Ryan Blaney and crew chief Jonathan Hassler really feel they will earn the No. 1 seed within the NASCAR Cup Collection Chase, despite the fact that they sit 120 factors again of chief Denny Hamlin with 4 races left within the common season.
It is laborious to say their confidence is misplaced, nonetheless. Blaney will begin from the pole in Sunday’s race at Iowa, a monitor he received at in 2024, whereas Hamlin certified twenty ninth and will drop additional again after his group made post-qualifying changes as a consequence of brake points.
The subsequent 4 races at Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire and Daytona line up significantly effectively for Blaney, who runs effectively in any respect of them. It would not damage that Crew Penske has been good in any respect 4 venues not too long ago. There is a cause why Blaney is the odds-on favourite to win Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350.
Stars are aligning for Ryan Blaney
“The subsequent 4 races, the tracks have been actually good for us,” Blaney stated Saturday at Iowa after qualifying. “It is a actually sturdy finish to the common season for our group, and form of tracks the place our program has excelled: form of shorter racetracks like that, after which the speedways we have been actually good, too.
“There is a massive alternative. We simply hope we execute and preserve the pace that we have been having at some of these locations, and [you] by no means know what is going on to occur.”
Blaney has put Crew Penske and Ford as an entire on his again for a lot of the 2026 season, and it is proven in his outcomes. He has two wins and 15 prime 10s in 22 races this yr and at present has one of the best common end of his profession (11.3). A 3rd win on Sunday would match his win totals from 2021, 2023 and 2024 and could be the second-most he is had in any marketing campaign, placing him on tempo for a career-year all the way in which round.
