Sports
Ryan Blaney, 2023 NASCAR Cup champ, agrees to extension with Team Penske
Ryan Blaney remembers the first time he met with Roger Penske to discuss joining his NASCAR team. Fourteen years ago, the then-18-year-old was understandably nervous to sit down face-to-face with one of the most well-known team owners in motorsports.
In that meeting, Penske offered Blaney no assurances, just a part-time contract that allowed Blaney to prove he deserved to drive for Team Penske on a full-time basis. Even all these years later, it’s a meeting Blaney remembers in great detail.
“I will never forget sitting down in the bus with Roger for the first time,” Blaney, now 32, said this week. “I’ll never forget them sneaking me in the Penske race shop after hours to where no one, no employees, saw me before we signed the deal. So just getting to tour that facility, it was just a huge place. (I) was incredibly nervous, for sure.”
No longer does Blaney have to sneak around the team’s headquarters. That initial meeting forged a bond between Blaney and Penske that remains strong to this day, with Blaney now firmly cemented as one of Team Penske’s franchise drivers. The latest evidence: Blaney and Team Penske have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, Blaney and the team confirmed. Team Penske will announce the deal Wednesday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it will keep Blaney with the organization for the foreseeable future. Team Penske also renewed its deal with Menards, Blaney’s anchor sponsor since 2018.
Since advancing to NASCAR’s premier Cup Series full-time in 2016, Blaney has won a championship (in 2023) and 18 races, establishing himself as one of NASCAR’s elite talents. It’s no surprise Penske has prioritized keeping Blaney with the organization, and the team made it clear they wanted to extend the deal even though Blaney still had term left on his existing contract.
“This is a place where I just love being,” Blaney said. “Roger has done a lot for my career, and to have the success that we’ve had, I’m over the moon that they have wanted to keep me around because I’ve wanted to stay there. I just want to be successful for Roger and the person who gave me these big opportunities. I’m lucky that he’s allowed me to continue to do that.”
Ryan Blaney was the 2023 Cup Series champion and has won 18 Cup races since 2017. (Matt Kelley / Getty Images)
Blaney chose to re-sign instead of exploring a marketplace where he surely would’ve been in high demand, citing his loyalty to Team Penske. He always wanted to remain there, and when he sensed the team felt the same, he never explored any other alternatives.
As Blaney sees it, Team Penske didn’t have to come to him early about a new contract. Penske, though, never left him wondering if a deal would materialize.
“Being loyal to the people who’ve given you opportunities in your life and your career is super important to me, and Roger is that guy, so I really couldn’t see myself anywhere else,” Blaney said. “I love the people that I get to work with every single day, and working for Roger is just an absolute dream.”
The extension comes 12 years to the week since Blaney made his Cup debut, at Kansas Speedway. Thinking back to that day, Blaney chuckled while reflecting on all that’s changed.
At the time, Team Penske was a two-car team, with Blaney driving a one-off third entry. Penske has since expanded to a third full-time car, and along with that, the structure within the organization has evolved. The changes have required the soft-spoken Blaney to shift into a more vocal leader.
“When I speak on certain things, I try to be thoughtful of how I go about them in the way of leadership,” Blaney said. “I want to teach the younger guys in the group what I learned and what I was given.”
With several years remaining in his prime, this likely won’t be Blaney’s final contract with Team Penske. But he is clear he has no intention of leaving. His goal is to be synonymous with the organization, similar to former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears or even current teammate Joey Logano, a three-time Cup Series champion.
“The culture around there is something I just really love,” Blaney said. “I was pretty much a kid when I walked in the doors there, and Roger kind of raised me, and that group raised me. And being a dad now, like, that’s what I wanted my kid to grow up like.”
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Sports
Chicago Bears 27-7 Philadelphia Eagles: Case Keenum shines on first start since 2023
Veteran quarterback Case Keenum starred on his first start for almost three years as the Chicago Bears handed the Philadelphia Eagles their first defeat of the season.
Starting his first NFL game since December 2023, the 38-year-old threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another as the Bears won 27-7 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
It is the first time he has thrown multiple touchdowns in a game since October 2019, while he is also the oldest player to score a rushing touchdown for the Bears.
Keenum, an NFL journeyman playing at his eighth franchise, was called into action because of a knee injury to Caleb Williams and Tyson Bagent’s concussion.
Wide receiver Kalif Raymond, who scored a touchdown, said: “He was like, ‘I may not be a cowboy, but this is definitely not my first rodeo – a lot of confidence in him; a lot of confidence in himself.
“He practises, preps every week, but particularly this week. We didn’t expect anything different from him.”
Keenum’s first drive resulted in a touchdown for Luther Burden III, and Cairo Santos added a 29-yard field goal before Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts rushed for a touchdown to cut the Bears’ half-time lead to 10-7.
