The IndyCar season has yet to begin, but Roger Penske, “The Captain,” is already taking command.
One week before Penske driver Will Power begins the defense of his IndyCar championship in St. Petersburg, Penske’s NASCAR team already has both of its drivers eligible for the championship Chase.
After Brad Keselowski’s stunning come-from-behind victory at the Auto Club Speedway, Penske Racing appears to be the only team capable of beating Kevin Harvick regularly. Harvick finished behind Keselowski in Fontana, Calif. on Sunday and was the runner-up to Penske driver Joey Logano in the Daytona 500. In terms of teams, Penske has everybody covered when it comes to getting his drivers qualified for the Chase.
Penske’s success which includes 15 Indy 500 victories continues to be the ultimate success story in American racing now that he’s gotten the NASCAR title and Daytona 500 monkeys off his back. For most of his more than 1,700 NASCAR starts, those two missing items seemed to haunt an otherwise admirable record in stock car racing.
Is there anything Penske now hasn’t done in American racing?
The Auto Club Speedway where Keselowski came from 14th place to victory over the course of two green-white-checkereds, for example, was built by Penske. He rescued it from a former Kaiser Steel mill best known for its scenes in Terminator movies before selling it to the International Speedway Corporation.
There is a connection between the success Penske is currently enjoying in IndyCar and NASCAR where last year Keselowski and Logano combined for a team record of 11 victories. All of the Penske entries are run out of the same 425,000 square-foot building in Mooresville, N.C., where a $7 million conversion of a former electronics manufacturing facility resulted in a plant that now manufacturers major race victories and championships.
By moving all his teams to “Race City USA,” Penske expanded his role in NASCAR while losing none of the successful touch with Indy cars the team enjoyed while housed in its longtime shops in Reading, Penn. But for the first time since combining Penske Racing “North” and Penske Racing “South” in 2006, Penske now has two major star talents behind the wheel of his NASCAR entries who work well together.
“We went through a choppy period there,” said Penske of his driver line-ups after the opening of the new headquarters. Penske initially tried to hire Matt Kenseth away from Jack Roush’s team. When the Wisconsinite balked, sponsor Miller Brewing Company insisted on a former champion to replace Rusty Wallace in the team’s Miller Lite-sponsored cars. That meant hiring Kurt Busch from Roush instead of Kenseth.
Busch and teammate Ryan Newman won races, but neither scored more than two victories in a given season. Keselowksi was hired in 2009 to replace Newman and though he failed to win in the Sprint Cup in his first full season of 2010, Keselowksi brought Penske its first NASCAR championship in the Xfinity Series. He scored three Sprint Cup victories in 2011 the most since Newman’s eight-win season in 2003 before winning the Sprint Cup title in 2012.
“Brad came to the shop and said he could help us build a world-class team,” said Penske of the driver who had one career victory at Talladega when he was hired. “He’s not only done that personally with the way he drives, but also the way his intensity is at the shop.”
As importantly, Keselowski has helped mentor Logano, who had a reputation for driving over his head without much in the way of results for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Keselowksi has demonstrated to his younger teammate how not to be intimidated by the “Jeff Gordon generation” by banging fenders one week and winning races the next. The way Keselowski has “put his arm around Joey,” said Penske, makes him an even more valuable asset beyond his own driving. “He’s a good team player with Joey.”
Both drivers “feed off each other,” said Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’ crew chief since they were paired in the Xfinity Series. The synergies have always been there for Penske on the IndyCar side between drivers Helio Castronevers and Will Power. Of course, all the Penske drivers enjoy the engineering and technical prowess at the headquarters in Mooresville.
The idea to combine the teams under one roof originated with Tim Cendric, who came up through the IndyCar ranks to become the team president.
“We thought the combination of everybody together and moving people from different programs would help and the cross pollination has really paid off,” said Penske. “The engineering department from IndyCar and NASCAR are learning from each and I’d say it’s been a home run. The facility is just outstanding and I think that’s played a big role in our success.”
Even in its down years, including a miserable spell in Indy cars when Penske remained loyal to fading driver Al Unser Jr. and Goodyear’s less-than-stellar tire program, the Penske program has always maintained its incredible work ethic and relentless pursuit of speed much like its leader. The never-say-die attitude was present in Fontana on Sunday, where Keselowksi was more of a pawn in the strategic gambling of crew chief Paul Wolfe.
The crew chief elected to give Keselowski’s Ford four fresh tires on the final pit stop just before the finish, which dropped him to 17th position. A second green-white-checkered enabled him to charge from sixth to first, diving underneath hard luck Busch, who had only two fresh tires.
“I still don’t remember the end of the race and I won’t really jog my mind until I watch it on replay,” said Keselowski. “I was focused on the task at hand and trying to win the race and knowing the car and the opportunity that I had in front of me, and wanting to make the most of it.”
For Penske, the stunning turnaround was another day at the races. He was asked if this year was the best start ever for his team and as usual found a way to carefully tread on such questions. He’s far more interested in the process than predicting results, the future rather than the past. Mark Donohue, who won the first of Penske’s 15 Indy 500 trophies, always said the needle goes back to zero as soon as the checkered flag falls. That remains Penske’s attitude.
“Brad’s delivered for us before and we know the competition is tough and to know we have this kind of a kickoff for the team is a tremendous opportunity,” said Penske. “I don’t know how many more races I’ve got to go to probably 40 and then we’ll find out what the answer is.”
The prospect of winning the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 in one season awaits as well as championship chases in both NASCAR and IndyCar
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