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NASCAR insider reacts to Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing playoff battle after New Hampshire

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones09/23/25brianjones_93
Ryan Blaney (10)
Eric Canha-Imagn Images

A NASCAR insider shared some interesting thoughts on Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) after the NASCAR Playoff race at New Hampshire. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic weighed in on how the playoff drivers for both teams performed in Sunday’s race.

“I think it kind of plays into what we thought, which was when you look at Phoenix, the 12 team (Ryan Blaney) is the team to beat,” Bianchi told fellow NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck. “They have been that way for the last few years there. When you look at the playoff race at Martinsville, the 12 team is exceptional. To me, today, I thought the JGR cars were going to be fast, but I didn’t think it was going to be head and shoulders above everybody else.

“We collectively both thought that Penske was going to come to play today, and they did. When you have a bad day, and you’re JGR, and you look at where [Denny] Hamlin and [Chase Briscoe] and [Christopher] Bell finished, and you’re still gutting out good finishes, that’s a good problem to have.”

Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing had strong showings at New Hampshire

Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano represent Team Penske, and the two drivers finished first and fourth, respectively, at New Hampshire. And as Bianchi mentioned, Hamlin, Briscoe, and Bell compete for Joe Gibbs Racing, and the drivers finished 12th, 10th, and sixth on Sunday.

Team Penske has performed well in the playoffs the last three seasons, as Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2022 and 2024, while Blaney won it all in 2023. With Blaney winning on Sunday, he is now heading to the next round of the playoffs. Logano is sixth in the playoff standings and 24 points above the cut line.

During his post-race press conference, Blaney talked about potentially winning another championship. “I don’t think the win makes me feel any more that way,” Blaney said. “I felt really good about I think we can contend. This team has been really good all year. It’s a championship-contending team. It’s a championship-winning team a couple years ago. It’s pretty much the same group of guys. My mindset really hasn’t changed. I believe we can do it all season, and this win doesn’t make me believe we can do it even more than what I felt like going through the whole year.”