NASCAR operations of Team Penske

The NASCAR operation of the racing team Team Penske is a unit based in Mooresville, North Carolina, US. The team fields Ford Mustangs in the NASCAR Cup Series and has won a total of four drivers' championships and over 170 races over both Cup and Xfinity series.

The team has also used the following names:

• Penske Racing South: formerly used to differentiate the NASCAR operation from its open-wheel and sports car racing operation that was based in Reading, Pennsylvania; the name ceased to be used when the entire operation moved to North Carolina.
• Penske-Kranefuss Racing: used from 1998 until 2001 when Michael Kranefuss, who had previously fielded a car with Carl Haas as a partner, merged his team with Penske's and brought Jeremy Mayfield, his driver, into the Penske fold in car No. 12. The partnership ended after 2001, but Penske continues to run car No. 12 to this day.
• Penske-Jasper Racing: used in 2004 and 2005. Roger Penske had been supplying Jasper Motorsports with engines for several years and bought a share of the team so he could run its No. 77 for Brendan Gaughan as part of the Penske team. The partnership dissolved after Penske gave up his stake in the team and fired Gaughan.

The team debuted in 1972 at Riverside International Raceway. Mark Donohue was driving a factory-sponsored red-white-blue American Motors Matador. It was dubbed the "flying brick" by many noting its squarish aerodynamics. The car finished 39th after rear-end problems. The team ran part-time for a few years, fielding cars for several drivers including Donohue (won the 1973 Western 500 in the No. 16 Matador), Dave Marcis, Donnie Allison, and Bobby Allison. The team went full-time with Bobby Allison in 1976 with a new, more aerodynamic fastback coupe, finishing 4th in the points. In 1980, the team fielded two races for Rusty Wallace, finishing 2nd in his first race at Atlanta. Penske sold his machinery to the Elliott family in 1977 and got out of NASCAR.^[1]

The team did not run for eleven years, returning in 1991 with Wallace at the wheel again, with Rusty moving his Miller beer sponsorship to the new team from the recently suspended operations of Raymond Beadle's Blue Max Racing team. Penske Racing South fielded Pontiacs from 1991 to 1993, when it switch to full-works Ford in 1994. In 2003, the team switched to full-works Dodge and thus earned factory support. In 2008, Penske Racing won its first Daytona 500 with Ryan Newman. By 2011, however, Penske was the only NASCAR Cup Series team running Dodges full-time as most of the former Dodge teams had either folded or switched to other manufacturers. Owner Roger Penske announced on March 1, 2012, that the team would return to full-works Ford in 2013. In addition, Penske would receive the engine package from Roush Yates Engines as well as the same treatment as Roush Fenway Racing, Wood Brothers Racing and the rest of Ford teams due to the Ford partnership.^[2] During the 2012 season, Brad Keselowski brought home Penske's first Cup Series title.

In 2014, the team changed their name branding from "Penske Racing" to "Team Penske" to match their IndyCar name.^[3]

For the 2016 season, Team Penske fielded the No. 2 for Keselowski and the No. 22 for Joey Logano. The team also started fielding cars to the historic NASCAR team Wood Brothers Racing. In 2018, Team Penske added the No. 12 for Ryan Blaney. That year, Logano won Penske its second Cup Series title.

Keselowski left Team Penske at the end of the 2021 season to become driver-owner of RFK Racing. He was replaced by Austin Cindric, who won the 2022 Daytona 500.

Ryan Newman (2000–2001)

Penske's No. 02 team originally began running in the ARCA RE/MAX Series in 2000 as the No. 27 Ford sponsored by Alltel and driven by Ryan Newman.^[8] Later in the year, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut with Newman at Phoenix as the No. 02 Alltel Ford, finishing 41st due to engine failure. In 2001, Newman split time between ARCA, the NASCAR Busch Series, and the NASCAR Cup Series.^[9][10] He drove in 15 Busch races and won at Michigan. In the Cup Series, he participated in seven events, and almost won The Winston Open before his engine expired in the closing laps. He put together two top-five finishes, which included a second-place finish at Kansas, and a pole in his abbreviated schedule.

Part-time (2004, 2007)

In 2004, Penske occasionally ran a fourth car numbered 06, sponsored by Mobil 1. Craftsman Truck Series driver Travis Kvapil attempted four races, failing to qualify at Darlington, with a best finish of 21st at Martinsville. He would replace Brendan Gaughan in the 77 in 2005. Chad Blount also ran the car at Talladega, finishing 41st.

