Roger Penske was honored at the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway for being the first team owner to hold the championships in two American premier motorsports series in the same season.
As a nod to "The Captain", newly crowned 2019 NTT IndyCar Series champion, Josef Newgarden, turned a few laps on the Roval behind the wheel of the No. 2 Shell Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet.
Select quotes from Tim Cindric, President of Penske Racing and Josef Newgarden:
TIM CINDRIC: “It is hard to believe honestly sitting up here with both of these trophies and both of these guys. Then when you look at the fact we were able to put together The Captain’s 18th Indy 500 as well, it’s hard to believe honestly. At the start of the season, one of our big goals was for us as an organization was to start the season to where we could sit on the pole at the Indy 500 again. That was one of the big goals that we had. When we set out to do that, we hadn’t been on the pole since 2012 at Indy which is a long time for Roger (Penske). He was a little impatient with when the next one was going to come. We went to work with Shell Pennzoil on what it was going to take to differentiate us from the other competitors, and they did a great job at giving us the speed for the pole at Indy. In a lot of ways, when we look at the big trophies for the year, the big trophy for the pole at Indy is one of those. In the IndyCar Series to win all the big trophies, and all three of our guys winning races, and as an organization, we have nine out of 11 full-time drivers that have won races this year with a lot more work to do. Without a doubt a lot has been accomplished. We are going to run over 275 starts as an organization this year, and the one common thread throughout the entire organization including our V Power Super Cars in Australia is the motor oil brand and what goes into these cars. It is a testament to what they do for us as an organization. I can’t say enough about what Josef has done, and Joey (Logano) is still the Champ around here. We still have all three guys in contention here. That was a check in the box for the first championship of the year. There are four more sitting out there for us to try to get.”
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BROOKLYN, Mich. — No matter what you look for in a NASCAR race, Sunday’s battle at MIS should have been one you enjoyed.
For starters, there was plenty of drama and cautions to spice things up.
Nobody was able to run away out front, restarts were hectic and, unlike June, there was actual competitive passes up front for the lead throughout the race.
Often, the two cars battling for the lead would be side-by-side for an entire lap or more before either one got the advantage.
There was also great parity, with no clear favorite to win. At one point, all 4 Gibbs Toyotas ran 1-2-3-4 up front.
At another point, the 3 Penske Fords plus affiliated Paul Menard ran 1-2-3-4 up front
Chevys including Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson also ran strong all race and made things interesting.
BROOKLYN, Mich. — A hometrack race just means more.
And for Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones, who both cut their teeth at local Michigan tracks including Waterford Hills, that home track in the Cup series is Michigan International Speedway.
Neither has won a Cup race at MIS (in fact, no Michigan-born driver has won a Cup race at MIS), but this might be the weekend that changes. Both are very fast so far this weekend.
Keselowski’s speed came through in qualifying Friday, when he went out last in qualifying and beat everyone with a speed of 190.471 MPH. He previously won the pole at MIS in August 2017.
“I think the track was in really good shape,. I don't know if there was anything that really favored us, mostly it was just the team doing a great job with the preparation and executing a flawless lap driving the car. Most of the credit goes to my team for sure.”
BROOKLYN, Mich. — I’ll start with a proclamation: The Truck Series is the best and most competitive of the three top-tier series in NASCAR, so when Saturday’s race at MIS kicked off, I had high expectations.
In the end, as per usual, I was not disappointed.
With the exception of the opening 20-lap segment, which was dominated by Ross Chastain before he had some bad luck and incurred damage on pit road, the race was one of the best all season.
Ben Rhodes, in a smooth-looking Havoline throwback paint scheme, threatened to take the win and enter the playoffs. Brett Moffitt was in the hunt for yet another win. Young Tyler Ankrum was on the front row for several restarts, and even the KBM trucks made appearances up front as they battled in their final attempt to make the playoffs.
It was a dream finish, Cinderella-like you could say, for Justin Haley at Daytona on Sunday, when he took home the victory In the brand-new, underfunded Spire Motorsports #77 car, after staying out on track following a caution, and being scored the leader when the race was called due to inclement weather.
Sunday’s race was declared official with 33 laps remaining and with Haley sitting in the No. 1 position.
It’s not a stretch to call this the biggest upset in Cup series history, as Sunday was only the third MENCS career start for Haley, and he hadn’t sniffed a strong finish in those three starts prior to his turn of good luck.
Haley’s talent is not in doubt, as he has shown at the Xfinity level what he is capable of doing, nearly winning on Saturday in that series at Daytona as part of a Kaulig Racing 1-2 finish.
The day was strong overall for Chevy, who finished 1-2-3-4 with Haley, William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Ty Dillon. Kurt Busch was also a contender for the win, giving up the lead by pitting just before the race was red-flagged to hand the victory over to Haley.
Below is the full transcript of the press conference featuring Haley, crew chief Peter Sospenzo and Spire team owner T.J. Puchyr:
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