FANTASY NASCAR Racin

ROGER SEARLE PENSKE - 02-20-1937 -
is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive-related businesses. A winning racer in the late 1950's, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated. But few people appreciate how accomplished Penske was as a driver in the seven years he raced from 1958-64, before starting his team and establishing himself as one of the world’s leading independent businessmen. Roger started 155 races during that time and won no fewer than 53, more than a third of them. He also finished in the top five in another 60 races, surely as good a record as any of the greatest drivers. Roger Penske was one of America's most successful young road racers before

electing to retire from driving in 1965 to focus on his first business - a Philadelphia Chevrolet dealership. However, racing remained a key element in Penske's overall business plan. He fielded Corvettes in the 1966 endurance races at Daytona and Sebring prior to joining forces with driver Mark Donohue to campaign a Lola T70 in the USRRC and Can-Am sports car series. After three years of campaigning sedans and sports cars, Penske Racing and Donohue made their debut in Indy car racing, running a pair of USAC-sanctioned road races in 1968. The following year, the team made its debut in the Indianapolis 500 and Donohue finished seventh, earning "Rookie-of-the-Year" honors. With Donohue, Penske Racing quickly made its mark in the USAC Championship Series utilizing high standards of car

500 victories, four with driver Rick Mears and three with Helio Castroneves. Penske made its NASCAR debut in 1972, the same season the team earned its first Indy 500 victory with Donohue at the wheel. Mark Donohue was driving a factory-sponsored red-white-blue American Motors Matador. It was dubbed the "flying brick" by many noting its squarish aerodynamics. The car finished 39th after rear end problems. Continuing to compete in NASCAR, the Can-Am Series and in Indy cars, Penske Racing also debuted its Formula 1 car in 1970s. His team remains the last American team to win an F1 Grand Prix, the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. Penske only fielded F1 cars for two Grands Prix in 1971 and from 1974 to 1976, never replicating the success of his Indy and sports cars. Penske's

first foray into F1 began at the tail end of the 1971 season For the two final races, the Canadian Grand Prix and the U.S. Grand Prix, Penske sponsored, a McLaren, painting it in the iconic blue and yellow Penske/Sunoco livery. Mark Donohue–who in many ways was Penske's right-hand man–made his F1 debut at Canada, snagging a third place finish. The team managed a 10th place finish at the U.S. Grand Prix and Roger Penske announced his intention to join F1 competition in earnest. In 1973, Penske purchased, a small race car manufacturer in the UK that built Formula 5000. Penske made Heinz Hofer the teams F1 director and directed his new shop to build a new car for the 1974 Canadian Grand Prix. After just a few

months of development, the Penske PC1 was complete and sent overseas to race in the Canadian and U.S. Grand Prix, just as Penske had in 1971. Donohue had retired from racing and was working Penske's team manager and engineer. Feeling restless, he helped test the PC1 and convinced Penske to let him race in the 1974 Canadian and U.S. Grand Prix. Donohue finished in a respectable 12th place in Canada, but was forced to drop out of Watkins Glen due to a failed rear suspension. Still, Donohue felt good about Penske's F1 debut, so he decided to run the complete 1975 season with the PC1. The Geoff Ferris designed PC1 was powered by the venerable Cosworth DFV

V8, but it couldn't hope to be competitive in 1975. Despite Penske's big budget, the team remained small too. Donohue's impressive driving skill was outweighed by the PC1's lackluster performance, forcing him to retire from five races. His best result in the PC1 was at the Swedish Grand Prix, where he finished in 5th. For the British Grand Prix, Penske and the boss of sponsor First National City Bank decided to replace the PC1 with a March-Ford 751. Donohue placed 5th at Silverstone, but tragedy struck two races later. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue crashed badly in qualifying and suffered a concussion. He regained consciousness after crashing, but fell unconscious once again at the hospital. An emergency operation to relieve

pressure on his brain was unsuccessful and he died from his injuries at age 38. Team Penske sat out the rest of the 1975 season, returning for the final race at Watkins Glen with Irish driver John Watson and a new car, the PC3 Penske signed Watson for the full 1976 season who drove the PC3 for the first six races, before switching to a new car, the PC4, for the rest of the season. The PC4's first race in Sweden wasn't very successful, but Penske showed up at the French Grand Prix with a modified PC4 and finally had a truly competitive car. Watson finished third at both the French and British Grands Prix and got Penske's only F1 win in Austria, the same place where Donohue passed away just a year earlier. After the triumph in Austria, Watson drove his way to a seventh place finish in the Driver's Championship, giving Penske fifth in the constructors championship. Things were looking up for Penske's F1 efforts, but they couldn't manage to secure sponsorship for 1977 and Roger Penske decided to focus more on NASCAR and Indy car. A part time Penske entry