The No. 06 returned in 2007 with Sam Hornish Jr. in preparation for moving full-time in the 77 the next year. The No. 06 was sponsored by Penske Truck Rental and Mobil 1 Hornish Jr. attempted eight races, but only qualified for the final two races of the season, with a best finish of 30th at Phoenix.

Origins with Blue Max Racing (1983–1990)

The No. 2 car's history can be traced back to the late 1970s with M. C. Anderson and Benny Parsons. Bobby Allison drove two and a half seasons for Penske, winning four races for the team with a best standing of 4th. Cale Yarborough drove the 27 Valvoline car in 1981 and 1982 respectively. In 1983, the team switched hands to Raymond Beadle and Blue Max Racing with Tim Richmond driving. The team picked up Rusty Wallace in 1986 and won a Championship in 1989. In 1990, the team barely made it through the season with the help of Roger Penske funding the team to keep going. By late-1990, the team was purchased as a base for Roger's new team. During the offseason, the team changed numbers from 27 to 2 (Wallace's old racing number) and kept the Miller Sponsorship.

Rusty Wallace (1991–2005)

The No. 2 team has not seen many changes since its debut under the Penske banner at the 1991 Daytona 500, where it finished 27th after a crash late in the race. Wallace drove the car from 1991 to 2005, with some form of Miller Beer as the primary sponsor of the team. Wallace moved to Penske from Blue Max Racing, which suspended operations after 1990. The team in its first year won two races and finished 10th in points. In 1992, Wallace won one race and finished 13th in points. Things then turned around for him and Penske, winning 25 races over the next four years, despite never winning the championship.

The team switched from Pontiac to Ford in 1994.^[11] The season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the entire 1996 season saw a small change when the popular Miller Genuine Draft paint scheme was replaced with a red, blue and yellow splashed scheme that advertised the Miller brand. After winning five races that season, Wallace donned the blue and white colors of Miller Lite in 1997. After winning one race a piece over the next three years, he put together four wins and won nine Bud poles in 2000, the highest total of his career. In 2002, he failed to win races, marking the first year since 1985 that he was winless throughout a season. After that year, the team switched manufacturers from Ford to Dodge. In 2004, Wallace announced the 2005 season would be his last in the Cup Series, citing his son's racing career and wanting to concentrate on his Busch Series team, Rusty Wallace Racing, for the departure. During that season, Wallace returned to victory lane for the first time since 2001 at Martinsville, one of his historically strong racetracks. Although he would not win a race during his final season, Wallace qualified for the Chase for the Nextel Cup and finished eighth in series points.

Kurt Busch (2006–2010)

To replace the retiring Wallace, Penske tabbed 2004 Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch. However, this caused a problem with Busch's then-current team, Roush Racing, as he was still under contract for the 2006 season. The situation was resolved thanks in part to the resolution of another disputed contract with Roush. Roush Racing signed Jamie McMurray to drive their No. 6 car for the 2006 season but his previous team owner, Chip Ganassi, would not let him drive for Roush. Eventually, an agreement was struck where McMurray was released from his team to replace Busch in the No. 97 car (which was then renumbered to 26), therefore freeing up Busch to drive the No. 2 car. He quickly brought the team back to victory lane by winning in his fifth start with the team at Bristol, his only win of 2006. The No. 2 team finished 16th in the season points. Busch won six additional races with the No. 2 car, his last being the 2010 Coca-Cola 600. He qualified for the Chase three times, with a best finish of fourth in the final standings in 2009.

Brad Keselowski (2011–2021)

In 2011, the No. 2 team swapped numbers with the No. 12 team of Brad Keselowski, which secured Keselowski's run with the No. 2 team's points. Jay Guy was replaced by Nationwide Series crew chief Paul Wolfe as the team's crew chief. The No. 2 team with Keselowski and Wolfe initially struggled for the first half of the season, although they won a fuel-mileage race at Kansas. The team's performance started to improve dramatically after Keselowski injured his leg during a testing crash at Road Atlanta. Keselowski and Wolfe grabbed two more wins at Pocono and at Bristol and rallied to make the 2011 Chase field. However, the final 10 races would be an up and down affair for the team, and they were knocked out of contention after finishing 18th at Phoenix. Nonetheless, Keselowski managed a fifth-place finish in points, a dramatic turnaround from his 2010 performance.

2012 would be Keselowski's breakout season, as he won five races at Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland, and Dover, with the last two being his first Chase wins. He would ultimately win Team Penske its first Sprint Cup title after a close battle with Jimmie Johnson. This would also be the final year of Dodge in the Cup series.

