{"id":523810,"date":"2026-03-09T04:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523810\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T04:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:07:10","slug":"penske-sweeps-phoenix-doubleheader-weekend-with-blaneys-nascar-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523810\/","title":{"rendered":"Penske Sweeps Phoenix Doubleheader Weekend with Blaney\u2019s NASCAR Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPenske Perfect\u201d it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But Ryan Blaney\u2019s hard-fought Straight Talk Wireless 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday made it a Penske sweep of the NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

The celebration at Avondale, Arizona, was as more than just a wildly successful salute to team owner Roger Penske in the organization\u2019s 60th anniversary season. It also signaled a Ford triumph over Toyota, as it marked an end to Camry driver Tyler Reddick\u2019s three-race winning streak that started the season.<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

Joey Logano captured the pole position in his No. 22 Mustang but was involved in two Stage 3 accidents that in one case also resulted in a race-ending mangled No. 2 car of teammate Austin Cindric. So in the late going, it fell on Blaney\u2019s shoulders to match the Saturday success of Josef Newgarden, winner of the NTT IndyCar Series\u2019 Good Ranchers 250, and polesitter David Malukas from the open-wheel side of the Mooresville, N.C., team shop. <\/p>\n

Blaney persevered and outlasted runner-up Christopher Bell and third-place Kyle Larson.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t easy. Blaney was plagued by two loose-tire incidents with his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. And they were a large part of the reason he had to pass 49 cars to capture his first victory of the season\u2014at this racetrack where he secured the 2023 series championship. <\/p>\n

\"nascarSean Gardner\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ryan Blaney had to pass 49 cars en route to his Phoenix win.<\/p>\n

The winner said, \u201cWe had a couple mistakes that we learned from and got better and had come from the back a couple times. And honestly, the 20 [Bell\u2019s] was the best car. But Jonathan [crew chief Hassler] made a great call to take two [tires]. And we were able to get the lead and just hold them off. I don\u2019t know how many more laps I\u2019m able to hold them off, but we were able to do that. So really proud of everybody at Team Penske. We swept the weekend. [Josef] Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can\u2019t wait to see Roger. It\u2019s cool to win here again, and especially after a day like that. So I can\u2019t say enough about the 12 [car] guys for keeping their head down and doing what they do\u2014and Jonathan [crew chief Hassler], again, for making a good call there at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exciting to pull that off\u2014very proud of our people, to have both poles and both race wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for pleasing the boss, Blaney said, \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of things that Roger hasn\u2019t done. And it\u2019s really cool to add to it. This is a special year for everybody. And it\u2019s nice that we can get our first one of the year and something new that we haven\u2019t done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs most people know, Roger Penske does this to win races. That\u2019s what he loves to do,\u201d Team Penske NASCAR operations president Michael Nelson said. \u201cTo give him something he hasn\u2019t achieved before, to give him race wins twice in one weekend [with] two different series, means the world to all of us. It was exciting to pull that off\u2014very proud of our people, to have both poles and both race wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t look so good for awhile,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cBut these guys [on the NASCAR side] had a really fast race car and were able to put together the right strategy at the end and get the car back in position to win and execute it.\u201d <\/p>\n

That strategy, according to Hassler, simply was \u201cto show up and have a fast race car. At the end of the race, we were a little bit behind the 20 [Bell]. And we thought we were probably equal to those guys on speed. It was pretty easy for us to choose to change the tires there. Our bed was kind of made, and fortunately, it all worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell, who led a race-best 176 laps of the 312, recorded a second-straight podium finish. He contended that \u201cif we had had more green-flag laps, I think we could have made a run at them, but I don\u2019t know. You win some, you lose some. And this one stings. But on the positive side, I\u2019m really proud of our entire team. It\u2019s something to build on. Just bummed whenever they get away like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

Reddick said, \u201cIt seemed like our Camry had good speed. It was just kind of back and forth on which direction we think we needed to go with our Camry. And so we kind of just hovered around fifth all day. [It] would\u2019ve been nice to make it four. But [we] scored the fourth most amount of points on the day. That\u2019s kind of what we need to just keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and to try and hang onto it. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have and glad to get out of here with some points.\u201d<\/p>\n

For awhile, it appeared in the late going that Team Penske might have been just as disappointed. Its Cup woes severely reduced its chances to sweep the weekend. Blaney was the team\u2019s last hope to answer a little needling from Newgarden, who reminded his Team Penske stock-car counterparts at a Saturday night dinner that the open-wheel drivers already did their part to uphold the Penske reputation. But two of the Phoenix-record 12 cautions made the prospect grim Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"auto:Icon Sportswire\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Anthony Alfredo.<\/p>\n

Logano inadvertently knocked teammate Austin Cindric out of the race in the second of five Stage 3 accidents. Then Logano was involved in a seven-car Lap 254 melee after A.J. Allmendinger tapped him. It knocked Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, and Logano out of the race. <\/p>\n

In the first of those incidents, Anthony Alfredo\u2014who finished 10th in Saturday night\u2019s O\u2019Reilly Series race and was filling in Sunday for Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Alex Bowman\u2014wound up 33rd in the 37-car field.<\/p>\n

Logano admitted fault for that crash immediately via his in-car radio. \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to do that,\u201d he said after hitting Ross Chastain\u2019s rear bumper. But the mistake cost Cindric, whose average running position Sunday had been sixth. Pole-winner Logano, too, was eliminated shortly afterward, and fell 30 positions, to 31st.<\/p>\n

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is Sunday\u2019s Pennzoil 400, a 267-lapper at the mile-and-a-half Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Blaney\u2019s Car Was a Runaway\u2014Even After the Checkered Flag<\/p>\n

As winner Ryan Blaney reflected with announcer Jamie Little on the highlights of his race performance, she noticed that his car was rolling backwards across the start-finish line. \u201cYour car’s starting to roll away here, Ryan,\u201d she said. He told her, \u201cHold on\u201d and sprinted over to his Chevrolet, reached inside it, returned to Little, and aid, \u201cGot it in gear. That was almost really bad, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unapproved Changes Net Penalties for Teams of Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar<\/p>\n

Zane Smith\u2019s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team was penalized heavily Saturday for making unapproved adjustments to the underbody of the Ford during practice and before qualifying. Car chief Will Norris was ejected from the event. Smith qualified 24th but was ordered to the back of the field and had to perform a drive-through penalty after taking the green flag Sunday.
<\/p>\n

Officials announced Sunday morning that No. 7 qualifier Carson Hocevar also was punished for the same infraction and sent to the rear. Brad Keselowski already knew he would be starting from the back of the grid for turning to a back-up car following a crash during practice Saturday.<\/p>\n

IndyCar\u2019s David Malukas Gives Colorful Memory of Only Previous NASCAR Race<\/p>\n

A number of NTT IndyCar Series racers stayed an extra day at Phoenix after their Good Ranchers 250 race to watch Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series action and\/or to support colleagues from their multi-series teams. David Malukas, 24, of Team Penske, said he hadn\u2019t attended a NASCAR race since childhood\u2014\u201csince I was picking my nose and playing with Hot Wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native\u2019s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. \u00a0She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPenske Perfect\u201d it wasn\u2019t. But Ryan Blaney\u2019s hard-fought Straight Talk Wireless 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,782,206297,784,1642,634,206296,82,183339],"class_list":["post-523810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-16d963a6-142c-46ad-8688-4bd1b4a6aaf0","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-shorttitle-penske-sweeps-doubleheader-weekend-with-nascar-win","tag-sports","tag-subsection-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}