Legacy | Ryan Blaney | Book 6

28 | wherever i go

S U M M E R L Y N
B L A N E Y

@nascar: BREAKING NEWS: @noahblaney and @summerlynblaney are to announce their Cup rides for next season. The press conference will be live in 10 minutes.

"You ready for this?" I asked Noah as he walked in hand in hand with Kianna.

"Nervous if anything." He replies. "Oh, my word, what is this? I think I might be sick. Why is the whole Cup garage here?"

"Two big names are going to be entering the series, they wanna see first hand which teams they have to look out for next season." Mom smiles as she walked up with dad. Noah and I were supposed to keep our decisions to ourselves. Nobody knew who we were going to race for but Noah, mom, dad, and I.

"We'll be fine." I nervously responded.

"You kids ready?" Dad walks up. We both nod and headed up to the table.

"Thank you all for being here today. As you all know by now, Noah and Summerlyn have decided to take the next step in their careers. Both will move up into the Cup Series. We would like to thank them for their two amazing seasons at Blaney Motorsports. We have amazing crews and sponsors who set them both up for success. Noah and Summerlyn had a lot of offers to consider and we thank all the teams who actively showed them their facilities and showed them their possible future, and having their best interest at heart. So, with that being said I will leave it to Noah and Summerlyn."

"It's been incredibly difficult trying to make this decision. I had so many teams who wanted me and it would honestly be a dream to race for any of them. But at the end of the day, I knew where I wanted to race-" Noah takes a deep breath. "I will be signing a four-year contract with Joey Logano and Team Penske. I will be bringing back my dad's number, the 12 car, to the Cup Series." Noah announces. Nobody was really surprised by this. Everybody knew someone was going to bring back dad's car and carry on the Penske 12 car's legacy. "I hope to bring back the 12 car back to its former glory and live up to the expectations of driving that car that my dad had so much success in."

Noah answers a few questions for the media reporters. I catch sight of Theo leaning on the back wall with the rest of Stewart Haas. He looks up at me, smiling, we were happily back together and taking things slowly. He quickly types something on his phone then looks up at me. I looked over at my phone on the table as it silently lite up.

From Theo ❤️: can't wait to hear where you decided to race. you have all of my support and love.

I softly smiled up at him as Noah finished up his last question before all attention turned over to me and my final decision.

"As Noah said, this was an extremely hard decision to make. I'm truly honored to have been chosen by all these teams. It was a very difficult decision. At the end of the day, I picked this team because it just felt right to me. The people, the atmosphere, everything made me feel at home and it's where I feel like I would succeed the most. So, with that being said, I will be signing a full time, four-year contract with Purdy Family Racing with Emma and Chase Purdy."

I heard a few gasps. It was a shocking decision, a lot of people speculated that Penske, Hendrick, and BMS were my top picks and they were definitely for a time. But I wanted to be away from dad's legacy at Penske, and not be apart of a team that was run by a biological family member. Emma and Chase Purdy provided me with a place to make my own legacy without having my dad or uncle looking like they were carrying me through the sport.

"Were there any other factors in your decision to sign with Purdy Family Racing?" A reporter shouted out.

"Being a female in the sport can be difficult at times. Emma, of course, was a part of Team Penske when she raced in Cup and my dad's teammate. I've known Emma and Chase since I was super young, they're practically family. Emma, as a former female driver in this sport, knows how to win and she knows the challenges of being a female in the sport. I feel like she'll understand me more in a way and she'll help guide me through the challenges of being a female in cup."

| xfinity race -las vegas |

"Hey guys." I smiled getting back from driver intros. I took a seat on the pit wall with some of my guys chatting before the race and also debriefed with Jimmie.

"How are you and Murphy doing?" Jimmie asks standing beside me as the crew walked away to get lined up for pre-race ceremonies.

"We're doing good, taking things slow."

"Good, I'm glad you kids are going to work out." Jimmie pats my shoulder. "Speaking of which, here he comes." Jimmie looks in the direction of Theo and Keelan walking our way.

"Hey babe." Theo smiles placing a kiss on my forehead. "How are you feeling? Ready for this race?"

"Definitely, got a fast car today." I smiled up at him. "Hey Keelan."

"Hey Blaney."

"How's your dad handling the news?"

"Oh boy, you need to explain some stuff to him. He really thought you were going to choose Stewart Haas." He laughs. "He's a lil pissed off."

| 2 laps to go |

"Kennedy on your outside quarter, door, door, quarter, quarter, clear on the bottom." My spotter says. I move down and took Kennedy's line putting him in the dirty air. "Noah is getting a run. Half a second back, watch out. Just focus on the track ahead of you."

"10-4," I replied.

"White flag," My spotter reports. I keep an eye on my mirror to watch Noah and Kennedy behind me. I felt a slight tap on my rear bumper from Kennedy.

"Tell Ken to get off my ass," I reported.

"10-4," Jimmie replies. I started to feel multiple taps on my bumper as we entered the backstretch. Before I realized what my car was going, it got loose and slid up the track. I catch the car before it could hit the inside wall or spin out, but it cost me two positions.

"Sorry guys, I couldn't save it there. Good job guys, p3 ain't bad at all."

"No worries kid. Very nice driving there Blaney. Good restarts, good pit stops, led a couple of laps. Nothing to be ashamed of here tonight. We'll move on to Richmond next week."