Team Penske owner Roger Penske has two drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race for the first time.
Both drivers are former Cup champions. Brad Keselowski won his title in 2012 under the 10-race Chase format. Joey Logano won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to secure the 2018 championship.
So how does a team owner allocate his loyalties between his two drivers as they head for Sunday’s Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway?
“I think we run as a team, we win as a team,” said Penske, whose third driver, Ryan Blaney, was eliminated in the Round of 16 of the Playoff. “We know when we go to the race track, if we have three cars, only one is going to win. You have to have that DNA throughout your whole organization. It’s tough. These guys are competitive.
“I think the collaboration, quite honestly, our crew chiefs, we have to the ability to share the information. We want them to. That’s a byproduct of what we do in Indianapolis in the IndyCar Series with our teams sitting together after each practice.
“We can’t do that this year because of the moratorium on getting together (because of the coronavirus pandemic). It’s a team effort. To be in a position with two cars, obviously, is envious as far as I’m concerned. We’ve still got to go out there this weekend and perform, but it’s certainly a team effort.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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