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It didn’t take Ryan Blaney long to create his own niche during his ��rst
season at Team Penske, but heading into 2020, he will have a new
crew chief.
Todd Gordon will pair with Blaney after Penske shuf��ed several crew
chiefs in the offseason.
“As we do after the completion of each season, we evaluated what we
can do to better achieve our goals and we felt it was time to make these
changes to better position us to reach our potential,” team owner Roger
Penske said.
The Ohio native, Blaney, has three wins and six poles in his Cup Series
career. His most recent win came in the 2019 1000Bulbs.com 500
at Talladega. He equaled a career-best playoff run with yet another
appearance in the round of eight.
Blaney’s 2019 career highs came in top ��ves, top-10s (18) and average
��nish (13.7). At 25 years old, he became one of the circuit’s most
consistent drivers.
He came into the Playoffs on the heels of some of his best racing. He
had six top-10s in the 10 races leading up to the regular-season ��nale
at Indianapolis. His biggest moment came in the Round of 12 when he
beat Ryan Newman by only .007 seconds which was the sixth closest
margin of victory in Series history.
He won the inaugural road course race at the Charlotte Motor
Speedway’s ROVAL in 2018 to join teammates Joey Logano and Brad
Keselowski in the NASCAR Playoffs.
After spending 88 races across three seasons �� including full-time in
2016-17 �� as driver of the No. 21 Ford ��elded by the legendary Wood
Brothers Racing organization, Blaney made the move to Team Penske
in 2018. He helped give car owner Roger Penske seven combined
victories in the Cup Series with all three drivers ��nishing in the top 10 in
points, including a Championship for Logano.
The move to Team Penske wasn’t unexpected. Wood Brothers Racing
enjoys an engineering alliance with Team Penske and Blaney’s stay
with the group was scheduled to be brief. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins,
as well as a handful of other key personnel, also made the move to
Penske and the No. 12 team.
One of three ��rst-time winners in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2017,
Blaney scored his ��rst victory in the Series at Pocono Raceway in June.
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The win not only gave the Wood Brothers’ group its 99th career
victory in the Series, it also earned Blaney and the team one of
16 positions in the Series’ 10-race, Championship-determining
Playoffs. He wound up ninth after being eliminated from the
Playoffs after two rounds.
It was the ��rst time Penske ��elded three teams since 2010. That
year, the driver lineup consisted of Keselowski, Kurt Busch and
Sam Hornish Jr.
Blaney, an avid Star Wars fan, got into an argument with Jimmie
Johnson after the 2019 race at Watkins Glen. Johnson was
dropped from contention as Blaney spun him out, and the vitriol
between the pair continued until Michigan a week later. It was
Johnson and Truex Jr. who wrecked going into the chicane that
gave Blaney his ��rst win with Team Penske at the Bank of America
Roval 400 in 2018.
Despite his strong ��nishes at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix,
Blaney fell short in the round of 8. However, that ��nish was the
best of his career in his seventh go-round in the Cup Series.
2019 FEATURED DRIVERS
RYAN BLANEY
@Blaney @ryanblaney10
ryanblaney.com
/1000Bulbs.com
/ryanblaney.com
