Kobe Bryant’s lasting impact on one NASCAR driver

Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney had a chance to speak with the late Kobe Bryant just over a year before his passing.

Two years ago today, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California along with eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. The late five-time NBA champion left a lasting impact on many, including quite a few in the NASCAR community.

But perhaps nobody feels that impact more so than Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney.

Blaney honored Bryant with a special BODYARMOR paint scheme on his #12 Ford in the March 2020 race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

“It was really special to be able to run the Kobe tribute scheme at California to honor that tragedy, he and his daughter and the other individuals involved,” he said.

He also had the opportunity to meet Bryant during an October 2018 Las Vegas dinner through the American independently owned sports drink; Bryant was a huge investor in that company and played a huge role in kick-starting it back in 2011 and 2012.

He even got the chance to speak to the 18-time All-Star one-on-one that evening.

“We had a dinner, it was a big dinner with a lot of beverage companies that BODYARMOR was partnering with, a lot of retailers,” Blaney recalled in an interview with Beyond the Flag in the aftermath of Bryant’s passing. “To be able to talk to Kobe, we talked for 15 or 20 minutes just he and I, we gave him a firesuit we ran earlier that year at Indianapolis; he was so excited for that gift.”

The 28-year-old even discussed Bryant’s famous “Mamba Mentality” and how that was crystal clear, even in their 15–20-minute discussion, as a result of Bryant’s sheer passion to take in as much as he could take in from the NASCAR star.

Blaney admitted that it even made him a little bit nervous.

“Just to get his mindset; as a kid, growing up and watching Kobe and his mentality on everything, that came out in just our conversation,” he continued. “He was asking me questions about racing that I 100% knew the answer to, but I was nervous to mess them up because he was so intense, something he didn’t even know anything about.

“But he really wanted to learn all about it in a matter of 15 minutes. That just shows what kind of a person and competitor he was and his mindset going towards anything, just his outlook on life, you could see it on the court, off the court, what he was able to accomplish.”

Talking to Bryant, whom he idolized growing up, was a dream come true for Blaney.

“That was an absolute dream come true of mine, to be able to sit and talk to somebody like that, someone I’ve idolized ever since I was a kid, and just what they’ve done in their sport,” he said. “And you can learn a lot from people like that, just really in your everyday life, even if you don’t play sports, so that was definitely a dream come true, and that wouldn’t have happened without BODYARMOR.”

Blaney, who entered the 2021 season as a four-time Cup Series race winner, earned the first of his three victories of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

That win was his first win with BODYARMOR as the primary sponsor of his #12 Ford. He paid tribute to Bryant after that win as well.

“That’s an experience I’ll never forget, being able to talk to him at dinner,” he concluded.