Ryan Blaney ranks second in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings after eight races this season, and on the surface, it’s been a great start to the season for the No. 12 Team Penske group. However, the elephant in the room has undoubtedly been the performance, or lack thereof, of the No. 12 pit crew.
While Blaney is getting it done on track, his pit crew has frequently let him down on pit road this season.
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According to Racing Insights, Blaney’s No. 12 pit crew has lost a net 88 positions on pit road through the opening eight races of the campaign, which is 31 more positions than any other pit crew. The next team on the list is Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing pit crew, which has lost a net 57 positions on pit road.
It’s a staggering statistic, because while Blaney’s pit crew has struggled, the driver is in the groove behind the wheel. Blaney is the No. 1-ranked driver in passing and speed rating this season, and in the three races in which his pit crew made glaring errors on pit road, Blaney has fought back to finish inside the top three each time.
While Blaney is succeeding despite the performance of his pit crew, you have to wonder just how many times he can reach into his bag of magic to bail the team out. And at the same time, you have to ponder how patient Team Penske can afford to be while waiting for the No. 12 pit crew to work out the bugs.
When NASCAR reverted to the Chase for the Cup championship format in the offseason, it meant a larger emphasis would be placed on mistakes. While wins are now worth more points, they aren’t a magic cure-all event as they were under the previous “Playoff” format.
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Now, it’s all about amassing more points throughout the opening 26 races of the season than the other competitors, and when the 10-race Chase kicks off, consistency will be even more key.
Sure, Blaney has seemingly offset a lot of the pit road miscues so far this season, but had it not been for the miscues, he would have had much better odds at landing his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in victory lane.
Instead, nearly a third of the way through the regular season, Blaney holds just one victory, which came at Phoenix Raceway, the fourth race of the season.
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway, a track where Blaney has had up-and-down results throughout his career. Blaney has just five top-five finishes and nine top-10s in 22 career attempts at the 1.5-mile speedway. So, if Blaney and the No. 12 team are going to keep moving in a positive direction this weekend, the pit crew is likely going to have to do its part.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/racing-america as How Long Can Team Penske Tolerate Subpar Pit Stops For Blaney’s Crew?.
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