NASCAR: Despite bad luck, it has been a strong start for Ryan Blaney

Despite having an abundance of bad luck in the first three races of the season, Ryan Blaney still sits on top of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings. Is this the year he outperforms his Team Penske teammates?

If you were to only look at the championships standings after the first three races of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, you would think that Ryan Blaney has had nothing but quality finishes so far.

If you watched the first three races, you know that Blaney could easily have recorded three top-two finishes. Instead, he only has one top 10 finish.

He has had arguably the best car in the field in each of the first three races this season, despite not being able to secure the results to show for it. If the first three races are any indication, Blaney could be a force this season.

We all saw the end of the Daytona 500 and the very chaotic finish that led to Blaney coming in second place behind Denny Hamlin by a nose.

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You really can’t predict someone being dominant throughout the season based on one race, especially a superspeedway race, but with Blaney having started at the rear of the field and made his way through the field for a second place finish, this was an impressive showing.

The last two races at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval and the 2.0-mile Auto Club Speedway oval have been much better indicators of how well he could perform this season, even though he doesn’t have a top 10 finish in either of those races despite the fact that he easily could have won both.

At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Blaney took the lead late in the final stage from teammate Joey Logano and he built a strong lead over the field as Alex Bowman tried to chase him down. But a late caution for a Ross Chastain spin led to a decision on whether or not to pit.

During the caution flag period, Blaney and Bowman came down pit road for tires, and not as many cars pitted as they expected. After the restart with two laps to go, Blaney could only salvage an 11th place finish.

This past weekend at Auto Club Speedway, Blaney and Bowman seemed to be the class of the field again, but it was for the entire race this time, not just the final stage.

Blaney made his way forward from his starting position of 16th place to finish the first stage in second. He dominated the second stage and secured his first stage win of the season. He lost the lead on a pit stop after the second stage ended and got shuffled back on the restart, but he made his way back up to second.

However, he couldn’t run down Bowman, who had established a comfortable lead. With four laps remaining, he had to pit due to a tire issue. After leading 54 of the race’s 200 laps and winning the second stage, he finished one lap off the lead lap in a season-worst 19th place.

Even with this string of bad luck, however, Blaney is currently the points leader, and the wins are definitely coming for the #12 team. He has stockpiled plenty of points from quality stage finishes throughout races. In fact, he leads the stage point standings.

It seems that the crew chief swap within Team Penske has benefited Blaney, as he and crew chief Todd Gordon have worked very well together so far this season.

Blaney and the #12 team are carrying some serious momentum going into this Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway, a track were Blaney has had recent success. He finished in third place in both races there last season and led 94 laps in the March race.

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Be sure to tune in to watch Ryan Blaney and the rest of the field take on the fourth race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, the FanShield 500, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona this Sunday, March 8. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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