NASCAR insiders react to massive missed opportunity for Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney at Talladega

The Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney had control of Sunday’s Round of 8 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway. They started up front on the Stage 3 restart with 17 laps to go, in good position for at least one of them to win the race.

So, why did Logano and Blaney finish 16th and 23rd, respectively? It all came down to a push — or the lack of a push. Penske had a great situation with Ford drivers Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski around them. They needed help from the latter, one of the best superspeedway racers of his generation, to get the bottom line going. It didn’t happen, and there might have been a reason for that, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic said.

“They were controlling the race,” Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “They had a chance late, they were up front, exactly where they want to be. … When the restart happened, Brad Keselowski, as Blaney put it, was soft on Logano. And so, they didn’t get the push they needed. Now, Logano said after the race it was his understanding that they were short on fuel and in fuel savings mode, so maybe that’s why he didn’t push as much.”

Jordan Bianchi, Gluck’s colleague, said he spoke with No. 6 team crew chief Jeremy Bullins after the race. Bullins was “adamant” they were not in fuel savings mode, adding they didn’t want to be over aggressive and take out the Penske drivers.

“They did not get a great restart, it broke apart quick,” Bianchi said. “I talked to Jeremy Bullins, the crew chief for Brad Keselowski. He said, ‘No, fuel was not an issue.’ They had no issues, they just did not get a good run. They did not want to bump aggressively there and crash one of the Ford drivers. Wanted to be smart in how they approached the race. They wanted to do everything they could to help the Penske drivers, but they were also mindful of the fact that they didn’t want to take them out. But he is adamant that there was enough fuel in the car and they did not do anything deliberate or have any fuel issues whatsoever.

“… Many times, Brad has always been accused of being too aggressive as a push. So, knowing that, if he is concerned about that in race where bump drafts are really aggressive, it would make sense theoretically. He said, ‘Listen, I want to get on top of these guys, I wanna push them, but I don’t wanna be aggressive here.’ That could be a thing but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. He did not push, there was no push, they fell apart, they fell back, and from that moment on from 17 laps to go, the Penske dream was dead.”

Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney facing must-win situations at Martinsville

Penske had it all going for them late at Talladega. Now, it’s very likely that only one of them will have a shot of advancing to the Championship 4. Even that will require a win this Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

“I thought we did a good job. Got control of the race after the last pit stop and just faded. Had some guys saving or something. I don’t know,” Blaney said. “They wouldn’t push. It was pretty surprising a couple of guys weren’t pushing. I figured we’d have a little more help than that from some people.

“But I thought we did a great job, me and Joey getting ourselves in the position we needed. And then it just fell apart and finished terrible. Try to go have a big day next week. That’s all we can do.”