was fielded in NASCAR's premier series through 1977 with Donohue collecting one victory and Bobby Allison recording four wins. Penske fielded cars for several drivers including Donohue, Dave Marcis, Donnie Allison, and Bobby Allison. The team went full time with Bobby Allison in 1976 with a new, more aerodynamic fastback coupe, finishing 4th in the points. Penske fielded a ride in the Indy 500 for Bobby Allison in 1973 and in 1975. The project didn't do so well and Allison finished 32nd both years with mechanical issues. In 1975 and 1976 Penske would again pair up with Allison again, this time to race in the NASCAR Cup Series. Allison would post three wins in 1975, but would not find victory lane in 1976. But even on the strength of 15 Top five finishes he could only muster a fourth place finish

in the points. In 1977 Penske driver Tom Sneva would record the first ever 200 mph lap (200.535 mph) for the Indy 500. He started from the pole; but would finish second in the race behind AJ Foyt who claimed his fourth 500 win. Mario Andretti was also one of the famous drivers to sit in the cockpit of a Penske machine. Although he never won the Indy 500 while in a Penske car; (that dreaded Andretti curse...), he was able to win twice for Penske at other tracks. In all Andretti would drive 20 races for Penske from the years 1976-1980. In 1979, Penske hot shoe Rick Mears would win the first of his four Indy 500's. Mears would also claim the Indy Car Crown that season and add two additional Championships in 1981 and 1982. Meanwhile; on the NASCAR front; Penske sold his machinery to the Elliott family in 1977 and got out

of NASCAR. In 1980, the team fielded two races for Rusty Wallace, finishing 2nd in his first race at Atlanta. The team didn't run NASCAR for eleven years, returning in 1991 with Wallace at the wheel again, with Rusty moving his Miller beer dollars to the new team; thus Penske Racing South was established in 1991 with Wallace and long-time Penske business associate Don Miller as the team's co-owners. In 1993 Wallace won a career-high 10 races, collects 19 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes, three pole positions and leads the most laps during the season – 2,860 of 10,004 laps. Penske South also won the annual Unocal Pit Crew Championship at Rockingham. Wallace finished second in the series championship battle to Dale Earnhardt Sr. In 1994 In a switch from Pontiac to Ford, Wallace posts a series-leading eight victories, lead the

most laps during the season – 2,142 of 10,106 – and was the winning force behind Ford clinching the NASCAR Manufacturer’s Championship. In open-wheel racing, Penske fielded a three-car team with Al Unser Jr. joining Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy. Unser Jr. would win eight races en route to the CART Championship. In 1996 Rusty Wallace would visit victory lane five times, which tied him with Buddy Baker for 11th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. It is his fourth consecutive multiple-victory season and 10th in the last 11 seasons. Due to the split between CART and the Indy Racing League, this is the first year that Penske Racing does not enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 since its first entry in 1969. In 2000 Rusty Wallace would crack the 50-race victory barrier at Bristol in the March 26 Food City 500 and stretches his consecutive-win season to 15. In open-wheel, the team switches to the dominant Honda/Reynard/Firestone package and adds new drivers

Gil DeFerran and Helio Castronevez. For 16 straight years, Wallace won at least one NASCAR race each season, tying him for third on the all-time list for the most consecutive seasons with at least one victory. He also finished in the top 10 in the series standings in 12 of his 15 seasons driving for Penske Racing. By the end of the 2005 season, 37 of Wallace's 55 career victories had come under the Penske Racing banner. By 2001, Penske Racing flourished as a multi-car NASCAR operation with Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman leading the way on the track. While finding success in NASCAR; Penske continued to show his dominance in the Indy Car world. Bobby Unser won the Indy 500 for Penske in 1981; while Al Unser would win the Indy 500 in 1983 and also claim the Championship that season. He would add a second Championship in 1985. Danny Sullivan was yet another driver to wheel a Penske car owned car first across the yard of bricks, as he won the 1985 Indy 500. Sullivan also

