Ryan Blaney has sights set on victory lane

Wood Brothers Racing driver Ryan Blaney may be locked in a heated battle against Chase Elliott for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, but that’s not Blaney’s primary focus.

In point of fact, he would much rather win a race.

“The main goal is to win,” asserted Blaney, fresh from a strong sixth-place finish in last Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We’re not really here to points race. I want to win races. That’s every team’s goal, and we’re so early in the season I don’t even look at points. I don’t care about that. I care about running like we did at Las Vegas. That run last week, there was a point in the race where I felt if we worked a little harder and things went our way that we might have a shot to win a race if we keep having runs like that.

“I think if you consistently run in the top 10, then I feel like you are very close to trying to get a win. I don’t want to say it’s out of the question. It’s never out of the question for any team, especially with restrictor-plate stuff. I didn’t come into this year expecting to win. Of course you want to, but you don’t say you will definitely win a race. I think we have a strong team, though, and it’s definitely not out of the question.