On Saturday, NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney wrapped up his regular season as the winner of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, securing the No. 2 seed for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
And with two victories and three additional top-five finishes since mid-July, Blaney has quickly emerged as a legitimate title contender and embraced a leadership role with Team Penske in the process.
"As you gain experience at your profession, you're expected to get better and better at making people around you better. That's what a leader does," Blaney told The DA Show on Tuesday. "He or she makes people around them better and motivates people to continue to improve at what they do. Just trying to do better at that, and it's been a lot of fun.
"A lot of people have taught me along the way how to be that person. Just trying to grow -- that's the biggest thing -- and continue to get better and better at what you do... It's been a lot of fun to really be striving toward. And [NASCAR crew chief] Todd Gordon has really helped me out. He's given me great advice on how to do that. It's been a pretty fun journey."
Blaney, the full-time driver of the No. 12 Ford Mustang GT for Team Penske, currently has seven wins and 46 top-five finishes in 224 career races in the NASCAR Cup Series. The 27-year-old Ohio native has also won seven races and earned 43 top-five finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
NASCAR's 10-race postseason is scheduled to begin on Sunday, Sept. 5 with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Nine weeks later on Nov. 7, Phoenix Raceway will host the four-driver championship race.
The entire NASCAR conversation between Blaney and DA can be accessed in the audio player above.
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