claimed the 1988 Indy Car Championship for Penske. Al Unser Jr followed in his Dad's footsteps as he won the Indy 500 in 1994 while driving for Penske and went on to claim the Championship also that season. In 1993 Emerson Fittipaldi would add another victory for Penske in the Indy 500. Fittipaldi created controversy in victory lane when he drank orange juice instead of the traditional milk. Team Penske first competed in the newly formed Indy Racing League in 2001 and it joined the series full time the following season. Meanwhile Helio Castronevez would wheel the Marlboro sponsored Oldsmobile Dallara to claim

yet another Indy 500 victory for Penske; and repeated the feat in 2002. He would add a third win in 2009. Penske had also hired a young Gil DeFerran to drive the Marlboro livery and he was impressive from the start. DeFerran would claim the 2000 Indy Car Championship and follow that up with another Championship in 2001. The Indy 500 win alluded him; finishing second in 2001 and 10th in 2002. He was able to break threw for "The Captain" in 2003 to finally get the win. In 2000 DeFerran was also able to set a closed course qualifying record when he won the pole at Fontana CA running a blistering lap of 241.428 mph. Sam Hornish Jr. came aboard in 2004 and he led the Penske squad to its first IRL Series title in 2006. Hornish also was the winner at the Brickyard giving

Penske his 12th Indy 500 victory. Wallace retired from Cup competition after the 2005 season, closing the door on one of the most storied careers in racing. Kurt Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Cup titleholder, joined Penske Racing in 2006 as Wallace transitioned to the broadcast booth. More than 30 years after winning at the highest levels of sports car racing, Penske returned to its roots late in the 2005 season, announcing an LMP2-class effort with Porsche in the American Le Mans Series. The squad had a remarkable homecoming, capturing the class championship with Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr in '06 before again earning titles in '07 and '08 with teammates Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. Proven winners Busch and Ryan Newman led the charge for the Penske Racing NASCAR program in 2008 with Hornish Jr. joining the mix for his first

full season of stock car racing. Highlighted by a dramatic 1-2 finish in the Daytona 500 with Newman securing Penske's first win in the "Great American Race" and Busch finishing a close second. In '09, David Stremme joined the team's NASCAR Cup Series lineup alongside Hornish and Busch. Kurt earned two wins and finished fourth in the Chase for the Cup Series title. Rising NASCAR star Justin Allgaier ran the team's first full Nationwide Series season with new partner Verizon Wireless, and Allgaier captured series Rookie-of-the-Year honors. Castroneves cemented his position as one of the all-time greats in the history of the Indianapolis 500 as he earned his third victory at the Brickyard and the 15th victory in the legendary race for Team Penske. The 2010 season stood out as one of the best in the history of the storied organization. In his first

year with the team, Brad Keselowski captured Penske Racing's first NASCAR championship as he earned the Xfinity Series crown behind five wins, six poles a record 26 top-five finishes. Busch posted two victories and a win in the NASCAR All-Star race while qualifying for the Chase before finishing 11th in the series standings. Operating with a full-season three-car team for the first time in nearly 15 years, driver Will Power led the way for Team Penske in the IZOD Indy Car Series. He paced the series with five wins and a record eight poles and captured the inaugural Mario Andretti Road Course championship before finishing as series runner-up. Castroneves posted three wins and Briscoe added another victory for Team Penske. The winning tradition continued in 2011 as Power paced the

Verizon Indy Car Series with six wins and eight poles. After winning his second straight Mario Andretti Road Course title, Power once again finished second in a close battle for the overall series crown. Penske Racing qualified each of its cars for the Chase as both Keselowski and Busch pursued the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Keselowski finished fifth in the title chase with three wins and one pole while Busch earned a pair of victories and three pole positions. Keselowski also continued his torrid Xfinity Series production as he scored five wins and four poles. Hornish scored his first-ever NASCAR victory with a win in Phoenix in the Xfinity Series and earned a full-time ride in 2012. A milestone was achieved in 2012 as Penske Racing earned it's first-ever NASCAR Cup Series

Championship. Keselowski and the #2 Miller Lite team scored three victories during the regular season. They then followed that with two more wins during the Chase to bring Penske Racing the coveted Cup Title. Hornish scored his first-ever NASCAR pole in the XFINITY Series event at Watkins Glen and went on to finish a NASCAR career best fourth-place in the Xfinity Series Championship. Ryan Blaney made his debut as a Penske Racing driver earning a runner-up finish at Texas and five top-10 finishes in just seven starts in the Xfinity Series. The 2013 racing season was a winning campaign that saw the organization claim another championship while battling for series titles at all three levels of competition. Every driver that competed for Penske Racing visited Victory Lane in 2013. As the team joined Ford Racing in NASCAR and welcomed Joey Logano to its ranks, both he and Keselowski won Cup Series races for their respective teams. Logano and the

