Search
Close this search box.

Partner

Team Penske Engineer Tony Palmer to Serve as Ryan Blaney Crew Chief at Talladega

Ryan Blaney crew chief Talladega Tony Palmer Jonathan Hassler Baby GEICO 500 Talladega 2024

Photo Credit: Tyson Gifford, TobyChristie.com

share it
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit

Jonathan Hassler, the crew chief for Ryan Blaney, is out this weekend following the birth of his daughter. As a result, the No. 12 Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series team will be led by team engineer Tony Palmer during the GEICO 500 race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Travis Geisler will join Palmer atop the pit box the help call the race from the pit box. Blaney, 30, isn’t worried about Hassler not being at the track, and he feels confident in the combination of Palmer and Geisler.

“Oh no, none at all,” Blaney said when asked if he had any concerns with Hassler not at the track. “Tony is great. Obviously, he works with Jonathan every single weekend and through the week, and obviously, with Travis Geisler being the competition director and ex-crew chief, he knows everything. Comfortable, really comfortable with those guys. Happy Jonathan can be there for the birth of his daughter, and enjoy his time at home and take that all in.”

Blaney also confirmed that Hassler was heavily involved in the preparation of his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, and will be in the loop with the team via the team’s command center in North Carolina during the race weekend.

“Yeah, he was involved in everything, and he’s calling in for the race. So, he’ll be in those guys’ ears,” Blaney explained. “But yeah, involved in prep, like normal, he’s just not here.”

Blaney, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, is seeking his first win of the 2024 season, and Talladega is a place where he is very comfortable as he has scored three wins at the 2.66-mile superspeedway over the course of his career.

The Team Penske driver also talked about his incident with Ryan Preece a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway, where Preece retaliated by tapping Blaney in the turn late in the race, which sent him into the outside wall. According to Blaney, the two drivers are good to go heading into Sunday’s GEICO 500.

“Yeah, we had marshmallows the other night at a Ford team-building event,” Blaney laughed. “We’ve talked, we’re past it. We’re all good.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Post

1B6A5887
Sammy Smith Named Race Winner Following Jesse Love DQ
1B6A5809
Video: Late-Race Stackup Triggers Nine-Car Wreck at Rockingham
1B6A5546
Video: Legge, Kahne Collected in Stage 1 Wreck at Rockingham
AM3I5380
Brent Crews Dominates ARCA East Event at Rockingham
1B6A4711
Katherine Legge to Drive Joey Gase Motorsports No. 53 at Rockingham
AM3I5288
Connor Zilisch Wins Rockingham Pole on Flat Tire; Will Drop to Rear

Join Our Newsletter

Ready to have NASCAR news hand-delivered to your email daily?

Related Article