NASCAR is taking a week off for the holiday weekend. Let’s check out how the members of Team Penske have done so far in the 2017 season as well as look ahead at what’s to come.
When entering a new season, one thing we’ve learned is to expect the Penske Fords to compete early and often. This year, we also see an ally team (who we will look at in this article) with an impressive start to the 2017 season.
Roger Penske’s veteran drivers know what it takes to win races. They’re performances often result in championship contention. Could this be the season where we see The Captain land his second championship as an owner, after the 2 team won it for him back in 2012? Let’s see where his cars stand after seven races.
Brad Keselowski
Wins: 2
Standings: 4th- 274 points (41 behind leader)
Top 10’s: 6
Avg Finish: 6.7
Stage Wins: 0
Poles: 1
The 2012 series champ, Brad Keselowski, is showing his stuff early on. There have been six race winners through seven races. With wins at Atlanta and Martinsville, Keselowski is the only driver to win multiple races thus far.
It was a rocky start at the Daytona 500 where the #2 car got caught up in some trouble and exited the race early to land a 27th place finish. But since then, Brad has gone on a tear with his only top five miss being a sixth place finish at Texas this past Sunday.
What has been most impressive is Brad’s ability to overcome adversity. Whether is be pit road penalties or dust ups early in the race, that #2 always seems to be in the mix late in races. After crew chief Paul Wolfe was suspended due to a failed inspection at Phoenix, Keselowski still managed to finish runner-up at Fontana.
Wolfe was allowed to return to the box for Martinsville due to an appeal to be heard during the off-week. That would pay off as Keselowski scored his second win of the season. The suspension has since been upheld and Wolfe will have to watch the next two races on television. Keseloswki also lost 35 points as part of the penalty.
You never want to see a top team lose their crew chief, but for Keselowski and the #2 team, they would much rather this happen now with two wins under their belt than later in the season while fighting for a championship. It just seems there isn’t much you can throw at Brad Keselowski right now that can slow him down.
Joey Logano
Wins: 0
Standings: 5th- 243 points (72 behind leader)
Top 10’s: 6
Avg Finish: 8.4
Stage Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Joey Logano hoped to start the season off the same way he started 2015 when he won the Daytona 500. He managed to lead 16 laps but fell short in the end, finishing sixth in The Great American Race. Still, it was a successful start to a season where Logano is hoping to win his first championship after finishing second for the cup in 2016.
Perhaps the biggest story of Logano’s season came from Las Vegas where he had a post race mix-up with Kyle Busch. The two drivers were racing for fourth place on the last lap when contact was made and Busch wrecked. We have not seen any more on-track shenanigans stemming from the incident, but the season is young.
Back to racing. Logano has finished in the top 10 in each race except for Phoenix. The #22 started Phoenix on the pole but was unable to finish out front after some tire trouble led to an early exit and disappointing 31st place finish.
In the last three races, Logano has finished fifth, fourth and third. The 26-year-old is on the verge of earning his first win of 2017. The #22 machine is always ready to contend for wins. Could this be the year Logano wins his first championship?
Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing)
Wins: 0
Standings: 6th- 224 points (91 behind leader)
Top 10’s: 3
Avg Finish: 13.7
Stage Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Wood Brothers Racing formed an alliance with Team Penske in 2014. Since then, Ryan Blaney has become the full time driver of the #21 car. The two teams working together made for an easy transition for Blaney, who still drives for Team Penske at the XFINITY Series level when called on.
The 23-year-old Blaney started the season with a bang finishing second in the Daytona 500. The future looked bright following that race. After seven races, Blaney has finished in the top 20 five times.
Last week at Texas, Ryan Blaney set out to make us all believers as he dominated early, winning the first two stages of the race. Unfortunately, that success couldn’t last the whole way and Blaney turned in a 12th place finish.
Blaney has two true championship contenders in the same building to serve as mentors. It is nice to see the young driver finding some early success and hopefully he can keep it up. Ultimately, the most important thing is for Blaney to continue to develop into a driver who can contend to win multiple races and maybe even find himself in the championship conversation down the road.
Next: A Look at HMS at the Break
The Penske Fords have all found early success and find themselves in 4th, 5th and 6th place in the standings. The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is really shaping up to be one of their better seasons. Will one of them be able to cash in and raise the cup at the end of the year?