![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2271027291-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRyan 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a meeting Blaney remembers in great detail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never forget sitting down in the bus with Roger for the first time,\u201d Blaney, now 32, said this week. \u201cI\u2019ll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
No longer does Blaney have to sneak around the team\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s anchor sponsor since 2018.<\/p>\n
Since advancing to NASCAR\u2019s premier Cup Series full-time in 2016, Blaney has won a championship (in 2023) and 18 races, establishing himself as one of NASCAR\u2019s elite talents. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a place where I just love being,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cRoger has done a lot for my career, and to have the success that we\u2019ve had, I\u2019m over the moon that they have wanted to keep me around because I\u2019ve wanted to stay there. I just want to be successful for Roger and the person who gave me these big opportunities. I\u2019m lucky that he\u2019s allowed me to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Ryan Blaney was the 2023 Cup Series champion and has won 18 Cup races since 2017. (Matt Kelley \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Blaney chose to re-sign instead of exploring a marketplace where he surely would\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n
As Blaney sees it, Team Penske didn\u2019t have to come to him early about a new contract. Penske, though, never left him wondering if a deal would materialize.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing loyal to the people who\u2019ve given you opportunities in your life and your career is super important to me, and Roger is that guy, so I really couldn\u2019t see myself anywhere else,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cI love the people that I get to work with every single day, and working for Roger is just an absolute dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s changed.<\/p>\n
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 the structure within the organization has evolved. The changes have required the soft-spoken Blaney to shift into a more vocal leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I speak on certain things, I try to be thoughtful of how I go about them in the way of leadership,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cI want to teach the younger guys in the group what I learned and what I was given.\u201d<\/p>\n
With several years remaining in his prime, this likely won\u2019t be Blaney\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe culture around there is something I just really love,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cI 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\u2019s what I wanted my kid to grow up like.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Blaney remembers the first time he met with Roger Penske to discuss joining his NASCAR team. Fourteen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82],"class_list":["post-651747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}