Ryan Blaney?s Martinsville Masterclass Reignites Ford Fear as Paddock Gets 2022 Flashbacks

Defending champions Team Penske fizzled out early this season and were not expected to recreate last year?s triumph. The writing was on the wall when 2022 champion Joey Logano was eliminated after the race in Bristol. That quickly changed when the outfit unleashed their trump card in the playoff season.

Ryan Blaney?s #12 Ford Mustang rode all the way to the Championship 4 race after crossing the finish line at the Martinsville Speedway. With Blaney?s victory, NASCAR analysts finally saw the re-emergence of a dominant pattern.

Racing insiders analyze Ryan Blaney’s title chances

Since Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell were already through to the final race, it came down to the remaining six playoff drivers last weekend. William Byron and Ryan Blaney had a point-based advantage, but the Joe Gibbs Racing stars were fearsome rivals indeed. Martin Truex Jr won the pole and Denny Hamlin established his prowess early with the Stage 1 win. However, none of them compared with Blaney?s unmatched average finish of 9 on the short-track oval.?

The Team Penske driver won the second stage and led 145 laps to confirm his first-ever Championship 4 appearance in Phoenix this weekend. As Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi pointed out in The Teardown, ?Ultimately the fastest car won today?. Gluck admitted, ?We’ve overlooked Ford all year, and they have had their struggles, but when it has mattered the most, they have stepped it up?. The racing experts also drew parallels with Ford?s supremacy and eventual victory last year with Penske?s driver Joey Logano.

The #22 Ford Mustang driver won in Las Vegas and then conquered the Championship 4 race in Phoenix with the support of teammate and runner-up Ryan Blaney. Gluck rightfully asserted, ?Logano?s playoff run and Blaney?s playoff run have a lot of similarities, and if I was the competition, I would be very scared of Ryan Blaney going to Phoenix.? Wholeheartedly agreeing, Bianchi went ahead and claimed, ?He [Ryan Blaney] was probably better than Joey Logano there last year.?

Watch this story: Blaney’s Triumph Amidst Hamlin’s Tactics

?He played the wingman role very very well and deferred to his teammate. He finished second there in the spring, he is so good there.? Jordan Bianchi also laid out Ford?s chances on the Phoenix Raceway.

Team Penske and Ford are ready to go down in NASCAR history at the Phoenix Raceway

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Although Ryan Blaney qualified for the playoffs last season, the #12 driver got eliminated at this very juncture in Martinsville. This year, he penned down a different story for himself. But the battle is not over yet with the combined force of Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing awaiting him in the championship race. With an average finish of 11.9, the Team Penske driver has a respectable track record on the Phoenix Raceway. But HMS stars Kyle Larson and William Byron have both won recently on that track.

Despite that, NASCAR writer Jordan Bianchi refused to write off Blaney?s potential.?He said, ?I’m not going to dismiss [Kyle] Larson, I still think he’s the favorite, but Blaney going to Phoenix and winning wouldn’t shock me at all.? After all, Blaney managed to climb back into Ford?s good graces by winning the penultimate race of the season. As far as the final race was concerned, Ford has proved its strength on the 1-mile tri-oval with a 1-2 finish last year.

Bianchi observed,??It’s not an intermediate racetrack. We talk a lot about the deficiencies of Ford. It’s not in the superspeedways and short tracks can be ebb and flow, you don’t know right, but they’ve been better on these other racetracks and that it’s not an intermediate racetrack, I think it evens that out a little bit more.”

In the end, he couldn?t help commending the team and Ryan Blaney?s remarkable achievement. ?Penske again, second straight year they figure this out in the playoffs, and they put it all forward, and for Blaney – this was huge.??Can Blaney now go all the way and finish the job in Phoenix?

Read More: Kyle Larson Drops Bold Ryan Blaney Claim in 6-Words