Why Ryan Blaney should be feeling confident going into off weekend

Until the last two races at Darlington and Bristol, Team Penske's Ryan Blaney was likely counting down the days leading up to Easter weekend.

Since the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series took to the high banks of Daytona in February, this weekend represents the only off time for the series before going all the way to the championship race at Phoenix on Nov. 2.

Everything started on the right foot for Blaney with a pair of top 10s to open the season at Daytona and Atlanta. In the five races that followed, Blaney did not have a single top 10, including three straight DNFs that resulted in finishes of 28th or worse.

Since that difficult stretch, Blaney has finished fifth the last two weeks at Darlington and Bristol, leading laps in both races. He was on his way to winning at Darlington before a late spin from Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson and led 48 laps at Thunder Valley before having to pit for fuel late.

The laps out front in Bristol were due to an alternate strategy where Blaney stayed out longer than the rest of the field, but he was near the front of the field for most of the race and had a good car underneath him to be able to take a chance.

Even with the blown engine at Homestead, Blaney led a commanding 124 laps and appeared to have the dominant car that day, but left with nothing to show for it.

The biggest inconsistency on the No. 12 team this season has been the pit crew. Prior to Bristol, NASCAR Insights had Blaney's pit crew ranked 25th on average, per NASCAR.com. With a clean, mistake-free day on Sunday, they were rated the eighth-best pit crew, showing how dangerous this team can be when driver and crew are firing on all cylinders.

There is a good chance the recent momentum swing will carry over for Blaney when the Cup Series returns to action at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 27 (3 p.m. ET, Fox, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Despite its chaotic nature and the unpredictability that comes with pack racing, Blaney has three wins in 21 starts at the track and should be in contention for another victory in Alabama.

Even though the results did not match the pace of the No. 12 Ford for most weeks, Blaney's recent surge has him sixth in the standings and in the thick of the regular season championship battle. 

If the pit crew continues to improve and Blaney can execute on the track, the long-run speed in his Mustang has been hard to match through nine races. As cars return to the track in a week, expect Blaney to string more consistent results together and park it in victory lane at any point.