NASCAR: The top team of the 2020 Cup Series season

They did not win the championship and they did not have the most wins, but here’s why Team Penske should be considered the best NASCAR Cup Series team of 2020.

When thinking about the top NASCAR Cup Series teams of 2020, Team Penske probably comes to mind, but not as number one.

After all, Kevin Harvick was dominant with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), leading the series with nine wins, 20 top five finishes and 27 top 10 finishes, winning the regular season championship and cruising until the round of 8, where he was shockingly eliminated.

Denny Hamlin was a top contender with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) as well. He wasn’t far behind Harvick with seven wins, including his third Daytona 500 victory. He was perhaps considered the sentimental favorite on Championship 4 Sunday, having only come up short before despite his impressive career resume.

Then there’s Chase Elliott, who won the 2020 championship for Hendrick Motorsports with victories in each of the last two races of the year. He’s also the fan favorite, winning another Most Popular Driver award to become the first award winner to be crowned champion since his father Bill in 1988.

While these top names of 2020 do not race for Team Penske, it was the consistency in Roger Penske’s stable that made his team stand out as the best in the garage.

Each of Penske’s full-time teams won a race for the eighth straight year.

Sure, Penske only fielded two full-time cars prior to 2018, but that’s still an impressive feat.

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SHR led the way with 10 wins this season, followed by JGR with nine wins, Penske with eight wins and Hendrick with seven victories. Richard Childress Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing each had one win.

Penske ended up being the only team to have multiple drivers with multiple victories, with Brad Keselowski winning four races, Joey Logano winning three and Ryan Blaney picking up a lone checkered flag. That consistency is also visible in the points collected from week to week. Not including the playoff resets, Team Penske’s three drivers collected more points (3,696 points) than the top three drivers within JGR (3,582), SHR (3,351) and Hendrick (3,235).

Keselowski and Logano both won at important times in the season, keeping two Team Penske names in the mix.

Logano was strong out of the gate, winning two of the first four races, while Keselowski did well early in NASCAR’s return to racing, with a pair of wins in late May.

Those wins came during a streak of seven straight top 10 finishes for Keselowski, while a streak of six straight top nine finishes in mid-summer included another win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Both Logano and Keselowski picked up important playoff victories, with Keselowski’s win at Richmond Raceway securing his spot in the round of 12 before he finished in a disappointing 34th place in the round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Logano entered the round of 8 just below the Championship 4 cut line, but he responded with a win at Kansas Speedway to become the first driver locked into the Championship 4 despite having not won since March before that race.

Both drivers came just short of the title, with Keselowski finishing in second place behind Elliott and Logano finishing third, both in the season finale and in the point standings. They were the only pair of teammates in the Championship 4.

For his part, Blaney won at Talladega Superspeedway in June to clinch a spot in the playoffs. While he exited the postseason early with a best finish of only 13th place in the round of 16, he was part of Penske’s late season momentum that saw all three drivers recorded a top 10 finish in each of the last four races.

In fact, his round of 8 average finish of 4.33 was the best in the field, despite the fact that he had already been eliminated two rounds prior. He ended the year with five straight top seven finishes.

With SHR, JGR and Hendrick each having a lone driver leading the charge, Penske was consistent across the board, which was even more impressive given their crew chief carousel.

Team Penske’s depth stood out when the Captain’s bold move to play musical chairs with the crew chiefs paid off. While the car numbers, drivers and spotters stayed together, the road and pit crews went with their crew chiefs.

The changes sent Paul Wolfe to Logano after 29 wins and a championship in nine seasons with Keselowski. Todd Gordon moved to Blaney after 21 wins and a championship in seven seasons with Logano, while Jeremy Bullins moved to Keselowski after three wins in six seasons, including two part-time seasons, with Blaney.

A change in crew chiefs can have its effect on chemistry and communication, but the teams did not take long to get up to speed.

Given their consistency across the board despite bold personnel changes, Team Penske should be considered the best team of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.