The NASCAR Cup Collection playoffs are a bit of over a month away and Crew Penske has all three of its drivers championship-eligible because the group seeks its third consecutive title.
Ryan Blaney is the reigning sequence champion. He captured his first championship a 12 months after Joey Logano earned his second. As the ultimate stretch to the 2024 postseason looms, Crew Penske competitors director Travis Geisler appears to be like on the playoff level image relating to how the group shapes up.
“That tells the story of the place you might be and that tells the story for us,” Geisler mentioned to RACER. “I feel it’s fairly correct.”
Blaney sits the best of the Crew Penske drivers at fifth on the playoff grid with two victories and 12 playoff factors. Austin Cindric, who will make his second playoff look in three seasons, has seven playoff factors to go together with his lone victory at seventh on the grid. And Logano sits ninth on the grid with six playoff factors and one victory.
“I really feel very comfy with the place we’re speed-wise with the No. 12 [team],” Geisler mentioned. “I feel our execution is catching as much as our pace now on that workforce, so we’ve been capable of preserve that ball rolling. [Blaney] might very simply be sitting right here with 4 wins (if) Gateway goes half a cup of gas otherwise. In case you have a look at Atlanta, the place he was three-thousandths from successful when main on the final lap. It’s like, man, we might have been in an ideal spot. However they’re undoubtedly beginning to get to the place they should for playoff type.”
Blaney may need been the most popular driver going into the Olympic break, with two victories in six races and a possible third slipping away at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He moved to fifth total within the championship standings (vital for bonus factors pertaining to reseeding) whereas main 271 laps in that stretch.
The one Ford driver with a number of victories, Blaney has carried the torch for the producer and Crew Penske all season. But when there may be such a factor as peaking on the proper time, it appears Blaney, crew chief Jonathan Hassler, and the group is firing on all cylinders forward of their title protection.
“I feel the No. 22, we’ve received to discover a strategy to discover some extra pace there,” Geisler mentioned of Logano’s workforce. “They execute very well, they do all of the little issues proper, we simply have to search out some extra total pace since you’re not going to get via the playoffs with one win going into it and never have a win someplace (else). Whenever you get to that ultimate spherical to get within the ultimate 4, if you happen to solely go in there with a handful of bonus factors, it gained’t occur. So, I feel we’re undoubtedly on the seek for pace there.”
Improved consistency is the important thing to Cindric’s championship hopes. Gavin Baker/Motorsport Pictures
It took till the final weekend in June at Nashville Superspeedway, a five-overtime race that got here all the way down to survival of the gas tanks, earlier than Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe punched their ticket to the postseason. It had been a anxious few races main into Nashville as Logano bounced across the bubble spot.
Logano and his workforce haven’t had the identical spark from the 2022 marketing campaign after they gained the championship. It was a one-win season in ’23 and an early exit within the postseason, which has carried over right into a continued battle for pace and stability with their Ford Mustang. Xonsistency would go a great distance, too, as Logano has three top-10 finishes within the final six races and three finishes exterior the highest 20.
“After which I feel for the No. 2, we’re on the seek for total consistency,” Geisler mentioned of Cindric’s workforce. “We’ve been capable of have some actually sturdy races – Gateway was super-strong, however then you definately again it up with one thing that’s not. We’ve to determine how one can easy out these ups and downs.
“That’s sort of possibly the story of the tape for these three.”
It has by no means been a pace challenge for Cindric and crew chief Brian Wilson, but it surely doesn’t matter how briskly a automobile is when a workforce isn’t executing. Cindric has gone many weeks displaying pace Saturday in follow and qualifying that didn’t carry over to a Sunday consequence. The victory at WWTR was a kind of weekends when it did as Cindric certified second, ran high 5 all afternoon, and went to victory lane when Blaney ran out of gas.
It’s far simpler for a workforce to wash up its messes than discover pace. The outcomes for Cindric have been wildly inconsistent, with a mean end of 20.6 and three top-10 finishes. And but, Geisler isn’t stunned that every one three groups are battling one thing totally different.
“They’re undoubtedly not on an island in terms of preparation, working collectively, preparing for the race weekends,” he mentioned. “I feel the general finish outcomes are a bit of extra unfold than what we wish, that’s for certain. However if you see us and we’re sturdy, all of us are usually sturdy, and I feel that’s vital. However our weak tracks are weak for all our groups, and our sturdy tracks are sturdy for all our groups. We simply have to shut the hole between them.”
4 races are left within the common season for the Crew Penske drivers so as to add to their playoff level buckets. A victory in any of these 4 races is value 5 playoff factors and a stage win (there are eight phases forward) is value one playoff level.
No group has gained three consecutive Cup Collection championships since Hendrick Motorsports had a stretch of 5 straight with Jimmie Johnson (2006-10).
