Ryan Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano drove to the win and the championship
Joey Logano just claimed his second NASCAR Cup Series championship. He grabbed the title with a win at Phoenix Raceway.
Meanwhile, Logano’s teammate, Ryan Blaney finished in 2nd. It’s the first season since 2016 that Blaney has gone winless.
For NASCAR team owner Roger Penske, he had two cars racing for the win. However, only Joey Logano was in the battle for the championship. Roger was asked if he told Blaney not to pass Logano.
“I think I told him on the radio with about 10 to go, ‘You’re his wingman.’ I think we were fine the way we were.”
Ryan Blaney climbed from his car and he wasn’t happy about finishing 2nd…
Ryan Blaney comments after the race at Phoenix Raceway
“Didn’t win, obviously. Dumb question,” Ryan Blaney explained to NBC Sports on why he was angry.
“Really good Ford all day. Just didn’t get the lead on the restart and couldn’t pass anybody.”
Blaney was asked if the team told him not to pass teammate Logano.
“We had the car to win. Couldn’t get by him in dirty air.”
The NASCAR Next Gen car is a new spec chassis which made its debut this season. It’s well-known that dirty air is a major issue on both short tracks and road courses. NASCAR officials have addressed the issue and they have plans to make changes for the 2023 season.
Blaney has 7 career NASCAR Cup Series wins. Three of those came in 2021.
