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Taylor and Rossi Help Castroneves Become a Champion at Sebring  

After a tough start to the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, the No. 7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 team was last in the DPi standings with one-third of the season complete. The team found its sweet spot in middle of the year, however, with drivers Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Alexander Rossi leading the way. The No. 7 Acura raced to Victory Lane in four of the next five races to build a two-point lead in the standings entering the season finale – the rescheduled 12 Hours of Sebring. Drama followed the team throughout the Sebring event as an early mechanical issue forced the No. 7 to the garage for extended repairs. The team returned to the track and finished eighth, which was good enough for a one-point cushion in the final standings that secured the second-consecutive series title for Acura Team Penske. It also produced the first career championship – of any kind – for Castroneves in the final season of his legendary 21-year career with Team Penske.

Sweeping Up at Iowa and the Harvest GP

Team Penske posted wins in half of the 14 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races in 2020, including two dominant weekends of competition. Though the team was not able to reach its annual goals of winning the Indianapolis 500 and the series championship, the three-car lineup led by former series champions Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud produced plenty of highlights.  Team Penske swept two separate doubleheader race weekends as Pagenaud and Newgarden each claimed victories at Iowa Speedway in July before Newgarden and Power cleaned up on Harvest GP weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in October.

Keselowski Adds Another Crown Jewel

Unofficially, the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500 are the four races that make up the NASCAR Cup Series’ (NCS) crown jewel events. Entering the 2020 NCS season, Brad Keselowski had captured two of them, winning both the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500 in 2018. Team Penske’s winningest driver earned a third crown jewel victory in 2020, winning NASCAR’s longest race – the Coca-Cola 600.

McLaughlin Makes INDYCAR Debut

Scott McLaughlin has proven himself to be one of the most talented racecar drivers in the world. After achieving all of his goals with DJR Team Penske, underscored by a third-consecutive Virgin Australian Supercars Championship in 2020, the New Zealander made the move to America to pursue his next challenge in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. In preparation for the full 2021 season, McLaughlin made his first career INDYCAR start in the 2020 season finale on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. – the same location as the season-opening race next season.

Two Team Penske Fords Make the Championship 4

For the first time in team history, Team Penske entered the Championship 4 race to decide the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) title with a 50% shot at bringing home the crown. Both Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano advanced to the championship round at Phoenix Raceway – Keselowski earning his position on points and Logano by winning at Kansas Speedway in the previous round – for an opportunity to race for the team’s third NCS title. Keselowski, the 2012 Cup Series champ, finished second with Logano, the 2018 NCS title-winner, just behind in third. Chase Elliot won the race and was crowned series champ.

Blaney and Logano Work on Winning Streaks

Crew chief and team exchanges prior to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season left some wondering how long it would take everything to gel this season for Team Penske. Joey Logano and his new crew chief on the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang, Paul Wolfe, answered those questions in just the second race of the season by winning the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to give Logano consecutive wins in the early-season race. The first vicotry of the season for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang team came in May when he parked his Ford in Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway for his second-consecutive win at the spring race. The last time a driver won back-to-back races at NASCAR’s largest oval was 2007.

Cindric Not to be Denied at Phoenix

Austin Cindric took another giant step forward in his young stockcar career in 2020 as he claimed the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) regular season title behind five victories before the series rolled into Phoenix Raceway for the season finale and culmination of the NXS Playoffs. After working his No. 22 Menards Ford Mustang into the lead in the second half of the race, Cindric looked to be on his way to an easy win and the 2020 series title before a caution flag with two laps remaining injected a shot of drama into the final race of the year. The caution sent the race into NASCAR Overtime and crew chief Brian Wilson made the call to pit from the lead for fresh tires. Two other competitors did not pit and Cindric lined up third for the two-lap shootout. A determined Cindric fought past the leaders at the drop of the green flag restart and he never looked back on his way to seizing the 2020 NXS crown.