A couple of hours before the start of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Roger Penske summoned his two drivers to the vast motorcoach known as RP1.
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Joey Logano has been a big winner since moving to Team Penske.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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“Look, we’ve had a great season,” Penske told Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, who finished sixth and seventh in the season point standings, respectively. “Now we have to execute today. And win, lose or draw, we’re a championship team.”
Though the Sprint Cup playoff format was not kind to them, Penske’s two drivers put together seasons that one could argue made his team the most successful in the series this season.
The drivers combined for seven wins in the 36-race schedule, providing Team Penske with the same overall wining percentage as Joe Gibbs Racing, which won the series championship with driver Kyle Busch while fielding four cars per race. Penske’s drivers combined to finish in the top five in 43 percent of their starts and in the top 10 in 74 percent of their starts, markedly higher rates than any other team. They also led twice as many laps per race as any other team.
Team Penske
roll call
Select drivers who have competed for Team Penske through the years
Bobby Allison
Joey Logano
Donnie Allison
Rick Mears
Mario Andretti
Juan Pablo Montoya
Ryan Briscoe
Ryan Newman
Kurt Busch
Will Power
Hélio Castroneves
Tom Sneva
Mark Donohue
Danny Sullivan
Gil de Ferran
Paul Tracy
Emerson Fittipaldi
Sam Hornish Jr.
Gordon Johncock
Al Unser
Al Unser Jr.
Bobby Unser
Brad Keselowski
Rusty Wallace
Penske wanted both drivers to know going into the final race that he realized the extent of their accomplishments, even though they did not deliver the championship.
“Having been a driver myself, pressure is not what you give these guys,” Penske said the next day, recounting his message to the drivers. “I don’t think we ever talk about how you have to do this or have to do that. In all cases, when I talk to them it’s about support and building confidence within the organization.”
While Penske is best known for providing his drivers with stellar equipment, he also has shown an eye for talent. His most recent turnaround project in stock car racing, Logano, was a highly regarded prospect who won only twice in four years at Gibbs and was on the verge of demotion when he signed with Penske after the 2012 season.
Paired with a crew chief who had experienced success on the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series, where Logano also had fared well, the driver blossomed, winning 11 times in the last two seasons and finishing in the top five in 45 percent of his 108 starts in the last three years.
“You have to have drivers who know how to win,” Penske said. “We typically are looking for drivers who have won in some series. They have to have a technical understanding now, which is critical. And then they’ve got to have the commercial savvy to support the marketing and sponsors.”
That “technical understanding” was the hallmark of the first driver with whom Penske had success, Mark Donohue, an engineering graduate from Brown University who drove for Penske in the 1960s and ’70s, delivering him both his first Indianapolis 500 win and his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series win. Donohue died in 1975 after crashing while driving for Penske during a Formula One practice in Austria.
“Mark was a quiet guy,” Penske said. “He was completely focused on racing. He lived at the shop many nights. He drove the truck to the races. He was one of the first drivers to use his technical capability to set the cars up and win. So he was a unique individual.
“It’s hard to put words around someone like him. At the time he probably was one of the very best in the business, because he was so involved. He was contributing technically. He was a driver. He really was a 360 guy.”
Because Penske gave up driving sports cars to pursue a career in business, he often is asked whether he regrets missing out on the thrill of driving at the highest level.
“My benefit is that I can lose on a Sunday and go right back Monday and have an opportunity to win,” he said. “That keeps the boat level in the water.”
