Ryan Blaney could miss out on having a legitimate chance at winning the 2026 Cup Series title. Not that Blaney hasn’t performed well so far this season, but his pit crew seems to drag him down with unforced errors and mistakes at crucial moments. Heading into the Chase, the No. 12 cannot afford off days anymore, and that is why Team Penske made a big change.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The team announced a swap between pit crews of the No. 2 and the No. 12 team. This move allows Blaney and the No. 12 team to prioritize their focus on Chase. But Austin Cindric found himself on the bitter end of this deal. And he tried his best not to vent out his frustrations during an interview.
“It’s understandable from the team’s perspective. I think at the end of the day, as Roger always reminds us, racing is still business,” said Cindric in conversation with Bob Pockrass. “And obviously Ryan and the 12 team have a great chance to win a championship. It’s also not something I necessarily have to like.
“Anybody that’s close with me knows I’m really close with the guys that I work with and my over-wall guys are no exception. And I definitely think there’s a level of interest, and we’ve gotten ourselves this far. We want to see it through. But at the same time, yeah, ready to go out and crush it for the next ten weeks with the team that we have.”
Blaney’s No. 12 pit crew ranked 32nd out of 35 in the pit crew rankings post Daytona. And they’ve lost 129 points so far this season. At Bristol, Blaney lost five spots while coming to pit road and shared his frustration on radio. Similar scenes unfolded during the All-Star race at Dover. During the pit crew challenge, the crew member failed to tighten the right-rear tire and they had to start the race in the tail end of the field.
This trend continued even when Blaney won the race. At New Hampshire, a slow stop on lap 189 dropped the driver all the way down to 17th place. Jonathan Hassler made a bold gamble late in the race with a two tire stop, which allowed Blaney to clinch the win. These mistakes in the Chase will be detrimental to a championship contender like Blaney, which is why Team Penske made this switch.
Cindric meanwhile has been handed a broken deal as his original pit crew was placed 10th in the standings, compared to Blaney’s 32nd. And he is competing in the championship race himself, entering the Chase as the 15th seed.
When he was asked what he thinks his crew does best, and he said two words: “Pit stops,” but then he was asked to elaborate, and he did by praising how his crew has been consistent with quick changes over the past few years. And while he isn’t best pleased about losing his crew, Cindric believes that the crew can help Blaney succeed.
“I think we’ve got great culture,” said Cindric. “I think just on the 2-car generally we have great culture, and I see no reason why that can’t be transferable from team to team, and in person to person, from a personnel side, I’m very proud of that.”
While it’s Blaney who gets the best end of this swap, he admitted that it wasn’t his decision and the call for the change came from above him. But what Blaney highlighted was the positive light it puts on Team Penske as an organization to be able to move things around in order to maximize results.
Blaney has previously worked with Andrew Lackey, who was his fueler back in 2019 in the Truck Series. He’s also worked with Jackman Jourdan Osinskie. The No. 12 pit crew team heading into Darlington is: jackman Jourdan Osinskie, fueler Andrew Lackey, front tire changer Justin Armwood, rear changer Geoffrey Wall and tire carrier Jesse Mills.
“A few of them I have a decent amount of experience with throughout my years, and then a couple of them it’s nice to get to learn new guys,” said Blaney before he added that the change gives Team Penske “The best chance to win the championship.”
Blaney is hunting for his 2nd Cup Series title, and 25 points separate him from Denny Hamlin. If the No. 12 manages to stay clean on the pit road, it will lead to an interesting title battle between Blaney and Hamlin. But, it remains to be seen if the new members are able to adapt quickly amid the title pressure.