IndyCar: Roger Penske confirms Simon Pagenaud will return in 2020

Team Penske team owner Roger Penske confirmed that 2019 Indianapolis 500 champion Simon Pagenaud will return to the team for the 2020 IndyCar season.

Toward the end of the 17-race 2018 IndyCar season, Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud signed a contract extension to continue driving for the team through at least the 2019 season.

However, with the 35-year-old Frenchman entering the 17-race 2019 season having not won a race since he won the 2017 season finale at Sonoma Raceway, there were rumors that he would be replaced behind the wheel of the #22 Chevrolet ahead of the 2020 season.

Entering the 2019 season’s fifth race, the IndyCar Grand Prix, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the length of Pagenaud’s win drought was 21 races, his longest win drought since he became a Team Penske driver ahead of the 2015 season.

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Pagenaud qualified for this 85-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Speedway, Indiana in eighth place and did not look like he would be much of a factor at the front of the field, even late in the race.

But he rallied from several seconds behind race leader Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing following the race’s final restart, passing several other driver in the process, in the rain to earn the victory and snap his lengthy win drought.

But the success did not stop there for Pagenaud in the month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He proceeded to take the pole position for the Indianapolis 500, which was his first pole position since he took the pole position for the 2017 season’s 12th race on the streets of Toronto, Ontario. As a result, by taking this pole position, he ended his 27-race pole position drought.

Pagenaud then went on to lead 116 laps of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana en route to earning the first Indy 500 victory of his career.

As a result, he now leads the championship standings by one point (250 to 249) over teammate Josef Newgarden, and it is safe to say that he has silenced the rumors about him potentially being replaced ahead of the 2020 season.

Here is what Team Penske team owner Roger Penske had to say about Pagenaud’s status with the team for the 2020 season, according to Motorsport.

"“I don’t think that I said anything to the media about Simon. He’s on our team. He’s one of our drivers. You’ve seen that. That was scuttlebutt. I think that’s a good word for it. What he did this month…certainly he achieved records in his own personal life and certainly what he had expected to, and the run today, it’s a history book run…he did a great job."

As for a specific answer to whether or not the 2019 Indy 500 champion will remain with Team Penske for what would be his sixth season driving for the team, here is what Penske had to say, according to Motorsport.

"What do you think? Do you want to answer that question for me? Absolutely.”"

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Simon Pagenaud has driven in a total of 72 races since he began driving for Team Penske in the 2015 IndyCar season. He has won nine of these races and finished on the podium in 11 others, and he has taken 11 pole positions. Most notably, he won the 2016 championship.

Prior to driving for Team Penske, Pagenaud competed in a total of 55 races. He won four of them and finished on the podium in six others, and he took one pole position. His best finish in the championship standings was his third place finish in the 2013 season when he drove for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports.