Team Penske has cracked the code when it comes to excelling in the Next Gen era. They are infamous for turning on their afterburners as soon as the playoffs begin. This trend started in 2022 and has remained intact until last year. Joey Logano has won two titles in 2022 and 2024, while Ryan Blaney bagged his first in 2023. However, in 2025, the organization seems to have adapted to the new trends and not just that, they are leading with it.
With Ryan Blaney finally getting his first win of the season at Nashville Superspeedway, Penske became the first organization to have all their drivers in the playoffs. It was Josh Berry who kicked off the winning run for the Penske camp at Las Vegas, then came Austin Cindric’s win at Talladega, followed by Joey Logano’s victory at Texas. The missing puzzle was Blaney’s addition to the knockout stages, and they’ve done that as well. Joe Gibbs Racing seemed to be on their game with a three-peat by Christopher Bell and the double by Denny Hamlin, but they haven’t been able to find similar success on the other two teams, the #19 and the #54.
The #22 also finished inside of the top 5, but Logano couldn’t help but tip his hat for the entire Penske organization for locking all four cars into the playoffs. “Yeah, its great! The #12’s been fast all year. I’m proud of Team Penske at this point, they have 4 solid cars out of that shop, including the #21. That’s pretty dang impressive, proud of everybody and the effort to have 4 strong teams like that, it’s really hard to do.”
“I’m proud of everyone from @Team_Penske” 4th-place @joeylogano says after @Blaney completes a Penske Perfect playoff participation early in the season. #CrackerBarrel400 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/qnYEn0HTgs
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) June 2, 2025
This result was a huge comeback after a disappointing Coca-Cola 600 outing. Forget about competing for the win, none of the Penske drivers finished inside the top 10. Berry was the closest with a 12th-place finish, Logano settled for 17th, while Cindric was placed 31st. Blaney couldn’t shake off his bad luck as he was caught up in a wreck on Lap 246, which was sparked by Daniel Suarez. Despite the 5 DNFs and engine woes, the driver of the #12 kept his focus and eventually found himself in the victory lane. He was just untouchable on the green lap long runs, but there’s a secret behind this domination which Logano revealed in the interview.
“[Blaney is better] In the corners. He’s really good at being precise, and that’s what the track asked for, tonight. Hitting your marks at the bottom of the racetrack, Ryan’s really good at that.” Logano added. This win marked Ford’s 745th all-time win in NASCAR Cup Series history and 104th triumph for Team Penske with Ford. Clearly, this partnership has been working like a well-oiled machine, and this should be JGR and Hendrick Motorsports on alert, as mid-season momentum by Team Penske could be troublesome for them.
Forget about working in alliance, the Toyotas and Chevy drivers instead took each other out during the Cracker Barrel 400.
Erik Jones and Christopher Bell have no bad blood after Nashville tussle
On lap 119, Erik Jones, who had a good race car, stuck to his inside lane on the frantic restart. Meanwhile, Bell, who was running in top 5 found himself mired in traffic and decided to cut off the #43 Toyota Camry. Jones nudged him once coming off the straightaway as a warning, but the JGR driver kept at it. Rolling off the corner, the LMC driver decided that he couldn’t allow the #20 to take his spot and spun him off the track.
It wasn’t dirty, just a driver defending his position. Jones had a solid top 10 finish just like Bell. But after the race, he made it clear that he had no intention to ship his Toyota partner driver into the wall. “Obviously, he’s a fellow Toyota as well, which is not great. I don’t race like that and don’t want to race like that… I hope to talk to him and tell him. Hey, look, I didn’t want to wreck you. Glad to hear he is not too angry about it.”
Christopher Bell also acknowledged his mistake, “I felt like I kind of got boxed out by the 22, which the 43 didn’t do anything wrong. He was inside of me, but, ultimately there wasn’t enough room. So he had the position, and I should’ve done better.” However, the same cannot be said for Carson Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The Spire Motorsports driver looked to have shipped the #47 Chevy into the wall in Stage 2, but he felt he didn’t do anything wrong and it was just part of racing at Nashville.
Keep an eye out for Stenhouse Jr., he has a history of returning the favor with a good punch. So we might see some fireworks when the #77 and #47 clash again on the racetrack.
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