Team Penske has been dominant in the Next Gen era. Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney have been the face of the team’s success in their three consecutive championship-winning campaign. Although the Team Penske Fords are notorious for turning up the heat in the post-season, the 2025 season might see a change in team dynamics. Especially after Austin Cindric’s win at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday. For most, past Blaney and Logano have been the face of Team Penske’s success, but there’s a new contender in Cindric, who is trying to establish his authority within the camp.

Piloting a third race car alongside champions is indeed a tough task. But, credit to the 28-year-old driver, he has managed to keep himself in the conversation by winning the Daytona 500 in 2022, and last year, he won at Gateway. Now, Cindric isn’t the most consistent driver from the Penske camp, if we are to take the last few years into account. But the story has changed in 2025, with Blaney suffering from technical woes, while Logano hasn’t been able to find any joy driving the No. 22 car. Confidence is the key, they say in auto racing, and this is exactly what Cindric is feeling after conquering the high banks of Talladega. He’s not just content with this win, but wants to aim for championship glory.

In the post-race interview, he was asked if competing alongside the likes of Blaney and Logana, does he feel neglected? Or he takes it as a motivation to fuel his fire to be a better competitor. In response, Cindric stated, “I want to be better than the champion.” This might come out as cocky, but his win at Talladega was absolutely deserved. He led the most laps at Daytona before being wrecked, and Kyle Larson took him out of commission at Atlanta. Superspeedway racing has been a strength for the #2 team, but Cindric isn’t content with just a solo win.

“I think certainly, anytime you can have an example set and try to at a bare minimum not just meet that example, but I want to be better, I want to be the best, right? And just being as good in my mind as far-fetched as it might seem as a two-three-year cup driver, to say I want to be better than the champion. That’s how you gotta think. I commit way too much of my time. I ask a lot out of the people that I work with, and I try to reciprocate with that. But as good is not good enough in my mind. So, is it a motivator? Perhaps. I look at it as an example and as a competitive advantage to be able to have that type of example in-house,” He explained further.

It has to be noted, his teammate, Joey Logano, was fuming at him for not helping him out during the finish of Stage 2. Desperate for points, Logano wanted a stage win, but a stack up by the #2 car allowed Bubba Wallace to thread the needle and grab his second stage win of the year. But, after the dust settled at Talladega, Cindric was in the victory lane, and Logano was handed a disqualification, despite finishing inside the top 5. Meanwhile, Blaney’s woes continue to haunt him, and this time, his Ford teammates were the reason behind his untimely exit from the Jack Link’s 500.

Ryan Blaney is desperate for a good break

One driver who hasn’t been able to convert his chances into a win due to bad luck is Ryan Blaney. The streak of bad luck started in Phoenix when the engine on his No. 12 Ford gave up on him, and this led to the streak of DNFs. In Vegas, he was forced into four wide that eventually resulted in him being mired in a crash, marking his second race where he couldn’t add to his points tally. Then came the Homestead race, and he was seen as the clear favourite to win the race. Just as he was mounting a charge on leader Kyle Larson, his engine once again gave up on him.

Fast forward to Talladega, and once again, he found himself in a similar spot, at the mercy of the race gods. During the green flag pit stops in stage 1, he was caught in a major wreck sparked by Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. He tried his best to avoid the melee, but the #6 car made contact with the #48 Chevy and spiraled down the track. And in the process, it caught Blaney’s race car. The damage to his race car was beyond repairs, and this marked the 4th DNF for the Penske driver in 10 races.

“I haven’t seen a great [replay] yet. But talking to Brad, it looks like he was trying to get to pit road with his group of cars. Whoever was behind him didn’t know maybe he was coming to pit… when they got hooked together, they were going up the track. I kind of just committed left, was on the apron, and I think the six got hit by somebody else, and it sent him back left and just tagged me in the right rear wheel. Gosh, another DNF is not good. Hopefully, we can get some stuff going on our side where we can just have some smooth races.” Blaney said after the crash.

With both Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing racking wins for fun, Team Penske has finally joined the party. But, if they aren’t able to get both Logano and Blaney back on track, we might be able to witness a new champion team that ends Penske’s Next Gen domination this year.