There is a big difference between Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing. While Joe Gibbs prefers his drivers settle differences between themselves, and not involve him, Roger Penske makes it very clear to his drivers what is expected of them on-track.
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That includes racing against competitors, but also racing against teammates. That’s why you’ll likely never see what happened between Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs Sunday at New Hampshire happen between Sunday’s winner Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric.
“I feel like we’ve always had a really great expectation from Roger,” Blaney said during this week’s edition of The Day After podcast with Shannon Spake. “There is never any team orders from Roger.
“The only thing he ever tells us is don’t wreck each other trying to go for the win. He expects us to race hard, no matter what, but don’t wreck each other doing it because that’s the worst thing for the whole organization is if you’re running 1-2 and you take each other out. That’s a big shameful moment.
“So he expects us to race just as hard with everybody else.”
That’s why what fans saw happen between Hamlin and Gibbs will never happen in a Team Penske ride.
“He expects us to race just as hard with everybody else and if it’s your teammate, you’re probably not going to lay a bumper to somebody, but you’re going to race him very hard,” Blaney said. “I mean, there’s a lot of times, moments in the race where Joey and I race each other for the lead, or Josh (Berry) and I race the heck out of each other for the lead, and that’s what is expected of us, right?”
That could be another reason why Team Penske has won the last three Cup championships: Logano in 2022 and 2024 and Blaney in 2023.
“(Penske) wants everyone to go win and try their hardest to win, but you’re not going to run over each other,” Blaney said. “I think that’s just a mutual respect type deal because you work so close together.”
That’s why Sunday at Kansas Speedway, you’ll once again see Blaney, Logano, Cindric and Berry all race each other tight, but never put one another into the wall like Hamlin did with Gibbs at Loudon.
