With Ryan Blaney’s win on Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway, all three of Team Penske’s drivers now have a win in 2025 — actually, make that four winning drivers, including Josh Berry of the affiliated Wood Brothers Racing — something that no other multi-car team can brag about.
Advertisement
Joey Logano could have potentially had his second win, but lost the lead on a restart about two-thirds of the way through the 300-lap race and it was Blaney who ultimately capitalized on it, leading 139 laps in total. Heck, even the other Penske driver, Austin Cindric, squeezed in two laps led, even though he could only finish 18th.
Still, Logano, the three-time and defending Cup champion, was proud of Blaney’s best race of the season. “We did the details well, all but the one restart, we lost the lead there, but I don’t think I would have maintained it anyway,” Logano said. “That run, (Blaney) was just lights out, which gave him that huge lead.”
But there’s no question Blaney had the fastest and most dominant car. Sure, Logano led 10 laps. But Blaney blitzed the field, leading for nearly half of the event. “(Blaney had) the best car,” Logano conceded. “Glad the best car won.”
Post race, Logano revealed the specific area where Blaney had made his gains. “In the corners. He’d do the corners well. He’s really good at being really precise and that’s what the track asked for tonight. Hitting your marks at the bottom of the race track, Ryan’s really good at that,” he admitted.
Indeed, Blaney — who won the 2023 Cup championship that was sandwiched around Logano’s second and third Cup crowns — won by nearly three seconds over runner-up Carson Hocevar, who bounced back from earlier contact that sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall and out of the race. Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Logano and Cup points leader William Byron in fifth.
“I never gave up hope, that’s for sure,” Blaney said afterward. “We’ve had great speed all year, (it) just hasn’t really been the best year for us as far as good fortune. The 12 boys are awesome. They stick with it no matter how it goes, and it was great to finish one out now.”
Team Penske can coast from now until the playoffs — but here’s why they won’t
With its own three drivers plus the affiliated Berry, Team Penske is the only multi-car Cup organization that has all of its drivers now in the 16-driver field for the upcoming 10-race playoffs, although 12 regular season races still remain before the postseason begins.
“Yeah, it’s great,” Logano said. “The 12 has been fast all year, so he deserves to be the winner. I’m proud of Team Penske at this point, to have four solid cars out of that shop, including the 21 (Berry) in the playoffs. That’s pretty dang impressive. I’m proud of everybody and the effort, to have four strong teams like that is really hard to do.”
Indeed, it’s hard to do. But with Team Penske’s momentum — and if they can sustain it, which is even harder — we could see all four Penske cars in the Championship 4 round. And a fourth straight Cup crown for Penske.
