Can you imagine looking at the current NASCAR standings…that Roger Penkse‘s team has been unbeatable in the next-gen era? Three years, three championships for Team Penske. But we are six races into the season and out of the three big dogs, Penske is the only one without a win yet. HMS got two, BGS and Daytona 500. JGR’s got three, with Christopher Bell winning back-to-back. And now even Wood Brothers Racing has got one when Josh Berry took the checkered flag at Sin City. But despite that, Joey Logano doesn’t seem to lose his contagious smile! He’s not showing an ounce of disappointment.

Folks forget wins; they have barely gotten top 5s. Ryan Blaney sits 7th in points with a single top-5, Logano’s in 8th place with none, not even a single top 10! And lastly, Austin Cindric is 21st in the points table. But still, we won’t make the mistake of counting them out. And Logano’s probably so confident because of the contentious playoff system. After all, he won the championship last year, with only one win and 4 top 5s in the entire regular season. It was the ‘win it and you are in’ rule that made him a champion despite having a 17.1 average finish. The worst for a champion ever! And he might be slacking this season, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a championship contender. Or, for that matter, any of Penske’s boys!

Team Penske can still get a fourth championship in a row

Last season is the perfect example of why Logano is so confident. Well, was Logano deserving of a champion? The answer to this is both yes and no. Yes, because that’s how the format is designed. And Logano did everything required to win his third championship. He needed a single win to make the playoffs. Thanks to the ‘win it and you are in’ rule, he bagged the checkered flag at Nashville Super-speedway and cemented his spot in the top 16. He then won in Atlanta and made it to the top 12. But here’s where consistency was needed and Logano failed. He only got one top-10 in the round (P8 at the ROVAL). And he was disqualified.

But only to later find out that Alex Bowman failed post-race inspection and got a DQ. That’s it. Logano’s even-year magic was working once again. The #22 then won the first race of the round of 8, the South Point 400 at Vegas, and made it to the final 4. Eventually, after a tight battle with Ryan Blaney, Logano gave Team Penske its third title in a row. And that’s why he thinks the #22 team is still a championship contender. 

In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he said, “I still feel strong about our team. It’s still the championship-winning team. I feel great about that. And we have done this long enough to know that racing sometimes is just like this. You gotta learn from the mistakes. There’s definitely been mistakes made early in the year. Some that we have never seen before. Some that we have, that we need to be better at. Some things are out of our control. Completely. It’s kind of what it’s been.”

In fact, Logano feels they are in much better shape than they were last season. “Yeah, I think we have done this long enough to know how things work. And there is positives like I said. We have led the most laps this year. There are a lot of really good things. We are in way better shape right now than we were this time last year. Like way better. We are way better in points than we were last year.” 

And even though they haven’t won a race yet, Team Penske has shown speed. Logano has led the most laps till now (247) and Austin Cindric has led the second most (159). And thanks to the format, all they need is a win or two to make the playoffs. Like how Harrison Burton was below the top 30 in points last season. But a win at the Daytona race still put him in the playoffs above more deserving drivers. So you can’t really count anyone out at any point in the season. Again going back to last season, all three Penske drivers got wins at a very later stage of the season.

The first race Penske won was when Joey Logano took the checkered flag at the North Wilkesboro All-star race. But that did not count, it being an all-star race. However first points race win was Austin Cindric’s World Wide Technology Raceway. Followed by Blaney’s win at Iowa and then Logano’s first points win came in Nashville. And team Penske’s final win of the regular season came when Blaney won Pocono. And this has been the kind of pattern. Team Penske doesn’t sweat it in the regular season. But when the playoffs arrive, they bring their A-game. Look at Ryan Blaney! Currently, he’s struggling, but one race can change all that.

Trending

1

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Lost for Words as $2.10 Trillion Employer Resurrects His Father’s Legacy

2

Is NASCAR Moving Away From Denny Hamlin and Co. With a New Leader in Town?

3

After Severing Ties With Tony Stewart, Gene Haas’ NASCAR Journey Takes a Drastic Turn

4

Denny Hamlin Questions Roger Penske’s Sudden Wood Brothers’ Revival as He Carefully Dissects Shady Alliance

Can you count Ryan Blaney out?

Look at the recent performances of the 2023 Cup Series champion. He got a back-to-back DNF, first at Phoenix and then at the recent Las Vegas race. And rather, the Vegas race was a nightmare. The #12 driver crashed in practice and started at the rear. And then crashed in the race as well, wrecking Noah Gragson and Bubba Wallace. Naturally, he was disappointed. “It stinks even more when you’re the cause of it, it’s like, ‘Man, I really screwed up there, and ruined a couple of other guys’ days as well as my own,’ but I try to get over it like Monday morning.” 

And that’s pretty much been the Team Penske’s mentality. ‘Don’t sulk, just move on to the next task.’ Because again, with this format, you can always make inroads. And Ryan Blaney plans to do the same. “I’ll think about it Sunday night, go through it, and think about what I could have done differently and better. But then Monday, it’s like [onto the] next task. What do we have next, and move on from there. No use dwelling on it as long as you learn from it, you can get over things quick,” He added.

Also, next up is Homestead Miami, and the way he’s run there recently, he’s a front-runner to win it. The #12 team’s got two back-to-back P2 finishes there. If this time he can get a win, the whole narrative will instantly change. The struggling Blaney will become Penske’s first possible entrant in the playoffs. And Blaney is confident about Homestead. “It’s one of the most fun places we go to. You know, anywhere you’re really sliding the car around because not a lot of places we go, especially with this car, there’s not really much side force on it. So, you can’t really slide it as much, or you bust your tail. Homestead, you kind of get away with that stuff because the surface is old and stuff like that, and it’s fairly smooth. So, yeah, it’s definitely up there.”

It’s one of Blaney’s most “favorite” tracks and the stats show that. In the last two visits, he’s led 100 laps there, taking his total to 170. And that’s the third most after Kyle Larson‘s 301 and Denny Hamlin leading 193. What do you think? Can Ryan Blaney win Homestead? Also, do you think Team Penske would win another championship? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.