Five things we learned from the Penske/Wood Brothers teleconference

Paul Menard to the Wood Brothers? Check.

Now, here are five things we learned, compliments of the Team Penske/Wood Brothers teleconference on Wednesday.

1. The team remains the same — Blaney will retain crew chief Jeremy Bullins when he resurrects the No. 12 Ford next season. He and Bullins have been partnered together since 2012 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The pair worked together in NXS for three seasons and in 2012 when Blaney debuted in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford in the Monster Energy Cup Series. Together, they ran 16 Cup races under the Wood Brothers banner with one top five and two top-10 finishes. Blaney showed gradual improvement in his rookie season under Bullins and team engineer Andrea Mueller. He scored three top fives and nine top 10s. This season, Blaney and Bullins took the iconic No. 21 Ford to Victory Lane at Pocono. They are currently 12th in the standings.

2. Erwin’s movin’ on up — After calling the shots on Team Penske’s Xfinity Series All-Star team, Greg Erwin returns to the Cup series full-time to oversee Paul Menard’s efforts in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. The former Roush Racing crew chief/engineer worked with the Wood Brothers through a technical alliance. Erwin has 15 seasons as a crew chief in NASCAR’s top two tours

3. Bankrolling Blaney and charter alignment — Team Penske was not ready to name the primary sponsor for the No. 12 Ford. President Tim Cindric said, “We're still working through pretty much everything on the 12 car. We have some things that are solid and some things that we're still working on. I would say that's something that's yet to be determined.” Cindric said the Penske was well-positioned to acquire a charter. The Wood Brothers, who leased their charter this season from the No. 32 GoFas Racing team for Blaney, are still looking to negotiate.

4. Will Blaney attempt the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 Double? — Despite the grueling scheduled involved with jetting between Indianapolis and Charlotte, Team Penske’s latest racer would like to add his name to the stock car drivers looking to pull off that feat.“Maybe now that I’m a Penske driver I can convince Mr. Penske to do that,” Blaney said on his Facebook chat. “That would be something really neat. Maybe I’ll have to win some races for him first and he’ll let me go do that.”

5. Not that Brian Wilson — Yes, the crew chief with the famous name will take over crew chief duties for Team Penske’s Xfinity Series program. Wilson has an impressive resume with three wins, one pole, 12 top fives and 22 top 10s in 28 NXS races. While filling in for Paul Wolfe on the No. 2 Team Penske Ford with Brad Keselowski, Wilson led the team to three top fives and four top 10s.