LDN - Sports

Penske finally conquering old nemeses NASCAR, Daytona

[July 05, 2016] By Jonathan Ingram, The Sports Xchange

The knock on Roger Penske when he began dedicating a full-time effort to NASCAR's premier series in the early 1990s was that he couldn't win the big ones -- the Daytona 500 or the series championship.

That is pretty much ancient history since Brad Keselowski won the championship in 2012 and two Penske drivers won the Daytona 500 -- Ryan Newman (2008) and Joey Logano (2015).

As if to put an exclamation point on the accomplishments of Team Penske in the Sprint Cup, Keselowski won Saturday night's summer race at the Daytona International Speedway. That marked Penske's 100th victory in NASCAR's premier series -- dating back to Mark Donohue's win at the Riverside International Raceway in 1973 -- and gave the team its first victory in the summer race at Daytona.

It might come as a surprise to many that team owner Penske has actually won a NASCAR race as a driver, taking first in a 250-mile Pacific Coast Series event at Riverside in 1963 aboard a Pontiac Catalina owned by Ray Nichels. The victory came to light earlier this year during the celebration of Penske's 50th year as a team owner when a replica of the car he drove showed up at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. It was one of 52 wins recorded by Penske as a driver, primarily in SCCA club racing and professional road racing.

The team owner, age 79, was in winning form after the Daytona victory. "The Captain" can sometimes dance around in his remarks, making it hard to quote him. But on this occasion, he was as persuasive and direct as one might expect from the Penske Corporation chairman.

"I would just say that the 100th in NASCAR is something special," said Penske when asked about the landmark victory. "I think as I said earlier, to do it here on the 4th of July weekend, it's amazing. But it's a byproduct of all the good people we have, and to me we've got to continue to remember that.

"I just think that (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) and the team, we lose more than we win in this business, and you've got to know how to deal with the downs and take advantage of the ups. And I guess 100 wins puts us in a good position. But you look at (Joe) Gibbs and you look at (Richard) Childress and certainly (Rick) Hendrick and some of the other teams, these guys have won a lot of races."

If nothing else, Penske is a motivator. He provides his teams with the best facilities, operational equipment, budgets and talent. Then he motivates by example -- a constant focus on how to get better. And there's no letting up. Donohue, who helped Penske launch his success as a team owner in professional road racing and Indy cars, coined the phrase, "The needle goes back to zero." After every win, the tachometer resets, and it is on to the next task.

The team covers so much ground because Penske organizes it as Caesar directed his army. Everybody has the confidence of the Captain, who empowers all of his key players. It is one captain and many, many lieutenants. That system buckles occasionally under internal conflicts, but it certainly encourages everybody to always bring his "A" game. And it drives innovation.

Race winner Keselowski fits well in this scheme, because he speaks up on his behalf strongly. He also is willing to look at things differently.

"We brought a completely different effort than what we've normally had here (at Daytona) and completely different approach, which was made feasible by having the two wins earlier in the season and knowing that we could try something different here," Keselowski said. "And boy, did it pay off, so a lot of credit to my team, Paul Wolfe, crew chief, for all the things that they're doing. Three wins, midpoint in the season, that's a good start."

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So what took Penske so much longer to win 100 in NASCAR than in Indy cars, which was 16 years ago? For many years, NASCAR was not a priority for Penske. He didn't go into NASCAR full time until 1991, when he started fielding cars for Rusty Wallace. It wasn't until 1998 that Penske expanded to a two-car team.

After talking about the 100 Sprint Cup wins and the accomplishments of his peers, Penske moved on to emphasize his greater accomplishments across the board. It was a rare public glimpse into the pride Penske takes in being America's most accomplished race team owner. Usually, it's matter of Penske and his guys walking out with the trophy after offering a hodgepodge of the usual post-race plaudits.

"I think we've competed in multiple series, and I think we're almost at 450 wins now, and we're I think three or four away from 500 poles," said Penke, placing his operation into a different realm from Gibbs, Childress and Hendrick. "Our goal is 500 and 500. This was the first step to get to 100 in NASCAR."

Those are remarkable numbers, especially when one recognizes that the team is currently at a total of 434 victories and that an average of 10 victories per year will enable Penske to get to that 500-victory mark within five years or so.

Perhaps because he was in a relatively expansive mood, Penske was asked about his current drivers, each perceived to have some issues in the garage. Alas, the softball game was over.

When asked about Keselowski's outspokenness, Penske summed up how much the Michigan driver has brought to the team, adding, "Look, this is not a popularity contest, and anybody who thinks it is, you know, shouldn't be sitting here tonight."

What got Penske's dander up was a question about Logano, who definitely has some issues with other drivers in the garage regarding getting hit from behind by the Penske driver's Ford. On Saturday night, it was Kurt Busch who was taken out of a chance to overtake Keselowski coming off of Turn 4 on the final lap. Busch's Chevy ended up spinning instead of winning, thanks to Logano's erratic pass attempt. Logano's attitude about complaints has been "Get in line," which doesn't help matters.

Penske came to the defense of his driver in typically smooth fashion. He didn't say Logano was entirely innocent, only that he was receiving more heat than he deserved.

"Joey has taken, I think, some undue criticism from my perspective based on some of the things that have happened," Penske said. "Certainly you can go back, and I could name three or four things that certainly weren't his fault."

Penske went on to praise Logano as one of the most talented drivers in the series -- which nobody is disputing, except when he drops into ramming mode.

Given that Keselowksi and Logano are relatively young, look for them to help Penske have a realistic shot at 500 victories during the team owner's lifetime. He already has 10 this year, including six by his IndyCar drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power.

There are championships to be decided in both IndyCar and NASCAR, so it's not likely to be the end of the winning for Penske in 2016.

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