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Ryan Blaney's Girlfriend Gianna Tulio Cheers Him on ahead of Championship Race: "Let's Get It In Phoenix Baby!"
Gianna Tulio and Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford driver have been going strong since 2020, but Blaney’s support system doesn’t stop there.
Ryan Blaney’s electrifying 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoff run has been a seven-year masterpiece in the making. As he heads to Phoenix for the Championship 4 race, there’s still one high left for the Team Penske driver to hit.
Arguably the best-performing Cup Series driver through the playoffs — he’s scored three top-five finishes, including wins at Talladega and Martinsville — Blaney has all the momentum one could ask for as a title-contender ahead of his first trip to Phoenix for the Championship, but sometimes the mojo of success just doesn’t cut the mustard.
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If you’re Blaney, endearing encouragement from family and loved ones like his girlfriend Gianna Tulio, his uncle Dale Blaney and his father Dave Blaney can only help provide the extra boost he needs to capture the checkered flag.
If you know who Ryan Blaney is, then most likely, his girlfriend of three years has caught your eye. Born July 31, 1998, the 25-year-old Tulio models for the Hooters brand both on the domestic and international level, sporting intimate loungewear, fashionable formal gowns and bikinis. Among her modeling accomplishments, she was selected as Miss June in 2019 in the Hooters calendar before she went on to be crowned Miss Hooters in 2021. There, during the Orlando-based pageant, she also won the Most Photogenic award.
Since she became involved with Blaney, she's shown unwavering support for him. Tulio has been with Blaney through the tough times on the track like last season, where he failed to score one Cup Series victory, as well as the good times, like the heater he’s been on late. In short, she’s a steady beacon of positivity for Blaney and someone he’s been able to count on time and time again, exemplified through her social media messages, like the one she posted after his triumphant victory at Martinsville.
How has Gianna Tulio shown her support for Ryan Blaney?
Following Blaney’s momentous win of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway — the Round of 8 victory that catapulted him into the Championship 4 — Tulio showed her steadfast support and overwhelming pride for her man. “Gosh I’m so proud of you and will forever relive this moment,” Tulio wrote on Instagram this week. She added, along with a heart and checkered flag emoji, “Let’s get it in Phoenix baby!!!!"
Blaney’s girlfriend isn’t the only one showing support for the Team Penske Ford wheelman. Both his uncle Dale and his father Dave were fixtures in various competitive racing circuits for multiple decades.
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Dale was a former West Virginia Mountaineer standout who was originally drafted to play professional basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers, but chose to pursue racing. Since then, he’s cruised to be a six-time champion of the All Star Circuit of Champions, notching 137 career wins along the way in the sprint car series. He also scored 11 victories in the World of Outlaws.
Meanwhile, Blaney's pops Dave is no slouch on the track either. After garnering the title of the 1983 All-Star Spring Circuit Rookie of the Year when he was 21, Dave, the son of the great sprint car racing legend Lou Blaney, went on to win the Gold Cup and Knoxville Nationals, the most important event in Speed Racing, according to NBC Sports. Dave also competed in the Xfinity Series, notching 31 top-10 finishes over 12 years, and the Cup Series, where he raced to 28 top-10 finishes over 17 years.
Having appeared with his son on USA Network’s Race For The Championship, Dave never misses an opportunity to gush over Blaney.
What have Ryan Blaney’s uncle Dale and his father Dave said about his success?
“I’m really proud of him, the type of person he is, his attitude and work ethic that has led to success in NASCAR,” Dave told NBC Sports in 2018. “I think that would have led to success in whatever he tried to do in life." The pair of brothers were at Martinsville to soak up Blaney’s win, and uncle Dale proudly posted a photo to commemorate the event. “Yesterday was one of the coolest days I've ever had at a race track,” Dale wrote on social media Monday, including a picture of himself, Blaney, Blaney’s mom Lisa, Dave and, of course, the legendary Grandfather Clock bestowed upon the lucky few to win on the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Ryan Blaney’s sister Erin is dating his Cup Series title contender, William Byron
Rounding out Blaney’s family when he cruises into Arizona’s high desert for the Championship 4 race in Phoenix is his sister Erin, but that could complicate things for the Ford driver as she is also the girlfriend of Blaney’s competitor, William Byron.
Guided by the immensely knowledgeable Jeff Gordon, the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports and a four-time Cup Series champion in his own right, “Willy B” leads the Cup Series this year with a season-high six wins, and Erin has been his steady hand to witness it all. That said, being Byron’s rock has put herself in a bit of hard place as both her love and her brother are potentially on the precipice of greatness.
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“I told Erin, I was like, ‘You’ve got the best percentage of anybody of someone you care about winning this thing,’” chuckled Blaney to NASCAR during Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day at the track. “I was like, ‘You’ve got a better chance than us, all four of us sitting up here!’ So yeah, it is a funny dynamic, but at the end of the day, he [Byron] and I both understand we’re still competitors. But we’re gonna race each other with respect, too. ... He and I are buddies.”
Erin has remained in neutral gear ahead of the race, with not one but two of her most favorite people in the world competing for NASCAR’s top honor.
But the power of familial support, whether public or at home, is a motivator second to none.
“He’s a good kid, I’m loving it that he got a great chance in NASCAR early, at a young age, and took advantage of the opportunities he’s gotten,” Blaney’s father Dave added in the 2018 NBC Sports piece. “He has a chance to have a really good career. You’ve got to keep going and keep pushing, and I think he’s up for it.”
