Ryan Blaney has posted an average finish of 6.75 in the first four playoff races, though across 30 races this season, his overall average sits at 14.17. Fresh off his New Hampshire win, the opening race of the Round of 12, he stands atop the charts. Yet despite that, and despite Team Penske’s reputation for showing its best hand when the pressure rises in the playoffs, NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty isn’t ready to put all his eggs in Blaney’s basket.
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In his last 10 starts, Blaney has only one finish outside the top 10, with two wins and six top-fives. In the last four races, he’s delivered a win, hence three top-fives, and a top-20 at Darlington. Even his starting spots have been sharp, never falling outside the top five in the past three weeks. Still, Petty insists other contenders deserve their due, even as Blaney continues on a hot streak.
On Fast Talk presented by Toyota with GoPRNLive, Petty said, “It’s the playoffs, and he’s won before, and he’s a Penske driver, and that’s what Ford and Penske drivers do once you get to the playoffs. So, you want to lean that way a little bit. The Gibbs racing team wins the first three with three different drivers. So, there’s, the organization is the clear favorite, but there is no clear favorite driver.”
He added, “And even with Blaney here doing this, you look right behind that and you see that there’s William Byron knocking on the door. There’s other championship contenders knocking on the door. I’m not quite ready to put everything in this [Blaney’s] basket, I guess. But I could be chasing after that train. I’m not on it yet, but I could be chasing after it.”
What does Petty think of Joey Logano as a title threat this year?
Petty also weighed in on Blaney’s teammate, Logano, noting that all season long, the talk centered on how the 2024 Cup champion lacked speed and might miss the mark this year. Then, as Petty put it, someone cracked the door open, and he expects Logano to bite back.
In his eyes, Logano could be the spoiler who knocks out a contender bound for Phoenix, much like last year when Alex Bowman’s car troubles gave him a lifeline. Once inside the Round of 8, Logano not only punched his playoff ticket with a win but also stole the show at Phoenix, dominating the finale to claim the title with the lowest average finish of any champion in history at 17.11.
It remains to be seen if either of the two Penske drivers can step up to the challenge of Kansas, where, going by the numbers, Chase Elliott, Bell, Larson, and Denny Hamlin emerge as the weekend’s strongest bets, with average finishes of 10.4, 12.4, 12.4, and 12.9, respectively.
Team Penske’s third driver, Austin Cindric, could also wake up and make his presence felt at Charlotte Roval, the final event of the Round of 12, hence Petty’s hesitation to pin a championship favorite just yet.
