Looking back from the holding of the NASCAR Daytona 500, there have been
three races to open the professional 2022 automobile racing season here in
North America - IMSA's Rolex 24 Hours Of Daytona followed by the NASCAR
non-points paying, attention-getting promotional short-track race one-week
before the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the BUSCH Light
Clash At The Coliseum (the original home of the RAMS when they came to Los
Angeles), and last weekend's NASCAR Daytona 500.
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Team Penske driver Joey Logano, who started 4th, celebrates,
with many donuts at the Start/Finish Line, his hold off win
against race start leader Kyle Busch in the 150 lap heat race
performed on the "one-of" 1/4 mile temporary track built on the
floor of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This venue was
normally the collage football house of USC, but no matter how
NASCAR tried to make this weekend NASCAR's house, the title
sponsor had kept the USC front and center - BUSCH Light
Clash At The Coliseum. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks
(2022)
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All three of these races were won by a Team Penske operation or through
efforts started by Team Penske and carried on through the legacy efforts
of drivers and engineers familiar with the motor culture path cut by Roger
Penske.
What began this above focus was the occasion of a ZOOM Call - to kick off
the first race of the 2022 season at Saint Petersburg, Florida - sponsored
by INDYCAR that featured two drivers, one who will race for Team Penske,
and the other who performs double-duty this season between IMSA DPi Class
sports car racing and INDYCAR for Meyer Shank Racing - Will Power
and Helio Castroneves respectively.
Q. I find it interesting with all the activity in auto racing that we've
had in 2022, we have seen a lot of influence from the "House Of Penske"
... after all, you have Acura DPi, you and Simon winning the Rolex 24
Hours of Daytona. We have the NASCAR Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum won
by Joey Logano, Team Penske. And then, of course, the Daytona 500 with
Austin Cindric … also Team Penske.
What do you think it is with the Penske culture that delivers this kind of
success?
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Rolex 24 At Daytona Victory Lane from above - #60: Meyer Shank
Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura DPi, DPi Drivers:Simon Pagenaud, Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves. This car was
originally introduced to IMSA prototype racing through an
agreement reached by Team Penske with Acura Motorsports on July
11, 2017 and ended its campaign at the end of 2020. Two DPi cars
were fielded and then transferred to Wayne Taylor Racing and
Meyer Shank Racing. It was the second overall victory for
Michael Shank’s MSR team, which also won the 50th Rolex 24 at
Daytona. “I just make it happen,” said Castroneves, who was
teamed with Simon Pagenaud (his teammate with Team Penske in
IndyCar, and a first-time Rolex 24 winner), Oliver Jarvis and
Blomqvist. “I had amazing teammates. What a great, incredible
race.” Image Credit: Michael L. Levitt - LAT Images via IMSA
(2022)
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First, Helio.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:
Well, I worked with the organization for over 20 years, and no question
they're looking for every small detail and continue to develop in
off-season and during the season. It's a great organization and they
don't see any limits. They actually -- the same way -- and I believe the
INDYCAR started that with kind of like the work attitude translates to
the NASCAR world, and probably that's why one of the successes that
happened is having that mentality from INDYCAR to the NASCAR world.
Now it's not only that but INDYCAR and NASCAR, IMSA, they all have that
kind of mentality, which helps. It helps everyone to stay in the
program, understanding what they need to do. It gives you the tools that
you need to go there and execute. The results obviously come out later,
and it's no question the team that has the most record in a lot of the
series, and they'll always be a contender.
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Team Penske's Will Power rounds Turn 6 at the 2021 late
September season finale at the ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach.
Power (2021 P9) will be on a three driver team with Josef
Newgarden (2021 P2) and fellow Southern hemispherical colonies
born, New Zealander Scott McLaughlin (2021 P14). Image
Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021)
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Q. Will, your reflection on Penske culture?
WILL POWER:
Yeah, it starts from the top down. You see the way Roger runs his
corporation, the business, any business that he's in, and like he always
says, it's human capital. It's the people that you invest in. He always
has a very good team at the top, and that filters all the way down
through the whole organization to really anyone doing anything within
the shop.
Great people preparing the cars. You've got great people doing
development behind the scenes, and you're expected to win. Roger expects
the team to win. That's why last year was so disappointing on the
INDYCAR side, because we did win but we didn't win enough, and we
weren't competitive enough at Indianapolis.
