Roger Penske was the big winner last weekend in American motorsports. The 89-year-old godfather of auto racing is celebrating his sixtieth year in the sport that began for him when he attended the Indy 500 race in the fifties with his dad. His love for sport has endured his entire lifetime during which his impact has been greater than anyone else in auto racing. Roger Penske has over 630 major race wins as a car owner including 245 wins in Indy car racing with twenty Indy 500 triumphs. He has 158 NASCAR CUP series wins including five CUP series Championships. He has fielded race cars under his team’s name around the world in various forms of road racing. He owns the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well as the series that races there. Roger Penske is to American motorsports what the Yankees are to baseball! Maybe more. As a driver he has one west coast stock car win and a few wins in Sports Car Club of American road racing.
Last weekend his driver, Josef Newgarden, won the Indy car race at Phoenix International Raceway. One day later his driver, Ryan Blaney, won the NASCAR Cup series race at the same track. It is fair to say that Roger Penske plans to make his 60th year as a leader in motorsports incredibly special. This would include another Indy 500 win and series Championship as well as the NASCAR Cup series title with several major wins along the way. He is motivated. His huge team of dedicated racers is motivated. It seems to me that the stars in the sky and a massive number of resources are lined up to make 2026 the best year ever in Roger Penske’s life and racing legacy. Penske is eighty-nine.
The double header featuring the Indy cars and NASCAR stock cars at Phoenix last weekend was great. It was terrific value for the fans! The O’Reilly Auto Parts series for NASCAR stock cars ran on Saturday where Justin Allgaier won over Jesse Love, Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, and Sam Mayer. On Sunday, Blaney was dominant despite a strong showing by Chris Bell who finished second. Kyle Larson took third with Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, and Erik Jones completing the top ten. Reddick continues to lead the playoff point championships ahead of Blaney, Wallace, Chase Elliott, Shane van Gisbergen, Bell, Joey Logano, McDowell, Chris Buescher and Larson. Tenth place Larson is 116 points behind his fellow Northern Californian, Reddick. The top sixteen CUP series drivers in points after twenty-six regular season races will face-off in a ten-race playoff to decide the 2026 driver champion where total points earned in just those ten races will determine the champion.
NASCAR races in Las Vegas with the O’Reilly series on Saturday and the CUP cars on Sunday. This will be the fifth race of thirty-six scheduled in 2026.
The Las Vegas race weekend will also feature the start of the High Limit winged sprint car series, Thursday through Saturday nights. Larson will compete in the sprint car races as well as the O’Reilly stock car series on Saturday afternoon. When that race ends Larson will run over to the dirt track for that series final. The presence of NASCAR champion Kyle Larson in five races over four days will ensure a huge attendance. As if that was not enough, Larson is the odds-on favorite to win in all the races that he has entered. Doing so would be a huge sports story on Monday. Odds? Seems impossible, which makes it even more enticing. Stay tuned!
The Formula One race on Australia was interesting. It turns out that the massive changes in the design of the cars, their engines and much more were the story. As suspected the Mercedes team did fine a loophole in the rules that enabled driver George Russell to win with some level of ease. Given that the Mercedes team had a secret edge, Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli was an easy second. Ferrari was also expected to have an advantage and so they did. This gave them third and fourth with Charles LeClare and Lewis Hamilton in that order. Fifth place went to last years F-1 champion Lando Norris in a McLaren. Oscar Piastri, Norris’s McLaren teammate, was the victim of a power surge caused by an unexpected electrical power boost on the pace lap sending him into the crash wall and out of the race. Weird stuff to be sure. This story has so many plot lines that we may have to wait well into the season to line up our suspects in this mystery drama. Stay tuned.
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