Penske Trio Look To Rebound Wednesday Night In Darlington

If you remember way back to March, you would have seen that Ryan Blaney has had the quickest race car each race, Joey Logano has won almost half of the races run and Brad Keselowski has three finishes of 11th or better.

But, can that translate well over to Wednesday night? Their speed was lacking overall on Sunday. By virtue of that, they all have some good starting spots on Wednesday and maybe the night time conditions will help keep them there.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 - Qualifying
DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – AUGUST 31: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, stands on pit road during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 2019 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

All three Penske cars will roll off inside of the top eight. That’s because they didn’t finish up front on Sunday.

Keselowski was great with clean air, but he faded to a 13th place finish in the end. He’ll start eighth on Wednesday by virtue of that. The Michigan native was fifth and first respectively in the two stages and even led 80 laps. But, as the race went on, his No. 2 Ford went away. He does have three top 10 finishes in his last five Darlington starts, but two of his last four were 13th or worse.

Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney were non factors all day. Logano, was 12th and eighth respectively in the two stages but finished 18th for his third finish of 14th or worse in his last four Darlington tries. Blaney, still has failed to score a top 10 at Darlington as he came away 16th on Sunday. He was 19th and 13th respectively in the two stages and has finishes of 30th, 13th, 31st, 15th, 13th and 16th respectively on the “Lady in Black.”

Logano, starts third with Blaney fifth.

In 117 past races now at Darlington, just six times (5.12%) has someone won from a starting spot outside of the top 20. That’s how important finishing in the top 20 on Sunday was. Furthermore, 99 of the 117 times (85%) has the winner came from the top 10. Kevin Harvick won from sixth on Sunday. All three Penske cars start in the top eight. 85 race winners have come from inside of the top four Rows. 

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