Certainly went into this last off-season really, really digging deep,
and the whole team looked at everything and has done some great
development.
Hopefully that translates on to the track. It's a super competitive
series and environment right now, so you can never know. But Roger
expects all of us on the INDYCAR side to be contending for a
championship.
ENDS
The culture that Roger Penske instills has expectations for high standards
followed by finding the right people to deliver the deepest understanding
of every small detail, from equipment, personnel, and processes that yield
planned winning results.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is back and bigger than ever
as the NTT IndyCar Series opener.
A field of 26 cars — tying a St. Pete GP record set in 2008 and 2012 —
will take the green flag Sunday as the race opens the season for the
first time.
TV: Noon ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and
NBCSports.com. Leigh Diffey is the announcer with analysts Townsend Bell
and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dave Burns are the
pit reporters. Click here for the full NBC Sports schedule for IndyCar
in 2022.
COMMAND TO START ENGINES: 12:23 p.m. ET
GREEN FLAG: 12:30 p.m. ET
DISTANCE: The race is 100 laps (180 miles) on a 14-turn, 1.8-mile street
course through downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, including a runway of
Albert Whitted Airport
PRACTICE: Friday, 3:40 p.m. ET (Peacock Premium); Saturday, 9 a.m. ET
(Peacock Premium), Sunday warmup, 8:45 a.m. ET (Peacock Premium)
QUALIFYING: Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET (Peacock Premium)
TIRE ALLOTMENT: Six sets primary, four sets alternate. One additional
set is available to rookie drivers for use in the Friday afternoon
practice session. Teams must use one set of primary and one set of new
(sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps in the race.
PUSH TO PASS: 150 seconds of total time with a maximum single duration
of 15 seconds. The push-to-pass is not available on the initial start or
any restart unless it occurs in the final two laps or three minutes of a
timed race The feature increases the power of the engine by
approximately 60 horsepower.
FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 73 degrees
with a 3% chance of rain at the green flag.
We will have to wait and see if this "House Of Penske" string of wins can
extend itself to the 2022 season opener on the streets and around the salt
waters of Saint Petersburg.
FEATURED ARTICLE >>>
UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE
After all that was said and done given the events held by NASCAR in the
Wise Power 400 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California and the
season opening of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES at St. Petersburg, Florida in
the Firestone Grand Prix at St, Petersburg, the "House Of Penske" added
to their impressive opening to the 2022 professional racing series
seasons. After NASCAR's Austin Cindric captured the pole in Fontana and
INDYCAR's Scott McLaughlin captured the pole in St. Petersburg, another
promising outcome awaited for a total of 5 wins in 3 racing series with
no other racing organization other than Team Penske winning a race in
these - IMSA DPi/NASCAR/INDYCAR - racing series in all of 2022.
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| Firestone Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg Podium celebration - P2 Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Palou, P1 race winner Team Penske, Scott McLaughlin and P3 Team Penske, Will Power - Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski (2022) |
By days end on Sunday, February 27, 2022, a 100% sweep was not in the
cards, but all was not lost. While no Team Penske driver was able to
score a win in the race held by NASCAR at Auto Club Speedway, Team
Penske did go on to win the NTT INDYCAR SERIES opener in St. Petersburg
with New Zealander Scott McLaughlin registering his first win in the
racing series to begin his second year driving the Chevrolet
Dallara.
In the end, the "House Of Penske" won all of the season opening races in
the three professional motorsports racing series at the highest levels
in North America - IMSA DPi through the legacy of Acura fielded by Meyer
Shank Racing driven by Penske legacy drivers Helio Castroneves and Simon
Pagenaud | NASCAR in two races where one was a non-points paying race
known as the BUSCH Light Clash at the Coliseum won by Team Penske driver
Joey Logano followed by a win in the first season points paying race at
the Daytona 500 won by Team Penske driver Austin Cindric | NTT INDYCAR
in the season opener won by Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin - that's
4 wins in 5 races in all of the top professional racing series (3) here
in North America!
That's what OWNS WINNING looks like.
Viva and congratulations to all in the pursuits of excellence at the
"House Of Penske" !
ENDS
TAGS:
Team Penske Roger Penske, Happy Birthday, ACURA DPi. NASCAR, IMSA,
INDYCAR, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Penske Hall Of Fame, Joey
Logano, Austin Cindric, Simon Pagenaud, MSR Racing, House Of Penske,
The EDJE