#22 Shell-Pennzoil team qualified for the Chase as they fought for the series title. Keselowski, Logano, Ryan Blaney and AJ Allmendinger all won in the #22 Discount Tire/Hertz Ford Mustang as the team claimed the Xfinity Series owner's title for the 25th national championship in the organization's storied history. Both Castroneves and Power continued their winning ways for the Team Penske Indy Car program in 2013. Behind a win at Texas and a remarkable 16 top-10 finishes in 19 races, Castroneves led the championship most of the season before he finished as series runner up. Shortly after the season ended, it was announced that winning racer Juan Pablo Montoya would join Castroneves and Power on the team for 2014. The 2014 racing season may go down as the best yet in the rich history of Team Penske. Across all levels of

competition the organization enjoyed its winningest season to date with 22 victories overall. The totals included a record 11 NASCAR Cup Series wins as Keselowski led the series with six victories and Logano wasn't far behind with five trips to Victory Lane. It was also a championship season for Team Penske in the Verizon Indy Car Series as Power claimed the elusive crown behind three victories in the #12 Verizon Dallara/Chevrolet. The team finished 1-2 in the title chase as Castroneves, who earned one win on the year, finished second in the standings. Montoya also had a strong return season to Indy Car competition as he finished

fourth in the championship with a victory at Pocono. The Penske team earned titles in two of the three series where it competed. Penske also reunited with past NASCAR driver Kurt Busch as Kusch pulled the "Indy / NASCAR Double". Busch ran the Indy 500 and finished as impressive sixth in his first ever ride in an Indy car; then went to Charlotte to race in the Coke 600 later that same day. Kurt also went on to finish sixth in the 600. He completed all 1,100 miles in the races; becoming the first driver to do so. Will Power claimed Team Penske’s first Verizon Indy Car Series Championship since 2006 and the organization’s 13th Indy Car title overall. After the season concluded, Team Penske also announced that it would expand to a four-car operation for the first time in history with productive and talented French racer Simon Pagenaud joining the team beginning with the 2015 Verizon IndyCar

Series. For the first time in its history, Team Penske produced victories in the biggest races of the year in the same season and the organization once again fought for the championship in both NASCAR and INDYCAR competition; as the team won at every level of competition. Joey Logano got the year started right with his first Daytona 500 victory and the second win for Team Penske in the "Great American Race". Montoya made a clean sweep at Indy for the month of May as he won his second Indianapolis 500 and the record 16th Indy 500 victory for the team; team mate Will Power won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road

road course two weeks before. In his second season with Team Penske, Montoya had a banner year in the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2015. The popular Colombian won the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg and then produced his second win in the Indianapolis 500, and Team Penske's record 16th victory at Indy, in May. Montoya led the championship standings all the way until the very end as he finished second on a tiebreaker to Scott Dixon. Logano added five more victories, including a remarkable three straight in the Chase. Keselowski continued his winning ways by posting a win at Auto Club Speedway and earning another trip to the Chase before he wound up seventh in the championship. Team Penske claimed its third consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series Owners' Championship with Logano, Keselowski and Ryan Blaney teaming up to win for the #22 Ford team. Celebrating its 50th season of competition in 2016, the organization fulfilled its promise to make it a year to remember. In

NASCAR, both Keselowski and Logano once again earned spots in the Chase with Keselowski producing four wins and Logano claiming three victories on the year and a $1 million payday by capturing the annual NASCAR All-Star race at Charlotte. Logano also claimed both of the team's Xfinity Series wins and he raced his way to the Championship Round of the Chase and battled for the Cup Series title down to the very last lap before finishing as series runner-up behind Jimmie Johnson. Team Penske produced once of its most complete seasons in years in the Verizon Indy Car Series claiming the top three positions in the 2016 championship. In just his second year with the team, Pagenaud took control of the point standings after the second race of the season and he never looked back. He won three consecutive races to take control and sealed

it with a pair of wins in the final five races, including a dominant win from the pole at Sonoma Raceway in the season finale with the championship on the line. It marked his first Indy Car title and Team Penske's 14th open-wheel championship. After missing the first race of the season with an illness, Power came back strong and produced four victories en route to a runner-up result in the title chase while Castroneves had another strong season to finish third overall. 2017 was another great year for Team Penske Racing. In NASCAR, Joey Logano won a race at Richmond to automatically qualify him for the Chase; but he failed post-race tech and the win was considered "encumbered"; thus meaning the win would NOT automatically move him into the Chase. He would have to win again to get in. Over the next 14 races he would only have four finished

