By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
Memorial Day Weekend Sunday is when the world of motorsports come together and enjoy an all-day serving of racing.
A cup of coffee with a morning breakfast for the Monaco Grand Prix (Sunday 9 a.m. ET on ABC), having lunch for the Indianapolis 500 (Noon ET on FOX), and cap your Sunday with dinner for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video).
Despite this year being the last traditional tripleheader with Monaco being moved earlier in May 2026, it’s a Sunday filled with rituals and mystique unlike any other race day of the year.
Monaco is known to be as the glitz and glamour that pays respect to Formula One’s heyday. Indianapolis writes itself as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” where things must click to perfection.
What aura does the 600 brings to the table?
Every competitor in the NASCAR garage steps up their game where any cause of distraction could spell trouble to a driver and race team’s outcome. It’s unlike any other race on the NASCAR calendar with the 600-mile odyssey, from day to night, being the ultimate test of man and machine.
Ryan Blaney, who won the Coke 600 two years ago, knows quite well how the 600 require a lot of regiments and preparation in order to conquer the 400-lap race.
“No matter what race it is at Charlotte, whether it’s the 600, whether it’s the Roval. It used to be the Bank of America 500 before the Roval and it’s just a tough place,” said Blaney during Tuesday’s media availability.
“The 600-mile race is just another test of your grit and your determination and what teams can outlast, what teams can stay in it all night and be where they need to be at the end. It is a tough racetrack, but that’s what makes it really gratifying if you can do it.”
Whether it’s breaking the race down in increments, 150 miles in Blaney’s case, staying in the game is paramount in order to win NASCAR’s longest race on the calendar. Case in point, when he won the 2023 edition of the 600-mile race.
“There are gonna be ups and downs all night. The racetrack is gonna change. You’ve got 600 miles to figure it out, so just mentally staying in it,” Blaney explained. “Not only me, but all the guys staying in the game, doing their job right and what you want your race to look like at the 450-mile mark.
“I try to break it up that way into quarters – 150, 300, 450, 600. Where do you want to be at each stage of this race and what does it look like for the end of this thing. You’ve got to persevere all night, and we were able to do that two years ago.
“We were really good early. We weren’t the best car in the middle, and we got to be the best car at the end, so it was just like staying with it and staying in touch with the lead and what your car needs is some of the most important things.”
Although Blaney admitted his attention span isn’t sharp at most things, especially when he’s not involved in the task at hand like the IndyCar drivers’ side of Team Penske for the 109th Indianapolis 500.
But when he straps into the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, he’s locked in.
“I’m locked in. I can’t get out of this thing,” said Blaney. “If you break concentration once, your race is over. You’re wrecking or things like that, so how do you operate with 100 percent of focus for four-plus hours, for 600 miles.
“That’s a pretty difficult task for sure, so we work really hard at that. It’s really tough to keep your concentration for that long and especially in the tense sport of what we’re doing.
“How do you stay calm in those situations for that long as well?
“So, attention spans are hard. I’m not very good with my attention span with most other things but racing I can stay locked in because I care about it a lot and it’s my job, but it’s tough.
“When you’re in it, it’s easier if that makes sense. When you’re doing it, it’s easier to be locked in than if you’re just watching it. I’m not as locked in as these guys running the Indy 500 because I’m not racing in the Indy 500, but I am locked in when I’m doing my job and you’re in your sport. It just kind of varies.
“It’s hard to be in people’s shoes for sure, but it’s just something we train really hard for and that’s every week. It’s the same every week, but this one is just a little bit longer.”
A Much Needed Positive Shift That’s Always Been There
Blaney enters Sunday’s 13th race of the season without a win despite the No. 12 machine being a perennial contender all season.
However, there’s been several instances where fighting for wins were dashed due to uncommon engine failures (Phoenix and Homestead) and collected in wrecks (Las Vegas and Talladega). Those pitfalls has resulted in Blaney currently sitting seventh in the regular season standings, 108 points behind leader William Byron.
That said, Blaney is confident about his chances of scoring a second 600 victory to boost his season that’s recently seen two straight third-place finishes at Texas and Kansas.
“I’ve been really excited with the start of the year that Team Penske as a whole has had,” said Blaney. “Obviously, I would have liked to have won already, but we’ve been in contention and some of the things that have shown that we’ve had bad finishes, we haven’t really done anything wrong.
