Iowa Corn 350 winner Ryan Blaney talked about his connections to the area and Knoxville in his post-race press conference after winning the first ever NASCAR Cup Series race in Iowa.

Blaney, who’s mom is a native of Chariton and whose father is a former Knoxville Nationals winner, took the checkered flag in the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 Sunday evening. Blaney and his father Dave held a charity event in Knoxville Saturday night for the Iowa chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, which consisted of a meet and greet dinner. KNIA/KRLS radio asked Blaney in his post-race press conference Sunday night about his recent visit to Knoxville and being able to spend extended time in central Iowa over the weekend. 

“It’s just nice to be up here. Spent a decent amount of time here as a kid. Went to Knoxville last night. We had a little charity event, and I stayed for the races. It’s always nice to see. It’s been a handful of years since I’ve been to Knoxville. It’s just a nice area and it’s fun. There is a lot of cool racing that goes on in this area. It is a special place, and there are very dedicated races up here. You have a nice combination of dirt racers, die-hards at Knoxville, and then 20 miles down the road you have this place, and I think it’s good, because you’re going to get each group to each race track. I bet tons of fans that came out today, a lot of crew guys I know went to Knoxville. I hope some Knoxville fans came here today. The crossover is nice. If you’re a race fan you’re a race fan and you’re going to watch racing. It’s good. It’s nice that we’re up here and I hope we come back here for a while.”

Blaney was the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, and his father Dave is in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.