SONOMA, California – Roger Penske’s pursuit of a different “500” might be lucrative for whichever driver delivers the legendary team owner his latest milestone. It could come in Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma.
Will Power minted Team Penske’s 2018 campaign a success across all the series in which it races when he won the organization’s record 17th Indianapolis 500 in May.
Brad Keselowski pushed the team to the precipice of 500 victories in all racing disciplines when he won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Sept. 10 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Penske is in general an owner who savors milestones briefly before focusing on the next, but he told IndyCar.com on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway that it would behoove his drivers to secure that historic victory.
“Whoever gets that 500th win, we’re going to have to figure out to do something special for them,” Penske said. “I don’t care who it is, but it’s got to be something special, for sure.”
Team Penske started as Penske Racing in 1966 with a foray into sports car racing. It expanded into Indy cars two years later, added stock cars and Formula One to the list in the 1970s and partnered with a Virgin Australia Supercars team starting in 2015. Of the 499 race wins to date, 203 have come in Indy car competition -- the most of any team all-time.
Austin Cindric, Team Penske’s NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and son of team president Tim Cindric, had the first chance to bring home the 500th win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, but finished ninth. DJR Team Penske had two cars entered in the Supercars race at Sandown Raceway near Melbourne, Australia, that ran late Saturday night U.S. time, but neither car came out on top.
NASCAR Cup drivers Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney get their turn at Las Vegas in the race scheduled to finish Sunday before the Verizon IndyCar Series season finale. If win No. 500 has still not been achieved, Team Penske’s INDYCAR trio of Power, Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud have their chance to claim the prized victory at Sonoma (6:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network).
“When you look at the number of races we’ve won, we’ve won six (Verizon IndyCar Series) races here so far before (Sunday),” Penske said. “And (this year) the Indy 500, the road course there, the Brickyard (NASCAR race); we’ve had a number of wins in Supercars and Xfinity.
“We need one more to cap it off,” he added. “We’re hitting some milestones we probably never dreamed of when he started this many years ago.”
Power and Pagenaud agreed with the suggestion that use of Penske’s private jet would convey appropriate appreciation for whoever delivers the landmark victory.
“First of all, I think just getting the 500th win would be just spectacular and an honor to have that chance and be in that record group,” said Pagenaud, who won Penske’s 500th all-time pole at Iowa Speedway in 2016. “I would like the 500th win. With the big progress we got this weekend, I think it would be very fitting.
“But yeah, Roger’s plane … I could go back to France any time I like!”
Newgarden, claiming he’s “a little more plain on it,” said getting the big win would be gift enough.
“Roger’s a very kind man and he always takes care of everybody,” Newgarden said. “Look, winning the race is always enough for me. You win the race, you’re happy. You get something on top of that, great.”