Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano laughed sharing their memories of receiving and celebrating with the traditional New Hampshire Motor Speedway winner’s trophy – a giant live lobster.
“You can’t eat them,” said defending New Hampshire race winner Blaney. “They’re too old. I learned that in Victory Lane. … He took a visit to the taxidermist and they put him on a nice little plaque, so I get it tomorrow. I’ll find a place in my house for him.”
Logano laughed recalling his first lobster hoist in 2009 – his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and one of two he has now here.
“I didn’t know what I was gonna do with this huge lobster, and so it was like, ‘Why don’t you just put it on a plaque,'” the three-time series champion Logano recalled. “They kind of thought I was crazy the first time, but who is laughing now? Everyone does it, I guess, so there you go.
“I’ve got a couple on the wall at this point. It’s a good icebreaker when people come to your house and see a lobster on the wall. You have a cool story.”
The teammates would love to add another chapter to their “cool stories” this week – a good showing Sunday could mean a lot heading into the 10-race Chase to decide the 2026 series champion. Blaney, a two-time race winner, is ranked second to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin in the championship, a full 115 points behind.
He holds only a 12-point edge on Hamlin’s teammate Ty Gibbs in third and only a 23-point advantage on five-race winner – and Sunday’s polesitter – Tyler Reddick in fourth before the points reset for that championship run following the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway next Saturday night.
“I look at the points once or twice a week, usually the night after the race to see where everyone is at, and then I remind myself where everyone is at before the weekend comes,” the 2024 series champion Blaney explained.
“They don’t consume my whole race, but I notice where those guys are running just because we are in the fight with those guys for the second spot, but it doesn’t change our race. We won’t strategize our race around the 45 [Reddick] or the 54 [Gibbs].
“We strategize to try to win the race and then the points stuff takes care of itself. You do know that and we do know from second to fourth is a decent chunk of points, so that’s goal number one outside of winning the race the next two weeks – try to stay ahead of those two guys.”
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