The
Racer’s
Dog

2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion (and official partner of The Farmer’s Dog) Ryan Blaney drives a race car for a living. His job is going fast—so maybe it’s no surprise that when he’s off the clock, he prefers the opposite pace. His dogs, German shepherd/Lab mix Sturgill and Chihuahua mix Malibu, are a big part of helping him find it.

“I’d go insane if I thought about racing 24/7.”

Blaney told us that racing is “organized chaos.” He broke it down this way: “Every time a driver goes into the corner,” racers’ term for taking a turn, “you’re guessing the grip you’re going to have, where to lift, where to break the lanes. You have to choose, and it changes every lap. As tires get older, it changes. Your guesswork has to immediately change. It’s like a calculated guess every single time you go in the corner. And it’s just by feel—you’re making your best assumption about ‘Can I make it or not?’ And operating on the edge of control without going over it is a fine line.”

This intensity makes it extra important to have a life outside of his job. “I’d go insane,” he said, “if I thought about racing 24/7.” When Blaney needs to shift into neutral, he hangs out in North Carolina at home with his wife and their young son, along with Sturgill and Malibu.

Blaney grew up in a racing family, and for a while career was his sole focus. As he grew up, he started to build a different kind of life. Getting Sturgill was the first step.

“I didn’t have a dog when I moved out of my parents’ house,” he said. “I made a decision one day. He’s a Lab/shepherd mix. I love German shepherds, and I love Labs. So when I saw he was up for adoption at a shelter not too far from where I was, I was like, ‘Well, let me, let me go see him.’ He had probably five or six siblings there. I saw him. Sturgill and I made this connection immediately, just by the way he acted around me. You know, I could tell that he was into me. And I was [into him], obviously. His original name was Diesel. That’s what they named him at the shelter. That wasn’t gonna stick.” For a NASCAR driver, maybe Unleaded 98 Octane would have been a better fuel-based name—but Blaney went with “Sturgill.”

“I appreciate Malibu for being on my side.”

Malibu came into Blaney’s life via his wife, Gianna. Getting on Malibu’s good side was an early relationship test for him. “If she doesn’t like you,” Blaney said of Malibu, “then she’s going to let you know it pretty quick. So I passed that check. Thank God. I appreciate Malibu for being on my side.”

Sturgill and Malibu didn’t know each other until their people got together, and they have different personalities—Sturgill, in keeping with his person’s vibes, is more of a “lone soldier,” while Blaney characterizes Malibu as a “cuddle bug.” Regardless, they’ve become best friends.

Sturgill, Blaney says, “lets Malibu beat up on him. He’s a big teddy bear. He’s the most gentle dog ever.” Malibu, meanwhile, “is the wild and crazy boss lady, but also very, very sweet. And will lay on you ’til you’re sick of her. But they meshed really well together.”

Now, it’s hard to imagine a time before Sturgill and Malibu had one another.

“They are kind of codependent,” Blaney said of the dogs he and his wife Brady Bunch-ed together. “The bond that they have, we can’t take one without the other. The other one will freak out if they’re not around each other. They have to get groomed together. They have to get baths together. They eat together.”

“My dogs don’t even know what race cars are.”

“A perfect day off is sitting here and enjoying what we have,” he said, sitting on his front porch with Sturgill and Malibu. “Hanging out with these two, with my wife and son, with our farm animals. I think as an adult, you get more excited about doing nothing.”

On their North Carolina farm, in addition to their dogs, Blaney and his family have chickens, goats, and a llama named Kevin whose job is to ward off the likes of coyotes and foxes. During a visit from The Farmer’s Dog team, Kevin was evidently shy around people… but loved coming up to the fence to sniff his canine buddies Sturgill and Malibu.

“I’ve always enjoyed animals, because each one of them has a different personality,” Blaney said.  “Whether it’s dogs or goats or chickens, llamas, horses… if you’re kind of stressed out, they know it. So it helps you relax when you’re around them.”

Blaney likes that Sturgill and Malibu “don’t even know what race cars are… all they know is, dad leaves for a few days every weekend, and he comes home and he gives them belly rubs and love and feeds them on time.”

That’s especially crucial considering how humbling racing can be. Even when you’re as successful as Blaney, he said, “you’re going to lose a lot more than you win.” And the dogs aren’t only there for comfort when he’s had a disappointing race—they also keep him grounded when something great happens. In 2023, Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series. After winning his race in Phoenix, he flew to New York for press. Amid the excitement and the attention, all he could think about was getting home to his dogs. “I was looking forward to laying on the couch and hanging out with them,” he said. “And that was the best time ever. Coming home, you’re kind of exhausted—and the dogs are psyched because they haven’t seen me and Gianna for a week.”

“He looked leaner and healthier.”

A few years into his life with Sturgill, Blaney started hearing comments from his friends that his beloved dog might be getting out of shape.

“My buddies would come to the house [and say] ‘He’s getting fat.’ And I’m like, ‘what are you talking about?… I don’t know, he’s a big boy’”

But then, a few months later, “Even like Gianna was like, ‘Hey, I think he actually is getting a little bit bigger than what he needs to be.’” That’s when they started researching new foods and switched their dogs to The Farmer’s Dog, which comes portioned for dogs’ individual needs.

Soon, he said, “We saw the change in not only their mood, but [also] their build.”

“After three or four weeks, he looked leaner and healthier… his coat got better. He had more energy after we switched. So there were a few signs that we made the right decision.”

Blaney also likes to know that his dogs love the food. “It’s fun to see that they look forward to eating as much as they do,” he said. “Their excitement for when they know we’re pulling out The Farmer’s Dog shows to me that they enjoy it.”

“His eyes haven’t changed.”

Blaney knows that the bond he has with his dogs is special.

“It’s a partner you go through life with, you know, and it just happens to be an animal,” he said. “I know they’re always going to have my back and I’m going to have theirs.”

“When I look at Sturgill now,” Blaney said, “I see a fella who’s been with me through thick and thin. I hate seeing the gray in his face. But it shows me that we’ve grown together. You know, we’ve weathered the years together and we’re growing old together.”

“I’ve sort of been through it all with him,” he said. “He was with me before I even met my wife. You know, and kind of getting my career started. We’ve grown a lot together. It’s crazy to look back at photos that pop up on my phone from years and years ago.”

And the dogs are embracing the latest chapter in their people’s lives. “It’s been fun to see how they’ve accepted our baby,” Blaney said. At first, he said, “they were taken aback a little bit. Someone new being in the house all the time, different smells. But now, he’s 6 months old and they love him just as much as they love us.”

Through all the changes, Blaney told us, Sturgill remains a constant. “His eyes haven’t changed,” he said, “even though maybe he’s gotten a little grayer [and] bigger since he was a puppy. His eyes have been the exact same.”