A 3-hour-long mid-race delay due to rain in Atlanta meant Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag around 2 am. By the time he was done with Victory Lane, press interactions and other formalities, the track had cleared. 

The Team Penske Ford 12 driver received a bike as one of the trophies for winning the race and ended up taking it for a spin around the Atlanta Track.

Blaney was in conversation with SiriusXM when he was asked about taking the bike for a spin around the track and revealed that he was into biking and at one point he had a few bikes. He asked permission from the officials around him and took the bike for a spin.

In the interview uploaded to X, Blaney said, “There were NASCAR security, people from my group; they’re like, 'Yes, go ahead,' and so I took it out and did a couple laps on it.”

While he initially rode it around pit road, Blaney revealed that there was some dirt on the apron of turn one and turn two. Seeing that, he decided the cleanest part of the track was the racetrack itself, so he took the bike around for a few laps. 

Blaney said, “I did a couple laps and then when I finished my first laps, I went back into turn one and an officer turned on the sirens, and he hauled the mail out of the turn one infield opening there, and I’m like, 'Oh boy.' And he followed me. I started slowing down, and then he turned his lights off.”

The Penske driver said he felt like he was in trouble there for a minute, then revealed what the officer thought. 

Blaney wants to do something for the Atlanta cop

It isn’t often that NASCAR drivers almost have run-ins with the police on track, and this was probably the rarest instance that Blaney faced. 

He continued his story on Sirius XM and said, “I think he thought it was a fan who took their bike on the track, and in his mind, I bet he’s like, ‘Who is this idiot fan who has driven his bike onto a racetrack?’ And I think once he realized that it was a driver and it was the guy who won the race, he turned them off and let me go.”

Quite the experience it would have been if Blaney had been disciplined by the officer for riding the bike he had just won at the track. But Blaney was appreciative to see the officer do their duty properly. 

He said, “I appreciate that officer for number one doing his job, making sure that there was nobody who shouldn’t be on the racetrack doing it, and then I appreciate him also for letting me go. If I find out who that officer is, I want to send him or her a thank you.”

While Blaney saw the incident from a positive perspective, it’s quite the rare instance to almost be disciplined by local cops at a racetrack. 

Read more at RFK Racing Digest.

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason