On the back of a successful Cup Series season in 2023, Ryan Blaney. is on a high. But the win wasn’t his sole accomplishment as the driver’s crew members hustled as much as him to clinch that ultimate spot. Among them was Blaney’s crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, who is one of the major reasons for Blaney’s redemption.

The former Wood Brothers crew chief displayed his tactical acumen on the track this season and adapted well to the difficult situations that arose. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Hassler said that one of the big reasons for the pair’s success is their trust in each other. Connecting on and off the track led the duo to a historic win as Team Penske defended the Cup Series championship.

Jonathan Hassler believes that accepting brutal reality has been beneficial for Ryan Blaney

Jonathan Hassler joined Ryan Blaney at the end of the 2021 season. The No.12 crew chief back then, Todd Gordon, had already talked about retiring from the sport after 2021 and this opened a window of opportunity for Hassler. Sharing common interests like country music helped the pair get to know each other faster than one would have expected.

Regarding his relationship with the No.12 driver, Hassler said, “I don’t think our relationship has really changed.”

Hassler and Blaney’s approach to their mistakes has been commendable. In the previous seasons, Blaney had been erroneous in important races, forcing him to bow out of the competition. According to Hassler, addressing those issues without remorse and accepting reality has helped them overcome those mistakes and has pushed him to the 2023 championship.

“From day one, I’ve had the utmost trust in him that he’s always given 100%, and he knows that I’m always giving 100%. When things don’t go right, neither one of us says we are sorry because we are not sorry. We know that we have both kind of given everything. We are focused on whatever is in front of us and trying to be a little better week in and week out.”

However, the appreciation was not one-sided as Ryan, too, doubled down on his gratitude toward his crew chief. Voicing his admiration, he also said that he wishes to win more trophies with Hassler to become one of NASCAR’s most iconic driver-crew chief duos.

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A perfect match of personalities has been key to the No.12 team’s success

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One of Jonathan Hassler’s strong points has been his chemistry with #12. And Ryan seems to realise this as he spoke about their compatibility.

Appreciating him for his contributions, Ryan said, “That’s cool when you can win the championship with somebody like that, Jonathan, who’s a fairly new crew chief, our second year working together. He’s a man of few words, but yeah, super-smart guy. He and I get along great and cool to get our first one together. So I’d love to get some more with him because he does such a good job.”

Hassler, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of their dynamic. With a perfect balance of aggression and calmness, the races have been a lot easier for them to grind results.

“Our personalities are very similar, very laid-back, I think,” Hassler said. “Once the race weekend starts, we kind of switch to being a lot more complementary than similar, with him being pretty feisty at times when he has the helmet on. I feel like I tend to balance that out and hopefully bring it back a bit more mellow in the race.”

The championship-winning pair has already clinched a Cup Series trophy within just two years of collaboration . With what they have shown in 2023, there might be potential to win more championships. What do you think?

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