ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.: There’s no higher message to ship to critics than an absolute domination, which was the precise Team Penske response after rival group house owners took purpose at Roger Penske’s sequence management.
Penske silently fumed on the criticism — which included a daring name from Michael Andretti for the 87-yr-previous Penske to promote IndyAutomotive if he gained’t up his investments into sequence advertising and marketing and promotion — however refused to interact in a public battle with disgruntled stakeholders.
Instead, a renewed Josef Newgarden led all three Penske drivers to prime-4 finishes in Sunday’s race. Newgarden earned the thirtieth win of his IndyAutomotive profession, whereas Scott McLaughlin completed third and Will Power was fourth.
“What did you think about our team today,” Penske texted The Associated Press after the race whereas utilizing the emoji of the smiling face with stars in its eyes.
It was the choose-me-up Penske wanted after a tumultuous weekend following a six-month offseason stuffed largely with disappointing information. Among the speedbumps IndyAutomotive encountered since its September season finale was the delay of its lengthy developed hybrid engine till after the Indianapolis 500; criticism from Honda that sounded as if the engine producer is keen to depart the sequence when its contract expires, and the compelled transfer of the season finale from the streets of Nashville to the speedway positioned 35 miles away from the long-lasting downtown.
But group house owners have quite a lot of complaints, together with a push for a constitution system much like the one in NASCAR that creates a franchise mannequin that ensures a return on their funding for participation within the sequence. There’s frustration over the present automotive, which on Sunday opened its twelfth consecutive season just about unchanged, and an general dissatisfaction that IndyAutomotive races aren’t promoted on the identical degree as Formula 1 or NASCAR.
Drivers even started to take pictures on the packaged challenge when a handful complained that publish-race podium celebrations outdoors of the Indy 500 are novice and never indicative of the accomplishment achieved in succeeding within the extremely aggressive American open-wheel sequence.
IndyAutomotive and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are each owned by Roger Penske, who took management of each simply two months earlier than the COVID-19 shutdown. He stored each the sequence and speedway in enterprise, hosted the Indianapolis 500 with out spectators at a large monetary loss, and continued to pay groups their scheduled bonus cash out of his personal pocket.
Those have been all factors rival group proprietor Chip Ganassi made in his protection of Penske’s management, and Penske himself dismissed the comparisons of “F1 does it this way” or “but NASCAR does it that way” as a result of IndyAutomotive has a fraction of media rights offers the opposite sequence maintain, and nothing near the income stream of the opposite two sequence.
Plus, IndyAutomotive isn’t making an attempt to be F1 or NASCAR. It’s making an attempt to be IndyAutomotive, and the only unanimous topic within the paddock is that America’s open-wheel sequence is probably the most aggressive on the planet. Yes, Newgarden dominated in his pole-profitable Sunday win, however IndyAutomotive a yr in the past had seven totally different winners and is probably the most various sequence in that it races on ovals, everlasting street programs and non permanent avenue circuits.
Newgarden didn’t perceive the negativity, significantly after what gave the impression to be the biggest crowd on the twentieth anniversary of the primary Grand Prix of St. Pete — some of the widespread races on the IndyAutomotive 17-race calendar.
“I know it’s subjective, and I’m trying to be sort of fair about this. The crowd was amazing. I’ve seen more people here than I’ve ever seen at an IndyCar race,” Newgarden mentioned after his win. “I saw more specific, current IndyCar team jerseys. I saw more kids. It looked really good to me. I’ve seen a ton of negative noise, and I get it. Everyone wants to jump on anything, but everything I experienced this weekend was pretty incredible.”
Of course, the Newgarden we’re about to witness this season has undergone some kind of transformation and has taken a constructive — and maybe remoted — view to a season. A two-time IndyAutomotive champion and the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner seemingly misplaced his love of racing throughout final yr’s 4-race profitable season and has used deep reflection to recapture his ardour.
“I’m definitely a perfectionist. I’m an introvert, but I get hyper fixated on just trying to maximize everything,” he acknowledged. “It did start becoming a job … but if you’re fortunate enough to be here and do this, you should enjoy it. I’d always had it. I’d learned how to thrive in the pressure and still enjoy the job, and I think it just slipped away at one point.
“I was buried with a lot of other things, and I just tried to simplify my life and get back to happiness, and I think I’ve done that in a lot of ways. I feel really happy. I feel motivated.”
Newgarden now speaks as if he expects a Max Verstappen-like season, the place he wins each weekend and runs away with the championship. His offseason modifications included closing the media firm he co-owned, unfollowing each single particular person on social media, and the ending of the “Bus Bros,” which was a preferred social media present starring Newgarden and McLaughlin.
Not solely has the programming ended, however the one-time inseparable Penske besties appears to be skilled with each other however at an arm’s size of their private relationship. When requested about Newgarden’s intense new method following Sunday’s race, the previous Bus Bro was remarkably quick to finish the dialog.
“Doesn’t affect me,” McLaughlin mentioned with out blinking an eye fixed.
The AP requested Penske if there’s been a falling out between Newgarden and McLaughlin, and it was information to him. But in a lighthearted second, he vowed to search out out: “Gives me something to do,” he laughed.
Sounded a complete lot higher than the pounding he’d taken all weekend, saved solely by the pounding Team Penske gave proper again in Sunday’s race.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
