Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.) — The bosses are always happy with a victory, but Ryan Blaney certainly thrilled the Team Penske brass with his victory Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series race.Blaney didn’t just pick up the first Penske victory of the NASCAR season, but he also made it an INDYCAR-Cup sweep for the organization, which is the only one with both a NASCAR and INDYCAR operation under one roof in North Carolina. Blaney watched Saturday’s INDYCAR race in a suite with team owner Roger Penske.”Anytime you can win for Roger, it means the world, but those INDYCAR guys put a lot of pressure on us,” Blaney, driver of the No. 12 car, said in his broadcast interview. Ryan Blaney celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 500. [DESERT DOUBLE: 4 Takeaways From Josef Newgarden’s INDYCAR Win]With his buddy Josef Newgarden, the winner of the INDYCAR race the day before in the opener of the Desert Double, wearing a Ryan Blaney t-shirt, Blaney triumphed on the 1-mile track where he had won the season finale in November.Here are my takeaways from Sunday’s Cup race:1: Blaney Shows PerseveranceThe 2023 Cup champion, Blaney overcame two bad pit stops where he had loose wheels. He rallied a two-tire stop that helped with track position and was able to hold off Christopher Bell.”I’m proud of the whole group for sticking with it all day and cool to win here again, just a handful of months later,” Blaney said.Not only did Blaney complete the INDYCAR-Cup sweep of wins in the races, Penske driver David Malukas won the pole for the INDYCAR race and Blaney teammate Joey Logano won the pole for the Cup race.2: Gibbs Showing Promise Amid CriticismTy Gibbs earned his second consecutive fourth-place finish. The 2022 O’Reilly Series champion seeks his first Cup win as he competes in his fourth full season.Gibbs, the grandson of Joe Gibbs, has been the subject of criticism and questioning of his commitment in documents that are part of Joe Gibbs Racing’s lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart, who indicated that Gibbs gets preferential treatment. Ty Gibbs earned his second consecutive fourth-place finish Gibbs told me the day before the race: “I certainly work as hard as anybody else no matter what anybody says and can say. … I’ll let my performance on track handle it and we’ll go from there.”Gibbs doubled down after the race in talking to me and other reporters: “It was great. I’m finally working with people…
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2026-03-09 01:53:48
