AVONDALE, Ariz. — The championship trophy is the biggest prize in NASCAR. It is the goal of every team and driver at the start of the season.
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So how far are they willing to go to get it?
"Everyone has their line, right," Ryan Blaney said Thursday at Phoenix Raceway. "Like, what line are you not willing to cross? And everyone's line is different of how they think, of what they would need to do in the moment."
It'd be easy enough to send another driver into the outside wall late in the race. This would potentially knock that driver out of contention for the title, but what would be the long-term cost?
Would a prize won in this manner be tainted?
The prizes at stake this weekend. pic.twitter.com/4ODOl1DYrh
— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) November 7, 2024
"You're going to do what it takes to try to win it, but I think you want to look at yourself in the mirror and be happy the way it went down," AJ Allmendinger said ahead of Saturday's Xfinity Series championship race.
Wanting to win a title without an asterisk doesn't mean there won't be moments of aggression. Drivers will likely bang doors on restarts. They will potentially use the bumper to nudge others out of the way.
This is something that Blaney attempted to do during last season's championship race. He hit Ross Chastain from behind to try to get past because Kyle Larson was drawing closer. If Blaney didn't pass Chastain, the 2021 Cup champion would potentially challenge him for the championship lead.
This was a relatively rare sight of such aggressiveness from the Team Penske driver, but the biggest prize in the sport was on the line.
Blaney also showed aggressiveness last weekend at Martinsville Speedway by using the bumper on multiple drivers as he worked his way through the field. He knew that he needed to win at the short track to reach the Championship 4, and these other cars were in his way.
Of course, moving a driver with the bumper is one thing. Flat-out wrecking them is another. Blaney didn't wreck anyone to win his first championship, and he doesn't think he will do so to win another.
"I've always been a pretty huge believer in I'm not going to spin somebody out on purpose, and I don't really ever want to get to the point of where they could possibly spin out," Blaney said.
"But if you do have to possibly get aggressive and nudge people out of the way, I mean, that's just what it is, and you've got to understand what you're going for. So that's all situational and what are you willing to do at that certain time."
