Roger Penske’s Star Downplays Kansas Threats While Eyeing Strong NASCAR Playoff Run

Team Penske put on a clinic at New Hampshire right from qualifying to race day. Joey Logano snagged the pole position, his first ever at the track, and led a race high 147 laps, even winning a stage. Right beside him, Ryan Blaney qualified second and went on to steal the show, leading 116 laps and clinching the victory that locked him into the Round of 8. The dominance didn’t stop there. Josh Berry, part of Penske’s extended Ford family, recovered from an early spin to rally to a runner-up finish. But while most of the camp burst in glory, not every car in the Penske camp left with reason to celebrate. And heading into Kansas, that margin for error has vanished for one.

At Kansas Speedway this season, Team Penske showed flashes of strength but also revealed tracks that need patching. Ryan Blaney, for example, managed a solid finish; he placed fifth in the May Kansas race, starting from 10th. Joey Logano, meanwhile, didn’t break into the top five in the same Kansas outing, finishing ninth after starting fifth. However, while Penske is an upper-tier team, drivers continue to salvage points and avoid disaster; there is clearly a gap between their potential and what they’ve consistently delivered at Kansas. And as for Austin Cindric, he is raising alarms on his next stint in the Round of 12 to keep his playoff hopes alive.

Speaking to Bob Pockrass, Cindric didn’t waste time in giving a brutal reality check: “So, you know, Kansas is definitely one of those tracks that the teams, you know, push, push it right to the edge. And so I don’t think that’s, that’s going to be any different this weekend. Yeah. I don’t expect it to be too much different. You know, I think it’s a little bit of a construction change that we’ve ran before, I believe a couple of times this year on different intermediate tracks. So, you know, the fall off might change a little bit, but you know, really a lot of that time week to week, we kind of judge off of practise and see, cause I mean the weather changes it, the track conditions that, you know, what, what all the series are there a particular weekend can have a little bit of effect on that.”

At Kansas, Austin Cindric’s record is a mixed bag. His best finish has been 11th place; he has hit that mark twice, including earlier this season. His worst outings, by contrast, have seen him finish in the low 30s or suffer accidents. 2024 and 2023 saw some of those less-than-ideal results. On average, over his eight Kansas starts, Cindric finishes around 23.6th place. So while he is shown he can run decently there, consistency and higher-tier point-earning finishes have largely eluded him at that track. And this could have serious implications for his playoff hopes.

He currently sits 10th in the driver standings with 3,028 points. He has one win, zero pole positions, two top fives, and five top 10 finishes so far this season. After New Hampshire, Austin Cindric had a rough day. He missed out on stage points, ending the race in 17th place, and dropped a 19-point deficit from safety in the playoff cut line. Moreover, he hasn’t quite hit the mark yet, and for several reasons. A surprise fire at Bristol nearly cost him a playoff spot, though he squeezed past Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports to stay in. At New Hampshire last weekend, Cedric had a chance to grab some crucial points, ones that could have set him up nicely heading into Kansas and the Roval, but it simply didn’t click.

Meanwhile, his Penske teammates delivered much stronger runs. Blaney took the win at New Hampshire, Logano grabbed fourth, and Josh Berry, tied in the extended Penske family, grabbed second place. Austin Cindric has to put in the work and pull up his socks to keep himself in contention. Meanwhile, his teammate, Ryan Blaney, has pulled back the curtain on the team’s playoff mindset.

Ryan Blaney spills the beans on Team Penske’s playoff teamwork

Ryan Blaney walked out of New Hampshire with more than just a trophy; he walked out with a spotlight. While the rest of the NASCAR world buzzed over fiery tempers and teammate drama within Joe Gibbs Racing at Loudon, Blaney’s win carried a different kind of headline: the strength of Team Penske’s unity. On the Dale Junior download, he didn’t just bask in his victory; he pulled fans behind the curtain to explain why Penske‘s garage isn’t imploding like so many others amid the playoffs.

They revealed that the magic isn’t complicated. There are no backdoor schemes, no rigged finishes. The one rule that Roger Penske drills into his drivers is brutally simple: do not wreck each other. Ryan Blaney said, “And I’d say the racing around each other—there’s never team orders. Ever. The only thing Roger has ever said is, ‘Just don’t wreck each other trying to win the race.’ Don’t be foolish and run one-two and wreck each other out of first and second. He has an expectation: race as hard as you want. Have at it. I don’t care who runs first or second. But please do not wreck each other doing it, because then we just look like a bunch of fools.” 

That philosophy has turned Blaney, Joey Logano, and the extended Penske family into a rare breed in NASCAR. Teammates who can duel at full tilt without letting grudges poison the garage. It is why Blaney has risen for championship glory and why Joey Logano’s consistency shines, and why Penske’s banner keeps flying high. In a spot where ego clashes can derail entire seasons, Blaney’s New Hampshire win felt like proof that Blaney’s trust-first code isn’t just talk; it is a winning formula.