In recent weeks, Ryan Blaney has grown increasingly frustrated with mistakes on pit road and slow stops from the No. 12 Team Penske Ford crew. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler has been fairly open about the problems as well, and the need to improve.
Despite winning at Phoenix, he had to overcome multiple issues on pit road during that race, and it was a similar story en route to a runner-up finish at Bristol last weekend. He currently sits second in the championship standings.
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The team has now opted to move jackman Landon Honeycutt over to the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford of Josh Berry, while shifting the No. 21 jackman Patrick Gray over to Blaney’s No. 12 Ford. Honeycutt is a fairly new jackman and this is his first year in the Cup Series. Gray most notably jumped in mid-race for the No. 22 team at the Phoenix finale in 2024, helping Joey Logano to his third Cup Series title.
The Wood Brothers have a close technical alliance with Penske, operating as a sister car to the Penske trio.
Blaney has lost 88 positions on pit road in the first eight races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and the crew is one of the lowest ranked in the series. Their average pit stop time is over 2.5 seconds slower than the average for the rest of the field.
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