better than 21st. His team seemed to lose it's momentum after the set back and Logano wasn't able to post another win the rest of the season. However, Brad Keselowski ran well posting a win at Atlanta and Martinsville early in the season and making the Chase. He was in a must-win situation when the Chase moved to Talladega and he pulled off a win to move to the semi-final round of the Chase. On the Indy Car side of things; Penske fielded cars for Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castronevez, Will Power and Josef Newgarden. Pagenaud has a great season winning twice, and posting 13 Top 5 finishes in 17 starts, but could only get manage as second place in points as team mate Newgarden was able to edge Pagenaud for the Championship by 13 points. Newgarden posted four wins and ten Top 5 finishes. Power posted three wins, but was

only able to post nine Top 5 finishes and ended up fifth in points. Castroneves was fourth in points as he posted consistent finishes all season with all but one finish outside the top ten. Castronevez did have a strong car in the Indy did have a strong car in the Indy 500 and just missed getting his fourth win, finishing second to Takuma Sato. Penske recently purchased the old Matsushita air conditioning plant in Mooresville, NC and reconditioned it to consolidate his racing empire. Now, all of Penske's racing operations are under one massive roof, with his IndyCar, NASCAR, and American Le Mans Series (through 2009) teams sharing over 424,000 square feet of space encompassing 105 acres. The shop includes all the necessary pieces to compete on the highest level in all of

his racing endeavors, including a state-of-the-art, in-house wind tunnel. To complete the facilities, Penske imported over one million tons (250,000 pieces) of Italian marble. A video tour of the Penske Facility is posted here. (it starts off in a foreign language, but switches to English shortly). A video on how Penske got involved in racing is here; and a Video of Penske's Indy 500 success is here. A video of the History of Penske Racing is here. In 2017, it was announced that Penske Racing would make a comeback to sports car racing in IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the 2018 season. They ran DPi chassis made by Acura in the prototype (P) class. Team Penske once again put together a successful season. After being out of IMSA racing for several years, Penske returned to race the WeatherTech IMSA Grand AM Series in 2018. The season opening Rolex 24 at Daytona saw both cars finish inside the top ten. The team showed strong at Mid-Ohio

when the Helio Castroneves and co-driver Ricky Taylor got the Captain his first win. They were followed across the line by the other team car that finished second. For the season the teams had one win, eleven top five finishes and 13 top tens. In the Indy Car Series Will Power would win the Indy Car Grand Prix at Indianapolis giving Penske his 200th win in that series. Two weeks later, Power would go on to collect Penske's 17th Indy 500 win. Power would claim three victories in 2018; while Josef Newgarden would add three additional wins. On September 16, 2018 Brad Keselowski would win the Cup race at Las Vegas to claim Roger Penske's 500th win. Keselowski had won the previous two races; (the Southern 500 at Darlington and Brickyard 400 at Indy to get wins #498 and #499.) Also

in 2018, Penske would claim another Cup Championship. His drivers had a good run this season. Newly hired Ryan Blaney won at Charlotte on the Roval. Brad Keselowski claimed three wins for Penske including two of the biggest races of Darlington's Southern 500 and the 400 mile race at Indy. Logano won early in the season locking him into the Chase. He had a mediocre mid-season performance; but would finish with a flurry. He won at Martinsville after he tapped Martin Truex on the last corner to make the pass and advance to the final race for the Championship. Logano had a short run car all night and had no chance to win if the finished on a long run. As luck would have it; a yellow flew with about 15 laps to go. Logano used his short run car and a set of new tires to work his way

through the leaders and take the lead with twelve laps to go. He went on to grab the win over Martin Truex by about two seconds. This was Penske's second NASCAR Cup Championship, with Brad Keselowski winning while driving for Penske in 2012. He also had Keselowski win the Xfinity Series Championship in 2010. In 2019, Penske had another successful season on the NASCAR circuit. All three of his drivers in the Cup Series posted wins and advanced to the play offs. Brad Keselowski was the first to break through with a win at Atlanta. It was the first win for the new Ford Mustang on the Cup series. Logano followed with a victory the following week at Las Vegas. Keselowski would also add wins at Martinsville and Kansas. Logano claimed his second of the season at Michigan; while Ryan Blaney broke though to get his win by just barely edging out Ryan Newman at Talladega. Penske race cars also saw

