With a veteran lineup of Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin, we take a look at how Team Penske will fare in the 2024 IndyCar season.
Despite winning the Indy 500 and dominating the oval races last year, Team Penske’s 2023 IndyCar campaign crashed and burned towards the end of the season. Unable to catch Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing.
Josef Newgarden: What Next?
Newgarden’s 2024 is off to a great start. The 2023 Indianapolis 500 champion won the prestigious Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with Porsche Penske Motorsport.
Daytona 24h Winners!!!
What an honor to learn from these guys and share a race car together. Crazy proud of @FelipeNasr , @mattcampbell22_ & @danecameron19 – they were masterful all the way. Thankful for the incredible effort and hard work from the entire @PorscheRaces… pic.twitter.com/KJVbnof4Jg
— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) January 29, 2024
As for his IndyCar prospects for Team Penske, it is an open question. He is a two-time series champion and now an Indy 500 winner. In other words, he’s won pretty much everything you can win in IndyCar.
Nevertheless, the Tennessee native will continue to push the gauntlet to get another Indy 500 win and again try to dethrone Alex Palou for the championship.
Will Power: Missing in Action
Coming off of his immensely impressive 2022 season where he won his second championship, Will Power’s 2023 was underwhelming.
Given his talent, success, and machinery, his 2023 season should have yielded better results. The IndyCar veteran was never in the picture for the championship and didn’t win any races.
However, in a textbook Will Power fashion, he did give us a lot of very memorable moments. For example, he was giving Scott Dixon the double-birds in Road America or exclaiming in an interview that Romain Grosjean needs to get punched in the face.
As for his 2024 prospects, he must return to his winning ways. This is both for his sake and for Team Penske’s hopes of defeating Ganassi.
Scott McLaughlin: Keep Climbing
Since he joined the NTT IndyCar Series back in 2021, he has made himself a big player. He has won 4 races and is always a formidable force on road/street courses. However, the Kiwi has yet to be as competitive on ovals as his Penske teammates.
During the 2023 season, McLaughlin also treated us to some epic battles with Grosjean in St Pete and Barber. He also took pole position on the streets of Nashville.
Before coming to IndyCar, he won three V8 Supercar championships. Those machines are more akin to stock cars and fundamentally different from single-seaters like IndyCar. So the fact he adjusted to IndyCar as quickly as he has and found success is very impressive.
If he can improve his form on the ovals, McLaughlin will surely be a deadly arrow in Team Penske’s quiver for the 2024 season.
Ovals to save the day?
With the recent news that the season finale will be on an oval, this is amazing news for Team Penske. Given their dominant form on the ovals last year, the second half of the season could very well swing the championship to the Captain.
This is especially good news for Josef Newgarden as well. If he or his teammates can stay in the championship window during the road/street races and maintain their oval form, we may just get a new champion. One that is not named Alex Palou.
We will find out when the green flag drops in St. Pete.
