Ryan Blaney’s crew chief on the #12 team “went to work” in 2022 setting themselves up for championship success

After Ryan Blaney won the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway earlier this month, his crew chief at the #12 Team Penske, Jonathan Hassler, revealed the key turning points for the team this season that helped Blaney earn his first-ever NASCAR title.

The partnership between Hassler and Blaney began in the 2022 season. They won the All-Star exhibition race but they went winless in point-paying races and in the playoffs due to lack of wins, Blaney missed out on the championship 4 berth.

A solid foundation set Blaney and his team up for championship success in 2023. During the 2022 off-season, Hassler and Blaney worked on their mistakes, figured out their struggles, and prepared themselves for how to achieve goals.

“We kind of spent last year (2022) learning each other, and we figured out that we could go really fast,” Hassler said. “We had a lot of speed through a lot of different races. I thought we could have won six or seven races last year if we executed, but we didn’t. So, we really went to work in the off-season of finishing the two-thirds point of the race both on my and on his end,” Ryan Blaney’s crew chief said, as quoted by racer.com.

“I probably needed to make some better adjustments as the races went on and he needed to stay a little bit more composed as things didn’t work out the way that he expected them to or they weren’t perfect. We definitely addressed that in the off-season, and obviously, I think we’ve made a lot of progress", he added.

The off-season’s preparation worked out in favor of the #12 Team Penske Ford. Ryan Blaney won three races in the 2023 season, advancing into championship 4 for the first time, and eventually emerged as champion with a P2 finish at Phoenix.

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"Joey's championship year last year was a lot like ours" – Ryan Blaney

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion admitted that his winning triumph was similar to his teammate Joey Logano’s championship season last year.

“Joey's championship year last year was a lot like ours of having an OK regular season — better than average, but then really showing up in the playoffs.

"But Joey and that group showed last year they were able to do that, find speed at the right time. And we were able to do it again this year,” Blaney said in a conversation with Fox Sports.

Catch Ryan Blaney in action when the 2024 Cup Series season kicks off in February at Daytona International Speedway.