NASCAR chief declares Team Penske 'untouchable' in damning Cup Series admission

Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart has sent a dire warning to teams hoping to challenge Team Penske for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series title.

The Penske cars, especially the No. 12 of Ryan Blaney, looked dialled in at New Hampshire last weekend, a troublesome sign for those looking ahead to the Championship Round at Phoenix – another 1-mile oval.

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Penske's strength at the key playoff tracks has seen their cars win the last three years (Joey Logano in 2022 and 2024, and Blaney in '23) despite their rivals' best efforts.

Gabehart warned that there's a chance Penske could be 'untouchable' if things lined up as they did at New Hampshire, but insisted that he and his JGR team still hold out hope for a first title since 2019.

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“I think the biggest thing you’ve got to take away from today is, with this aero package, with the same tire as Phoenix at a 1-mile race track, the Penske cars are completely untouchable again.

"So, I know what it’s like to be untouchable. We’ve been fortunate enough to be on the right side of that. But the reality is, we got a lot of work to do with this package, and that’s the focus.

“While this is the aero package and the tire we’ll run at Phoenix, this is not Phoenix. It’s Loudon. And they have different race track tendencies. And when we were at Phoenix, the last time they were on the other side of the race track, and when we finished the race, we finished first.

"So you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here. But the reality is, it’s playoff season, and here come the yellow cars, with subpar metrics along the way, but those guys know how to get it done when it counts. And, you know, we’ll just have to race them the rest of the year and see how it goes, I guess.”

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