Ryan Blaney surprised by lack of help from NASCAR field after disappointing finish at Talladega

Today’s Talladega race was in the control of Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Then, it all went away in the blink of an eye. When they needed the pushes, they didn’t get them. With gaps in the line, the outside lanes picked up momentum and soon, Team Penske was out of the lead.

Ryan Blaney ended up settling for a P23 finish. Not what he wanted at all. For a moment, with laps winding down, it felt like one of the two Penske cars was going to win this race. Neither finished in the top-15.

When Penske is at full strength, they have four cars pushing with each other, if you throw in Josh Berry. Berry and Austin Cindric were not in the mix late in the race making Blaney and Logano a duo. You can do a lot with two cars, but you can’t fully control these races like you can with four cars.

After the finish, Blaney was a bit shocked that he and Logano didn’t receive a lot of help. Maybe he’s talking about the other Fords in the field, but there was definitely a lack of support. Can you blame the field, though?

“Yeah, I thought we did a good job,” Ryan Blaney said after the finish. “Got control of the race after the last pit stop and just faded. Had some guys saving or something, I don’t know, and wouldn’t push. And was pretty surprising that some guys weren’t pushing.

“Figured that we’d have a little more help than that from some people. But yeah, I thought we did a great job getting ourselves into the position we needed, me and Joey. Then it just fell apart and finished terrible. So, try to go have a big day next week. All we can do.”

The points situation is definitely not in their favor. However, Ryan Blaney and the 12 team are not finished just yet. They have won the last two Martinsville races in the Fall. Why not make it a three-peat and advance to another Championship 4?

Perhaps the lack of help was from the desire to keep Team Penske out of Phoenix. No one at Hendrick or JGR wants to see either of those Fords advance to the Championship 4. They have been dominant at that track for the last three seasons and are hoping to keep that up.

It now appears that only one member of Team Penske can make Phoenix. Will it be Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, or will neither of them step up and win at the Paperclip?