Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Team Penske, who has won the past three Cup championships, is without a win this year, as the series goes to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the 10th race of the season.
This is the second year in a row that Team Penske has not achieved his first cup victory of the season before at least the 10th race of the year. Last season, Team Penske’s first cup victory came in the 15th race of the year when Austin Cindric won at Gateway.
Ryan Blaney entered sixth this weekend, the best among the Penske drivers. Joey Logano is ninth and Cindric is 22nd. The three drivers combined this season to lead 54.6% of the rounds in setting tracks (Daytona and Atlanta).
“We certainly did not have execution,” Team Penske president Travis Geisler told NBC Sports after the Bristol race earlier this month. ‘I think (Blaney’s) team was able to win a number of races here and we just didn’t execute. We had some problems beyond our control, some of them under our control, and we just have to clear it all.
“I actually feel that it’s probably the fastest that we started a season in a while. If you look at most of the race, we had a very good shot. Besides (Bristol) and Cota, we could probably have won one of the breeds. I think that’s what you should focus on, and I think we’ve done a good job of being a little stronger, which has part of the goal to get it to get to get a little. win). “
Blaney has a best 92 stage points. Logano is fifth in the series with 70 stage points. Cindric is eighth in the series with 57 stage points.
Former XFinity champion Randy Lajoie joins Kurt Busch as a first time Hall of Fame nominee.
Blaney had the dominant car on Homestead, which led 124 of the first 161 rounds before his engine blew – one of the two blown engines he had this year. At Darlington, Blaney led to Pit Road before the overtime restarted, but left fourth place. He finished fifth that race.
Blaney’s team has a new leading tire changer listed on his timetable for this weekend’s race at Talladega. Keiston Price is listed as the new leading tire changer, which replaces Ryan Flores, which takes Price’s place with the number 38 car from Zane Smith.
Jesse Love took away his victory after his car failed after the race inspection.
What the Cindric and Logano teams did this season, Geisler said: ‘I think (Cindric’s) team is doing what they need to do now. I think these guys are in a decent place and try to find out how to be there every week. I think there is a little more and that they are a little more. Even-Keeled, which is a purpose for any kind of new group.
‘Obviously, (Logano’s team) needs to produce a little more. We struggled there. We had some races where they were very good again, and we still couldn’t get a good finish. In general, we only need a little more pace. The car didn’t have enough speed. ‘
Logano became the first ruling cup champion that did not score a top 10 final in the first six races of the following season.
Logano started second at Phoenix, but a violation of the restart early in the race forced the team to change strategy and use its option ties differently than most teams. He finished 13th there. Logano led in Las Vegas, but lost it on Pit Road with 22 laps to go due to a slow pit stop. “I just made a mistake on Pit Road that I wish I could have back,” Logano said after the race.
Cindric led the Daytona 500 to start with the final round, lost the lead on the back and were picked up in an accident and ended eighth.
Cindric led three rounds from the scheduled distance at Atlanta the following weekend before Kyle Larson came under him. When they rushed from Turn 2, Larson came on the track and Cindric hit the wall and fell down.
Cindric won a stage in Las Vegas, but had to pitch a second time for a possible loose wheel. He recovered to finish sixth, his best result of the season.
