Ryan Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler says that Team Penske and Ford are lacking the raw speed they need to regularly compete against their NASCAR rivals for race wins.
18 races into the season, Blaney sits third in the Cup Series standings, which is a huge credit to the driver of the No. 12, given Fords lack of speed compared to Toyota and Chevrolet.
Heading to Chicagoland this weekend, Toyota has been the strongest of the three OEMs in the Cup Series so far this season with 11 wins, but they are closely followed by Chevrolet, who have won six races themselves.
Ford, though, has just a single victory under their belt at this stage of the campaign, with Blaney's triumph at Phoenix their only win of the year so far.
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Blaney crew chief says Team Penske/Ford lacking raw speed
Now, in an honest assessment of the No. 12's campaign on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Hassler praised the No. 12 team's consistency and ability to secure strong finishes, but admitted they are missing one key component compared to their rivals.
“I think consistency has definitely been the strength of us, of our team, for sure,” Hassler explained. "We've been able to go and have solid finishes at a lot of different race tracks. I think our raw speed is definitely where we're missing it at the moment, for us and all the Fords.
“Specifically probably with the intermediate package, the mile and a half and bigger tracks. That's definitely been a struggle of ours.
“But yeah, we've had enough consistency on the #12 to kind of get through it and continue to try to find ways to make a little bit more speed.
“Hopefully, when we get to the crucial part of the playoffs, we'll have it all put together.”
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