NASCAR Cup Series star Ryan Blaney has gave a frank instant reaction to a piece of breaking news on Monday.
The Team Penske standout was recording a guest appearance on the Door Bumper Clear podcast when news of 13-year-old Keelan Harvick signing to Toyota's driver development program broke.
Blaney was visibly surprised by the news that former Cup Series champ Kevin Harvick's son would be a Toyota racer – with Harvick Sr. running Chevy equipment for the first 16 years of his Cup career and Fords for the final seven – calling the announcement 'huge'.
As much as anything else, the moustachioed driver of the No. 12 car was surprised by the fact that Hendrick Motorsports, who the teenaged Harvick has been associated with, missed out on the young racer.
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Blaney: The new wave is coming
“I did not have that one on my bingo card," Blaney admitted. "I thought it was going to be Hendrick Motorsports. I cannot believe that. Wow, that’s huge.”
As the news sunk in, he then went on to share a story about Harvick in which he admitted he felt old – the two NASCAR champions getting ignored by fans at a Carolina Panthers game in favour of the speedy youngster.
“I’ve got a great Keelan story," he said. "It made me feel old. We were at a Panthers game. We’re in our little area. Kevin’s there. These fans are hollering over the thing, ‘Keelan, can you sign this?’ Kevin and I are standing there like, ‘F*** us, right?’
“I got a picture of Keelan handing this hat back to a guy. I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s coming', the new wave, man. It’s pretty cool.”
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