Mechanical issues and engine issues have often decided the fates of NASCAR drivers. Ask Christopher Bell about as he knows very well how damning that feeling is. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was within touching distance of a race win at Gateway last year, but just as he was battling with Ryan Blaney with 19 laps to go, catastrophe struck. “I’m blowing up, I’m blowing up,” was the message the No. 20 team heard from their driver on the radio. And just like that, Bell’s hopes of a race win ended with an engine mishap.
Interestingly, Blaney couldn’t win the race himself; fuel mileage racing backfired on them. As the white flag dropped, Austin Cindric passed him for the lead and won the race. However, the script was flipped this time around at Homestead Miami Speedway, where Blaney was the one in hot pursuit of the leaders. For a long time we thought the engine trouble has plagued the Toyota teams, but 2025 tells you a different story. And, unfortunately, it is Ryan Blaney who has found himself on the bitter end of the stick this time around with repeated engine troubles.
The story of Ryan Blaney’s recent struggles is a tale of promise brutally interrupted. At Homestead, he was running in a strong third position, battling wheel-to-wheel with Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson. His Ford Mustang had shown remarkable pace throughout the day, positioning him as a serious contender. Then, in a moment that sent shockwaves through the racing community, his No. 12 car erupted in fire, depicting a spectacular failure coming off at Turn 4.
“Nothing. I didn’t have any warning,” Blaney explained after the shocking turn of events, his frustration palpable. “It just laid over when I got back to wide open down the front and that was all she wrote.” This wasn’t just another race-day setback—it was a defining moment that marked an unprecedented low for the third time in Blaney’s Cup career. The man endured three consecutive DNFs: Phoenix (engine failure), Las Vegas (accident), and now Homestead (engine failure), all at a streak.
The No. 12 car led the race high 124 laps throughout the race, and had it not been for the engine trouble, he would’ve made the finish more thrilling. Even Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman Jeff Gordon conceded that Blaney was the fastest driver in Miami. “12 car, I mean honestly it was ridiculous how fast they were.”
Ryan Blaney’s engine just exploded. That’s the second engine failure of the year for the No. 12 team. #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/UyRwsOXkw7
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 23, 2025
It’s not that Penske cars haven’t had speeds so far in 2025. We saw Austin Cindric lead the charge at the superspeedway races in Daytona and Atlanta. Then we had Josh Berry for the sister Penske team Wood Brothers Racing snag a win in Las Vegas. But it is interesting when a team like Hendrick Motorsports wasn’t able to match the speeds of the No. 12 car. So what exactly did go wrong with them? And what led to the freak engine mishaps that took everyone by surprise?
Well, the racing community feels that the guys at Penske are trying too hard to get the speeds out of their race cars. And in the mad hunt for those precious milli-seconds of advantage, it looks like they had to pay a big prize.
Fans suspect that No. 12 team are bending the rules to push their race car to the limit
The timing and nature of these failures are particularly striking. The parallels to Toyota’s engine troubles from the previous year are eerily similar—dominant cars suspiciously blowing up in an era where engine failures have become increasingly rare. The reasons for the failure of the engine can be numerous, be it due to a mechanical failure, calibration issues or something else. There are no clear reasons out yet, but the racing community didn’t take long to dissect the situation.
Fans and mechanics alike began spinning theories about the root cause of Ryan Blaney’s mechanical woes. “No other RYR engines have failed this year, so happening two weeks in a row means the Penske ‘tune’ probably has something to do with it,” one observant fan noted. The speculation centered on aggressive engine configurations, perhaps pushing timing limits, lean fuel mixtures, or an elevated rev limiter. Many of them who suspect reasons are waiting to witness the results in Martinsville, as it is known to be hard on engines.
The technical community weighed in with more nuanced observations. Despite the regulatory compliances regarding the specifications, the people of NASCAR are pointing out the team’s focus on hunger for higher horsepower. “As teams keep searching for more HP, wouldn’t be surprised if we see more engine/mechanical failures,” one fan pragmatically noted. Gone are the days where teams could milk out horsepower ranging from 750 to 900, now they have to get the speeds at on 670 hp with the Gen-7 car. So it’s clear that teams are trying to find all the means necessary to get that edge over the rivals on the racetrack.
Another put the situation into historical perspective: “Remember when 4 engine failures per season was the norm for the Cup Series? Now 2 engine failures and everyone is freaking out.” These highlight two different eras of NASCAR, representing the evolution of NASCAR’s engineering reliability over the years.
The Penske cars are notorious for staging late-season comebacks; they are known as the playoff kings in the Next Gen era. Go behind, and you’ll see Blaney come in clutch at tracks like Martinsville and Phoenix. While the engine troubles early in the season are concerning, this fan had a rather different perspective of the situation. Stating that the No. 12 team is experimenting with reality at the expense of some raw power, and this application might come handy in the playoffs. “They’re making a fast car at the expense of reliability. It’s not the playoffs, so test awa,y really.”
As the racing world turns its eyes to Martinsville, a track where Blaney has historically excelled, the anticipation is palpable. Will this be the moment Team Penske resolves their mechanical mysteries, or will the engine reliability specter continue to haunt their championship hopes?
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