Penske Racing Rollercoaster Ride
While Penske's IRL drivers Hornish and Castroneves have flourished, Newman and Busch have struggled
Team Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr clinched his third Indy Car Series championship last Sunday with his third place finish in the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 at Chicagoland.
Sam Hornish Jr essentially ended the season in a first-place tie with previous Indy Car Series champion Dan Wheldon, but was granted the tie-breaker due to his four wins opposed to Wheldon's two.
Hornish Jr's championship season defined an epic season for Roger Penske's open-wheel organization. Not only was Hornish Jr's season remarkable, but teammate Helio Castroneves won four races, and finished 3rd in the final Indy Car Series championship standings, just a mere two points in arrears of Hornish Jr and Wheldon.
So a championship coupled with eight wins should be enough for Mr. Penske to smile wide, right? Well, maybe for the time being. Putting a dark cloud on what should be a unforgettable 2006 season for Team Penske is the conspicuous inadequacies in the NASCAR Nextel Cup program.
While the success of Hornish Jr and Castroneves have Penske basking in open-wheel glory, Nextel Cup drivers Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch have one of the most accomplished men in motor sports history scratching his head.
When Penske replaced the 1989 champion Rusty Wallace with 2004 Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, expectations were elevated in the Penske camp. By teaming Busch up with fellow Gillette Young Ryan Newman, who has tallied 12 wins and 1,000 poles in a four year time frame, the one-two punch that was lacking when Wallace was aboard would supposedly be present.
But other than Busch's win at Bristol, and Newman's third place finish in the season opening Daytona 500, Penske's Nextel Cup program has suffered severely.
Neither Busch nor Newman even came close to qualifying for the third running of the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship. This is the first time that neither driver will participate in NASCAR's version of the playoffs. Busch is 14th in the Nextel Cup standings while Newman is solemnly in 17th, as both drivers have been unable to find a comfortable balance with the Dodge Charger.
With ten races to go, both drivers have shown little indication of reversing the team's struggles. But the race at New Hampshire this upcoming weekend has been good to both Newman and Busch. Between the two, four wins have been accumulated at the 1.058-mile oval.
Penske is not alone when it comes to success in open-wheel, and lack thereof in NASCAR Nextel Cup. His IRL adversary Chip Ganassi had his drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon finish 2nd and 4th in the final IndyCar Series standings, with four wins combined. However, a Ganassi prepared car has not won in NASCAR Nextel Cup competition since 2002. It's a mystery as to how Penske and Ganassi can be so successful in IRL, yet their Nextel Cup programs leave a lot to be desired.
The unstable Dodge Charger will be getting a new front nose for the 2007 season, which could very well alleviate a lot the handling woes that Busch and Newman have tolerated on the intermediate style race tracks.
With Penske's track record, I wouldn't anticipate his Nextel Cup program to be down and out for very long.
email the author: autoracing@suite101.com
