Must go faster: Blaney, Reddick title bids could come down to pit-crew performance

Seven races down in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, and we have somewhat of an idea of who will be contesting for the championship when The Chase begins in September.

At the top of the Cup Series standings sit Tyler Reddick (already with four wins this season), followed by Ryan Blaney, who snagged his first checkered flag of the season at Phoenix Raceway.

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While the two drivers are undoubtedly fast during green-flag action, the same can’t be said so far for their respective pit crews. Let’s dive into where the No. 12 and No. 45 pit crews rank so far and what it could mean for Blaney and Reddick’s hopes at hoisting the Cup Series trophy in November.

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The aforementioned speed for both Blaney and Reddick is undeniable when looking at the numbers. According to NASCAR Insights, both drivers rank inside the top five in passing, speed and restarts. Specifically, Reddick charts second in passing, second in speed and fifth in restarts. Blaney tops the board among Cup drivers in passing and speed, and ranks fourth on restarts.

The standalone speed has translated into strong results, with both winning four combined times in the first seven races and holding the top two spots in points.

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Where troubles have become apparent have been on pit road. Pivotal to success on Sundays, the No. 12 and No. 45 have struggled to provide clean stops to give their drivers advantageous track position, forcing their wheelman to really drive their cars harder to make up spots.

Post-Martinsville, the No. 45 pit crew ranks 21st, while the No. 12 crew sits at 35th — second worst of all title-eligible drivers, only ahead of the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing crew.

Neither teams were all that good at Martinsville. Reddick’s crew was 18th at the Virginia short track, and Blaney’s crew was 25th.

The biggest shock of all is that NASCAR Insights lists Blaney with the worst average four-tire stop in Cup this season, with a time of 12.89 seconds. To compare, Christopher Bell has the fastest four-tire stop on average at 10.18 seconds. Mistakes compiled for the No. 12 team at Phoenix, which Blaney was able to overcome and win, and most recently at Darlington, where the team had a loose wheel and needed to pit in a teammate’s stall to get it tightened.

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As we’ve seen in past years, championships have come down to execution on pit road — think of 2019 when the No. 19 crew gave Martin Truex Jr. the wrong tires and the No. 11 team slapped on a comical amount of tape to Denny Hamlin’s grille that cost the engine to overheat. Of course, there’s Hamlin’s heartbreak from the Phoenix title race last year, where crew chief Chris Gayle opted for a four-tire stop, while Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team took two tires and entered that race as the No. 1 pit crew, according to NASCAR Insights. Larson eventually went on to finish ahead of Hamlin on the short run to the checkered flag to win his second championship.

MORE: How NASCAR’s new championship format works

While The Chase eliminates the one-race showdown for the title, pit road will still be a huge factor in crowning a champion. If Blaney and Reddick want to solidify bids as championship favorites, they’ll need their crews to match their raw speed.