Blaney's crew chief to call Talladega remote from Penske command center

​​Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 team does not have crew chief Jonathan Hassler with them at Talladega Superspeedway, but he will still be plugged in for the GEICO 500.

Hassler stayed home in North Carolina after the birth of his daughter this week. Blaney will have engineer Tony Palmer and competition director Travis Geisler on the pit box for Sunday’s race. However, Hassler will be in the command center at the race shop and have the ability to communicate with his team.

“He was involved in everything [leading into Talladega] and he’s calling in for the race,” Blaney said Saturday. “He’ll be in those guys’ ear, but he was involved in prep like normal. He’s just not here.”

The use of a command center or war room has become common in recent years. It is a dedicated area in the race shop for top Cup Series teams where engineers and other team members have access to live in-race data and information, and can communicate with those at the racetrack.

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Blaney is a three-time Talladega Superspeedway winner, including last fall to advance into the third round of the playoffs. In the last three Talladega races, Blaney has finished no worse than second. He’s also led 109 laps in the last four Cup Series races there.

The reigning series champion has no concerns about who is on the pit box for Sunday.

“Tony is great,” Blaney said. “He obviously works with Jonathan every single weekend and through the week and obviously Travis Geisler being the competition director and ex-crew chief, he knows everything. I’m really comfortable with those guys.

“I’m happy Jonathan can be there for his daughter and enjoy his time at home and take that all in, so I’m looking forward to working with those guys this weekend. They’ll be great.”