![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2265493445-e1773063170310.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Ryan Blaney celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n
Ryan Blaney didn\u2019t hide the fact that the pressure was real.<\/p>\n
After delivering a NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series victory for Team Penske, Blaney admitted the entire organization understood what was on the line during a rare weekend that brought Penske\u2019s NASCAR and IndyCar programs together at the same track.<\/p>\n Blaney captured the win<\/a> Sunday at Phoenix Raceway in the Cup Series race, completing a dominant weekend for Penske across both NASCAR and IndyCar competition.<\/p>\n With Roger Penske watching both series compete side-by-side, the expectation inside the organization was clear: finish the weekend the right way.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a little more internal pressure,\u201d Blaney said after the race. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be the guys who don\u2019t finish out the whole weekend for RP.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaney ultimately delivered exactly that.<\/p>\n The victory capped off a dominant weekend for Team Penske and provided a major boost in the early NASCAR Cup Series standings after four races in the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Team Penske Already Had Most of the Weekend Locked Up<\/p>\n By the time the NASCAR race began, Team Penske<\/a> had already stacked up an impressive list of accomplishments.<\/p>\n The organization\u2019s IndyCar program captured the pole position and the race victory, while Joey Logano added another highlight by winning the pole<\/a> for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n That meant the organization had already checked off three major accomplishments before Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n Blaney knew exactly what the situation was.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had three out of the four boxes checked,\u201d he said. \u201cIndyCar pole, Cup pole, IndyCar win. You gotta finish it out.\u201d<\/p>\n Inside Team Penske, the final result of the weekend was now riding on the NASCAR team.<\/p>\n Josef Newgarden Made Sure Blaney Knew the Stakes<\/p>\n Blaney said the IndyCar drivers didn\u2019t hesitate to remind the NASCAR side of the expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was cool to have those guys be on the racetrack this weekend. That was a fun weekend for us,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cI love watching IndyCar racing.\u201d<\/p>\n But the message from the IndyCar garage quickly turned serious.<\/p>\n \u201cJosef put the pressure on us,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cThis weekend is going to be absolutely ruined if you don\u2019t do it on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n With the IndyCar team already delivering a victory, Blaney understood the responsibility that now rested with the Cup program.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to mess it up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Winning for Roger Penske Still Carries Weight<\/p>\n Blaney has already delivered major victories for Team Penske during his Cup Series career, but he said wins for Roger Penske still feel different.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always special to win it for Roger,\u201d Blaney said.<\/p>\n Penske had invested significant effort into making the cross-series weekend possible<\/a>, bringing NASCAR and IndyCar together in a way fans rarely see.<\/p>\n For Blaney, that made the result even more meaningful.<\/p>\n \u201cOn a weekend like this where he put a lot into having these two series together \u2026 for us to finish it out is definitely neat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The victory ensured Team Penske completed a near-perfect weekend across both major racing series.<\/p>\n Blaney\u2019s Win Adds to a Strong Start in the NASCAR Cup Series Standings<\/p>\n Blaney\u2019s trip to Victory Lane also adds momentum to what is shaping up to be an important start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.<\/p>\n Through the first four races, drivers like Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott have already begun separating themselves near the top of the early standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n Blaney\u2019s win not only helped Team Penske complete its dominant weekend but also strengthened his position as one of the drivers to watch early in the championship battle.<\/p>\n For Blaney, however, the focus on Sunday wasn\u2019t about standings or points. It was about finishing the job for Roger Penske. And making sure Team Penske didn\u2019t leave the weekend with one box left unchecked.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMaggie MacKenzie<\/a> Maggie MacKenzie covers NASCAR for Heavy.com. She previously worked for NASCAR.com, where she reported, wrote, and edited race-weekend coverage and traveled to key events throughout the season. She has more than ten years of experience in sports media and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. More about Maggie MacKenzie<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Ryan Blaney celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway. Ryan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-524756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524756","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=524756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}