NASCAR: 3 keys to Team Penske success in 2022

Key No. 2 to Team Penske success: The ability to adapt

This isn’t the first time that Team Penske have fallen behind other organizations and needed to find ways to improve. JGR dominated the 2019 season, with 19 wins and three drivers in the Championship 4, while Team Penske had six wins and all three drivers outside of the Championship 4.

Despite still being one of the next-best organizations, Team Penske made significant changes ahead of the 2020 season, moving around the crew chiefs, along with their road crews and pit crews, while keeping the spotters with the drivers.

The changes sent Paul Wolfe from Brad Keselowski to Joey Logano, Todd Gordon from Logano to Ryan Blaney, and Jeremy Bullins from Blaney to Keselowski.

While these changes would seem to go against the conventional wisdom of keeping successful pairs together, given the fact that Wolfe and Gordon spent a combined 16 seasons with their former drivers, the bold move paid off.

The three Team Penske drivers combined for eight wins in 2020, and they landed two drivers in the Championship 4, Keselowksi and Logano. Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) had 10 wins (nine by Kevin Harvick), JGR had nine and Hendrick Motorsports had seven, so Team Penske once again found themselves in the mix at the top.

While personnel changes weren’t the only reason for improved results, sometimes a fresh perspective can go a long way to improving a team’s success.

The team have also handled mechanical changes well. After Keselowski’s 2012 championship, the organization switched from Dodge to Ford. They initially saw a down year, with two wins and 20 top five finishes between Keselowski and Logano in 2013, before bouncing back in just their second year with Ford, recording a combined 11 wins and 33 top five finishes in 2014.

With NASCAR’s switch to the Next Gen car for the 2022 season, Team Penske would seem well equipped for this change. They’ve had the second-most recent manufacturer change of contending teams (behind only SHR’s switch from Chevrolet to Ford ahead of the 2017 season), and they’re not afraid to make bold moves to help improve competition.

Change is something on which Team Penske have thrived, and their ability to adapt to both the Next Gen car and a switch in their driver lineup will be crucial to whether they can be the best team in the series in 2022.