NASCAR: 3 keys to Team Penske success in 2022

Here are three keys that Team Penske need to be the top team in the NASCAR Cup Series, after Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing combined to win 26 races in 2021.

With five race wins and all three drivers finishing inside the top eight in the championship standings after round of 8 playoff appearances, Team Penske were clearly the third-best team in the NASCAR Cup Series this past season.

But they were a distant third to Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), which combined to earn 26 wins in 36 races. Each placed two drivers each in the Championship 4. Hendrick Motorsports had 17 wins, including 10 from champion Kyle Larson, while JGR had nine.

For Team Penske to unseat Hendrick Motorsports and JGR and become the best team in the series, there are three key factors that will need to happen.

Here’s their roadmap to success for the 2022 season.

Key No. 1 to Team Penske success: Austin Cindric performing

Following 12 seasons and the 2012 championship with Team Penske, Brad Keselowski decided to make the move to Roush Fenway Racing for next season. He gets an ownership stake as part of his new deal, with the team changing their name to RFK (Roush Fenway Keselowski) Racing.

Austin Cindric is set to replace Keselowski behind the wheel of the #2 Ford, after originally being slated to run the #21 Ford at Wood Brothers Racing. The 2020 Xfinity Series champion will try to fill the shoes of a veteran driver while running a rookie campaign.

The #2 Ford is a championship-caliber ride, which Keselowski took to at least one win in each of his seasons with the team (34 wins in total). In fact, the last season during which the #2 car did not reach victory lane was in 2005 with Rusty Wallace, who was in his final season not only with the team but in the Cup Series as a whole.

While the organization’s flagship ride is capable of success, rookies who were top contenders in the Xfinity Series have found it hard to find quick success in the Cup Series. Here are some recent examples of drivers who moved up from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series:

William Byron – four wins, 12 top five finishes, 22 top 10 finishes, champion in 2017 Xfinity Series season; no wins or top five finishes, four top 10 finishes in 2018 Cup Series season

Christopher Bell – eight wins, 20 top five finishes, 21 top 10 finishes, third in points in 2019 Xfinity Series season; no wins, two top five finishes, seven top 10 finishes in 2020 Cup Series season

Tyler Reddick – six wins, 24 top five finishes, 27 top 10 finishes, champion in 2019 Xfinity Series season; no wins, three top five finishes, nine top 10 finishes in 2020 Cup Series season

Cole Custer – seven wins, 17 top five finishes, 24 top 10 finishes, second in points in 2019 Xfinity Series season; one win, two top five finishes, seven top 10 finishes in 2020 Cup Series season

Chase Briscoe – nine wins, 16 top five finishes, 22 top 10 finishes, fourth in points in 2020 Xfinity Series season; no wins or top five finishes, three top 10 finishes in 2021 Cup Series season

These five drivers were all top contenders before making the move to the Cup Series. While their Cup Series rides during their respective rookie seasons were not of the same caliber as the #2 Ford should be in 2022, these drivers were all still with top organizations or satellite teams that could occasionally compete for wins. But only Custer recorded a victory in his rookie season.

Cindric recorded five wins, 22 top five finishes, and 26 top 10 finishes, and he came up just a few inches short of a second championship this past season in the Xfinity Series in an attempt to defend his title. How quickly he can compete for wins and top five finishes in the Cup Series will be one of the biggest factors into how competitive Team Penske can be in 2022.