“We’ve just got some things to work on, you know?” Make that number of ‘things’ double. Ryan Blaney and his compatriots confidently approached Throwback Weekend in Darlington, looking to stun their peers. Rocking a look that hails his father Dave Blaney’s 2006 Charlotte Xfinity win, Ryan almost got it done at the egg-shaped oval. However, pit road miscues clouded his finish as he landed in 4th place. This was the latest of a series of mishaps for Roger Penske’s star, and Dale Earnhardt Jr is… well, concerned.

Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, won three races in 2024. He was part of the larger Ford group’s late-season resurgence. He almost went back-to-back as the champion, finishing second below teammate Joey Logano. This season, however, there have been several near-misses – revealing serious issues underlying the confident facade.

Dale Earnhardt Jr issues warning signals to the Penske fold

Since the beginning of the 2025 Cup Series season, Ryan Blaney has run into trouble. Most notably, the No. 12 Ford experienced a three-race streak of DNFs. That started at Phoenix Raceway, where Blaney’s engine gave out on lap 290 of the race. Then, in Las Vegas, Blaney’s day ended after a crash. Engine nightmares came back in Homestead-Miami, where Blaney ironically led for 124 laps before the engine detonated on lap 208. Before that, Blaney’s last engine failure before Phoenix came in the 2018 Coca-Cola 600. The astonishing stretch of 242 races without a failure and then this string of issues, paints a worrisome picture for the team. Such mishaps can get in the way of Blaney’s playoff hopes later, as Dale Earnhardt Jr emphasized.

We saw how that happened in Darlington. Ryan Blaney had snatched the race lead from Tyler Reddick on lap 291 when Kyle Larson brought out the second caution. He lost the pit stop game to Denny Hamlin’s faster crew, or else the victory would have been his. In a recent Dale Jr Download episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr dropped a warning on the No. 12 team. “I think pit road is such a critical part of being successful. And if you’re consistently seeing issues there, they absolutely should be concerned… There should be some hard conversations happening… The speed on the racetrack should allow them to have some confidence going forward.” 

During the Goodyear 400 race, the No. 12 Team Penske fold messed up on pit road. On his first pit stop, Ryan Blaney got hemmed in behind Shane van Gisbergen’s car. He was fourth at the end of stage 2, but due to a slow pit stop, he dropped to 16th. So Dale Earnhardt Jr highlighted what needs to change: “Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing, let’s not change anything – we may need to do some things differently on pit road… Moving and mixing and matching different people to find a little bit of balance across all four cars… They are leaving a lot of playoff points, things on the table that could benefit them later in the year.”

NASCAR journalist Jordan Bianchi who was a guest on Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s show, enlisted the evidence that could tick off Roger Penske. “If I’m Penske, I’m really frustrated right now. ‘Cause Ryan Blaney should have won Darlington – pit road cost him dearly. He should have won Homestead, blown engine… And you look at the number of laps led – they led a 125 laps combined at the Daytona 500, 131 laps combined at Atlanta.” And what is more doom-and-gloom is that Ryan Blaney’s streak of misfortune closely resembles a retired veteran’s fate last year.

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Blaney’s troubles bring the deja vu of Truex Jr’s 2024 woes

Remember the initial part of the 2024 Cup Series season? Martin Truex Jr was a solid contender in races, picking up top-ten finishes too often. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team finished well consistently at tracks like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and COTA – and also a spectacular runner-up finish in Bristol. But Truex’s fate at Richmond Raceway highlighted something similar to Ryan Blaney’s current state. Although the race car had the speed, the final execution on the part of the team was not there. Truex led for 228 laps at the Richmond race, looking forward to picking up a victory in his final full-time season. But a late-race caution jumbled up the scenario and Denny Hamlin beat him on pit road with pure speed.

According to Jordan Bianchi, that scenario closely resembles Ryan Blaney’s. Truex kept picking up good finishes and made it into the playoffs on points – but remained winless and heartbroken. Bianchi said on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s show: “Martin Truex Jr started the year off very strong. He should have won Richmond but didn’t. They had all the speed in a year and didn’t win a race. Come later in the regular season, they didn’t have a win and we had all these surprise winners – Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon… All of a sudden, Martin Truex Jr finds himself on the bubble because he’s the one guy who doesn’t have a win. And you’re like, ‘Damn, we had a really good year, we could have won this race.”

Clearly, Ryan Blaney and Team Penske are toeing the edge of the game. As Dale Earnhardt Jr said, they need to work on team execution to finally clinch the glorious season that they deserve.