This insane Ryan Blaney stat tells us everything about the No. 12 pit crew

Shane van Gisbergen stole all of the attention in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, and for good reason. But if you were watching closely enough, you might have noticed another driver who put up a valiant effort, as he so often does.

Ryan Blaney ended the Go Bowling at the Glen with the largest difference between positions gained and lost under green flag conditions, with 31. It's the second week in a row he's done this, after registering a +40 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Neither of those were even his most impressive display of the season, which was a +50 in his win at Phoenix Raceway.

All in all, it should be no surprise that Blaney's Pass Differential of +190 this season leads the Cup Series field.

What's shocking to put into perspective is by just how much.

Ryan Blaney has passed more cars this year than the two next-best drivers – combined

Nobody has passed more cars this year than Blaney, because nobody has lost more positions through no fault of his own than the Team Penske star, who just re-upped with his program. That's all great, but they might want to consider investing in a pit crew.

Every week, Blaney is having to compete against his own team in addition to all of the others on the track. The result? A Grand Canyon-sized gap between him and the rest of the field in terms of passing production.

Full charts for Pass Differential and additional Loop Data stats for the 2026 season can be found here.

If this doesn't expose how bad the No. 12 pit crew is, nothing will. Blaney's total sum of his finishes in 2026 is 31 positions worse than the sum of his starts, which means he has lost 221 spots under caution, largely through pit stops. Ty Gibbs (135) and Kyle Larson (113) are the only other drivers who have lost more than 100.

Pass Differential can be skewed by a few factors, especially on road courses, where it's a common strategy for drivers to make pit stops prior to stage breaks. This greatly benefits those who stay out. But this only happened once on Sunday, and Blaney was already running inside the top 10 before he went for the points, so there's not much inflation here.

All in all, it just goes to show that driver performance isn't just about where you finish. It's about what happens along the way toward achieving those finishes. Right now, no one in NASCAR is having to work harder to achieve good finishes than Ryan Blaney.

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