Penske’s IMS domination
IndyCar owner rules May at track
INDIANAPOLIS – Will Power’s dominance of IndyCar Grand Prix weekend served as a reminder of an indisputable fact: May is the month of Roger Penske and Indianapolis Motor Speedway is The Captain’s domain.
Not only does Penske possess an incredible 16 Indianapolis 500 wins, but with Power’s flawless victory Saturday,
20 of Penske’s 200 IndyCar triumphs have come at IMS. No one else has more. No one else is even close.
Take the next three winningest owners at IMS — Lou Moore, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti, each with five — and combined, they’re five wins short of Penske.
Since competing in his first 500 in
1969, Penske has won 20 of 53 sanctioned IndyCar races at the speedway
(48 500s and five IndyCar Grand Prix). For those rare few who’ve been able to pluck a win or two away from Penske at IMS, it feels like an upset, like they’re stealing something that doesn’t really belong to them.
Even after Andretti won his fifth 500 last year, his third in four years, he took the time to pay proper reverence to Penske, saying a win at IMS is like venturing into The Captain’s backyard and taking something from him.
“Roger is the bench mark,” Andretti said the day after his driver, Takuma Sato, edged Penske’s Helio Castroneves to win the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500. “He’s always been the bench mark. If you can beat Roger, you’re probably going to win this race. That’s the way it’s been the past couple of times when we’ve won. Roger finished second.
“It was that way in my driving career, too. If I would have beaten Roger, I would have won a few (500s). Unfortunately I was on the other side of it.”
Despite 10 teams and 20 cars trying to keep Penske away from the top of the podium Saturday, none could. Power was too good, too locked in en route to the 33rd career victory and 30th in a Penske firesuit.
Perhaps in a couple of weeks it will be Power again who fends off all comers to deliver Penske No. 201. Or maybe it will be one of his other superstars.
Heading into “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” as has become his custom, Penske has stacked the field with contenders capable of bringing him his 17th win in the 500. Perhaps it will be Power, who despite his dominance on the IMS oad course has never been able to translate that success into a win on the oval two weeks later. But coming off his third IndyCar Grand Prix victory, he’s feeling more confident than ever that this could be the year that changes.
“I’ve had my eye on the 500 anyway since last year,” Power said. “Just really got it on my mind, and when I had a race on my mind in the past, I usually win it at some point.”
After Power, there’s the emerging face of the series and its reigning champion, Josef Newgarden. Not only has he come close to wearing the wreath before (third in 2016), but he’s now armed with a weapon that’s made him incredibly dangerous in the past: He’s angry. After his blunder in Turn 12 Saturday, the 27year-old Tennessean was beyond frustrated that he punted away a possible podium finish.
We’ve seen an angry Newgarden before, and he’s scary good.
Following an error at Texas Motor Speedway last year, Newgarden delivered one of the greatest runs in recent memory, winning three of the next six races and finishing second in two others. Then after a pit-lane blunder in the penultimate race at Watkins Glen, he rebounded two weeks later to deliver a runner-up finish in the finale that clinched his championship. A scary Newgarden can be a dominant Newgarden.
Then there’s Simon Pagneaud, who has emerged in recent years as one of the series’ most complete drivers. Following years of road and street circuit excellence, the Frenchman has been a force on ovals lately. He also told IndyStar on Saturday that he believes he and his No. 22 team have found something on the car they’d been missing during a slow start to the season and are ready to bounce back in a big way.
Finally, that leaves the rock star of the group: Castroneves. The three-time
500 winner made his return to Indy-car racing this weekend, and he hasn’t lost his touch. Despite receiving limited testing and practice time with the new
2018 Indy cars in the days leading up to the IndyCar Grand Prix, Castroneves finished one spot away from a top five. Imagine what he’ll be able to do given two weeks of practice.
Suffice to say, Penske’s stable is stacked, and he again heads into the biggest race of the year primed for victory. While it’s unlikely all four cars will be in contention come the close of the 500, it only takes one to bring The Captain No. 17.
This Memorial Day weekend, more than a dozen teams and 29 drivers will try to do what those 10 teams couldn’t on Saturday and so many have failed to do in the last 50 years: Steal a win away from Roger Penske on his turf, during his month.
“Everybody wants to beat him, because he’s the best team out there,” Andretti says. “When you do, you know you’ve done something.”