NASCAR Cup Kansas

Team Penske makes a change to Ryan Blaney's pit crew

The No. 12 car has lost almost 100 positions on pit road in the first two months of the 2026 season

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Apr 17, 2026, 6:13 AM

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Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford

Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In recent weeks, Ryan Blaney has grown increasingly frustrated with mistakes on pit road and slow stops from the No. 12 Team Penske Ford crew. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler has been fairly open about the problems as well, and the need to improve.

Despite winning at Phoenix, he had to overcome multiple issues on pit road during that race, and it was a similar story en route to a runner-up finish at Bristol last weekend. He currently sits second in the championship standings.

The team has opted to move rookie Cup Series jackman Landon Honeycutt over to the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford of Josh Berry (a team that has a close technical alliance with Penske), with plans to swap him with No. 21 jackman Patrick Gray. He most notably jumped in mid-race for the No. 22 team at the Phoenix finale in 2024, helping Joey Logano to his third Cup Series title.

However, that plan changed in the hours since publishing this story. As revealed by Motorsport.com contributor Bozi Tatarevic, Gray will be 'unable' to compete this weekend, so an alternative plan has been put into motion. Blaney will instead get jackman Graham Stoddard from the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Noah Gragson, at least for this weekend at Kansas.

Blaney has lost 88 positions on pit road in the first eight races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and the crew is one of the lowest ranked in the series. Their average pit stop time is over 2.5 seconds slower than the average for the rest of the field.

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