Under pressure at a level maybe never seen in his 87 years, Roger Penske has recovered with an absolutely amazing display of will and fortitude. A cheating incident involving his IndyCar team revealed an illicit advantage, endangering long-term damage to the Penske brand.
It coincided with other team owners openly criticizing Penske’s management as owner of the IndyCar Series, which he acquired in 2020 alongside Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His NASCAR squad was caught in the same muck as the other Ford teams trying to achieve victory lane.
Team Penske’s reaction has shown the strength of the company he has developed.
Team Penske has won three of five IndyCar races since IndyCar came upon the unlawful push-to-pass program. Along with a podium sweep in Wisconsin, where Will Power stopped a two-year losing run and seized the IndyCar title standings, that period includes earning the front row in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, which Josef Newgarden won for the second straight time.
His sports car program grabbed the pole at Spa and the Laguna Seca victory. One of Penske’s three cars started from the pole, the first time a Penske car had been on pole at the most famous endurance race in the world since 1963, when Penske himself was in the driver lineup even though Penske did not win the 24 Hours of Le Mans throughout the weekend.
For Ford, his NASCAR crew is now setting the standard for developing the new Mustang Dark Horse. Joey Logano won the $1 million All-Star demonstration race in May; Team Penske had victories in two of the last three events following a dismal performance in the first fifteen races of the season.
Logano followed with the pole at Sonoma and Austin Cindric won outside St. Louis, his first victory since his 2022 rookie season-opening Daytona 500 surprise. Ryan Blaney added a victory Sunday night in the Cup Series debut at Iowa Speedway.
For those counting, since IndyCar branded Team Penske cheaters, that is seven victories across three series. Newgarden’s victory at Indy stretched Penske’s record to 20 victories in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and came after Penske had dismissed four team members, including team president Tim Cindric. The two NASCAR wins locked Blaney and Cindy into the playoffs.
“All of Team Penske works very hard to be ahead of the game,” Blaney remarked at Iowa. “Engineers and crew chiefs are really outstanding. As a company, I consider it to be quite a monument.
Penske behind the scenes was closing a new television deal with Fox Sports that starts next season while he let his drivers perform on the course. Although terms were not disclosed, Penske obtained a contract guaranteeing the full season will show on the network most recognized to American racing fans in response to IndyCar team owner complaints about Penske not doing enough to market the series.
Although IndyCar has had a positive relationship with NBC Sports for 16 years and NBC’s Peacock app devotes hundreds of hours to the series, NBC lacks the scheduling flexibility to prevent putting IndyCar events on cable. NBC earlier this season transferred the crown jewel race from Long Beach, California, to the USA Network and got little over 300,000 views; the race had 1.026 million viewers in 2023 when it was shown on NBC.
Penske has obviously proved the depth of his business and the dedication his staff members have to honor him and his brand amid a crisis.
“I feel awful for Roger, that whole thing that happened,” Power remarked. “If you’re a team like Penske, people like to pound you if something like that happens — ‘Ha, ha, we knew that’s how you guys are fast.”
Still, I am aware of the effort involved in it. I know they hardly ever venture into the grey. It irritates me at times as I know other teams go through. Still, they won’t do that only based on that brand. Roger won’t let cheating claims compromise that brand, Power said. “We do not engage in that.”
Early in May, Penske finished looking into the situation, acted decisively in suspending teams, and instructed his drivers to go be “Penske Perfect” on the racetrack.