In his 14th start of the season, Ryan Blaney broke through with a victory at Nashville last weekend. Despite five DNFs in that stretch suggesting ongoing struggles, the broader numbers tell a different story. That’s because, of the remaining nine races, Blaney has scored five top-five finishes, another top-10, and this win. Only two of those outings saw him finish outside the top 10.
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Importantly, the five DNFs, at Phoenix, Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami, Talladega, and Charlotte, were all the result of mechanical failures — issues beyond any driver’s grasp. Still, the underlying performance of the No. 12 Ford has shown plenty of muscle. That’s exactly the point Kyle Petty underscored during the Fast Talk podcast on Go PRN Live, when asked whether Blaney’s win came as a surprise.
He said, “No. He’s got five DNFs. But most of those DNFs are engines, and that’s a component that they don’t control. That comes from the [Robert] Yates and [Jack] Roush program.”
Despite the setbacks, Petty emphasized, “They’ve made very few mistakes and they’ve had speed. And that is the one thing you hear everybody talk about. And even Denny Hamlin last night said, ‘We just got beat by faster cars. We just didn’t have the speed.’
“Everybody talks about the speed. If you show up with speed, you’re going to win races. Blaney has shown up with speed this year.” To put Petty’s words into perspective, Blaney has led 339 laps this season and currently sits seventh in the driver standings.
Blaney believes his Nashville run has strengthened Team Penske’s threat
Following the No. 12 car’s win last Sunday, all three Team Penske drivers — Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric — have officially locked themselves into the playoff picture, making Penske’s collective firepower impossible to overlook.
Even at Nashville, their dominance was on full display, as all three Penske entries found themselves running inside the top four at one point, effectively dictating the tempo for the 39-car field.
During his post-race media briefing, Blaney reflected on the team’s early-season struggles to find a rhythm, noting that they historically hit their stride later in the calendar, often in late summer or fall. This year, however, they’ve clearly turned the tables.
“I thought we just fired off this year with tons of speed, and was really proud of their efforts over the winter for that, and carrying over what we accomplished at the end of last year, and bringing it bigger and better at the start of this year,” he said.
With each Penske driver now boasting a win, the spotlight now shifts to whether any of them can turn this momentum into a run at the regular-season championship.
