Dr. Diandra: Can Ryan Blaney close in on the playoffs?

Ryan Blaney will most likely make the playoffs on points, but with the regular season winding to close, a win would certainly make it easier for him to sleep at night. The chances of having 16 different regular-season winners are small, but they’re not zero.

It’s not unprecedented for the Penske driver to win his first race late in the year. Blaney made the playoffs on points in 2018 and 2019. His first wins came in races number 35 and 31, respectively.

Last year, Blaney earned his playoff spot early, at Atlanta. His other wins that year were the last two races of the regular season.

And don’t forget that he won this year’s All-Star Race.

Don’t write him off until the haulers leave Daytona.

Blaney’s 2022 season has been up and down, as the graph below shows.

He’s earned seven finishes between second and fifth places and 10 top-10 finishes. Those seven P2-P5 finishes are only one less than he had in all of 2021.

Aside from finishes, Blaney is having an outstanding season. Here are just a few of the highlights:

The third-place-in-points driver has a series of third places as well.

Blaney also has five stage wins, and he’s led laps at more tracks than anyone else in 2022. The only places he hasn’t led laps are the Bristol dirt race, Darlington, Sonoma, Loudon and Pocono. The second-ranking drivers in the list of laps led at different tracks are Larson, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch

But Blaney’s future — even if he does make the playoffs — is clouded by some significant negatives.

Blaney was a contender for the regular-season points championship, but his recent slump overlapped Elliott’s string of five consecutive top-two finishes. Most concerning is that Blaney has lost 49 points to Martin Truex Jr. in the last two races.