Ryan Blaney heads into Martinsville in a desperate situation, but with a winning history to lean on. The defending Xfinity 500 champion, who’s captured the race in back-to-back seasons, sits second-to-last in the Round of 8 standings, 47 points adrift of the cutline. In a must-win situation, all eyes will be on the #12 Team Penske driver, and his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, knows exactly what’s at stake.
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Hassler, who took over from the retired Todd Gordon in 2022, has built a good rapport with the #12 driver. On the racing front though, the pair went winless in their first year together. Still, they made the playoffs on points.
Their success came the following season with a win in the 2023 Coca-Cola 600, followed by playoff wins at Talladega and Martinsville, ending in a Cup Series championship in just Hassler’s second full year on top of the pit box. Last season, the duo added wins at Iowa, Pocono, and Martinsville but ultimately had to settle for second in the championship behind teammate Joey Logano.
With years of chemistry now in their corner, Hassler believes that the shared understanding at Team Penske is key to finding that extra edge.
“I think Ryan and I have obviously had a few years together now. I think a lot of times you’re just trying to find any advantage that you can have, and I think over the last couple of years that’s something that has come to us, the area that we’ve been able to make consistent performance is on the long run. I think it’s a combination of my philosophies with how he drives the car.”
“I think I’ll be frank and tell you that there are a lot of tracks that we wish we could flip that switch and have a little bit more short run speed, and, honestly, that’s been a project of ours over the year, is how do we get a little bit more front side speed. I think it’s something that we’re trying to figure out. It’s something that we’re trying to understand and utilize to our advantage,” he continued.
With the Martinsville race just being a few days away, Blaney and Hassler have their work cut out for them. To keep their championship hopes alive, they’ll need to defend last year’s crown in style and once again turn the paperclip into their ticket to Phoenix.
