Team Penske is the only team in the 2024 Cup Series to have all its drivers qualify for the playoffs. 25-year-old Austin Cindric won at Gateway, defending champion Ryan Blaney reached the victory lane at Iowa, and 2X Cup Series champion Joey Logano did so most recently at Nashville. How has breaching this level changed the mindset of the racing organization?
Advertisement
Blaney and Logano were both asked the question ahead of their races at the Chicago Street Course. The former said that they were all much more relaxed now with all three entries in the safe zone. He believes that this helps boost the confidence of the entire team and that they can focus on getting better as a whole group without stressing about securing more points.
He said, “Getting us all locked in, that’s another kind of sense of relief. I feel like from everybody at our race shop on the teams like, ‘Okay we’re in, no more stressing about the points now.’ We can really focus on trying to get better as a whole group. Maybe you try a couple things here and there this summer to try to prepare you for when the fall comes around, the playoffs start.”
As for his #12 team personally, Blaney wants to focus on improving performances on the mile and halves, and road courses better. He reiterated that they have been doing a great job and that they ought to continue on that road going further. He has secured eight top-10 finishes with seven more races left to go in the regular season.
Joey Logano is proud of Team Penske for qualifying all three entries
Getting all the cars of Team Penske into the playoffs is particularly impressive for Logano because of the Next Gen car’s nature of creating parity. He believes that the current situation allows the entire organization to recharge its batteries a bit. He said, “Instead of going into the playoffs with your tongue hanging out, you have a moment to look a little further forward than just the next race.”
Plenty of races remain for the three Penske drivers to collect playoff points and strategize for the playoffs. While they’re all crucial in their own right, they can be approached with a sigh of relief that the team did not have just a week ago.
