4 Takeaways from Ryan Blaney’s Win as Penske Takes Desert Double

Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.) — Bosses are always happy with a win, but Ryan Blaney certainly delighted Team Penske executives with his victory Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series race. Blaney not only scored Penske’s first victory of the NASCAR season, but he also earned an INDYCAR-Cup victory for the organization, which is the only one to have both a NASCAR and INDYCAR operation under one roof in North Carolina. Blaney watched Saturday’s INDYCAR race from a suite with team owner Roger Penske. “Anytime you can win for Roger, it means the world, but these INDYCAR guys are putting a lot of pressure on us,” Blaney, driver of the No. 12 car, said in his broadcast interview. [DESERT DOUBLE: 4 Takeaways From Josef Newgarden’s INDYCAR Win] With his buddy Josef Newgarden, winner of the INDYCAR race the day before at the Desert Double opener, wearing a Ryan Blaney t-shirt, Blaney triumphed on the 1-mile track where he had won the season finale in November. Here are my takeaways from Sunday’s Cup race: 1: Blaney shows perseverance The 2023 Cup champion, Blaney overcame two bad pit stops where he had loose wheels. He rallied to a two-tire stop that helped improve his track position and was able to hold off Christopher Bell. “I’m proud of the whole group for hanging in there all day and it’s cool to win again here, a few months later,” Blaney said. Not only did Blaney complete the sweep of INDYCAR-Cup race wins, but Penske driver David Malukas won the pole for the INDYCAR race and Blaney’s teammate, Joey Logano, won the pole for the Cup race. 2: Gibbs shows promise amid criticism Ty Gibbs earned his second straight fourth-place finish. The 2022 O’Reilly Series champion seeks his first Cup victory as he competes in his fourth full season. Gibbs, the grandson of Joe Gibbs, has faced criticism and questioning over his involvement in documents that are part of Joe Gibbs Racing’s lawsuit against former racing director Chris Gabehart, who said Gibbs received preferential treatment. Gibbs told me the day before the race, “I’m definitely working as hard as anyone else, no matter what anyone says and can say. … I’ll let my performance on the track take care of that and we’ll go from there.” Gibbs doubled down on his efforts after the race, speaking with me and other reporters: “It’s been great. I’m finally working with people who believe in me, who support me and are really loyal. It makes a difference, and I think that’s what it shows. And I have a great group of guys on my team.” 3. Bell fails… Again For the third consecutive week, Bell was running among the leaders at the end of the race. And for the third week in a row, Bell went empty. Bell finished second behind Blaney, who noted he probably couldn’t have held off Bell (who had four fresh tires) any longer. Last year, at this time, Bell won his third consecutive race. So far in 2026, he is aiming for his first victory as Tyler Reddick has won each of the first three races. “You win some, you lose some,” Bell said in his interview with FS1 after the race. “It stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our whole team. … I’m just disappointed every time they get away with it.” 4. Hendrick Team Continues to Scratch Heads Kyle Larson finished third, but he also didn’t think it was a potential win day for him and Hendrick Motorsports, which has traditionally struggled at Phoenix. William Byron finished seventh. Chase Elliott was involved in a crash and finished 23rd and Anthony Alfredo was knocked out of a race in a crash. Alfredo replaced Alex Bowman (vertigo). This was the first oval with the extra horsepower (from 670 horsepower to 750 horsepower), which will be for all tracks less than 1.3 miles in length. “It’s concerning, but we’re still pretty bad here in Phoenix, at least I am,” Larson told me and other reporters after the race. “William had times where he was pretty strong, but I feel like the three of us have always been really bad. We were just worse today – maybe a combination of us needing to learn the [new Chevrolet] body a little more, then power or whatever. “Actually, you might get two mulligans this year,” Briscoe told me and other reporters after leaving the medical center. “And we’ve used three now in the first four weeks.”