Ryan Blaney pinpoints the ‘really important’ fix Team Penske needs to make

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, hasn't gotten the best of starts to his 2025 campaign. He has already had three DNFs in eight races, with two being due to engine failures. Coming into the Food City 500 weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, Blaney highlighted an important thing Team Penske needs to fix for the race after qualifying P5 on Saturday, April 12.

All Team Penske Fords have been quick in 2025. However, they don't have any race wins to show for all the speed. Ryan Blaney even lost two of his engines in three weeks at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami. And while the engine issues may have been fixed since the Cook Out 400, the team faces the difficult task of improving tire management at the next race at Bristol.

Managing tires has always been a challenge at Bristol due to the track's unique characteristics. It features a concrete surface with high banking angles, and concrete, unlike asphalt, leads to excessive wear. The high speeds due to the high banking also add a lot more stress on the tires, causing them to wear out quickly. Last year's race was a perfect example, when the teams struggled to get even 50 laps on a set of tires at the 0.533-mile oval.

When asked about the high tire wear after the qualifying session, Blaney replied (via Speedway Digest):

"We've got to get a little bit better for the long haul tomorrow, but hopefully, we'll make the right changes. I think it's gonna be a lot of managing through the run. A lot of guys had cords after 35 laps, so that's gonna be really important. We'll see if we have enough tires for the end of it."

Blaney currently sits seventh in the drivers’ standings with 236 points.

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Ryan Blaney faced another big issue at Darlington

Ryan Blaney had a good outing last week at Darlington Raceway, except for the multiple slow pit stops from his pit crew. The #12 driver ran inside the top 10 for most of the race and eventually finished fifth.

However, he suffered two slow pitstops: one during a green-flag pit stop cycle in Stage 2 that dropped him to P14 and the second during the final end-of-stage caution that dropped him all the way back to P20.

Blaney quickly recovered into the top five both times and eventually got the lead of the race from Tyler Reddick with four laps remaining and was looking set for a victory. However, a late race caution brought out by Kyle Larson sent the race into overtime.

Ryan Blaney lost his lead coming out of the pits for the final restart, and Denny Hamlin went on to win the race. Blaney said in a post-race interview (0:32 onwards):

“Never really got to control the race. I feel like nothing ever really went our way. Pit road, we got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back. I felt like we just kept making up spots… Just really wasn't meant to be.”

Ryan Blaney will be back racing in the Food City 500 on Sunday, April 13, when the green flag falls at 3:00 pm ET.