Why is Penske's engineer replacing Ryan Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler at the Sunday's Talladega Cup race?

Reigning NASCAR Cup champion Ryan Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler won't be calling the shots for #12 Penske team at Talladega Superspeedway, as he is set to miss the weekend.

The #12 Ford crew chief Hassler welcomed a baby girl to his family earlier this week. Hence, he will not be joining the team for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway scheduled on April 21, at 3:00 PM ET.

Veteran reporter Bob Pockrass shared that race engineer Tony Palmer will take over the duties and will be on the box this weekend. Palmer will be joined by Penske's Competition Director Travis Geisler on the pit box, assisting him in making decisions. Jonathan Hassler will work from the command center at the team's base in Mooresville, North Carolina.

"Ryan Blaney said crew chief Jonathan Hassler daughter was born this week. Will have engineer Tony Palmer listed as crew chief and Travis Geisler will be on the box to help call the race. Hassler will be in the team command center in NC on Sunday for the race," Pockrass wrote on X.

Tony Palmer is currently in his third season with the #12 Penske team, serving as the race engineer, and working closely with Ryan Blaney and Jonathan Hassler. He has previously worked with JTG Daugherty Racing and Wood Brothers Racing, before joining Penske in 2022.

Travis Geisler, a former Xfinity driver, has previously worked as a crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr. He also served as an interim crew chief for Blaney in the 2020 Southern 500.

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Ryan Blaney elaborates on his chances of winning at Talladega

Ford drivers showed race-winning speed in the first two race weekends at Daytona and Talladega. With NASCAR returning to a drafting track this weekend, Ryan Blaney believes Ford drivers have a good shot at winning the race.

The #12 Penske Ford driver insisted that Ford has always brought fast cars to the speedways but stressed that strategy and execution will influence how the race will unfold. He said, via Speedwaydigest.com:

"The speedways have been pretty good for the Fords for a while. Ever since I've been in the Cup Series I feel like we've always been super strong and really been able to compete and try to control the race. That's one thing we've always talked about is how can we control the race, whether it's with our numbers in the Ford camp, the strategy, how can we just control the first handful of rows. It helps when you have fast cars and Ford has brought fast cars."

Ford is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic Mustang brand, with Ryan Blaney aiming to park his Mustang Dark Horse in the victory lane and deliver its first win of the season.