moderate success in the Xfinity series. Austin Cindric won twice in the Xfinity series; both time on road courses. Austin is the son of Tim Cindric who is President of Penske Racing and serves as strategist for the Penske owned Indy Car teams of Will Power and Joseph Newgarden. He has led his teams to the Indy Car Championships in 2014, 2017 and 2019. Austin Cindric advanced through the first three rounds of the Chase; but was eliminated from Championship contention in the race at Phoenix; just before the final race at Homestead. Cindric would have 14 Top 5 and 24 Top 10 finishes in his 33 starts. Penske would also field an "All Star" car part time in which drivers Logano; Blaney; Keselowski and Paul Menard drove. They

failed to win a race; but was competitive as the group posted five Top 5 finishes in only eight starts. Penkse's Indy Car operation fielded cars for Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Simon Pagenaud. His drivers racked up the wins in 2019. Newgarden won the season opening race at St Pete; and the Pagenaud won the Grand Prix at Indianapolis and followed that up with yet another win for Penske in the Indy 500. Newgarden won again at Texas before Pagenaud won at Toronto. Newgarden won again at Iowa and then Power broke through for his first win of the year at Pocono and followed that up with a win at Portland. Newgarden would give Penske another Indy Car Champions as he beat out his team mate Pagenaud.

After returning to IMSA Sports Car Racing in 2018; Penske took his place among the Championship owners there also. His #6 Acura team Penske drivers; Simon Pagenaud; Juan Pablo Montoya; and Dane Cameron; posted wins at Mid-Ohio, Belle Isle, and Luguna Seca and secured the 2019 DPi Championship. 2020 saw all three of Penke's Cup drivers post a win in the Cup Series, which advanced all of them into the Chase for the championship. Ryan Blaney got his win in the Spring race at Talladega as he edged out Ricky Stenhouse. Joey Logano won two of the season first four races visiting victory lane at Las Vegas and Phoenix. He struggled in the late part of the season but found his rhythm starting at Loudon NH where he

ripped off six Top 10 finishes in a row. In the Chase he had good finishes and in the first race of Round Three he grabbed the win at Kansas, locking himself into the Championship race at Phoenix. Mean while Brad Keselowski started the season on fire. Other than a crash at the season opening Daytona he had all of his finishes inside the top 13 for the first 12 races. During that span he got the win at Charlotte when Jimmie Johnson was disqualified and won again two weeks later at Bristol. He finished 19th at Talladega then resumed his torrid streak as he had eight races finishing inside the top 11 and added a win at Loudon NH. When the Chase started he won the second race advancing himself into Round Two. He struggled in the second round, but managed to point his

way into round three. Joey Logano was the surprise winner of the first race in round three and grabbed up one of the final four spots going to Phoenix. Although Keselowski finished fourth and sixth the first two races in round three; it looked like he was in a must win situation to advance to Phoenix. He, Martin Truex; Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott were all in the same boat and it was a real battle. Elliott led 236 of the 500 laps and got the win. Keselowski managed to finish fourth and just squeak into the Championship race by one point; eliminating Truex and Harvick. At Phoenix both Logano and Keselowski had strong short run cars, while Elliott had a good long run car. Logano won stage one, while Keselowski claimed the win in

stage two. Stage three run caution free to the checkers and Elliott used his good long run car to get to the front and grab the win and the Championship. All three of Penske's Cup drivers will return in 2020. Penske fielded one car in the Xfinity Series with Austin Cindric driving. Austin is the son of Team Penske's general manager Tim Cindric. Austin proved he didn't get the ride just because of who his dad was as he won on six occasions. He also had 19 Top 5 and 26 Top 10 finishes in 33 races. Just to cap the season off he won the Xfinity Series Championship.

