NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that deuces were wild on Thursday night at the Music City Center, where NASCAR honored the champions of its top three national series at the annual NASCAR Awards.
Headlining the event was NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who drives the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske. The title was Logano’s second, following the championship he won for team owner Roger Penske in 2018.
The Indianapolis 500 will not take place behind closed doors this year, nor will it take place far removed from its traditional Memorial Day Weekend slot.
The state of Indiana and Marion County will permit the Greatest Spectacle in Racing up to 40 percent capacity next month, meaning a maximum of 135,000 fans will be allowed to attend the May 30 race, as confirmed by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday. (more…)
Newport, Rhode Island, April 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Audrain Group, LLC is proud to announce that champion racecar driver, David Donohue has joined Audrain Motorsport as the Senior Vice President of Member Experience & Sales. David’s wide-range of racing and motorsport related expertise, includes winning the 24-hours of Le Mans, Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, and the Rolex-24 at Daytona. (more…)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. / SAN ANTONIO, TX (April 8, 2021) – XPEL (NASDAQ: XPEL), a leading provider of protective films and coatings, announced today it will increase its presence in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES through an enhanced partnership with Team Penske and two-time series champion Josef Newgarden. (more…)
Roger Penske still dreams of a sold-out Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend but hasn’t committed to a particular attendance figure if that’s not permitted by the state.
In the meanwhile, Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues to do its part to curb Indiana COVID-19 numbers by hosting a vaccination site that ran through historic Gasoline Alley. It also plans to host a mass vaccination event next month before track activity begins on May 14.
The owner of both IMS and the IndyCar Series is hopeful to present something befitting of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing after running the event behind closed doors in 2020.
“We’re not making any predictions at all because anything I would say today could be completely wrong,” Penske said during a Monday press conference. “Our goal is to have 250,000. I mean, that’s what we want to have.
“It’s outside. We’ve got the biggest stadium in the world and it’s a matter of where we’re going to be with the CDC and with the governor and the mayor. So, I don’t have any number that I’d want to hang my hat on.”
The current state positivity rate in Indiana is 3.1 percent over the past week. It’s not clear what the positivity number of vaccination percentage would need to be for Penske to get the ‘all-clear’ to host a full capacity Indianapolis 500, but his company is doing its best to be good stewards for the community by hosting a vaccination site.
The four-day mass vaccination drive took place from March 4-7 and was one of just three such locations in Indiana to do so. The IMS drive issued over 16,000 vaccinations.
“We haven’t worked out the details (for the April event) yet with the state, but we think there’s an opportunity to make a big impact here (and) give back to the community,” Penske said. “With the size of our facility and what we’re able to accomplish just in three days, we think we can really help this whole area — the city of Indianapolis and the surrounding counties.”
With the exception of the Grand Prix of Toronto, which remains an unknown, Penske anticipates every IndyCar event having fans this season. Like Indianapolis, it’s just a matter of what the state and local jurisdictions will permit.
The season opening Grand Prix of Alabama is scheduled for April 18 and will host fans. A capacity limit for the expansive road course has not been set but it will take place after the state’s mask order will be lifted the week before.
The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida on April 25 will permit 20,000 fans, equal to the number allowed for the season finale in October. The event at Texas Motor Speedway will likely have as many fans as they sell tickets for with a facility that’s capable of hosting up to 181,655 fans.
“What we’re doing with each of the promoters is based off what the local rules are,” Penske said. “We’re going to have the sponsor capability with the teams. We’ve limited some of the hard cards, etc., but they’re flexible and the promoter will decide how many fans we’ll have.”
Joey Logano arrived in Florida last weekend, but it wasn’t to prepare for the 63rd running of the Daytona 500.
The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford’s focus was looking months ahead—to the inaugural Cup race on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Logano had never raced on dirt and never really had any desire to do so. (more…)
FOUNTAIN INN, S.C., Jan. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AVX Corporation, a leading manufacturer and supplier of advanced electronic components and interconnect, sensor, control, and antenna solutions, proudly announces its continued support of the newly rebranded DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT Formula E racing team. The seventh season (2020/21) of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is currently scheduled to kick off with a double-header in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for its desert landscape, and marks the third consecutive season that AVX has aligned with Mouser Electronics and TTI, Inc. in supporting the all-electric DRAGON racing team. The Diriyah races will also mark the series’ first night races, which will be lit with the latest, lowest-energy-consumption LED technology and exclusively powered by renewable energy sources to maintain the series’ net-zero carbon footprint, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, will take place on Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27.
