NASCAR has always been about going fast and the fierce competition between its drivers. And sometimes a single driver just has a day when he is better than everybody else.
If you look throughout NASCAR history, you are going to find many drivers who have delivered some unforgettable performances, be it over a full season or in a single race.
Team Penske's Ryan Blaney is one of them after putting on a real show during the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) this past weekend, even after the weather delay.
He was on a mission, and the way he performed, it made the racing on Sunday night and Monday morning seem like something from the bygone years, especially in the draft.
Ryan Blaney put on a performance worthy of legendary status
When you look back at historic performances in a single race throughout NASCAR history, nothing is going to top the late Ned Jarrett's historic performance during the 1965 Southern 500.
Darlington is one of the oldest tracks in the sport, and also one of the hardest to drive, but what "Gentleman" Ned did that day is unmatchable. Not only did he win one of the sport's toughest and important races, but he did so in a fashion that will never be matched.
He won the race by 14 laps. Sure, Blaney didn't win on Sunday by 14 laps; it took a photo finish. But winning both stages and the race after leading 171 of the 263 laps of a drafting race is also unheard of, especially in the modern era.
Atlanta has shown, since its current configuration debuted in 2022, that lots of passing is going to happen throughout a race, and the runs that the cars get on the 1.54-mile pseudo-superspeedway have made it the most entertaining track on the schedule.
It's why Blaney's dominance might not be matched. It's one of those rare NASCAR moments, like when Jeff Burton led all 300 laps to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2000, or when Jeff Gordon led 400 of 500 laps to win at Dover Motor Speedway in 1995, or 381 of 400 to win in 2001.
More recently, who can forget when Martin Truex Jr. led all but eight of 400 laps of the 2016 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, or Kyle Larson's 873 laps led across 1,000 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway in his back-to-back 2024 and 2025 victories?
Blaney had his dominant performance in the draft, something you don't even see at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway these days.
Blaney's win a blast from the past
What Blaney did on Sunday, leading not only that many laps but doing so on 14 occasions, needing to retake the lead multiple times, was simply phenomenal.
The leaders breaking away from the rest of the field in stage one was a talking point during the rain delay, and Blaney was able to continue to control the race afterward. It looked like an early 2000s race at Daytona, when cars would lose their handling and thus drivers would fall out of the draft and end up getting lapped.
That's the type of racing drafting tracks should produce. NASCAR doesn't three-wide six rows deep, especially at Atlanta. Was it a just a flash, or will this be the new norm every time the Cup Series visits Atlanta? That sure would be nice, but either way, we likely won't see another performance like the one Blaney just had.
The way he made moves, he looked like an Earnhardt in the No. 12 Ford.
