Denny Hamlin Exposes Why Ryan Blaney Refuses to Change His Pit-Crew Despite Mega Disappointments

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has explained why Team Penske Racing isn’t changing Ryan Blaney’s crew despite failures.

Denny Hamlin Exposes Why Ryan Blaney Refuses to Change His Pit-Crew Despite Mega Disappointments

Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

2023 Cup champion Ryan Blaney has been the most inform and fastest driver in the garage in 2026, alongside Tyler Reddick. But the Team Penske Racing driver doesn’t have four race wins like the 23xI Racing Starman. His only win came at Phoniex, with rest of his strong days ending in top-5 finishes. The major reason for the failure has been the No:12 pit-crew.

They have let him down multiple time this season, including last Sunday at Bristol where he finished P2 behind winner Ty Gibbs. On the latest episode of his podcast, Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts about the issue and explained why despite all the drama, the crew remains unchanged. He highlighted the Ford crew is the worst and their struggle is getting amplified because their driver is always running upfront.

He doesn’t have the worst-ranked pit crew. The issue is he’s running up front, so you have way more error to lose spots than you do gain spots.

Denny Hamlin said on his podcast.

Another key reason behind the lack of crew change for Ryan Blaney is the fact that Penske doesn’t have better alternatives in their reserves to make a change. That’s why the only change made so far has been exchanging the front jackman with Josh Berry’s crew, as the Wood Brothers Racing team is essentially the fourth Penske car.

If they had better people, or they had guys that they believed in more, they would put them on the car. t’s clear that personnel believes that this is going to be the best team.

Denny Hamlin added via Actions Detrimental.

Further talking about the point, the 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin pointed out that Roger Penske and the senior official at the team still has confidence in the pit-crew as they have enough seen enough from the crew in the practice session to trust them. They are still confident the crew will start delivering when it matters the most.

When he says they’re young, they just need reps, obviously they’ve seen enough in pit stop practice to say, ‘It might be a rocky start, but we feel by the summer and fall, when it really matters, these guys are going to haul ass.’ I’m telling you, that’s what they’re thinking.

Denny Hamlin asserted.

Denny Hamlin jokes about Ryan Blaney’s misery

Later in the same podcast, three times Daytona 500 champion Hamlin joked about Blaney’s disappointments. He pointed out that the whole garage is lucky the No:12 car is getting stuck behind the field after pit-stops as if they are in better form, he would have dominated the season.  

Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin
Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin (Via @DAYTONA/X and IMAGO)

It’s fortunate for us and the viewers that he’s not ringing off 8.5’s every race. Because he’d be leading a shit-ton of laps.

Denny Hamlin said.

The veteran has a point, considering he himself admitted that Ryan Blaney not his owner driver Tyler Reddick, who has four wins this year, is the driver to beat at the moment. It would be interesting to see how the reminder of the season is going to playout for the trio, who are P1, P2 and P3 in the championship table.

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