News

Team penske CARRIES OVAL MOMENTUM INTO THE MILWAUKEE MILE

FAST FACTS

Drivers:

Ryan Briscoe              

No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet

Helio Castroneves     

No. 3 Penske Truck Rental Dallara/Chevrolet

Will Power                   

No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet

Event:   

Milwaukee IndyFest     

Milwaukee Mile (1-mile oval)

West Allis, Wis.

When:   

Qualifying – Friday, June 15 at 5:00 p.m. ET

Race (225 laps) – Saturday, June 16 at 1:00 p.m. ET (Live on ABC)

TV/Radio:

ABC-TV/IMS Radio Network and Sirius XM Channel 94

Saturday Success: Briscoe (third), Castroneves (seventh) and Power (eighth) began a streak of three consecutive Saturday races with a successful performance at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. Briscoe led five laps and Power was leading late before he was issued a drive-through penalty for blocking on lap 194, which ended his 24-lap run in the top position.

Milwaukee Milestone: Briscoe won his first career IZOD IndyCar Series race at Milwaukee in 2008. The victory was also Penske Racing’s landmark 300^th all-time race win. Briscoe, an admitted Green Bay Packer fan, also considers Milwaukee as sort of his “home” race as his wife, Nicole, hails from nearby Roscoe, Illinois and her family still lives in the area.

Quality Qualifying: Team Penske has an accomplished history of qualifying at the Milwaukee Mile with Castroneves (1999, 2006, 2007) and Briscoe (2009) combining to win four overall and three out of the last five pole positions. In addition, Sam Hornish, Jr. took the top qualifying spot in 2005, as Team Penske has won the pole in five of the seven IndyCar Series races at the track. Castroneves’ 177.477 mph polewinning qualifying speed in 2006 still holds the track record. Through the first seven races of the 2012 season, Team Penske has won the pole five times.

Predominance In Points: With three race victories and two pole positions, Team Penske’s Power leads the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings with 256 points. Teammate Castroneves is currently in fourth place with 203 points and Briscoe is ranked eighth place with 174 points.

First In Line: Power is currently at the top of nearly every statistical category in 2012. He is in sole possession of first place with the most wins (three), he’s tied for the most top-10 finishes (six), top-five finishes (four) and poles (two) and he ranks second in the series in laps led (135) and races led (five).

Drive for Five: Castroneves (St. Petersburg) and Power (Barber, Long Beach, Sao Paulo) combined to win the first four races in the 2012 season. There has never been a season in the 44-year history of Penske Racing that began with four consecutive victories until 2012. 

Step Right Up: Castroneves, who has two podium finishes in 2012 (St. Petersburg and Barber), enters the Milwaukee IndyFest tied with Scott Dixon for eighth all-time in second place finishes (29) and 12^th all-time in top-three finishes (68).

Righteous Return: Team Penske is proud to be a contributing member of Chevrolet’s highly successful return to IndyCar competition this season. Paced by the performance of Team Penske drivers, Chevrolet placed at least one driver on the front row and podium in six of seven races in 2012.

Premier Partners: Team Penske is proud to continue its relationship with existing partners and welcome several new sponsors to its family in 2012. Briscoe will compete with Hitachi as a sponsor of the No. 2 car at Milwaukee, Penske Truck Rental will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 3 car driven by Castroneves at Texas and Power will drive the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car throughout the 2012 season.  Team Penske also features IZOD, Shell and Pennzoil, PPG and AAA Insurance as primary sponsors in 2012 along with associate sponsors Coca-Cola, Meijer, PTC and SKF.

Meet Team Penske: All three Team Penske drivers will meet fans and sign autographs on multiple occasions this weekend. On Thursday, June 14, Castroneves will be at the Firestone retail store at 2070 Miller Park Way in West Milwaukee from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. CT and from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Power will appear at the Verizon store located at N95W18141 Appleton Ave. in Menomonee Falls. On Friday Briscoe and Castroneves will meet fans at the Chevrolet display at the Milwaukee Mile at 3:00 p.m. and all three drivers will be at the IndyCar Autograph Session in the Fan Village from 9:15 – 10:15 a.m. on Saturday.

Legacy of Success: Team Penske continues to set the standard of success in open-wheel racing. Throughout its storied history, the team has posted 163 race wins, 12 National Championships and 208 pole positions. In addition, Penske Racing has won the Indianapolis 500-mile race a record 15 times. Across all of its disciplines, Penske Racing teams have produced 357 major race wins, 418 pole positions and 23 National Championships.  

Follow Team Penske On Twitter: @PenskeRacing, @Ryan_Briscoe, @h3lio, @12WillPower

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE INDYFEST

Ryan Briscoe: “I’m always excited to go back to Milwaukee; it’s like a home race for me, my home away from home. I always have a lot of support and family there. We are working on taking our success at ovals and turning it into a win with the No.2 Hitachi Team Penske car this weekend.”

Helio Castroneves: “Milwaukee is a place that has always been special for me and hopefully this year we will be able to put together a great race in the No.3 Penske Truck Rental machine. I have been looking forward to this race since the test we had there earlier in the season and hopefully we will all be able to leave with big smiles on our faces.”

Will Power: “I’m looking forward to driving the Verizon car at the Milwaukee Mile. Unfortunately for our team we will have a ten grid spot penalty going into the race so it’s important that we qualify as high as possible to be near the top ten. It should be a great race.”

More information and statistics on all Penske Racing teams is available to registered members of the press at http://media.penskeracing.com. For updated stats and quotes during race weekend, please visit http://media.penskeracing.com/teampenskemedia/milwaukee

Contact:

Brent Blaylock (704) 497-9302, brent.blaylock@penskeracing.com