Team Penske Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Riley Herbst proved his worth among NASCAR’s elite racers with a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Throughout the 188-lap contest, the Xfinity Series regular led five times for 10 laps which also marked Herbst’s first Cup race he’s ever led. As the laps were winding down, Herbst’s No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang was in the mix for the win, but also became an assistance for Ford in order to keep the Hendrick Motorsports train from running away with the topRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford crossed the finish line about a foot ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick to claim victory in a thrilling final 10-lap push to the YellaWood 500 checkered flag at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Sunday. With the crucial Playoff win – Blaney’s third on the famed 2.66-mile high-banks – the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford punched his ticket to the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after being points awayRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway was not kind to former NASCAR Cup Series champions, with defending champion Joey Logano and 2014 champion Kevin Harvick among those eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs. Both drivers started the Bass Pro Shops Night Race with points advantages over the cut-off line, as Logano sat 12-points up and Harvick sat in the 12th and final transfer spot just seven points ahead of elimination. In the end, those slim margins weren’t enough to save either of them. Logano’sRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Last Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway certainly had its opinions. Some see it as Scott Dixon dominating the race as he lapped all but the podium en route to his second win of the season. Others look at the oval debut of the Firestone alternate tires as either overhyped or arguably worsening the product at Gateway. On paper, the race saw 10 lead changes but Dixon and Josef Newgarden led a combined total 221 of 260 laps. It’sRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Over the next two weekends, two Chip Ganassi Racing drivers will duking it out for the Astor Cup. But only one will hoist the trophy as Alex Palou and Scott Dixon are separated by 74 points heading into Portland International Raceway. Both men are poised in bringing CGR its 15th American Open Wheel Racing championship. However, should Palou exit Portland with a 55-point lead, he’ll win his second INDYCAR title in three years. To put it into perspective, no driver has locked upRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The final oval race of the season could also be championship Sunday as Gateway has a slew of storylines, ranging from silly season to potential history being made. Championship leader Alex Palou, who is currently dealing with drama behind the scenes with his contract, has a 101-point lead over Scott Dixon and an additional four points over Josef Newgarden. With three rounds remaining, Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson are also in the hunt for the championship. Thus, six drivers mathematically have a chance ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASHVILLE – Scott McLaughlin will have the best seat in the house when the green flag waves on Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix after scoring his second straight pole in Nashville. Emulating the “Thirsty 3’s to the Moon!” moniker that his No. 3 Team Penske has embraced this season, it was almost as if the New Zealander had strapped the RS-25 rocket engine on display in the fan zone to his Chevrolet as he blasted around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile street course in one minute,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASHVILLE – Will Power struck the first blow of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix weekend by leading Friday’s opening practice session. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet jumped to the top of the board with a lap of one minute, 16.4042 seconds to finish the session just ahead of current NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou.  good start. Certainly had good cars here last year. Just the race is a very different story to being quick in practice and qualifying.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NEWTON, Iowa – Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. Heading into the weekend at Iowa Speedway, current NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou knew it was going to be one of his vulnerabilities in being able to win a second championship. Though he carried a daunting 117-point lead over teammate Scott Dixon into the duel 250-lap races, ovals have not been his forte and lurking in the weeds was the master of the Iowa oval – Josef Newgarden. Palou knew he would haveRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NEWTON, Iowa – Break out the brooms. For the second day in a row, Team Penske pilot Josef Newgarden dominated at Iowa Speedway to make a clean sweep of the HyVee INDYCAR Weekend and score his sixth career win at the 0.894-mile oval. After banking a win on Saturday, Newgarden picked right up where he left off on Sunday, powering his way forward from a seventh-place start to take over the lead with a bold two-for-one pass on teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin on LapRead More