CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Somewhat overshadowed using the stifling scrutiny of NASCAR’s new guidelines package deal become some other Team Penske victory. Joey Logano held off teammate Brad Keselowski’s closing-lap push to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — the fourth victory for a Roger Penske automobile in seven days. Keselowski and Logano drove Ford’s new Mustang to consecutive Cup victories the last weeks, while in Australia, reigning Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin swept the weekend in the debut of that new edition of the Mustang.
It’s pretty a beginning for Penske, who remaining month become inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, feted at the Royal Automobile Club in London, and celebrated his 82nd birthday. Penske in January hunkered down for the complete Rolex 24 at Daytona, where one of his two Acura entries pulled out the 3rd-vicinity finish. Penske will spend this week chairing the Penske Corp., his privately held transportation services organization, in advance of the IndyCar season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. He could have 3 Chevrolets inside the race, all piloted using championship-contending drivers.
The Penske wave of achievement is a continuation from the closing yr. At the same time, the employer celebrated its five hundredth typical win, Logano gained the Cup championship, McLaughlin received the Supercars name, and Will Power changed into Penske’s seventeenth Indianapolis 500 winner. At a time when the fee of motorsports is constantly puzzled — the overall spend with the aid of teams, assets for technology and development, sponsorship budgets, and advertising and marketing plans — Penske continually gets the most bang for the greenback. “The Captain” is one of the essential figures in North American racing, and his unwavering help and commitment are a steadying pressure during tumultuous times.
Penske has been a steady public supporter of NASCAR’s new regulations package deal, which made its full debut Sunday at Las Vegas. NASCAR believes the brand new guidelines will make for higher racing, though groups nevertheless don’t know how it will play out over a whole season. Fans had been essentially promised it would, at a minimum, make for a more exciting show. The new guidelines were acquired as both polarizing and promising. However, Penske has been one of the maximum critical backers of NASCAR’s route.
“We all tend to do what’s great for us, and at the end of the day, we’ve got to think about what’s best for the business enterprise,” Penske said in the latest interview with The Associated Press. “And my dad told me a long time ago in case you’re continually thinking about what’s great for you; your agency is in no way going to get there. Your decisions are primarily based on what’s exceptional for the corporation, nice for the enterprise, quality for NASCAR.”
His opinion has been verified with two wins inside the races with the new opposition bundle. The victories for Logano and Keselowski gave Penske the early side inside the Ford camp and the first celebrations with the Mustang. It additionally gave Penske every other opportunity to show he believes in letting his drivers race each other at the very edge while the checkered flag is on the road.
Logano and Keselowski raced greater like opponents than teammates over the last lap at Las Vegas, and that close finish helped NASCAR tout Sunday as an achievement. But they might no longer have raced every other so severe if the boss disapproves, and Penske’s philosophy was to better the overall product.
“I don’t have any favorites,” he said. “Only one goes to win popping out of the solid. We’ve surely informed them to attend to each other; at the quiet of 10 laps, the nice man wins.” Penske plans to be in St. Pete this weekend, very well invested in Power, Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, and the IndyCar effort. Televisions located in the course of his at-track office could be tuned to the NASCAR events in Phoenix, and his govt team could have him briefed on every crucial development. Racing nearly every degree is weathering a reset and searching for solid footing in crowded sports and leisure spaces. The rebuilding length has been trying for the whole motorsports industry; however, as long as Penske is still firmly on board, the fight still has significant value.
