NASCAR Review: How a Difference in Strategy Saw Ryan Blaney Break Denny Hamlin’s Pocono Stronghold

Going to race at the Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin was the driver to beat. He is the track’s most successful driver with seven wins and has reached the victory lane thrice this year. He was also fueled by the purpose that not having a top-10 finish in five races gives. But as the 160 laps unwinded on Sunday, defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney got the better of him.

Blaney and Team Penske crew chief Jonathan Hassler decided right from the start that they were going to play the long game, which is why they didn’t make much of it when they lost multiple track positions after pitting early in Stage 1. They knew they would make up for it. And they did. With good speed in the car, they pitted right before the end of Stage 2 and procured the lead.

This move could’ve left them running out of fuel towards the end of the race but there were enough cautions to prevent that from happening. Meanwhile, Hamlin who’d led 31 laps till that point chose to go for winning Stage 2. And when he restarted with his fuel cell packed to the brim, he’d lost one too many spots to be able to catch Blaney at the front end before time ran out.

He did finish the race as runner-up and collected some crucial playoff points. Hassler told the press of the No. 12 team’s strategy, “When we pitted, probably lap 15 of the race, I feel like that kind of steered our course. We lost a little bit of track position. We were really kind of playing the long game. That kind of put us in a position to short-pit the third stage and get our track position.”

Blaney is happy with their plans succeeding

It is not always that such meticulously drafted strategies can be executed well. Several unforeseen issues could pop up and foil the day. Fortunately, Sunday had more things fall into place for Blaney than not. He expressed awareness of the same, “90% of the time plans go haywire and they don’t work. It’s nice when they do go to plan like today.”

It may be a different Victory Lane, but Ryan @Blaney is once again a winner at @PoconoRaceway!

️ “Props to Jonathan (Hassler), he called an amazing race. We had confidence in what we were doing and it worked out for us.”@Team_Penske | @FordPerformance pic.twitter.com/f4PXtoQmu1

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) July 14, 2024

“Props to Jonathan [Hassler]. He called an amazing race. We had confidence in what we were doing and it worked out for us.” With two wins this season, Blaney is safely secured for the playoffs. His only goal for the next five races in the regular season is to collect more playoff points akin to what he did on Sunday.