He will be back in the #22 Xfinity Series Ford in 2021, then he will move up to drive the #21 Wood Brothers car in the Cup Series in 2022. In Penske's other racing endeavors he fielded cars in the Indy Car Series and in the ISMA Series. In the Indy Car Series he had four cars compete full time. Simon Pagenaud got Penske's first win and Josef Newgarden sweep the double header weekend at Iowa for Penske's second win. Newgarden won again at Gateway Motorsports Park and Will Power followed that with a win the next race at Mid-Ohio. Penske driver won the final three race of the season. There was a double header weekend racing on the road course at Indianapolis where Newgarden claimed a win; and the next day Power got the win. Newgarden got the final win in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Newgarden finish second in the season points

behind Scott Dixon. In the IMSA Series Penske field two cars. One of the Acura ARX-05's was wheeled by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Careron and Simon Pagenaud. The other saw Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Alexander Rossi at the controls. Helio's team won consecutive races in the rain-affected Road Race Showcase at Road America from pole position, the Grand Prix of Road Atlanta, and the Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. Castroneves and Taylor won the championship at the season-ending 12 Hours of Sebring, his first in auto racing, by one point over Ryan

Briscoe and Renger van der Zande. Penske got out of IMSA Racing at the end of the 2020 season. In 2021, in the Xfinity Series Cindric returned to wheel the #22 to try and defend his Championship from the previous year. Team Penske also fielded three full time Cup teams. Cindric started off with a win at Daytona and would have another win the next month. It would come at Phoenix, and that gave the team high expectations since the Championship was raced there. He won five times in total. In the Chase, he made it to the final race and run for the Championship. He had a great run and looked to be in position to win again. A late race yellow came out and bunched up the field. He and Daniel Hemric were

the class of the field and they started side by side. Cindric scooted out to the lead with Hemric on his heels. As they entered the final corner, Hemric nudged Cindric and scooted him up the track just enough to get a nose inside. They come to the finish line side by side with Hemric just getting the win. Cindric finished five of the last eight races in second place. On the Cup side of things, we saw some interesting developments. Penske had his usual stable of drivers; Blaney, Logano and Keselowski. For some reason the organization just didn’t seem to be as fast as in years past. Blaney broke through and won on three occasions. It was the first time he had won more than once in a season. Blaney won at Atlanta, Michigan and Daytona. He also had eleven Top 5 finishes. He was eliminated from Championship contention the race before

the final event. Logano started the season well. But mid-season he struggled to get good finishes. He won in a surprise on the dirt at Bristol for his only win. The win put him into the Chase, but was also eliminated in the final race before the Championship race at Phoenix. In fact, all three of the Team Penske drivers all were eliminated the same race. Keselowski also had one win on the season. He won the race at Talladega. The biggest news was when Keselowski announced he was leaving Team Penske to go to Roush Racing. He is going to be a driver-owner. The new team name will be Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing. Blaney and Logano will be back in 2022, while Austin Cindric will drive the #2 car. It is not known if the #22 will be fielded in the Xfinity Series since Cindric has moved to Cup. In the Indy Car Series, in 2021, Team Penske expanded again to four-time cars, and the introduction of new driver Scott McLaughlin. While McLaughlin was given

time to adapt to IndyCar racing all three of the team's former champions would see their worst years with Team Penske. Both Will Power and Josef Newgarden recorded the lowest win totals of their Team Penske tenures in 2021 and had easy victories at Detroit and Road America taken away from them in the closing laps due to mechanical failures, while Simon Pagenaud was only able to record two third-place finishes as his best result of the year. Scott McLaughlin would be named both IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 Rookie Of The Year while Josef Newgarden was able to

finish in second place in the championship for a second consecutive season. For 2022 Simon Pagenaud departed the team for Meyer Shank Racing, bringing Team Penske back down to three full-time IndyCar entries. The 22 in ’22. That’s the phrase Team Penske driver Joey Logano started saying at the beginning of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. His teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric also had solid years, with the rookie winning the Daytona 500 while the #12 car ran up front for much of the year but unfortunately failed to convert those good runs into wins. Joey Logano was all about firsts in 2022. He won the first-ever Clash at the Coliseum in the first-ever competition with the new Next Gen car. He did it again at June near St. Louis when he won the first-ever Cup race held at World Wide Technology Raceway. The veteran driver won three other times at existing tracks, including the spring race at Darlington and in the playoffs at Las Vegas and Phoenix. Ryan Blaney will look back on the 2022 campaign as a season of what might have been.

