Team Penske's championship hopes rising as Chase approaches

Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano have each had very different paths to the NASCAR Cup Series Chase. 

Blaney has been the most consistent driver from the Ford stable all season. While the blue ovals struggled early in the season, Blaney won the first two races for the group at Phoenix and Atlanta and enters Sunday's race at New Hampshire second in the standings. 

Logano, meanwhile, was 20th in points at the end of June. He's since risen to ninth on the strength of wins at North Wilkesboro and Richmond, along with a third-place run in the Brickyard 400.

Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney building momentum

Together, the duo of Blaney and Logano have won three of the last five races and have momentum on their side ahead of New Hampshire — a venue where they've both won — which is the second-to-last race of the regular season. 

"I'm a big believer in momentum and confidence, whether it's in your group or yourself," said Blaney, the defending New Hampshire winner. "It is nice, we've had a stretch of races here closing into the Chase that our teams have really been able to step up and have had really good runs."

Surprisingly, neither Blaney nor Logano qualified inside the top five on Saturday. Josh Berry was the fastest Ford in qualifying and will start second, while Blaney and Logano will start eighth and 21st, respectively. Their Team Penske teammate in Austin Cindric, who enters the race 57 points above the Chase cut line in 15th, will roll off 26th. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.