Blaney, Penske continue summer surge
LONG POND – The power of Penske Racing is real. And it was on display again at Pocono Raceway Sunday.
Ryan Blaney claimed his second victory of the season and second at the Tricky Triangle with his win at The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com.
As an organization, Penske has won four of the last seven races after being shut out through the first 14 points races of the season. Austin Crindric started the run, claiming his first win of the season June 2 at Gateway, a race where Blaney ran out of gas from the lead before taking the white flag.
Blaney broke through two weeks later for a win at Iowa Speedway June 16, leading a race-high 201 of the 350-lap event after starting second on the 0.875 mile oval.
Joey Logano earned his first victory of the season June 30 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Blaney, the 30-year-old defending Cup Series champion, is leading the charge for a team – and organization – that appears to be firing on all cylinders with all three drivers locked into the playoffs.
“I think things have really just kind of fallen into place for us,” said Blaney, who led a race-high 44 laps Sunday. “We’ve got to a great place on speed the last few months especially, and I feel like we’ve honestly had a couple races slip away from us, which I thought we had a good shot at winning.
“So it was nice to just stick to the plan today, and kind of our plan was just to have track position at the end, because I knew our car was fast enough. Super proud of Jonathan (Hassler, crew chief), and the whole 12 team. The Wabash Ford was amazing.”
Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion, earned a top-five finish Sunday, placing fifth at the 2.5 mile track
“Joey Logano and the No. 22 team had a really good test at North Wilkesboro in March-April timeframe, and that certainly got us going in the right direction I would say, on the short track program,” said Blaney’s crew chief Jonathan Hassler. “And then we all kind of got some wins, I think we’ve been able to kind of push the envelope a little bit and come up with some different ideas to try and make speed on intermediates, and I’m proud of the effort we had today with that.”
The organization’s speed certainly hasn’t been limited to NASCAR’s Cup Series, with Penske sweeping the IndyCar doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday, as Scott McLaughlin and Will Power drove to victory lane over the last two days.
“A Penske sweep,” Blaney said with a smile. “Scotty (McLaughlin) winning yesterday, Will winning today and us winning today. That’s cool.”
NASCAR takes on a track special to team owner Roger Penske next week when it visits the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which Penske owns.
The series will also be making a return to the oval layout during a weekend that will celebrate the 30th anniversary of NASCAR’s first race at the Brickyard. In May, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden won his second-straight Indianapolis 500.
A year ago, Blaney won the Coca-Cola 600 the same day Newgarden claimed his first Indy 500 win.
“You definitely always want to make cool weekends, and we had the pleasure of sweeping last year with the Indy 500 and Coke 600 with Josef, and Josef winning again this year at the 500, giving RP (Roger Penske) I think his 20th 500 (win),” said Blaney. “And now we have a unique opportunity to go and sweep Indianapolis for him in IndyCar and NASCAR. That’s a special deal.
“We’re going to enjoy this, and appreciate it and celebrate it, but that is one we have circled. We don’t even talk about it in our camp – you know that that is a huge one for RP. It is full-speed ahead for Indy.”
For Blaney, Sunday marked career victory No. 12 for the driver of the No. 12 car at a track where he earned his first career win in 2017. It was also his seventh top-10 finish in 15 races in Pocono.
“It was super special seven years ago to win here with the Wood Brothers, and it’s just as special to win here today,” said Blaney, who also earned his 10th top-10 finish of 2024. “You love track that have special meaning to you, places where you get your first win, and things like that, so this place means so much to me.
“My fiance (Gianna Tulio) and a ton of her family is here, so I can’t wait to see them. But just so proud of the effort. Looking forward to hopefully continuing this momentum to next week at the boss’s (Penske) track up at Indy.”
With the power Blaney and the Penske organization have displayed recently, there is little reason to think they won’t continue to flex their muscle at the Brickyard - and beyond.
“I definitely think we’re in a better spot at this time than we were at this point last year,” said Blaney, who had one win at this point last year. “I feel like our speed is better, our execution is great. We are doing everything at the No. 12 team the best that we can, some other unforeseen circumstances have hindered some finishes and possible wins.
“But I’m just proud of the whole Team Penske group, all those men and women at the race shop, they work their butts off to try to get better. I appreciate all the work that they do.”