The double-header originally scheduled for January 16 and 17 in Santiago, Chile, has been postponed and the new dates for that race, as well as the dates and locations for the rest of the 2020/21 season, will be released later this year. The pre-season test races in Valencia, Spain, spanned three days, five sessions, and some 6,000 laps in late November and early December, and revealed the likelihood of a hotly contested season, with all 24 drivers finishing the fifth, final, and most competitive session within just 0.761 seconds of one another, setting a new record for the tightest spread times in pre-season Formula E test races.
The DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT team earned positions two and three in the pre-season test races, with new driver Sérgio Sette Câmara closely followed by returning driver Nico Müller. Other team updates for the 2020/21 season include the new name, which highlights the involvement of team principal Jay Penske, son of legendary team boss and entrepreneur Roger Penske, and a striking new color scheme: matte white with chrome red livery.
“We’re delighted to be co-sponsoring the DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT Formula E racing team for another exciting season in partnership with Mouser, TTI, and Molex,” said Alex Schenkel, AVX’s senior vice president of Global Sales. “The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is an especially thrilling way to promote global environmental sustainability and stewardship and to showcase the latest high-performance automotive EV technologies. It’s also wildly entertaining and interactive, even for viewers watching from home, which we hope will bring some much-needed joy and fast-paced excitement to the millions of fans affected by quarantines, closures, and curfews. We’re all in this together and we’re very grateful for the opportunity to share some good, clean fun with auto racing enthusiasts around the world.”
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the fastest-growing series in motorsport and the first sport with a net-zero carbon footprint since inception. Firmly rooted in three core values: energy, environment, and entertainment, the championship serves as an Apollo-like proving ground, driving the development of innovative EV technologies from the drawing board through to the production line, promoting sustainable human progress, and — through the power of ultra-competitive, unpredictable, and edge-of-your-seat exciting, all-electric racing in the center of the world’s most iconic cities — fueling the adoption of electric vehicles to help counteract climate change.
AVX supports the design and development of cutting-edge EV technologies with a robust portfolio of advanced passive component, interconnect, sensor, control, and antenna solutions expertly engineered to provide peak performance in powertrain, active body control, lighting, power conversion, drive control, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
To support the DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT Formula E racing team throughout the 2020/21 season, please visit FANBOOST to vote for drivers Sérgio Sette Câmara and Nico Müller, and follow the #AVXFormulaE and #FANBOOST hashtags on social media.
For more information about the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, please visit https://www.fiaformulae.com/. For more information about the AVX components and capabilities that contribute to the safety and performance of the DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT Formula E racing team, please visit https://www.avx.com/Formula E/. For all other inquiries, please visit www.avx.com, email inquiry@avx.com, follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, like them on Facebook, call 864-967-2150, or write to One AVX Boulevard, Fountain Inn, SC 29644.
About AVX
AVX Corporation is a leading international manufacturer and supplier of advanced electronic components, interconnect, sensing, control, and antenna solutions with 33 manufacturing facilities in 16 countries around the world. AVX offers a broad range of devices including capacitors, resistors, filters, couplers, sensors, controls, circuit protection devices, connectors, and antennas.
About Mouser
Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on New Product Introductions from its leading manufacturer partners. Serving the global electronic design engineer and buyer community, the global distributor’s website, Mouser.com, is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 5 million products from over 1,100 manufacturer brands. Mouser offers 27 support locations worldwide to provide best-in-class customer service in local language, currency and time zone. The distributor ships to over 630,000 customers in 223 countries/territories from its 1 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art distribution facilities in the Dallas, Texas, metro area. For more information, visit https://www.mouser.com.
About TTI
TTI, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an authorized, specialty distributor of electronic components. Founded in 1971, the emphasis on a broad and deep product portfolio, available-to-sell inventory and sophisticated supply chain programs have established TTI as a distributor of choice to manufacturers in the industrial, defense, aerospace, transportation, medical, and communications sectors worldwide. TTI and its wholly owned subsidiaries, the TTI Family of Companies, Mouser Electronics, Sager Electronics and TTI Semiconductor Group, employ over 7,000 people in more than 133 locations throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Globally, the company maintains over 2 million square feet of dedicated warehouse space housing over 850,000 component part numbers. For more information about TTI, visit www.ttiinc.com.
About DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT
DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT is an American racing team founded in 2007 by Jay Penske. After many successful years competing in IndyCar, DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT became one of the founding teams of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. The team is headquartered in Los Angeles, California – the largest single metropolitan EV (electric vehicle) market in the world – and has additional operations in Silverstone, U.K. DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT is one of the leading teams in the Formula E Championship, with the Penske-led team finishing 2nd (runner-up) in the inaugural 2014/2015 Formula E season, and 4th in the second 2015/2016 ABB Formula E championship. DRAGON has one of the most experienced teams in the Formula E paddock. Collectively, DRAGON team members have over 180 years of racing experience, with over 275 race wins, 24 Indy 500 victories, and 17 series championships. DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT’s team motto is the Latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum” – meaning “out of many, there is one.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (January 25, 2021) – Team Penske announced today that PPG (NYSE: PPG) – a global manufacturer of paints, coatings, and specialty materials – will be featured as the primary sponsor on the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet driven by Scott McLaughlin for 10 races during the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. (more…)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (January 20, 2021) – Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion Austin Cindric will look to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut next month in “The Great American Race.” Cindric will drive the No. 33 Ford Mustang for Team Penske as he attempts to qualify for the 63rd Daytona 500. Miles Stanley, who has worked as race engineer for Team Penske’s No. 12 and No. 22 Cup Series teams, will serve as crew chief for Cindric and the No. 33 Ford team in 2021. (more…)
Middletown, CT’s NASCAR champion racing driver Joey Logano’s garage might not be as expansive or famous as former Tonight Show host Jay Leno’s garage, but he definitely has some interesting rides. (more…)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (December 11, 2020) – Over the course of his 21 seasons competing for Team Penske, Helio Castroneves produced hall of fame results for North America’s most successful racing organization. On Friday, Castroneves was recognized for his accomplishments on and off the track as he became the ninth inductee into the Team Penske Hall of Fame. (more…)
Earnhardt Jr., Farmer, Stefanik make up first three-person class
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 16, 2020) – NASCAR announced today the inductees who will comprise the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2021. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Red Farmer and Mike Stefanik make up the Hall of Fame’s 12th class, and first with three members. In addition, Ralph Seagraves was named as the recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel met virtually to debate and vote upon the 15 nominees for the induction class of 2021 and the five nominees for the Landmark Award. The group also became the first to vote on two different Hall of Fame ballots.
Ten nominees appeared on the Modern Era ballot, which was selected by the traditional Nominating Committee. The same committee selected the five Landmark Award nominees. The Pioneer ballot, which included five nominees whose careers began in 1961 or earlier, was selected by a new Honors Committee. Beginning with the Class of 2021, each Hall of Fame class will feature two inductees from the Modern Era ballot and one from the Pioneer ballot.
Earnhardt Jr. received 76% of the Modern Era ballot votes, Stefanik received 49%. Ricky Rudd finished third, followed by Neil Bonnett. Red Farmer received 71% of the Pioneer ballot votes. Hershel McGriff finished second.
Each class is selected by the Voting Panel, which expanded to 65 members this year. They include representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from major facilities and historic short tracks, media members, manufacturer representatives, competitors (drivers, owners, crew chiefs), recognized industry leaders, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion (Kyle Busch) and a nationwide fan vote conducted through NASCAR.com. Seven new voters from the Honors Committee – Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Ron Hornaday Jr., Dale Jarrett, Roger Penske, Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace – participated for the first time. In all, 63 votes were cast. The accounting firm of EY presided over the tabulation of the votes.
Results for the NASCAR.com Fan Vote were Neil Bonnett, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Red Farmer.
In addition to Earnhardt Jr. and Stefanik, the other Modern Era ballot nominees included Neil Bonnett, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Larry Phillips, Ricky Rudd and Kirk Shelmerdine. The other Pioneer ballot nominees were Jake Elder, Banjo Matthews, Hershel McGriff and Ralph Moody.
Nominees for the Landmark Award included Janet Guthrie, Alvin Hawkins, Mike Helton and Dr. Joe Mattiolli.
Class of 2021 Inductees:
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., a third-generation NASCAR champion in a family synonymous with the sport, is perhaps the most popular driver in NASCAR history. The son of “The Intimidator,” Earnhardt Jr. made his own path and served as the face of NASCAR as 15-time Most Popular Driver. He began his career at family-owned Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) winning back-to-back Xfinity Series titles and 13 races in two full-time seasons. He quickly moved to the Cup Series where he won in his 12th career start. Like his father, Earnhardt Jr. was a master of the draft and thrived in restrictor plate racing. Ten of his 26 Cup victories came at Daytona and Talladega, including Daytona 500 wins in 2004 and 2014. In 2006, Earnhardt founded JR Motorsports, adding team owner to his resume. The team has three Xfinity Series championships and 47 wins. Earnhardt currently serves as an analyst for NBC Sports and hosts the popular podcast ‘Dale Jr Download.’
