Ryan Blaney put up a valiant effort to defend his 2023 Cup Series Championship. With a clutch win at Martinsville, Blaney found himself in the Championship Four. However, his teammate got the best of him. Heading into the new season, what will be in store for Blaney and his team? There are 39 Days to Daytona and it is time to preview the 2025 season for the Team Penske #12 team.
The #12 Team
Driver: Ryan Blaney
Crew Chief: Jonathan Hassler
Sponsors: Menards, Advance Auto Parts, BodyArmor, Wurth, Discount Tires, Dent Wizard, Wabash
2024 Statistics: 3 Wins, 12 Top-5s, 18 Top-10s, 1 Pole, 15.2 Average Finish
2025 Season Preview
Exploit the Format
Barring any potential changes to the playoff format, Ryan Blaney (and Team Penske) can continue taking advantage of this setup. In back-to-back seasons, Penske has offered Cup Series fans the weakest champions in the sport’s history. If Ryan Blaney can advance through to the Round of 8, his spot in the Championship Four is almost a lock. Even with the addition of Talladega this year, it would be tough to imagine Blaney not getting the job done.
Daytona 500 Dreams
For how solid Ryan Blaney is on superspeedways, the Daytona 500 has been the race to elude his grasp. While Blaney has visited victory lane at Daytona, he has yet to bag the big one. He has come excruciatingly close on numerous occasion, even being (arguably) screwed over by his teammate in 2022. Could 2025 be the season where Ryan Blaney finally hoists the Harley J Earl Trophy?
Snap the Inflated Average Finish
Although average finish is not the perfect statistic, it does give insight to how well a driver competes throughout the entire season. Unfortunately for Ryan Blaney, his average finish has inflated each of the past 3 seasons. After a career best 2021, Blaney has struggled to find consistent footing throughout the 36 races. 2024 marked his highest average finish (15.2) since joining Team Penske proper. Despite NASCAR’s current iteration not as rewarding of consistency, the season-long performance should be better out of this team. Perhaps cutting down on the DNFs will do the trick, as Blaney set a career high with 7 last year.
Daytona 500 Outlook
As mentioned earlier, Ryan Blaney is a superspeedway ace. If you need proof, look to his race winning pass at Talladega in the fall of 2023. However, that drafting excellence has not helped Blaney in recent trips to Daytona. In his past 3 Daytona starts, Blaney has wrecked out. Each incident was due to no fault of his own either. Blaney has the bad luck bug when it comes to the high banks of Daytona.
Similar to Joey Logano, Blaney could easily find early success during Speedweeks. Although he is not a renown qualifier on the superspeedways, his history in the duel races is solid. Despite only winning one duel race, Blaney usually finishes in the Top-6. Setting himself up nicely for the Daytona 500, Blaney usually attempts to lead the pack to avoid trouble. Since that has not helped him recently, maybe a new strategy of riding in the rear early will be implemented. Either way, Blaney will be a favorite heading into the Great American Race.
Days to Daytona Countdown
40 Days: Team Penske #22
