his take. He declared that every winner deserved the Cup regardless of under which format he triumphed.

It’s hard to win no matter what format it is. But everyone always has their opinions and things like that, and it’s just what it is. Nothing you can do about that. But no, I don’t think no matter what champion is in what format, 36 race, original Chase, this format—they’re all deserving of winning it

Ryan Blaney added.

With all racers having equal shot at the title, its hard win them and with racing becoming more closer than ever with changes to the car, things become hard. At the moment he doesn’t care about criticism considering the sport has moved away from the 36-race format two decade ago and it’s all about the results from Phoenix finale.

…Because everyone has the same shot and it’s extremely hard to do. So, I don’t think I agree with people who say that. We don’t race that format, so I don’t care about that. I care about how we get to [the Cup championship race at] Phoenix.

Ryan Blaney asserted.

Ryan Blaney is okay with any championship format

In the same conversation, the champion racer pointed out that he is okay with racing under any formats if its 36-race or one race finale. At the end of the day racer don’t win championship because of the format, they win when them and the team take advantage of the rules to dominate the rest of the garage.

Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney (via Imago)
Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney (via Imago)

Honestly, to me, it doesn’t matter either way to me. Whether it’s this, 36 races, the original Chase, we race to the format. And we’re going to make the most out of any format that we’re given. I’ve gotten that question a lot, right? That’s a big topic of discussion, and I’m good either way.

Ryan Blaney said.

The comments from the Team Penske driver seems rational and something the critics should taken into account before discrediting the deserving champions of the sport. It would be interesting to see how the community is going to respond, once the new format will be introduced in the 2026 Cup Series season.

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