Red Farmer
Red Farmer’s career is one long series of immeasurable accolades. For instance, it’s entirely unknown just how many wins Farmer has. One thing is for sure: it’s a lot … somewhere north of 700. His passion for the sport is likewise immeasurable. After all, he continues to race, even as he approaches 90 years of age. But the record books do have a few things that are black-and-white and proof positive about this member of the Alabama Gang. He collected three consecutive championships in NASCAR’s Late Model Sportsman division from 1969-71, long after he won the Modified title in 1956. Though he preferred racing in the Late Model Sportsman division, Farmer did run 36 Cup Series races, with a best finish of fourth (twice). In 1998, Farmer’s many successes – clearly too many to officially count – landed him on the list of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.
Mike Stefanik
At the very top of the list of all-time NASCAR championships sit two men: NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans … and Mike Stefanik. Each tallied nine in their exemplary careers, with Stefanik’s coming in both the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR East Series. Seven of his titles came in his primary racing series – the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. In 2003, he was named one of the Tour’s 10 Greatest Drivers, an obvious choice if there ever was one – Stefanik holds the all-time series record in championships, wins, poles, top fives and top 10s. Stefanik won two championships consecutively in the NASCAR East Series, in 1997-98. That, along with a win total that ties for ninth on the all-time series wins list, earned him a spot on the Top 10 Drivers of the First 25 Years of the NASCAR East Series list in 2011. In addition, Stefanik spent one full-time season in the NASCAR Gander Outdoor & RV Truck Series – and it was a successful one. He captured the Rookie of the Year Award in 1999.
Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR:
Ralph Seagraves
Ralph Seagraves’ life – and NASCAR’s world – changed the moment he met NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson. In the late 1960s, Seagraves, an official with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, had been searching for a means to market cigarettes after the federal government banned RJR’s products from advertising on television and radio. Johnson, ever the entrepreneur, had an idea. How about RJR sponsor his cars? Seagraves had a bigger idea: Why not sponsor NASCAR’s top series? And so, in 1971, for the first time since its inception in 1949, NASCAR’s premier series had major corporate backing. The NASCAR Winston Cup Series was born. The partnership helped NASCAR launch into the national spotlight, and created a bedrock of stability for the next three decades. RJR’s Winston brand sponsored NASCAR’s top series for more than 30 years, ending in 2003. Under Seagraves leadership, RJR helped a number of race track operators refurbish their facilities, many of which were short tracks that ran developmental NASCAR Winston Racing Series races.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR consists of three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series™), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour), one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, Americrown Service and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).
About the NASCAR Hall of Fame
Located in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is an interactive, entertainment attraction honoring the history and heritage of NASCAR. The high-tech venue, designed to educate and entertain race fans and non-fans alike, includes artifacts, hands-on exhibits, a 278-person state-of-the-art theater, Hall of Honor, Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, NASCAR Hall of Fame Gear Shop and NASCAR Productions-operated broadcast studio. Opened on May 11, 2010, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is owned by the City of Charlotte, licensed by NASCAR and operated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. For more information, visit nascarhall.com.
THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone, to today’s media teleconference here with NASCAR president Steve Phelps. We appreciate you all making the time. We also realize that you have a number of questions for Steve here today. We’re going to try to get through as many questions as we have for this teleconference. We’re planning to set aside 20 minutes, a lot of activity going on here as you might imagine. (more…)
Kevin Harvick came into Texas knowing that it is one of his best tracks and he needed to show everyone that he still knew how to win a race. While he didn’t win any stages, he won the race and led a race high 119 laps, most of those in the final stage. Harvick started on the pole but was penalized after a tire infraction on pit road that sent him to the back. (more…)
New Video Series Features All Drivers Competing for Team Penske in 2019
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (February 27, 2019) – Earlier today, Team Penske released the first video of the 2019 series of The Penske Games, which returns for its third season after achieving critical acclaim and impressive viewership totals in 2017 and 2018. The multi-episode social media series will be distributed online throughout the course of the 2019 racing season. The new season launched today with the Team Penske drivers playing a version of the popular party game, Minute to Win It, pitting NASCAR and Supercars drivers against their INDYCAR and IMSA counterparts. (more…)
An ill Brad Keselowski celebrates victory at Atlanta, passing Mark Donohue to become the all-time winningest Team Penske driver.
After earning the title of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion in 2018, Joey Logano will look to win his second DAYTONA 500 on Sunday, Feb. 17. The 28-year-old Connecticut native won “The Great American Race” in 2015, giving Roger Penske his second victory in the event. The last time a MENCS champion went on to win the DAYTONA 500 the following year was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
(Daytona Speedway PR)
