Roger Penske’s Number 12 Car Joins Elite Company in NASCAR History

Over the years, a lot of Cup Series car numbers have been immortalized. These are usually Cup Series-winning cars. And any championship-winning car is special. Regardless of how many times they have won the title. For Roger Penske, the #12 was the third to win the title after Joey Logano’s #22 and Brad Keselowski’s #2. As a result, Ryan Blaney has immortalized himself and the number.

The #12 Team Penske car never really looked like a legendary number for the team. But things will certainly change now. The car might have been a bit late to the party but it still has a storied history which was revealed on a recent episode of the NASCAR LIVE podcast.

The rich history behind Team Penske’s #12 car

The very first driver of the #12 Team Penske car was Jeremy Mayfield. In the team’s very first season, they were a force to be reckoned with as they finished the 1998 Daytona 500 in third place. Mayfield drove the #12 car to victory for the first time in the same year season at Pocono, holding off the legendary Jeff Gordon.

It would be three more years before Mayfield left Roger Penske. He picked up a couple more victories in that time. 2002 marked the beginning of a new era for the #12 car as Ryan Newman took over. Newman made his team proud when he won Rookie of the Year after a season-long battle with a certain Jimmie Johnson. He also won the All-Star race of the season.

In 2003, Newman took his game to a whole new level and put that #12 car on the map. He scored a whopping 8 wins and 11 pole positions that year. It is considered to be Ryan Newman’s best year in the sport. At the time, it was also the best year any driver had with the #12 car. However, perhaps Newman’s greatest victory with Roger Penske and his team came when he won the 50th edition of the Daytona 500 with the #12 car in 2008.

That was the last time in a decade that the #12 car won a race. And then Ryan Blaney came along. Joining the #12 team in 2018, he broke the winless drought by winning the first-ever Charlotte road course race that year. As years passed, Blaney continued to gradually improve. The fruits of his years of hard work came in 2023 when Roger Penske’s #12 joined his #2 and #22 as a Cup Series-winning car.

Roger Penske was full of praise for Ryan Blaney after his Cup Series triumph. The veteran revealed the thinking process behind signing the 29-year-old. Turns out that his rivals and Brad Keselowski had a significant impact.

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Roger Penske reveals his rivals’ role in him signing Ryan Blaney

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In a recent interview on SiriusXM, the 86-year-old team owner revealed that Ryan Blaney’s signing was due to Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing investing in young drivers at the time.

“We were looking at like Rick [Hendrick] has Joe [Gibbs] has, as all these people building these young kids. We needed to step into the same game, and Brad [Keselowski] was high on Blaney. He had been a winner in racing and I think that he fit the mold and of course, his dad was a good friend of mine,” Roger Penske said.

Whatever the reason may be, it is safe to say that the gamble paid off in the best way possible. It will be interesting to see how the driver of the #12 navigates the 2024 season. Will the added pressure of the defending champion tag weigh heavy on him?

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