Logano Adds Another Championship Trophy to Team Penske's Overflowing Case
November 19, 2018 | By Bruce Martin, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Roger Penske, the most successful team owner in INDYCAR history and the winningest team owner in the Indianapolis 500, has claimed yet another monumental motorsports achievement as the champion team owner in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Penske won his second NASCAR Cup title Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Joey Logano lived up to his guarantee as “the favorite” and blew by race leader and defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps to win the championship race.
He becomes the second driver to win the Cup title for Penske. Brad Keselowski was the first in 2012.
What makes this important to INDYCAR is Penske came close to scoring a clean sweep of major motorsports achievements in 2018.
Will Power scored his first Indianapolis 500 win in the 102ndrunning of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on May 27. It extended Penske’s Indy 500 record to 17 victories.
On Sept. 10, Brad Keselowski gave Penske his first win in the other big race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line.
Penske Racing scored its 500th overall victory Sept. 16 when Keselowski won at Las Vegas.
The only major award Team Penske didn’t win was the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship, as Power finished third in the title fight the same day the team won its 500th race.
And then Sunday night, with fireworks exploding from the backside of Homestead-Miami Speedway, Logano celebrated his first Cup title with a series of burnouts and doughnuts on the frontstraight.
For Penske, it was another proud moment in a long line of racing accomplishments, many of which have come in the Indianapolis 500.
From Mark Donohue giving Penske his first Indianapolis 500 win in 1972, to Rick Mears’ four Indy 500 wins, to Helio Castroneves’ three Indy 500 wins, to Power’s first in 2018 and everyone in-between, Penske has made an incredible impact on motorsports.
His second NASCAR Cup title in 2018 is his latest achievement, a tremendous accomplishment for Penske, 81, who shows no signs of slowing down.
In all racing series, Team Penske has 504 victories, 578 pole positions and 33 national championships.
“Those are all special milestones, and for me, 33 championships that gives us as Team Penske, and certainly to get the Indianapolis race, the Southern 500, and now to think that we're the champion of 2018 for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is something that I never imagined it at the beginning.”
In INDYCAR alone, Team Penske has 17 Indianapolis 500 wins, 203 IndyCar race wins, 264 poles and 15 IndyCar national championships.
Be in INDYCAR or NASCAR, Penske is a man of legendary status.
“Tonight, to see Team Penske in this championship hunt, it’s a team effort, and this guy (Logano) did it at there at the end when it counted,” Penske said. “He said he wasn’t going to do anything but win, and that is what he did tonight.
“He beat all of these guys fair and square.”
Miami resident Castroneves was at the track to cheer Logano and help celebrate the team’s second NASCAR Cup championship on stage, even posing with the championship team during the lengthy post-race photo shoot. Power and 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden and 2016 IndyCar champ Simon Pagenaud were quick to send Logano their congratulations.
This was a day when all of Team Penske, including IndyCar, sports car and even Australian Supercars join together to help the organization win a stock car championship.
That’s what this team does best, support every aspect of the organization.
“When it comes down to it, it’s a big accomplishment,” said Team Penske President Tim Cindric. “Those guys worked on it and delivered it again today.”
But there remains more for Penske to accomplish and another championship he wants to win this season.
“I'm going to leave Thursday morning to go to Australia,” Penske said. “We're 14 points ahead for the driver championship with Scott McLaughlin. That would be a season to remember, there's no question, when you think about the milestones and all the times we tried to win at the Brickyard. Winning all three races there this season (INDYCAR Grand Prix, Indy 500 and Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard), the Southern 500, and Bobby Allison, I think, back was the last guy that won that for us.
“We have high respect for our people. We've got great sponsors, and one of the things that I'd have to say, we delivered for our sponsors, and that's given us the opportunity to fund this team at the level it needs to be.”
It's also another deposit on a legendary career for Roger Penske.