NASCAR star Ryan Blaney has suggested he wasn't the decision-maker behind Team Penske's call to replace one of his pit crew members ahead of Kansas this weekend.

Blaney's No. 12 crew have had a rough year so far, losing their driver 88 positions on pit road through the opening eight races, 31 more than anyone else.

Despite Blaney recently backing his guys, to try and remedy this, on Thursday, it was revealed that Blaney's jackman, Landon Honeycutt, would be leaving the No. 12 crew, swapping with the jackman of the No. 21, Patrick Gray.

However, another change was then made, with Gray missing this weekend's race due to personal reasons. As a result, Team Penske has brought Graham Stoddard in from Noah Gragson's crew, with Stoddard having previously worked on Blaney's team.

Oval Insider understands that any decisions on Blaney's pit crew post-Kansas will be made after the weekend, but ahead of Sunday's race, Blaney has discussed his role in what went down.

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Ryan Blaney on Team Penske pit crew change

“My role, whoever is with us, is to make them part of the team,” Blaney said on Saturday at Kansas, via NASCAR.com.

"No matter who it is, it’s like you’re one of the 12 guys, and that’s my main role. It’s not decision-making and stuff like that with that regard.

"All I can do is sit in on the meetings and hear what they think, and wherever it ends up, welcome whoever is with us and make them part of the group, part of the boys.”

Blaney: New pit crew member is championship-caliber

Blaney continued, opening up on his relationship with Stoddard and stating how excited he is to have him on the team.

“Graham is a great person, and it was a lot of fun to get to work with him for a while, and then him still being in the building and seeing him on a day-to-day basis is fun,” Blaney added.

“I consider him a friend of mine. A great veteran guy, championship-caliber guy. We’re excited to have Graham with us and looking forward to seeing what he brings.”

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