Team Penske can become the first to sweep racing’s two big prizes in one season

The man known as The Captain has come close to racing’s version of a perfecta.

So Roger Penske is being cautious about the chances of becoming the first team owner to capture both the IndyCar and NASCAR Sprint Cup championships in the same season.

“We begin every season believing we are capable of winning the championship in each series where we race,” said Penske, the only owner to have won an IndyCar and Cup championship in a career.

“We had a chance in 2012 … obviously I’m thinking about that.”

In 2012, Brad Keselowski ended 21 years of Sprint Cup frustration for Penske when he won the Sprint Cup title, but Will Power finished three points shy of winning the IndyCar championship.

This year, Power and teammate Helio Castroneves finished 1-2 in the IndyCar series, while Keselowski and Joey Logano have been the winningest Sprint Cup drivers. Keselowski has won a series-most five races and Logano has won four entering Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, the fourth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“For me it’s a special time,” said Penske, 77. “To compete at the level we are … it’s so close, this thing can go (either) way.”

Team Penske has compiled 402 major race wins, including 15 Indianapolis 500s, and the 2008 Daytona 500 and a total of 26 national championships across all of the teams’ motorsports ventures.

That makes it somewhat of a mystery that it took so long for Penske to capture its first NASCAR title, when Keselowski won the 2010 Nationwide championship, followed by the 2012 Sprint Cup title.

“It shows you how difficult the sport is,” said Tim Cindric, president of Team Penkse. “People think resources buy you success, and I’ve seen a lot of people with a lot bigger budgets than we have, come and go in this sport.

“It comes down to the chemistry and the people who are willing and able to work together, and having the right guy behind the wheel. It’s taken a little bit of that in different ways to get there.”

When Penske, who dabbled in NASCAR in the 1970s, decided to compete full-time in Sprint Cup racing in 1991, he hired Rusty Wallace, who was two years removed from winning the championship, for the No. 2 car.

Wallace won 37 races in 15 years for Penske in his Hall of Fame career, including a series-most 10 in 1993 when he was runner-up to Dale Earnhardt Sr. But the championship continued to be elusive.

“When I was driving for him, we used more of a seat-of-the pants approach,” said Wallace, an old-school driver from the wrench and screwdriver era. “He was always saying, ‘You guys have to get more technical. This is only going to carry you so far.’

“When I left, he immediately instituted more engineers, more technical. … It was like I was holding him back. It’s like ‘Rusty is getting it done under his way, but I need to get this thing more technical.’ He has surrounded himself with really good, smart people.”

Penske finally hit the right combination with the youthful Keselowski, 30, in the No. 2 Ford, and Logano, 24, who last year took over the No. 22 vacated by AJ Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr.

“I feel lucky to drive for him,” said Keselowski, who like Penske is from Michigan. “He’s successful in everything he does. What I see in Roger is a guy who doesn’t stand still. … He keeps growing.

“He’s quite a bit older than me and my dad, and he can use a cell phone better than most people. That’s just one symbol of his dedication to steady, consistent growth, whether it’s personal or professional. When you combine that with understanding how important it is to surround yourself with great people, you really have a powerful combination in that man.”

Operating just two cars compared with Hendricks’ four cars or Gibbs’ three has been an advantage for Penske, said Wallace.

“Roger’s always had the approach less is better,” Wallace said. “He loves a two-car team. He does not like a four-car team. … You know how much easier and how much focus you can put on a two-car team?

“Hendrick’s got wonderful drivers, but they don’t have the consistency the two-car Penske teams have. Some of these four-car teams tell me they’re barely getting enough money to run four teams. It’s hard to get sponsorships, and then you’re having to rob money from the other guys to put in that team.”

Team Penske made another move this year when it consolidated its racing operations under one roof in North Carolina and utilizing engineers and pit crew members for both series as opposed to having the IndyCar shop in Pennsylvania and the NASCAR shop in Mooresville, N.C.

“We wanted to be one team,” Penske said. It’s made a big difference.”

This story was originally published October 4, 2014 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Team Penske can become the first to sweep racing’s two big prizes in one season."