"I thought it would be worse to call him": When Ryan Blaney shared how he managed tensions with Clint Bowyer

A decade ago, Ryan Blaney revealed how he preferred to settle conflicts quickly in person. He also talked about the time he had to resolve one with Clint Bowyer over a text.

Blaney was competing part-time in all of the top-three NASCAR series in 2015. He made 16 Cup starts in the No. 21 Ford with Wood Brothers Racing and collected two top-10 finishes. He finished fourth at Talladega and seventh at Kansas later in the season.

The then 20-year-old Blaney also collected two Xfinity wins for Team Penske. During an interview with USA TODAY in October of that year, he was asked about his preferred way of dealing with an angry driver after a race.

"I'd like to try to reach out to them as quickly as possible, whether it's in person or a call or a text. You'd rather do it in person, but it's hard to wait until the next week if you don't see them," Ryan Blaney said.

Blaney also gave the example of an incident with Clint Bowyer at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he made contact with the veteran driver and brushed him into the wall.

"I wasn't racing Cup for the next two weeks, so I probably wasn't going to see him [Bowyer]. I didn't want to call him, because the service was terrible in New Hampshire. I thought it would be worse to call him and drop the call in the middle of our talk than to send him a text. Texting somebody is kind of the last thing I want to do, but I had to do it in that situation," he added.

Blaney has since built a reputation for not getting back at anyone. He prefers to talk and move past it.

"You talk about it. You get over it" - Ryan Blaney on run-ins with other drivers

Ryan Blaney is known for his fiery radio outbursts during NASCAR races but these rarely translate into on-track payback. For instance, during the 2024 Brickyard 400, Blaney called out Kyle Larson over an unpopular restart decision that he felt cost him a good result.

Similarly, at Atlanta this season, Blaney called Carson Hocevar a "moron" over the radio after the latter turned him in the final stage but did not initially acknowledge the contact.

In 2023, he shared how he moves past run-ins with teammates or enemies.

"No matter if you're a teammate, worst enemies, best friends, you're gonna get into it with everybody, intentional or not, and those things just happen. ... Joey and I have had a couple run-ins over the years, me and Austin, and you get over that stuff. You talk about it. You get over it," Ryan Blaney said (via NASCAR.com).

Blaney's radio claims were also criticized by fans online.