With Dodge's departure, Team Penske switched back to Ford in the 2013 season. Compared to his 2012 championship run, Keselowski's 2013 season was a step back, as he opened the season with four top-fives but struggled with consistency from there and eventually missed the Chase altogether. He would win a single race, at Charlotte in October, and rallied to finish fourteenth in points, the highest rank outside the Chase field (due to the Richmond scandal that resulted in Jeff Gordon getting an additional Chase berth).

Keselowski recovered quickly in 2014, winning the third race of the year at Las Vegas after Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas on the final lap. He later dominated and won Kentucky to become the first two-time winner at the track, and dominated the July race at Loudon and the September race at Richmond as well, to secure the top seed in the reformatted Chase for the Sprint Cup. Keselowski then won back-to-back for the first time in his career in the first Chase race at Chicagoland, to secure an immediate transfer into the Contender round of the new Chase. After suffering a blown tire at Kansas and tussling with Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin at Charlotte, Keselowski went to Talladega needing to win to make the Eliminator round, which he ultimately did after outbattling Ryan Newman on the final lap. However, he suffered a mechanical failure that caused him to wreck at Martinsville, and subsequently tangled with Gordon at Texas, which led to a post-race brawl that became one of the highlights of the season. Keselowski would ultimately be eliminated from the Chase after Phoenix, and finished fifth in the final points, with his six wins being a career-high.

Keselowski won his first race of 2015 at California after taking advantage of two late cautions to run down the dominant car of ex-teammate Kurt Busch. This would prove to be the only win of his season, but Keselowski once again advanced to the Eliminator Round of the Chase before suffering another wreck at Martinsville, and after leading the majority of the Texas race only to be passed by Jimmie Johnson with six laps to go, Keselowski was once again eliminated from championship contention after Phoenix.

Keselowski got back to his winning ways in 2016, breaking through at Las Vegas for the second time in three seasons. He also scored his third win in the GEICO 500 at Talladega, then found his first Daytona win in the Coke Zero 400, followed by his third career win at Kentucky.

Keselowski got his first win in 2017 after Kevin Harvick had trouble in the pits at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He was leading at Las Vegas when something broke in the car with two to go. He hung on for fifth. He remained consistent, winning the STP 500 for his first Martinsville win. He continued to be consistent until a strange crash early in the Coca-Cola 600, when a piece of metal from Jeffrey Earnhardt pierced Chase Elliott's grill and went into his engine, causing a mass oil leak and fire. Brad slid in the oil, right to Elliott's rear end. Keselowski would go on to make the playoffs for the sixth time in his Cup series career and score an additional win in the wreck infested Alabama 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway and have the dominant car at Martinsville before a late-race caution and contact with Chase Elliott took him out of contention for the win and he would finish fourth. Keselowski made the final round at Homestead-Miami speedway finished seventh in the race and fourth in the final standings to champion Martin Truex Jr.

In 2018, Keselowski scored three wins in a row at Darlington, Indianapolis, and Las Vegas, but his run at the Playoffs was marred by bad finishes at the Charlotte Roval, Talladega, and Dover, resulting in his elimination from the Round of 12. Keselowski finished the season eighth in points.

Keselowski started the 2019 season with a 12th-place finish at the Daytona 500. A week later, he won at Atlanta; this gave him his 60th overall win with Team Penske and the first MENCS win for the new Ford Mustang GT. Keselowski also scored wins at Martinsville and Kansas and finished eighth in points for the second consecutive year.

Keselowski rebounded in 2020. He scored three wins and finished third in points after the regular season. In the second race of the playoffs, he scored his fourth win of the season at Richmond and made the final four but would lose the championship to Chase Elliott.

In 2021, Keslowski won only once at the spring Talladega race but made still made it to the round of 8 although he would miss the final four after finishing third at Martinsville. He would finish sixth in points.

Austin Cindric (2022–present)

On July 15, 2021, it was confirmed that Keselowski would not be returning to Team Penske in 2022 (revealing on July 20 that he had accepted a driver and co-owner role at Roush-Fenway Racing). The same day that Keselowski's departure was officially confirmed by Penske, Austin Cindric (who was originally going to drive for Wood Brothers Racing in 2022) was announced as Keselowski's replacement. Cindric won the Daytona 500 in his first full time start in the Cup Series with Penske. On July 20, crew chief Jeremy Bullins was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss during the 2022 Ambetter 301 at Loudon.^[12] Cindric was eliminated in the Round of 12 after finishing 21st at the Charlotte Roval.^[13] He finished the season 12th in the points standings and won the NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors.^[14]

Cindric struggled during the 2023 season, scoring only three top-10 finishes and failing to make the playoffs. His highest finish of the season was fifth place at the fall Talladega race.