“We’ve had a couple engine issues that we resolved, getting in a wreck early at Talladega and finishing last, and then getting in a wreck at Vegas with a fast car. Our cars have been really, really fast and I think at the end of the day it just comes down to preparation and people and understanding where we need to be better.”
Despite the setbacks, Blaney added that he’s proud of Team Penske’s preparation process that goes back to last year where things have clicked, particularly at the intermediate circuits.
Part of the outcome results in understanding and developing a happy spot with the Ford’s aerodynamics.
“The success that we had from the summer to the end of last year has just carried over. It’s just people figuring it out and trying to find ways to be better. It’s been nice,” Blaney commented. “I’m really proud of the effort of all our folks at Team Penske for putting the effort in and Ford and everybody understanding where we need to be and then applying it.
“Hopefully, we can continue to build off the speed we’ve had early and keep it through the summer and into the fall.”
One of the key aspects to Blaney’s confidence heading into Charlotte is his success at the 1.5-mile oval but also having valuable track time earlier this year when he participated in a two-day Goodyear tire test where he tried different compounds, including the soft compounds.
The tire test in addition to Penske’s tremendous work boasted Blaney’s hopes of being quite high this weekend.
“We went through a lot of different tires at that test over two days. It’s easy to lose track of what compound and what mixture is that and that,” said Blaney. “I need a spreadsheet of what everything was, but I think it’s important we continue to work down that road of softer tires and things like that.
“I give it to Goodyear. They get a lot of grief sometimes, but it’s a hard job that they do trying to figure out what is the right mixture of everything.
“They don’t get a lot of tire tests, and they just present it at the racetrack, and they just cross their fingers, and they hope that it’s a good race and tires don’t blow out and it’s what we asked for. That’s a hard job. It’s neat to work with those folks trying to figure out what is the best way, but it is important to continue to work down as soft as we can get, just tire wear, fall off. That’s just a big thing and they’ve done a good job.
“They’ve been working hard and being on the teams and drivers of what we think and listening to feedback, so I applaud them for that and hopefully we can continue down that path that we’re on. I think it’s a good path.”
The 600’s Much Significant Purpose Beyond Racing
Winning the 600-miler puts everything into perspective that goes beyond winning one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events.
In one of the sport’s most recent limelight traditions, the race winner gets invited to Virginia and heads to the Arlington National Cemetery where they lay down a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A ceremonial moment Blaney holds dear, citing it was really special to do.
Blaney explained should he win Sunday, he’d love to bring his dad, Dave Blaney, who scored his only NASCAR national touring win at Charlotte in 2006, this time around.
Also, visiting the nation’s largest cemetery has put everything to perspective where he feels much smaller as an individual compared to the brave men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice.
“It just puts it into perspective for you. I put it when they asked me about it a couple years ago, it puts it into perspective of how small you actually are in the grand scheme of things of what actually matters,” Blaney commented.
“A lot of people that have laid down their life to let us do what we do on a week-to-week basis, it really just reigns it all in. You kind of understand what’s really important. It was a humbling experience.
“I’m really hoping that I get the chance to go back to Arlington because I’d love to bring my dad to see everything. I think he would really appreciate the people you meet, hear the history, meet family members and things like that at Arlington. It’s definitely a special weekend.
“I think NASCAR does the best job out of any sport, whether it’s honoring our current military members, remembering the ones who have lost their life, I think NASCAR is second to none when it comes to that and I’m very proud of that. That’s the way it should be.”
The Coke 600 may be a racer’s ultimate test, but Blaney hasn’t forgotten the memories he’s had at the 1.5-mile oval and more than any other race, family values are cherished. Whether it’s his family when he grew up watching Dave race the 600 multiple times or those he has met who have or are currently serving in the military.
Again, an example of putting things into perspective for the 2023 Cup Series champion.
“I grew up going to this race a lot watching dad run it. I spent a lot of time with the family. Memorial Day Weekend is always really special,” said Blaney. “Being able to see a lot of troops and meet their families around the racetrack and meet those families with their son or daughter that’s riding with us on our windshield is always a really special moment. It was neat to accomplish and a huge feat two years ago.”
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