Blaney Hopes to Put Recent Engine Failures Behind Him at Martinsville

After two blown engines in the last three races, Ryan Blaney hopes that the unrelated issues that led to both failures have been rectified ahead of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville. | David Rosenblum, NKP for Ford Performance

Ryan Blaney enters Martinsville Speedway, one of his best tracks, riding a three-race rough patch. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse has suffered three consecutive DNFs, two of which have been caused by rare engine failures.

Last weekend's blown engine at Homestead-Miami Speedway was immensely disappointing for Blaney and his race team as they dominated the Straight Talk Wireless 400. Blaney led a race-high 124 laps before the engine detonated on Lap 208, effectively ending his bid to score his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

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STARTING LINEUP: Cook Out 400 at Martinsville

Two engine failures in three races would be ultra-concerning for any driver and team in the NASCAR Cup Series in the modern era of super-reliable mechanical components. After getting the Homestead engine checked over this week by Roush-Yates Engines and his Team Penske organization, Blaney and his team feel different situations led to each failure.

“We believe there were separate issues from Phoenix and Homestead," Blaney explained in a media availability on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. "They’re working hard on trying to figure out why this issue at Homestead happened. We knew why the one at Phoenix happened. We kind of figured out that problem and I think we’ve got our arms around why this one at Miami happened and hopefully, we’ve taken the correct procedures to make sure it doesn’t happen again."

While it's frustrating that engine issues have plagued the No. 12 team over the last few weeks, prior to the engine failure at Phoenix Raceway, Blaney's most recent engine failure came in the 2018 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was an astonishing stretch of 242 races without a failure for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Blaney is trying to keep in perspective that he's benefitted from bullet-proof reliability under the hood of his car throughout his NASCAR Cup Series career, but wins are hard to come by in NASCAR's top division, and it's even harder watching potential wins slip through your grasp like Blaney experienced last weekend at Homestead.

"It’s just unfortunate that two out of three weeks we’ve had an issue there, but those folks work really hard. I hadn’t had an engine failure in a long time, so it’s not like it’s common with those folks," Blaney said. "It’s just one of those things. That’s a bummer, but I think we have a really good idea of what went wrong and they’re doing all they can to figure out how can we make that not happen again.”

While Blaney thinks RYE and his team have a good idea of what the separate issues are that caused both engine failures, he did say that they were able to rule out whether he had over-revved the engine during a downshift during each race to cause the engine failures. The 31-year-old racer, his team, and his passionate fanbase will have their collective fingers crossed on Sunday as the driver attempts to collect his third career win at Martinsville Speedway.

If Blaney can get the win on Sunday, it'll extend his streak to three consecutive seasons with a win at the 0.526-mile paper clip in Virginia. And if he does win again, his home will become even noisier with the addition of a third Ridgeway Grandfather Clock, the trophy given to winners at Martinsville Speedway.

The Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway is set for Sunday, March 30, and will be televised by FS1, and can be streamed on the FOX Sports App with a valid television provider login. The live race broadcast coverage will kick off at 3:00 PM ET.