Do Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano's early season struggles leave Penske searching for answers? NASCAR analyst weighs in

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is yet to witness a Ford-manufactured car in victory lane, with former Cup Series champions like Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney waiting in the ranks to kick start what have been dismal starts to their seasons this year.

Team Penske driver Joey Logano has been on the receiving end of three top-5 finishes this season, with eight rounds of the year behind us. The #22 Ford Mustang driver was seen struggling for finishes during the start of the year, with the past two events seeing a somewhat change of fortune for the #22 crew.

Defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney has carried some momentum from his previous year into 2024 with a P5 standing on the driver's points table. Speaking on how the Blue Ovals have performed up until now and what the teams need to do going forward, FOX Sports' Josh Sims elaborates on GoPRNLive on YouTube:

"I think they're in trouble. I wouldn't push the panic button yet but maybe move my hand to start to hover over it. Ryan Blaney has kind of been carrying the pale for the blue oval brigade. For a while there, the #22 team couldn't seem to get out of their own way. They were outside of the top 20 in points. You only got one Ford in the top 10 of the points standings."

It remains to be seen how Roger Penske's NASCAR Cup Series team adapts to the difficulties faced by Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, both of whom have swept the championship for the last two seasons.

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Joey Logano elaborates on how ambient and track temperatures affect tire wear

Speaking on his experience from a recent tire test at the recently repaved North Wilkesboro Speedway, Team Penske's Joey Logano spoke about how many factors play into NASCAR tire wearing.

The 2-time Cup Series champion spoke on how a difference in the time of day and the ambient as well as track temperature meant he got different outcomes from the day.

Logano told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio:

"In the morning, we went out there, it's 50-something degrees, run 25 laps, and would drop off almost a second. That's great. I thought we'd figured it out. And then it got to about 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun came out, warmed up to 65 degrees or so, I'd run 25 laps and not fall off a tenth."