With Roger Penske only fielding two full-time Cup entries for Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in 2015, he loaned his developmental talent to the fellow Ford organization for roughly 18 starts to get his feet wet while future plans for the son of long-time Cup driver Dave Blaney get sorted out.

As of Sunday, there have been no conversations about adding a third Cup team for Penske next season.

"There hasn’t (been any talk about a third Penske team)," Blaney said after wheeling the No. 22 to a fifth-place finish in the 3M 250 XFINITY race at Iowa Speedway. "We’re working hard at doing what we can for the future, and that’s with whatever team, you know? Our main focus is trying to finish out this year strong with the Wood Brothers."

Talks about Blaney’s future have intensified after the 21-year-old started third and finished fourth at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this month.

An Associated Press report was published on Saturday in which Penske also confirmed that his organization isn’t currently interested in expanding to three cars, but that a full season with Blaney in the No. 21 Fusion is possible, provided that enough funding is secured. 

"I’d hope there can be an extension … we’re going to run him in about 18 races, so if we can get sponsorship for him, that gives him a chance to take a look at extending that through a full season next year. That would be our goal," Penske told the AP. "This is a partnership really with Woods’ people and ours … we’ve got the technology and the ability to build the right pieces for them. It’s like a brother-in-law." 

In the meantime, Blaney knows he can only control what happens on the race track, and his focus is on making the most of his time behind the respective wheels of both the Nos. 21 and 22.

"We’re excited to go to the (Coca-Cola) 600 next week. We’re really pumped about that," Blaney said. "After our good run at Talladega and we tested at Charlotte and I thought it went really well; just really excited to get back there and we’re always working to get towards the future. We can definitely have wishful thinking. 

"We really just focus on here and now," said Blaney. 

"I always say ‘You do your job here in the present and the stuff for the future will work itself out.’"

As one of the sport’s hottest prospects, the NASCAR Next alum has spent a fair share of his high school years, well, away from high school. His efforts are paying off, as the 18-year-old won five of 16 races on his way to a 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title and finished in the top 10 in three of his four Camping World Truck Series races in the No. 32 last year — both of which helped lead to his JRM shot.

So the fact that Rhodes missed his Holy Cross High School (Louisville, Kentucky) graduation on Friday night and will get his diploma during driver intros on Sunday like Erik Jones at Texas last year — albeit without the cap and gown — doesn’t faze him.

"For me, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, because I’ve already missed so much and when it comes to high school in the first place, I haven’t been to a single dance, I haven’t been to a single football game, none of that," Rhodes said Saturday. "I’ve already missed everything, so why not throw graduation in there, too? I know that’s probably a bad way to look at it, but I’m being optimistic. This is what I love to do. This is what I want to make a career out of and this is my first opportunity out of hopefully a long career. I’m going to make the most of it. This is a wonderful opportunity JR Motorsports has given me. I’ve just got to do my best and work as hard as I can."

That said, Rhodes did still have to finish his year out, Senioritis or not.

Whoo! I’m free! #LastDayOfSchool #ClassOf15 pic.twitter.com/hUI5UuNz7b

— Ben Rhodes (@benrhodes) May 7, 2015

"Senioritis kicked in as soon as senior year started. It was pretty bad for me," Rhodes said. "By the time I was there in high school and I was doing everything I was doing over the summer; living somewhere else, working on the cars in the shop every day, it was difficult for me to come back and completely change my lifestyle from being race-focused every single day to what is "To Kill A Mockingbird"?

"Actually, we didn’t read that, we read "The Possibility of Evil" and all this other junk. I shouldn’t say junk. (English teacher Mrs. Cheryl) Feathers will get mad at me."

Since the announcement that he’d be joining the organization on a part-time, developmental basis, Rhodes has been in constant contact with everyone at JR Motorsports — the drivers, the crew chiefs, the shop men, the engine men. He’s doing all he can to absorb and learn everything he can to ensure this opportunity doesn’t go unfulfilled, starting with Iowa.

One JRM employee, in particular, that has been extra helpful?

Chase Elliott.

"I called him coming down here and I said, ‘Chase, I need some guidance. What happens? What goes on?’ and we talked for about 30 minutes on the phone about just race runs, how the track changes, different quirks of this car and stuff that you have to work on," said Rhodes. "He helped me out a lot. I’ve talked to Regan (Smith) a little bit, too. Over the course of the season, going to different tracks with Kevin (Harvick) and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), they’ve shed a lot of light on this subject as well.

"It’s been interesting. A huge learning curve. I will say these (XFINITY) cars are pretty edgy. There’s a lot of stuff going on that I’m not used to; lot of stuff that I’m learning."

Rhodes’ first start coming at Iowa was likely by design, as the young driver has already accumulated four starts at the 0.875-mile track in the K&N Series, winning here last year as the first leg of a four-race win streak that propelled him to the title.

So while he’s never been behind the wheel of a NXS Chevrolet Camaro prior to Friday’s practices (16th, fifth) and qualifying (14th) sessions, the bumps and feel of this short track are nothing new to him.

"I think time on the track was pretty huge for me. At least it gives me the confidence coming into the race, but then also how the cars race on the track, it’s not the exact same because you have to move around a lot more for the aero in these cars, but I feel like the grooves are similar. The grooves are the same; you can move up, you can move down. The overall experience on how the track changes throughout runs, I think is pretty comparable.

"It gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I have a win here and I have a trophy that I wake up next to. It makes me feel good."

Now that high school is behind him and his future is in focus, Rhodes can put 100 percent of his effort into competing on the race track, and not splitting time unraveling the mystery of Boo Radley or deciding who he would’ve asked to the senior prom.

"I feel like racing is my life and it’s what I want to do, but at the same time it would’ve been cool to experience some of the stuff that everybody else has, but I’ve been used to sacrificing that stuff in my life from the time I was 7," Rhodes said. "I never played any other sports. I came home and worked on go-karts every single day after school and did my homework and prepared for the next race.

"It’s what I know, but it would’ve been cool to experience that and maybe make a few more friends, but I wouldn’t trade it for what I’m doing."