The No. 12 Team Penske pit crew of Ryan Blaney might not be the absolute worst in the NASCAR Cup Series, but relative to pure driver and team performance, it is absolutely 36th of 36, and it's not even close.
The fact that Blaney had to pass nearly the entire field twice (49 on-track passes) to win at Phoenix Raceway in early March said it all, and things haven't improved since.
There's a case to be made that Blaney has been the strongest driver, from top to bottom, since the start of the 2025 season, or really even since the start of his 2023 championship-winning season, even if the box scores don't properly indicate it.
Blaney has been very vocal over the radio with his team about his pit crew-related frustrations, time and time again as the 2026 season has progressed, but he is generally pretty cordial, reserved, and respectful about the No. 12 group when it comes to post-race interviews.
And that's probably why Kyle Larson just became his best friend.
Kyle Larson laughs at Ryan Blaney's continued pit mishaps
The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finished third in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, despite leading by far the most laps and winning both stage one and stage two.
However, after finishing behind runner-up Blaney and first-time winner Ty Gibbs, he admitted that, even amid what was an otherwise dominant day, he had the third fastest car, noting that Blaney's pit crew basically spent the entire day losing him positions on pit road.
It has become a weekly tradition.
"Blaney had by far the best car; his pit crew just kept putting him behind all day," Larson said with a chuckle in his post-race interview with Fox Sports.
Of course, even by matching his season-best finish of third (Phoenix) on Sunday, it was a disappointing outcome for Larson, who has gone more than 11 months without a victory, despite winning the 2025 championship. The Bristol race was one of the three races he won a year ago, and he was even more dominant than he was on Sunday.
As for Blaney, he was able to recover to finish second after taking four tires under the race's penultimate caution flag period. Larson took two, while Gibbs stayed out.
Gibbs appeared to have the race won before the final caution of the day came out for an incident involving 23XI Racing's Riley Herbst and Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch.
The two-lap shootout following the last restart gave both Blaney and Larson a shot, but the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota hung on, beating Blaney by just 0.055 seconds.
But who knows how things might have turned out had Blaney's pit crew performed somewhere close to average?
Race number nine on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AdventHealth 400, which is set to be shown live on Fox from Kansas Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 19. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action!