Penske ace Ryan Blaney on what fans fail to grasp during NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600

Ryan Blaney discussed the most difficult part of participating in the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 as a driver, mentioning the difficulty in being locked in behind the wheel for over four hours. Notably, this race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway is the longest on the current calendar.

The upcoming week is a prestigious one in motorsports. Formula 1 is prepared to move to Monaco, as IndyCar runs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500, and NASCAR heads to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. The latter two are extremely long events, race length-wise, covering 500 and 600 miles, respectively.

Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney was recently questioned about the hidden aspect of racing in either of these events. He mentioned that, as fans, many don't realize the challenge of being focused on the track for extended periods.

"People might be walking by the TV screen, take a glance, get distracted by something else, and go do something else. I don't, I can't do that, right?" He said (01:12 onwards). "I'm locked in for I can't get out of this thing. If you break concentration once your race is over, right? You're wrecking or or things like that."

He further mentioned that drivers train for expanding their attention spans to remain concentrated on the track while driving 600+ miles in a single sitting.

"So it's just, how do you operate with 100% of focus for four plus hours, for 600 miles? Like, that's, that's pretty it's a pretty difficult task, for sure. So we work really hard at that. Like, it's really tough to keep your concentration for that long, and especially at like, kind of the tense sport of what we're doing is, how do you stay calm in those situations for that long as well," he added.

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Ryan Blaney explains how he manages to extend his attention span during races

Ryan Blaney mentioned that he lacks attention span in most things, however, he manages to concentrate well during races. Discussing the Indy 500, he feels that he would not be able to focus as much as they do, but when it comes to NASCAR and the Coca-Cola 600, he manages to find the attention span as he locks himself in.

I'm not very good attention span with most other things, but racing, I can kind of stay locked in because I care about it a lot and and it's my job. But, yeah, it's just, it's tough. I mean, but when you're in it, it's easier, I guess" Ryan Blaney said. [...] "I'm not as these guys running the Indy 500 because I'm not racing in the Indy 500 right? But I am locked in when I'm doing my job and you're in your sport."

Drivers also attempt the Double Duty, running the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. While it is quite a challenge, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is on his second consecutive attempt this year. He was unable to finish the challenge last year because of poor weather conditions on both tracks.