Ryan Blaney doesn't want to live in the past after Phoenix win

In an alternate reality where Ryan Blaney held off a hard-charging William Byron one week ago at Martinsville Speedway, it could've been Blaney winning his way to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Blaney won Sunday's season finale after Brad Keselowski slipped in the final corner, opening a door for Blaney to sneak through and score his fourth win of the 2025 Cup Series season. 

But it wasn't a win that gave Blaney his second Cup Series championship, as Kyle Larson claimed the title with a third-place finish. 

Blaney fans can talk about the what-if scenarios all they want, but the 2023 champion made it clear that he doesn't want to dwell on what could've been. 

You won't find Ryan Blaney living in the past 

"I try not to think about that ... living in the past," Blaney said in his post-race news conference. "We were in the spot that we were in. Our goal this weekend was to try to win the race, have great momentum going into the wintertime. Understood that we weren’t going for a championship, but we were going to make the best out of it.

I wouldn’t say it’s like bittersweet. I enjoy it just like any other win. Great we were able to go out and get it done today." 

Blaney was the only driver who was able to consistently battle Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Larson — three of the four drivers eligible to win the title on Sunday — at the front of the pack. Blaney has been consistently quick at Phoenix since the advent of the Next-Gen car in 2022, and it was no surprise to see him battling for the lead. 

Blaney led 20 of 319 laps on Sunday and ended up finishing sixth in the final standings. 

"I’m very, very proud of our year," Blaney sad. "I know we didn’t make this weekend, fighting for a championship. I felt like our team in ’24 was stronger than what we were in ’23. I feel like this year we were even better than what we were last year.

"Yes, I would have liked to have run for a championship. I understand, like, it just didn’t work out for us. We were great. I thought this team was great. It just didn’t really play out to where we had a shot at it. You have to live with that type of stuff."

Blaney may be able to live with it, but it's hard to not think about the what could've been on Sunday had the pendulum at Martinsville swung the other way. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.