Top Moments of 2018 - #6: Penske Rules All

Editor’s Note: This is the fifth of a series of 10 vignettes in which IMS Senior Communications Manager Paul Kelly picks his top 10 moments of 2018 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It might sound odd, but Roger Penske still had mountains to climb at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway entering 2018.

Penske’s team is the all-time ruler of the Indianapolis 500, with a record 17 victories and 17 poles. Team Penske drivers have won the INDYCAR Grand Prix four times in its first five years.

Another milestone fell for Team Penske at IMS when Brad Keselowski drove the team to its first Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line victory on Sept. 10.

Keselowski’s win also delivered another first in the incomparable record of Penske’s organization at the Racing Capital of the World – a clean sweep of all three major auto races of the year at the track.

Will Power earned an unprecedented sweep of the INDYCAR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 for Penske in May, while Keselowski maintained the team’s monopoly on Victory Lane in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in September.

Penske drivers had won the INDYCAR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 in 2015, with Power capturing the road race and Juan Pablo Montoya the oval. But the team fell just short of a Grand Prix-500-400 sweep, as Keselowski finished second behind Kyle Busch in the premier NASCAR race.

But there was no denying Team Penske in 2018 at IMS. And don’t expect the team to relent for one second in its constant quest for more wins. It’s a safe bet that Penske will try to find a way to win the Indianapolis 500, Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, INDYCAR Grand Prix and Lilly Diabetes 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race in 2019 at IMS.

The team, just like its ageless leader, never stops raising the bar. Especially at IMS.