Here’s what’s happening this week Inside The Garage:
Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.) — The Team Penske drivers talked about how they felt pressure to perform when INDYCAR and NASCAR got together for a weekend of racing in the valley of the Arizona mountains.
It made for a nice storyline.
Ryan Blaney won the Cup race Sunday, the day after Penske teammate Josef Newgarden won the INDYCAR event. And he understood the gravity of the weekend.
“You don’t want to mess it up,” Blaney said at his postrace news conference. “We had three out of the four boxes checked. We had INDYCAR pole, Cup pole, INDYCAR win.
“You’ve got to finish it out, right?”
Yes, but it goes deeper than one weekend.
Ryan Blaney finished off the Penske sweep at Phoenix.
Penske didn’t win a championship in either series last year. It had a horrible INDYCAR season, with just two wins (in the last three races) that included a drama-filled year of executive shakeup and Will Power eventually deciding to leave.
Penske’s NASCAR season, on the other hand, was respectable with six wins but no driver making it to the championship round.
This is a proud organization, as it celebrates its 60th racing season. Team owner Roger Penske, an accomplished businessman in the automobile and trucking industries, also owns the INDYCAR Series and played a pivotal role in the growth of racing in the United States by building racetracks and operating teams in a variety of series.
Sweeping the main events of the Phoenix weekend should give the organization a boost.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden captured the INDYCAR race at Phoenix.
Things stayed stable on the driver-crew chief side of its NASCAR lineup. However, the entire INDYCAR side was revamped with new strategists for returning drivers Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. And then there was the addition of David Malukas, who replaced Power.
Newgarden’s former strategist is former Team Penske president Tim Cindric, who was released from the team in late May. Cindric is back in just the strategist role but has been paired with McLaughlin. Newgarden is paired with Jonathan Diuguid, who took over the INDYCAR side of the Penske operations last year.
“You could plug into any one of these cars at Team Penske, and you would have a great unit around you,” Newgarden said in a news conference before the season started. “It really almost doesn’t matter. … I’ve had three or four different people in my ear over the last couple of years, and they’re all pretty good to me.
“So it’s not really a pick-and-choose type scenario, but I don’t think it’s going to be a hard transition. He’s been on the radio with me before, and I think we’ve got a great group.”
Newgarden told me and other reporters that last year he wondered when the asteroid was going to hit, that it felt like he was getting hit with a bat almost every weekend. He reiterated that he has confidence in Team Penske.
He has won two of the last three INDYCAR races going back to last year and now leads the INDYCAR point standings. In 2025, he finished 12th in the standings.
Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden (L) and David Malukas are adjusting to the shifts within the Penske organization in 2026.
McLaughlin seems to have taken more of a leadership role among the drivers and carries a confidence, despite coming off a year when he finished 10th in the standings. He said for several years, he wanted to work directly with Cindric.
“I am rejuvenated,” he told me and other reporters before the season opener. “I’m very excited. I think David’s brought a really cool sort of different vibe to the team but he’s put a lot of work in, which I can only respect. He’s been solid.
“And I think the three of us — me, Josef and David — have worked really well over the test days, working pretty seamlessly.”
Malukas won the pole and the young driver brings an enthusiasm that Newgarden said he just doesn’t have in his 15th season.
“It’s in there [in me],” Newgarden instructed me and different reporters. “It is completely different than what it was, however I’ve slightly little bit of exuberance left. … I undoubtedly want I had extra. I want I used to be 20 once more.”
On the NASCAR facet sits three-time champion Joey Logano, 2023 champion Blaney and Austin Cindric, who has gained races however hasn’t been as constant in his Cup profession.
All of them owe a lot to Roger Penske and the group.
“[He’s] any individual that’s going to do one thing the correct manner, that’s going to do it in knowledgeable manner, however can be very aggressive and desires to win it doesn’t matter what it’s,” Logano mentioned after he gained the pole at Phoenix. “Enterprise. Racing. You title it, he’s going to wish to be the most effective at it.
Joey Logano gained the pole at Phoenix however had his day lower quick by a crash throughout the race.
“You possibly can think about as a competitor, it doesn’t matter what your place is on a crew, you wish to be with the most effective. I say this on a regular basis: You possibly can’t soar like an eagle once you’re working with turkeys. And he’s an eagle.”
Logano didn’t have a very good race at Phoenix as he crashed a few instances, with the second ending his day. He was visibly deflated for not executing. Cindric was concerned in a crash, too.
Ultimately, it was as much as Blaney to get the job accomplished.
Perhaps the most important message from the Crew Penske drivers from their wins is that they received it accomplished regardless of not having the most effective automobiles.
Christian Rasmussen was the category of the sector within the INDYCAR race however received concerned in a wreck with Will Energy. Christopher Bell arguably had the most effective automobile within the Cup race however Blaney was capable of get observe place with a two-tire cease.
It’s executing in these methods and profiting from alternatives that Penske drivers and groups have accomplished so effectively over time. And it’s what wins them championships.
“Josef put the stress on us,” Blaney mentioned. “He tell us that at our Penske dinner. He mentioned this weekend goes to be completely ruined should you guys do not do it on Sunday.
“I used to be glad to do it at this time. It is all the time particular to win for Roger. On a weekend like this, the place he put loads into having these two sequence collectively and it going the way in which it did up till at this time — for us to complete it out at this time was undoubtedly neat.”
Cup race winner Ryan Blaney is happy how the weekend at Phoenix turned out.
Increased Horsepower Excessive Grades
The Cup race at Phoenix was the primary with engines producing 750 horsepower as an alternative of the 670 horsepower that was utilized in current seasons on a lot of the ovals. Some drivers felt it had a big affect whereas others indicated it didn’t.
The horsepower change will likely be used at ovals beneath 1.5 miles. No driver mentioned they didn’t prefer it. The one distinction in opinion was how a lot distinction it really made.
“I assumed it was good,” veteran driver Denny Hamlin instructed me after the race. “I assumed this was one of many extra compelling Phoenix races that I’ve been part of. In case your automobile was good, your automobile dealt with, the driving force did a very good job, you would make passes.
“And the horsepower undoubtedly helped with that, and it actually additionally helped with sporting the tires slightly bit extra. … It is a constructive path.”
Logano additionally felt it helped give the driving force extra of a capability to attempt to make strikes.
“I’ve by no means seen the observe so large,” Logano instructed me and different reporters. ” It’s accomplished nothing however assist.”
In The Information
— INDYCAR will go from a bunch qualifying session to a single-car, single-lap session in its closing spherical this weekend at Arlington. The Quick Six drivers — as an alternative of getting 10 minutes to see how briskly a lap they will run — will every exit individually for one lap. The concept is to carry extra of a highlight to every of these drivers.
— Cleetus McFarland, who has 4.6M YouTube subscribers for his motorsports content material, will run a few races in 2026 and 2027 within the O’Reilly Series for Richard Childress Racing. His first race will likely be subsequent month at Darlington.
Candy Experience
The Joey Logano tribute to Pensle teammate Scott McLaughlin’s Supercars championship automobile.
Below The Radar
AJ Allmendinger is thirteenth within the standings after 4 races, a robust begin for a Kaulig Racing crew that has no producer assist.
They Mentioned It
“Dude. For my brain-rotted TikTok mind, I used to be so centered. I did not have a second to consider anything.”
—David Malukas, the polesitter for the INDYCAR race, on whether or not he took within the ambiance of the Phoenix occasion.
