Ryan Blaney Set To Join Expanding Team Penske In 2018

Column By: AMY HARROP / RPW – MOORESVILLE, NC – On Wednesday, it was announced that Ryan Blaney would be officially joining Team Penske in 2018 as the team expands to a three-car operation.

Currently, Blaney drives the historic #21 Wood Brothers Ford Fusion. That team has a partnership with Penske and uses Penske power in their own cars. The 23-year-old Blaney is competing in his second full-time season at the Cup level, already having secured himself a spot into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with a victory earlier this season in Pocono.

Blaney has one win, three top 5’s and seven top 10’s on the season so far. That’s following his 2016 freshman season where he was the “Rookie of the Year” runner-up and finished the season in 20th in points. The red, white and gold #21 is consistently a contender every weekend, growing stronger with each and every week. His win earlier this season in Pocono was the Wood Brothers’ first trip to Victory Lane since 2011.

Although Blaney has had a standing partnership with Team Penske since 2012 and is excited for the future, he’s still keeping laser focus on the postseason with the Wood Brothers. In a Facebook Live video, he sent his praises to their operation.

“I can’t thank the Wood Brothers enough for letting me drive their car for the past two and a half years,” he said.

He went on to say that he is “super excited” about the postseason and that his main goal is to get the Wood Brothers their 100th win as an organization. There’s always been speculation that Blaney would make this move one day, and both Roger Penske and Ryan Blaney said that this decision was years in the making.

Team Penske, who has 40 Cup wins, fields the cars of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, two of the biggest competitors in the sport. The team recently signed both drivers to long-term contracts, assuring everyone that the team will continue to be competitive for years to come.

According to Blaney, Team Penske has wanted to field a three-car Cup team for over five years. The third-generation driver has five XFINITY wins for the team and made his first Cup Series start with the team back in 2014 for the Kansas night race. He followed that up with a start in Talladega.

“This is a huge opportunity for me and my career,” Blaney said, assuring everyone that this is the right path he wants to take.

In the official team press release, owner Roger Penske added his insights on the 2018 expansion.

“The benefits of having three full-time teams under our roof, along with the continued technical partnership with the Wood Brothers, helps us remain competitive in the ever-changing NASCAR landscape,” he says.

With the amount of racing teams downsizing in the sport, it’s almost unheard of to see a team that’s on the rise.

“It’s nice to see something work out the way we planned it five years ago,” Ryan said with a smile. “It’s really special.”

As Roger Penske explained, this isn’t the end for the partnership between the Wood Brothers and Team Penske.

In addition to the Team Penske announcement, the Wood Brothers announced today that Paul Menard will be leaving Richard Childress Racing at the end of 2017 and joining forces with their organization. Blaney has nothing but great things to say about Menard.

“He’s a great guy,” Blaney said. “I think he’ll do a great job there.”

Menard, who will be switching from Chevy to Ford, already made a visit to the Wood Brothers shop on Wednesday.

In addition to the driver change-up’s, there are also going to be some personnel changes for for 2018.

Ryan Blaney’s current crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, will be following with him in 2018 and serving as the crew chief for Blaney in the #12 car. Brian Wilson will take over crew chief duties for Penske’s XFINITY Series program. Wilson has an impressive resume with three wins, one pole, 12 top fives and 22 top 10s in 28 NXS races. Finally, Greg Erwin will be the crew chief for Paul Menard in the #21 Wood Brothers car.

Penske hopes that these transitions will lead the organization to more success in 2018, fueling the team for years to come.