There is one telling number from his year that stands out — 636. That’s the number of laps led by the driver of the #12 car. Unfortunately, none of those laps were the most important and final one of any race. Instead of winning, the 28-year-old had plenty of close calls, including 17 top 10s, a dozen of them in the top five. Blaney did manage to win the 2022 All Star race. Blaney had a chance at winning the season-opening race at Daytona, but instead came up just short to his rookie Penske teammate Austin Cindric, who started his Cup career in grand fashion. The 24-year-old made the playoffs on that win and finished 12th in the final standings, earning him Rookie of the Year honors. The overall performance of Team Penske was impressive. Cindric’s surprise win in the Daytona 500 certainly started the team’s year off on a good note, and both Logano and

Blaney built off that, running up front a considerable amount of time in the first year of the new car. Logano’s victory at Phoenix put an exclamation point on a great season for the #22 car and the organization. Blaney, appropriately enough, finished runner-up in the race. In the Indy car Series Team Penske was strong there also. Penske drivers started off the year winning the first three races. Scott McLaughlin won at St Petersburg; then Josef Newgarden won the following two races; Texas and Long Beach. Will Power got his first win of the year at Detroit; and once again Penske drivers made it a trifecta, as Newgarden would win at Road America and McLaughlin won at Mid-Ohio. Newgarden would get his fourth win of the year at Iowa; and a fifth win would come at Gateway, near St Louis. McLaughlin would get his third win at Portland; the ninth win for Penske on the season. But, it

would be Will Power who posted consistent finishes all season that would win the 2022 points Championship. Power posted 12 finishes inside the top four in 17 races and beat Newgarden for the championship by just 16 points. It was announced in late 2022 that Team Penske and Porshe would team up to field entries in the new LMDh prototype class in 2023, competing both in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Penske’s three drivers were back in 2023, looking to repeat as Cup champions. Logano looked to defend his title. But he had a rough go of it. He

was only able to win once (Atlanta), but had 11 top five and 17 top ten finishes. In a huge surprise, he was eliminated from the Chase after the Round of 16. Austin Cindric also took a step backwards in 2023. After getting a win the previous season, he was shut out of the win column. In fact he only had one top five finish, a fifth at Talladega. He only had five top tens, and failed to make it into the Chase. Ryan Blaney seemed to save the day for Team Penske. Blaney got off to a slow start with only three top ten finishes in the first eight races. But things improved with some good runs, and he broke through and got his

first win at Charlotte in the Coke 600. The win locked him into the Chase, where he would win at Talladega, advancing himself from the Round of 12 into the Round of 8. In that round he won at Martinsville, locking his team into the championship race at Phoenix. His car was off at the start of the race, and the team struggled to make it fast. But every pit stop they made it a little better. They finally made the right adjustments, and Blaney worked his way through the field. He took the lead on lap 258 for the first time; just 54 laps from the end. He and Ross Chastain battle from that point to the end to see who would claim the win. At the end Chastain took the checkers just in front of Blaney to win the race. But, Chastain was not a chase

contender so Blaney won the championship. As a whole the organization had four wins on the year, 20 top five and 40 top ten finishes. In the Indy Car series, Penske was again strong. Josef Newgarden got Penske’s first win of the year on the oval at Texas. He would next win on an oval as he once again claimed an Indy 500 win for Team Penske. Newgarden would win twice more, both those wins coming at the double-header at Iowa. Scott McLaughlin won for Penske on the road course at Birmingham. Will Power had a disappointing season and wasn’t able to claim any wins. For the year McLaughlin would be third in points, Newgarden fifth and Power seventh. Other than not winning the Indy car

Championship it wasn’t a bad year for Penske since his drivers won the Indy 500, Coke 600, and the Cup Championship. Penske's drivers have won two Southern 500's (Bobby Allison 1975; Keselowski 2018); Coke 600 (Kurt Busch 2010; Keselowski 2020; Blaney 2023); Brick Yard 400 (Keselowski 2018) and three Daytona 500's (Ryan Newman 2008, Joey Logano 2015, Austin Cindric 2022). As of the end of 2023, in the Cup Series Penske has accumulated 139 wins and his drivers have made 2418 starts. He has four Championships (Keselowski 2012 and Logano in 2018 & 2022 and Ryan Blaney 2023). In the Xfinity Series his drivers have made 664 starts and went to the winner's circle 81 times. He won the Xfinity

Championship in 2010 (Brad Keselowski) and Austin Cindric (2020). In the Indy Car Series he has he has 16 Indy Car Series Championships and has 19 Indy 500 wins. His drivers have accumulated 229 Indy Car victories. Penske also fielded cars in the Can AM series which saw George Follmer win the championship in 1972 and Donahue win in 1973; in addition to returning to the Weather Tech IMSA series in 2018 and 2020. The "Captain" has been racing and winning in the United States since 1958 and has scored victories in every series where he has competed. With 29 national championships, and over 500 victories in all forms of motor racing; Penske Racing has often been referred to as the "New York Yankees of motor sports".