Team Penske has swapped the pit crews of its Nos. 2 and 12 teams driven by Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney, respectively, before the start of The Chase presented by Mobil 1, a team spokesperson confirmed to NASCAR.com on Tuesday.
Blaney and the No. 12 team enter the NASCAR Cup Series Chase as the No. 2 seed, 25 points behind series leader Denny Hamlin. However, his pit crew through Daytona ranked just 32nd of 35 full-time teams, according to NASCAR Insights.
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Cindric and the No. 2 team qualified for The Chase and enter as the No. 15 seed of 16, sitting 95 markers back of Hamlin ahead of Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Cindric’s crew was the 10th-best crew in the series following Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
That 10th-best crew now moves over to pit Blaney’s No. 12 Ford beginning at Darlington, featuring jackman Jourdan Osinskie, fueler Andrew Lackey, front tire changer Justin Armwood, rear changer Geoffrey Wall and tire carrier Jesse Mills.
Cindric will inherit jackman Graham Stoddard, fueler Chris Conklin, front changer Keiston France, rear changer Justin Fox and tire carrier Trevor Apsey to start the postseason.
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This change marks the second major change to Blaney’s No. 12 crew this season. Team Penske made additional changes to the crew in April, adding Stoddard to the roster ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. According to NASCAR Insights, the No. 12 crew has cost Blaney a series-worst 129 positions on the race track. The next-closest deficit is the No. 77 Spire Motorsports pit crew of Carson Hocevar, which has cost Hocevar 70 positions. Hocevar enters The Chase as the No. 12 seed.