Roger Penske has seen his fair share of young guns rise through Team Penske’s powerhouse organization to become champions over the team’s 57-year history.
What started with Mark Donahue’s diverse winning résumé during the 1960s and ’70s turned to the dominance of its Indy car lineup with drivers such as Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Emerson Fittipaldi Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. all winning titles.
Later rose Penske’s NASCAR regime with Rusty Wallace steering the No. 2 to countless victories.
The 2000s have equally been as impressive.
Since Brad Keselowski earned Penske his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2012, the team has bagged 12 titles across the NTT IndyCar Series, Repco Australian Supercar Series and NASCAR’s premier division.
Their latest accomplishment came at the hands of Ryan Blaney at Phoenix Raceway in November, where the No. 12 Ford Mustang driver wheeled his machine to a second-place finish en route to securing the Cup Series title.
As Penske reflected on Blaney’s road to NASCAR glory, he recalled Blaney at age 18.
“It’s been a long journey for him. I think as we see all the teams and drivers that come up through the business, remember it was 2012 when his dad (Dave Blaney) came into our motorhome at Richmond and we talked,” Penske began.
“Here’s this young guy with lots of passion and wanted to be a champion. We bought into his package at that point and he won with Brad (Keselowski) in trucks. He won in our Xfinity (car) early on in 2013, so we saw that he knew how to be a winner. I think that’s one of the first things we try to do is, ‘Can you be a winner?’
Blaney proved that in his second year of full-time Cup Series competition with Penske’s technical partner, the legendary Wood Brothers.
Aboard the famed No. 21 Ford, Blaney surged to win his first Cup Series race at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway.
“I think when we really saw his capability was in 2017 when he won the race at Pocono,” Penske recalled. “Racing, it’s ironic, racing Harvick who is retiring now and Blaney is the champion, but that really showed us that he had the mettle to be a winner, and then as we moved on he was fast.”
Then came Blaney’s call to drive the No. 12 for Penske in 2018. Between 2018-’22, Blaney never finished worse than 10th in points, racking up seven wins during that time span. However, the No. 12 team never seriously contended for the title.
Though Blaney and the No. 12 team hadn’t taken the next step to becoming a title threat.
That changed this year.
Having a full year of adapting to NASCAR’s Next Gen race car last season along with a title-winning attitude inside the organization due to teammate Joey Logano’s championship in 2022, Blaney’s title season kickstarted in May.
Leading 163 of the 400 laps in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Blaney snapped a 59-race winless streak.
The drought was over.
Next came a crucial win-and-your-in race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway to advance to the Round of 8.
Blaney’s title surge ignited with a walk-off victory in the penultimate race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. That locked the 29-year-old into the Championship 4.
The closing laps of the season finale at Phoenix sealed the deal as Blaney outran 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson to lock up second, the best finish of the championship contenders.
Penske reiterated Blaney’s over 10-year process within the organization that eventually led to a championship with “The Captain.”
“I think it was a journey that he was on starting back a decade ago as a young guy,” Penske said. “I think everyone has to understand that. It takes time.
“Again, with our team, I said it before, that team on the 12 car – 11-and-a-half years of experience with our company. When you look at the entire Team Penske, 44 percent of our people have been there over 10 years, so it’s that domain knowledge which makes a difference and I think his connection with the people, the support and I think the partnership that he has with Joey, that took time, and with Brad.
“It took time for those guys to really say, ‘Hey, we can help each other.’
“But it’s amazing how they worked off each other for the last year or so,” Penske continued. “It’s a long answer to your question, but it’s a journey.”