Ryan Blaney outlines the rationale for his ‘aggressive’ approach in a must-win situation at Martinsville 

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team are on the brink of elimination from the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8, and the 2023 champion explained why he is taking an aggressive race strategy for Sunday's race at Martinsville.

Blaney sits 47 points below the cut-line and will have to start in 31st place after a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday. Because his points cushion has disappeared, he has decided that waiting and seeing is no longer a safe strategy.

During a pre-race press conference, the Team Penske driver responded to questions about patience for lower cars ahead of him and laid out the rationale for his ‘aggressive’ approach.

"Depends what moment of the race it is. I compare it to like last year when I was third and kind of running down the 9 [Chase Elliott] and the 5 [Kyle Larson]. The 9 got around the 5 and I laid the bumper to the 5 pretty quickly because I didn't have time to sit behind somebody. It was like 20 laps to go in the race and you kind of have to move forward and not get stuck behind somebody cuz they can make your life hell," Ryan Blaney said. "So, I just, I think it's moments in time where you get more aggressive than others. Early in the race might not do that. But it just kind of depends," he added.

Martinsville is one of Blaney's strongest circuits. He has won the last two playoff races at the 0.526-mile short track.

In last year's walk-off win, he led 32 laps and used late restarts to take control. Blaney had a similar must-win situation to reach the Championship 4 and qualified in 14th place. He pushed through traffic and used light bumper taps without wrecking anyone to reach the checkered flag ahead of Chase Elliott.

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Can Championship 4 drivers beat Ryan Blaney's consistency at Phoenix?

Ryan Blaney has an average finish of 6.4 at Phoenix Raceway, which is best among active drivers. But he is one of the few championship contenders who have never won at Phoenix.

If Blaney wins this weekend, his consistency at the track will be hard to beat. He has three back-to-back second-place finishes at the NASCAR Cup championship race in the last three seasons, including 2023.

Meanwhile, William Byron grabbed the pole for the Round of 8 elimination race with Chase Elliott and Joey Logano in the top-3 starting positions. Byron also has two wins at the Virginia oval. Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson have a single win there.

Ryan Blaney is favored to win the Martinsville playoff race this Sunday. He has the shortest odds of winning The Xfinity 500, which is scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. CT on Sunday (October 26).

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Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar