NASCAR superstar makes Team Penske reveal after Cup Series playoff controversy

The contrast could not have been greater as Ryan Blaney calmly talked about the secret to Team Penske success on the back of that epic NASCAR playoff win at New Hampshire.

The 2023 Cup Series king locked into the Round of 8 with a terrific victory at the Mobil 1 301, while teammate and three-time champion Joey Logano claimed fourth.

It was a far cry from the simmering beef at Joe Gibbs Racing after title-chasing Denny Hamlin wrecked teammate Ty Gibbs when he became frustrated by the antics of the 22-year-old, who just so happens to also be the team owner’s grandson.

Now JGR is forced to deal with the fallout from a shocking incident, which none other than NASCAR great Kevin Harvick believes could derail the season for Hamlin and the team.

At Penske though, things are definitely trending north after a fantastic start to the Round of 12 - once again everything appears to be falling into place at just the right time.

Blaney, who won it all in 2023, is again looking good as the postseason heat ramps up, and he spoke in depth this week about how owner Roger Penske approaches those teammate battles.

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Ryan Blaney on Team Penske strategy

“There’s never any team orders that come from Roger,” he told Kevin Harvick on FOX.

“The only thing that is kind of preached is he expects us to race each other just as hard as everybody else. But it’s ‘just don’t wreck each other doing it. Don’t wreck each other running one-two trying to win the race’.

“And we work so closely here at Team Penske from the drivers and crew chiefs and engineers, like it’s one big group. It’s a joint effort to be competitive. And I personally feel like we do that better than any group, of just working together and figuring out ways that our whole company can be successful. And it comes down to the racetrack too.

“You know, hey, we race each other really hard. Like moments yesterday, Joey and I were racing the heck out of each other for the lead. Me and Josh [Berry] at the end of the race, raced each other super hard. But we’re not gonna run into each other.

“And hey, I’m not knocking the other deal that went on [Hamlin vs Gibbs]. I’m just - this is kind of the way we’ve operated for a long time.

“And it just stems from what Roger has always expected is to race hard and go for wins when you can get them. But be smart about it, and you know, don’t go out there and do something that is going to jeopardize the whole team.”

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Roger builds team spirit

Blaney is high on the ethos that Roger Penske has built, he says it fosters a team spirit which allows everybody to do their job without any internal tensions.

“It’s fun when you can have that. You trust those guys a lot - we have a lot of respect for each other behind the wheel and as teammates and their whole teams.

“And it’s fun when you can go out there and race hard with the guys that you work with on a day-to-day basis.”

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