“He just put on a clinic”: Ryan Blaney admits NASCAR Cup drivers need to ‘get a lot better’ to challenge SVG’s road course reign 

The Toyota/Save Mart 350 event at Sonoma Raceway witnessed a dominating run by Shane van Gisbergen (SVG), which impressed Team Penske star Ryan Blaney. The No. 12 Ford driver, Blaney, conceded to the road course racing prowess shown by the former Supercars champion in his rookie NASCAR Cup Series season.

As the Trackhouse Racing star Gisbergen headlined the previous two racing weekends, Ryan Blaney shared his honest thoughts about Gisbergen's exceptional road course talent. In a post-race conversation, Blaney said:

"He's (Shane van Gisbergen) really good. He's really smooth, and he's really fast with lap time, but he also is not out of control doing it, so he can save tires while maintaining a solid lap time to keep him up front. He's just put on a clinic on these road courses, and in the last 3 from Mexico and Chicago and here (Sonoma), he's really dominated."

Not only did Gisbergen win the previous three road course races, the No. 88 Chevy driver also started from pole and led almost every lap until the checkered flag. Furthermore, the 2023 Cup Series champion, Blaney, said:

"He's just really technical at how he does it and his approach to it, he's just really, really solid race car driver. We're all going to have to get a lot better at these places to have a chance." [0:46 onwards]

Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney suffered a seventh DNF of the season, the highest by any driver this year. The 31-year-old Ford driver was in one of the fastest cars on the field. However, things went south when RFK Racing's Chris Buescher overdrove in Stage 2 and shoved Blaney off the track and into the dirt.

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"I was the innocent bystander": Ryan Blaney reflects on his on-track incident with Chris Buescher

Soon after getting out of his car prematurely, Ryan Blaney was asked about his thoughts on the lap 62 incident with Chris Buescher. Speaking with a Frontstretch reporter, he said:

"It was going well till we got wrecked by the 17 [Chris Buescher]... I don't think he intentionally meant to do it, but he overdrove [turn] one and I was the innocent bystander… I thought we're really good today. I thought third-fourth-fifth-place car and yeah, shame that it didn't end like I thought."

On the brighter side, Ryan Blaney has booked his seat for the 2025 playoffs with his Nashville win. He is also currently the best-performing driver from the Ford roster and is ranked seventh in the overall points standings. So far, the Penske star has one win, seven top-5s, and eight top-10s in 20 races.

Blaney and Co. will be back in action for the 400-lap race at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 20 at 2 p.m. ET.