Recent Form Dispels Weak Title Defense Narrative Around Ryan Blaney and Team Penske

The initial months of the 2024 Cup Series season saw Ford-partnered teams faltering right off the bat in the new Mustang Dark Horse. Team Penske and defending champion Ryan Blaney were no exception. Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing were showing strong dominance and big questions rose on Blaney’s ability to defend his championship. What followed was an arc of redemption.

The 2023 champion was able to put his performances in line with the Dark Horse breaking its winless streak and the result of that has been spectacular. He secured five top-10s and two wins in the last six races. What has pushed this result is the No. 12 team wanting to be a better side than it was in 2023. The string of bad races that came at this junction for the team last year is not yet forgotten.

Blaney and crew chief Jonathan Hassler had been clear that they didn’t want the same to be the case this time around. The homework that they did has proven to be beneficial. The champion said to the press after his recent win at Pocono, “I feel like last summer we struggled a little bit just trying to find some things that would work for us come playoff time.”

“I had to sit around all summer and hear people say that we suck. We didn’t want that this year.” Team Penske’s short-track program was always good. And so, the majority of the other teams went into bettering on the intermediates and the superspeedways. So, Penske’s success at the ‘tricky triangle’ has ended up meaning a lot more because of this.

Blaney expresses pride in the members of the No. 12 Team Penske crew

It is not always that effort leads to success in racing. If it did, every driver would be a champion at some point. Awareness of this is what has made Blaney feel immensely proud of his crew. He said, “Sometimes you try things that you want to focus on that you feel like are going to make your team and your organization better. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.”

“What we’ve been doing this year has been working so I’m super proud of the effort of all the boys and girls at Team Penske for putting the effort in. They are great at what they do.” He continued to hammer home that he couldn’t see himself driving for another team because of the incredible work that his current crew does. “It’s cool to drive for a company like that,” he concluded.