Penske Power: Is The Penske Dynasty Upon Us In Motorsports?
It may be odd to say dynasty for Team Penske given their lineage of success in motorsports but with the Captain's fleet in all series bring home trophies, a new dynasty for the program may be rising.
Following two historic feats with a Rolex 24 victory in January and a Daytona 500 pole with Joey Logano, Team Penske has been able to kickstart 2024 the way the team had finished 2023.
After grabbing back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series Championships, a Daytona 500 victory in 2022 and multiple wins across a handful of participating series, the Penske stable across all disciplines of race has excelled and here is why this group is on a new level.
Team Penske wins have to come from somewhere and the drivers that Roger has hit across all of his entries has been impressive to see.
From the early years to now, Team Penske has always had a star player in its lineup of drivers, but now , the team has built a field that is so evenly matched in terms of talent, it is hard to deny reason behind the team's recent run.
Having drivers such as Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Felipe Nasr, Mathieu Jaminet and others across the multiple series is mindboggling and something that only a select few teams can assemble.
The one thing that Penske has compared to other teams is there persistence in all of their major racing entries.
Whether in IndyCar, NASCAR or IMSA, Roger Penske knows who he wants and who can win for his team.
To be able to go from Brad Keselowski winning races and a title for the team to Austin Cindric grabbing a Daytona 500 win in try #1 shows the recruitment and scouting prowess that the team has which is why they are at the top of the pole in this category.
Performance
This may sound cliche but performance means eveything to team's such as Penske.
If the team isn't putting its best product out on track in any series it competes in, they know what needs to be done or if it is worth doing in the first place.
One thing that Penske has going for them is consistency.
Even though they aren't the most perfect team (which is hard to be), they are a group that can adapt and be work with the track style and its racing style also.
A great example of that comes in the form of NASCAR.
For Team Penske, the team has excelled on not only Superspeedways, but also on intermediates and even short tracks from time to time given the venue.
Now, some of the success and performance come from the manufacturer but Penske has to be the one to make sure everything is up to par and prepared properly so the team can excute come race time.
Nevertheless, Team Penske's pride in preparing the top entries in all three of their major series relays a notable message and one that other teams should take notice in.
Final Thoughts
It takes a team to be able to run a table for so many seasons but given the hits that Penske has been able to run with gives the storied program a new life leading into the future.
For Team Penske, their is no denying this era in their team's history is a dynasty in racing terms. However, the exciting part is what's to come.
So far, Logano has put together strong qualyfying runs at the superspeedways, while Ryan Blaney & Cindric both ran towards the top of the field at Daytona and Atlanta, with Blaney involved in the three-wide photo finish this past weekend.
In IMSA, having top names lead the program such as Nasr, Dane Cameron, Kevin Estre, Matt Campbell and even Mathieu Jaminet has brought new life into the team's program while their IndyCar team still is one of the heavy hitters at every track in the sport.
Team Penske has things lined up quite well for the future and they will be a thorne of people's sides whether you like them or not.