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NASCAR America: Ryan Blaney establishing himself as one of the drivers of the future

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Ryan Blaney's win at Pocono hasn't distracted him from the upcoming race at Michigan, even with the popularity of the win opening up the discussion to whether he has what it takes to be NASCAR's next star.

Following Kyle Petty’s sit-down interview with Ryan Blaney, Petty, Greg Biffle, Parker Kligerman and Nate Ryan discussed what the NASCAR world can expect from the 23-year-old driver after winning his first career Cup race last weekend.

With a love of Star Wars, his own podcast and a social media savvy, Blaney is a driver young generations of fans can relate to.

“When you talk to him, he shows up in Wood Brothers hat, a Ford F-150 shirt and he goes through the motions,” Petty said. “He’s a little bit of a throwback to Dale Jr. when you look at it like that. He knows social media, he’s a little forward thinking on things like that. But at the same time he has a tremendous amount of respect for the Wood Brothers and the history of the sport.”

Kligerman believes Blaney is the complete package when it comes to a driver NASCAR can attract fans to.

“I think if you can’t sell him to the fan base out there, then you can’t sell anyone,” Kligerman said. “There’s no hope for the future of the sport because he is a very cool, a very understanding and very marketable and intelligent race car driver that’s also really good at driving race cars.”

Watch the video for the complete discussion.