Santos added a second field goal early in the third quarter before the Bears scored two touchdowns among 17 unanswered points.
The Bears defence limited the Eagles to 248 yards and picked off an interception off Jalen Hurts and replacement Andy Dalton.
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F1 Q&A: Horner and Ferrari, Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, Bottas’ Baku crash and the VSC, Williams upgrade
Mercedes’ George Russell took his first victory since June by holding off Max Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar completed the podium on his return after missing three races with a broken wrist.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished fifth in Baku, meaning his advantage over team-mate Russell has narrowed to 66 points.
This weekend, Formula 1 heads to Malaysia, the host of the Bahrain Grand Prix – an event originally due to take place in April but which was postponed because of the war in the Middle East.
Before the race in Sepang, BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions.
Does Christian Horner really want the team principal job at Ferrari, or even have a shot at it? – Ben
This topic has become a subject for conversation in recent days following an interview Horner did with the Times, external as he promotes his new book.
Horner said: “At this stage in my life, there’s only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership.”
Asked whether he would take a job there, he replied: “Would I consider Ferrari? I mean, Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula 1. It’s the dream. And arguably it’s the sleeping giant of Formula 1.”
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur made his views about Horner’s intervention pretty plain after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when he said: “Mr Horner is looking for a job – that, everybody knows – everywhere.”
Vasseur said the speculation surrounding the team meant Ferrari were “not working in the perfect serenity”.
Horner’s comments seem to make it clear that he would consider a job offer from Ferrari. But the key questions are under what conditions he might accept it, and whether he would be offered it in the first place.
Horner has made it very clear over the years that he believes an F1 team needs one person in charge and in overall control.
It’s highly unlikely he would get that at Ferrari, where chairman John Elkann and chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna will always have more authority than any team principal.
Even at Red Bull, where Horner had theoretical leadership at the F1 team, he was ultimately answerable to headquarters in Austria and that is what led to his removal in the end.
It’s hard to imagine how Elkann and Vigna could or would countenance any situation where they were removed from any input into the F1 team.
And it’s even harder to imagine a situation where that was not the de facto position even if a team boss had been given assurances they would be left alone.
Then there is the question of whether Ferrari would want Horner.
Horner comes with baggage. All of the above for a start, and on top of that there is the cloud under which he left Red Bull.
There is no doubt that he was a remarkably successful team principal there, the team winning eight drivers’ titles, six constructors’ championships and 124 grands prix in his two-decade tenure.
However, the team unravelled in his final 18 months in charge, in the wake of the accusations of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour that were made against him by a female employee.
Red Bull dismissed those allegations after two internal investigations led by external lawyers.
But they were a key factor in Adrian Newey leaving his position as chief technical officer – along with internal politics in which Newey felt his role had been diminished by Horner.
Newey was followed out of the door by long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and head of strategy Will Courtenay.
Horner was finally dismissed following a slump in form which Red Bull bosses concluded the team did not appear to be capable of arresting under his leadership.
In the Times interview, Horner says that the only justification he was given by Red Bull for his sacking was “it was more Christian Horner Racing than Red Bull Racing”.
He adds at other points in the interview: “I am a bit of a Marmite character. I know I’m not everybody’s cup of tea. It’s impossible to be.” And: “I’m the cure and the problem.”
Clearly, any decision as to whether Horner is the person you want to lead your F1 team would need careful consideration.
It’s also worth mentioning that Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton has made it pretty clear over the past few years that he has little time for Horner.
Why hasn’t the FIA made a decision on the final two races of the season? They’ve cancelled the final rounds of the World Rally Championship and World Endurance Championship because of the Middle East conflict. Surely they should be confirming the changes in the calendar now? – Nigel
To start with a point of order, it is Formula 1 that decides the calendar – as in, the commercial rights holder – not the FIA, the governing body. The FIA’s role is effectively only to rubber-stamp F1’s decision.
As things stand, F1 is planning to end the season as the calendar was originally scheduled – with Las Vegas followed by Qatar and then Abu Dhabi, external over the last two weekends in November and the first in December.
Although the war continues between the US/Israel and Iran, the advice F1 has been getting is that the situation in those two countries is stable, and there is not a high risk of attacks on civilian infrastructure.
The UK Foreign Office, for example, does not advise against travel to Qatar and Abu Dhabi., external It simply says the situation there “remains unpredictable” and that “there is a risk of more attacks and unforeseen escalation in the region”.
And the two countries consider themselves open for business.
However, F1 has a contingency plan.
Imola in Italy is preparing to host a race on the weekend of Abu Dhabi.
If the two Middle Eastern races cannot happen as a result of an escalation of the situation in the Gulf, Imola would step in and hold the season finale on 4-6 December.
But unless and until that happens, there is no confirmation of changes to make, as there are currently no changes.
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