Blaney gets new jackman for Kansas

Team Penske has made a pit crew member change on the No. 12 for Ryan Balney ahead of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.

Patrick Gray, who has been on the No. 21 Ford for Josh Berry at Wood Brothers Racing, will serve as the jackman. Landon Honeycutt had been the jackman on Blaney’s team, and he will move into Berry’s group in the swap.

“We've got to get better, for sure,” Blaney said Sunday after finishing second at Bristol Motor Speedway. “If we’re going to keep competing and have cars that can win races and stuff, we’ve got to clean that up.”

His comments came after another rough day on pit road in which Blaney lost spots and, therefore, track position. Racing Insights, which provides data-driven analytics for NASCAR, ranks the No. 12 pit crew 35th in the Cup Series. The group has lost 88 positions on pit road in total this season.

Blaney is second in the standings and overcame multiple pit road problems at Phoenix Raceway to win. There were also various issues at Darlington Raceway that Blaney overcame to finish third.