Being teammates with Joey Logano for years now, Ryan Blaney has seen what has made him a three-time champion. Under this format, Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe have owned the NASCAR Cup Series. Team Penske has won three straight championships.
The last three seasons have gone Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano. Right now, those two look like they are on the fast track for another trip to the Championship 4. New Hampshire was a warning shot to everyone else. The duo led more than 200 laps of the 301-lap event.
While the results haven’t looked great this season, Logano has performed better than in 2024. Early in the season, Logano had plenty of points despite bad finishes. Now the finishes are showing up at the end of races.
Ryan Blaney talked about Logano’s proclivity for performing in the NASCAR Playoffs on the Dale Jr. Download this week. It comes down to preparation.
“It’s not a big surprise to me anymore. I’ve been teammates with Joey for long enough to where I know how good he is and how kind of methodical that he goes about things,” Blaney explained. “I know how great Paul Wolfe is, of how he goes about things and how they kind of pick and choose, like, ‘Hey, yeah, we’re going to go do this tire test.’ And they go first pick of tire test, right? In our organization, we go by kind of previous year points, right? So, he gets first pick, I got second, and then Austin. So, yeah they knew Loudon was going to be in the playoffs, they said let’s do this, and they were really able to take advantage of it.
“I chose Charlotte because I thought mile-and-a-half … just to test and stuff like that. So, it doesn’t surprise me, I mean, I know those guys are gonna be – even if they don’t have the year that people think is impressive through the regular season, you know they’re gonna just get better and better. They’re going to find ways to be better. Whether that’s thinking outside the box, maybe, more from what you’re comfortable with from a crew chief or driver side, driving differently, taking different chances, they’re just going to figure it out. It’s pretty impressive how good those two people, of Paul and Joey, are together and just how they kind of plan on things and stuff. It’s damn impressive.”
Ryan Blaney won the race at New Hampshire, but Joey Logano showed that he isn’t just going to roll over this year either. If he makes it to the Round of 8, that Las Vegas race will tell us all we need to know. The last two times Logano has won the championship, he has won the Vegas race to advance two weeks early.
So, what is it about Logano? Is it Paul Wolfe? Team Penske has proven they know how to get it done. Looking at it now, Blaney is probably the favorite. Then you have to seriously consider Logano. A lot can happen between now and Phoenix. So, maybe it isn’t so certain. We’ll have to wait and see how these playoffs unfold.