(NEXSTAR/AP) — Blaney made it a weekend sweep for Team Penske — Scott McLaughlin and Will Power won IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway for the 87-year-old Roger Penske.

“Penske sweep!” Blaney belted out.

Blaney led the final 44 laps and won Sunday at Pocono, the site of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and his second victory in the last five races this season.

The 2023 NASCAR champion, Blaney won the inaugural Cup race last month at Iowa Speedway and added two more top 10 finishes headed into Pocono. The Team Penske driver’s summer success in the No. 12 Ford has stamped him a legitimate threat to win a second straight championship.

“I definitely think we’re in a better spot at this time than where we were last year,” Blaney said. “I feel like our speed’s better. Our execution’s great.”

Blaney was dialed in on the 2.5-mile track and was never seriously challenged over the final 10 laps by runner-up Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman. Hamlin holds the Pocono record with seven career wins; Bowman won last’s week Chicago Street Race.

Blaney spoke with WBRE’s Nick Zelaya after his win Sunday.

Transcript:

Nick Zelaya: Nick Zelaya here with your 2024 Pocono champion Ryan Blaney. Career win number 12 for the #12 car. And Ryan, of course, your first victory in the Cup series came here at Pocono. Seven years later, it’s your second career victory. How sweet does it feel?

Ryan Blaney: Yeah, it’s hard to believe it’s been seven years, you know. But yeah, what a cool, you know, what a cool weekend. Everywhere that you … went out for the first time and like, whatever series is always special to you, you know, in your heart. So I’ve always enjoyed coming here. Ever since I won here and thought we’ve come close to winning a couple others and just haven’t really done it. And it was nice for one, [have] kind of worked out today how we planned, you know, I mean, we spent all race, kind of, the strategy we were on was for the end of the race and our car was fast enough to get the lead there at the end and hold it and pull away. And so, yeah, really special, different victory lane the last time I was here. But it’s cool to have the fans all here, but a fun weekend overall.

Nick Zelaya: It felt like you had the lead for most of that final stage. But of course a couple drivers behind were Denny Hamlin, the champion here, the seven-time champ. How do you keep your composure knowing that #11 is a couple of cars behind? He’s making his way, but you’re still able to finish the race?

Ryan Blaney: Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing to me that was just kind of not concerning, but I had to pay attention to was just all the restarts, you know, having … having a handful of restarts there in a row, kind of different people on the front row with me, the #11 and then the #48. And there’s not really knowing how I’m going to get through one. You know, I feel like if I could, I just got through turn one with the lead. I felt pretty good about the speed in our car to hold those guys off. I felt close to the #11 all day. I think it was just a matter of who is out front between me and him. But that was the biggest concern. Just trying to hit your restart, try to get a good push and get through one. We saw a lot of guys kind of miss one today on restarts and I just want to make sure I didn’t do that and be able to execute everything really well. And I knew the #11 was fast. Obviously, he’s great here, but I knew we had kind of a big enough lead by the time he got to second that I didn’t really have to worry about it too, too little laps, too big a lead and I just coasted at that point.

Nick Zelaya: Ryan Blaney for the second time in his career, figures out the tricky triangle. Congrats on the victory, Ryan.

Ryan Blaney: Thank you.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.