Cindric started the 2024 season with a 22nd place finish at the 2024 Daytona 500. He scored his second career win at Gateway after Christopher Bell lost an engine and Ryan Blaney ran out of gas, breaking an 85-race winless streak.^[15]

Kranefuss-Haas Racing (1994–1997)

The current 12 car started out in 1994 at Michigan as the No. 07 Ford driven by Robby Gordon and owned by German-American businessman and former Ford executive Michael Kranefuss along with Newman/Haas Racing co-principal Carl Haas. The car started and finished 38th after Gordon crashed on lap 70. After another start with Geoff Brabham at the Brickyard 400, the team— known as Kranefuss-Haas Racing— went full-time in 1995 with John Andretti driving the Kmart/Little Caesars-sponsored No. 37 Ford. Andretti won the pole at the Mountain Dew Southern 500 and finished 18th in the points. The team struggled in 1996 and Kranefuss decided to replace Andretti with Jeremy Mayfield in what amounted to a driver swap between Kranefuss-Haas and Cale Yarborough's team as Andretti replaced Mayfield in Yarborough's No. 98. The team picked up co-sponsorship from Royal Crown Cola for the following season and improved to be 13th in the points in 1997, but it was obvious the team wouldn't succeed if it only fielded one team. At the end of the season, Kranefuss and Haas dissolved the partnership and the Kmart sponsorship moved over to Travis Carter's team, which became Haas-Carter Motorsports and the Little Caesars sponsorship left the team.

Jeremy Mayfield (1998–2001)

In 1998, Kranefuss and Penske Racing announced a merger, with Mayfield coming aboard to drive the No. 12 Mobil 1-sponsored Ford Taurus as a teammate to Rusty Wallace. The move turned out to be a success, and Mayfield became the next big star. He won the pole at Texas, and at one point in the season, found himself in the points lead. Mayfield won his first race at the 1998 Pocono 500 in June and his breakout year ended with a seventh-place finish in the points. He struggled in 1999 with no wins and an 11th-place finish in the standings. In 2000, he won at California and Pocono. Midway through the season, Kranefuss sold his share of the team to Penske. Mayfield then suffered a concussion while practicing for the Brickyard 400. He missed two races recuperating from his injury and finished 24th in points. In 2001, Mayfield posted seven top-ten finishes but was fired following the race at Kansas. Rusty Wallace's younger brother Mike Wallace took over and came close to winning at Phoenix before settling for second place to Jeff Burton.

Ryan Newman (2002–2008)

Ryan Newman and his Alltel team took over the No. 12 car in 2002, although Mobil 1 stayed on as primary sponsor for several races per season. In his rookie year, Newman waged a spirited battle with Jimmie Johnson for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. Newman won The Winston, and the fall event at New Hampshire, as well as six poles. Although he did not win as many races as Johnson (one versus Johnson's three) and finished behind him in the points (sixth place, seven points behind fifth-place Johnson), he finished ahead of Johnson to win the Rookie of the Year honors. After the switch to Dodge in 2003, Newman won eight races and eleven poles and finished sixth in points.

In 2004, Newman won twice, earned nine pole positions, qualified for the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup, and finished seventh in points. Newman finished 2005 with eight pole positions, but only one win. He qualified for the Chase for the Cup for the second year in a row and ended up sixth in the final standings. He failed to win a race and missed the Chase in both 2006 and 2007. However, he found himself back in the winner's circle early in 2008, taking victory in the 50th running of the 2008 Daytona 500 (the No. 2 of Kurt Busch finished second) to open the season, claiming Penske's first Daytona 500 win. Following the Daytona 500, the team struggled and Newman announced during the summer that he would leave to drive the No. 39 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing.

David Stremme (2009)

The No. 12 car lost its sponsor in 2009 as Cellco Partners, a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone, closed the deal to purchase Alltel in January 2009, thus voiding the terms of the grandfather clause that allowed the No. 12 car to run with a sponsor that is a direct competitor to that NASCAR series' sponsor, Sprint Corporation. The team announced that they would move the Wireless sponsorship to the IndyCar Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series and renamed the team to Verizon Championship Racing, a reference to Verizon Wireless' Penske-wide marketing through both its IndyCar and NASCAR sponsorships, complete with its heritage of champions (especially on Vodafone's side, as it was a sponsor of Scuderia Ferrari). Penske hired David Stremme to race the car in a largely unbranded fashion for 2009, but he did not produce results and was fired toward the end of the season.

Brad Keselowski (2009–2010)

Brad Keselowski, who had recently signed with Penske when he was unable to procure a seat at Hendrick Motorsports, took over the car toward the end of the 2009 season. He then ran the No. 12 full-time in 2010 unsponsored, although FloTV and AAA sponsored several races. Keselowski moved to the No. 2 car following the season to replace Kurt Busch, who moved to the new No. 22.

