Ryan Blaney celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Monday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Blaney posted his first career win at Pocono Raceway in 2017.
                                 John Bazemore | AP photo

Ryan Blaney celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Monday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Blaney posted his first career win at Pocono Raceway in 2017.

John Bazemore | AP photo

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<p>Ryan Blaney (12) enters the weekend doubleheader at Pocono on a hot streak, having moved up eight spots to No. 3 in driver points over the last eight races.</p>
                                 <p>John Bazemore | AP photo</p>

Ryan Blaney (12) enters the weekend doubleheader at Pocono on a hot streak, having moved up eight spots to No. 3 in driver points over the last eight races.

John Bazemore | AP photo

Ryan Blaney is quite fond of Pocono Raceway, but he’s not certain why.

“I’m not really sure,” Blaney said. “It’s always been a good track for us. It’s a very unique place, obviously. It’s just been good to us. We won there in the truck a couple years ago and we got our first Cup win there, so it’s just been special.”

Blaney will get two cracks at posting another NASCAR Cup victory at the 2.5-mile tri-oval. The much ballyhooed doubleheader — the first in Cup history — will be run on Saturday and Sunday. The Pocono Organics 325 will start at 3:30 p.m. Saturday with the Pocono 350 at 4 p.m. the following day.

No fans will be in attendance due to the COVID-19 restrictions, but three other racing series will be. The ARCA Series will run an 80-lap race at 6 p.m. Friday. The NASCAR Truck Series will run a 60-lap race at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, and the Xfinity Series will be on the track at 12:30 p.m. Sunday for a 90-lap event.

Blaney’s first Cup win came at Pocono on June 11, 2017. He led only 10 laps, but they were the final 10 after passing Kyle Busch for the lead on a restart and holding off Kevin Harvick down the stretch. He had to overcome a problem with his radio communications to his team.

“We had an issue with the electrical system in (my helmet) and I couldn’t talk to the team,” Blaney said. “But I could hear them luckily, which was good. There was a little old school communication just trying to describe the car. We’d go down the front stretch and I’d put my hand on the door if it was tight and I’d put my hand on the roof if I was loose. They kind of worked on the car that way.”

The victory wasn’t just Blaney’s first of his career, but also the 99th and the last for the Wood Brothers, an iconic team which has been entering Cup races for nearly every year since 1953.

Blaney left the Wood Brothers after the 2017 season to join Team Penske. The 26-year-old son of former Cup veteran Dave Blaney won a race in each in 2018 and 2019.

And he’s on a tear heading into Pocono. He posted his fourth career win Monday at Talladega and had climbed from 11th in drivers points to third in the last eight races.

The key this weekend, Blaney said, will be making out of the first race unscathed so there are no major issues going into Sunday.

The Cup drivers had a hint of a doubleheader back on May 17 and 20. With the COVID-19 pandemic throwing the schedule out of whack, they raced those days at Darlington Raceway. Although it will be consecutive days, Blaney doesn’t see any special planning needed.

“Not really,” Blaney said. “(The races) are a little bit shorter. I don’t think you do anything too special. As far as personally for me, I’d race every day if I could. I like it. I like the doubleheader we have planned here. That’s really exciting for a lot of people.

“We’ve been talking about it for a year or two and it’s finally here. It’s nice to finally get it going. There’s going to be a lot of racing that’s going on that weekend from all different series.”