Part-time and hiatus (2011–2017)

The No. 12 did not run any races in 2011. In 2012, Sam Hornish Jr. drove the No. 12 at Kansas in April with SKF sponsorship. The No. 12 was also scheduled to run at the October Talladega race with Hornish, but after the termination of A. J. Allmendinger from the No. 22, Hornish replaced him full-time. Hornish's SKF sponsorship was transferred to the No. 22 for this race.

In 2013, Hornish again qualified at Kansas but crashed out of the race in a multi-car wreck. He attempted the fall Talladega race but failed to make the race after qualifying was rained out.^[16]

With Hornish leaving for Joe Gibbs Racing, the part-time No. 12 was split by various Penske drivers in 2014. SKF sponsored three races, with Ryan Blaney at Kansas in April and Talladega in October, and Juan Pablo Montoya at Michigan in June. Montoya also drove the No. 12 in the Brickyard 400 with sponsorship from Penske Truck Leasing.^[17]

Ryan Blaney (2018–present)

In June 2017, Penske implied that Blaney would soon drive a third Ford for Penske Racing. This was later confirmed a month later when they announced that Blaney would drive the No. 12 car in 2018, with Paul Menard replacing him in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing car, continuing the technical alliance that the two teams have. Team Penske purchased the No. 12's charter from Roush Fenway Racing, which had been leased to JTG Daugherty Racing a year prior.^[18]

Blaney started the 2018 season with a seventh-place finish at the Daytona 500 and stayed consistent with five top-fives and eleven top-10s before qualifying in the Playoffs. He scored his first win with Team Penske at the inaugural Charlotte Roval race after Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. spun out before the finish line. Following the Kansas race, Blaney was eliminated after the Round of 12 of the Playoffs and finished the season 10th in points.

In 2019, Blaney finished 31st at the 2019 Daytona 500. Despite not scoring a win during the regular season, he stayed consistent with seven top-fives and 12 top-10 finishes to make the Playoffs. He won at Talladega, but was eliminated after the Round of 8 and finished the season seventh in points.

The 2020 season started for Blaney with a second-place finish at the 2020 Daytona 500, which saw him dueling with Ryan Newman on the final turn until late contact caused Newman to go airborne and collide with Corey LaJoie; Newman sustained injuries that sidelined him for three months. Blaney won once again at Talladega and scored eight top-fives and 11 top-10s to make his third Playoff appearance with Team Penske. He was eliminated after the Round of 16 and finished ninth in points.

In 2021, Blaney finished 30th at the 2021 Daytona 500. He scored wins at Atlanta, Michigan, and the Daytona night race, along with seven top-fives and 14 top-10 finishes to once again make the Playoffs. Blaney was eliminated after the Round of 8 and finished the season seventh in points.

Blaney started the 2022 season with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. Despite scoring no wins in the first 13 races, he stayed consistent with four top-fives and six top-10 finishes. He also won the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race.^[19] Despite being involved in a multi-car crash on lap 31 of the regular season finale at the Daytona night race, Blaney rallied to finish 15th to clinch the 16th and final Playoff spot of the season, beating Martin Truex Jr. by three points. Blaney was eliminated following the Round of 8 after finishing third at Martinsville.^[20] Despite being winless, he finished the season eighth in the points standings.^[21]

Blaney started the 2023 season with an eighth-place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500. He broke a 59-race drought by winning the 2023 Coca-Cola 600.^[22] During the playoffs, Blaney scored his second win of the season at Talladega.^[23] He finished sixth at Las Vegas, but was disqualified after post-race inspection discovered a left-front damper that did not meet specifications; as a result, Blaney dropped to last-place and the bottom of the Round of 8 cutoff line.^[24] NASCAR later rescinded the penalty and restored Blaney's points after an issue was found with the damper template.^[25] Blaney won at Martinsville to make the Championship 4.^[26] He finished second at Phoenix to win the 2023 championship.^[27]

Blaney started the 2024 season with a 30th place DNF at the 2024 Daytona 500. At Atlanta, he was leading the last lap but ultimately finished in second and came 0.003 seconds short of beating Daniel Suárez in a three-wide photo finish between him, Suárez, and Kyle Busch.^[28] Blaney once again fell short of a victory at Gateway after running out of fuel on the last lap; his teammate Austin Cindric ended up winning the race. On June 16, He scored his first win of the season at the inaugural Iowa race.^[29] A month later, he won at Pocono.^[30] During the playoffs, Blaney won at Martinsville to make the Championship 4 for a second year in a row.^[31]