IndyCar: Have Team Penske found Will Power's replacement?

Two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power has shown that his winless 2023 season, which produced by far his worst championship result since joining Team Penske full-time in 2010, was no more than a fluke and that he is still capable of performing at the high level we've all grown accustomed to seeing him perform over the last decade and a half.

His two wins through the first 12 races of the 2024 season are tied for the series lead, and he trails only fellow two-time series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing in the championship standings with five races left on the calendar.

But with Power now being 43 years old, the subject of retirement has been brought up on more than one occasion. He even recently admitted that it was on his mind last year as he dealt with the health challenges faced by his wife.

He is currently under contract with Team Penske through at least the 2025 season, and there is little reason to believe that an extension wouldn't be possible if he decides he wants to keep competing into his late 40s. Like the 44-year-old Scott Dixon, he continues to prove that age is just a number, having just ascended to fourth on the all-time wins list ahead of Michael Andretti.

On the other hand, should he decide it's time to stop, Team Penske might already have their eyes on a viable replacement behind the wheel of the No. 12 Chevrolet.

David Malukas had been rumored to either sign a contract extension with Meyer Shank Racing or join Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as the replacement for the Arrow McLaren-bound Christian Lundgaard.

Malukas, who spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons competing for Dale Coyne Racing with support from his father's HMD Motorsports, joined Meyer Shank Racing in the middle of the 2024 season to replace the struggling Tom Blomqvist after healing up from the preseason wrist injury that led to his premature – and, subjective, ill-advised – release by Arrow McLaren.

In six races, he has qualified no lower than 14th place, posted an average starting position of 7.67, and finished as high as sixth behind the wheel of the No. 66 Honda.

He is set to start tonight's race at World Wide Technology Raceway on the front row.

The 22-year-old Chicago, Illinois native has elevated the No. 66 team into the top 22 in the entrant standings, positioning it to make the Leaders' Circle and earn a $1 million payout from IndyCar. The team's outlook for such a result looked extremely bleak following Blomqvist's opening lap Indy 500 crash in late May.

But instead of staying put or joining a larger Honda organization, Malukas opted to join A.J. Foyt Enterprises for the 2025 season. It has not yet been announced whether he will replace Santino Ferrucci behind the wheel of the No. 14 Chevrolet or Sting Ray Robb behind the wheel of the No. 41 Chevrolet.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises are currently on course for their best season in more than two decades after forming a technical alliance with Team Penske over the offseason, and Malukas made mention of this partnership when his new deal was announced.

Could the knowledge that the No. 12 Chevrolet may need a new driver within a few years have played a role in Malukas opting to make a move that puts him as close as possible to Team Penske?

Malukas has done nothing but impress since joining IndyCar two seasons ago, and while pretty much everybody expected him to struggle when he returned to the cockpit after his injury, he has done the exact opposite, and he has done it in a car that had had next to no success whatsoever over the last year and a half.

Similar success with A.J. Foyt's team in 2025 and beyond would surely be enough to garner attention from one of IndyCar's top two teams. Even his success with Dale Coyne Racing was enough to land a deal with Arrow McLaren, albeit after Palou backed out on his deal and unexpectedly left the seat without a driver.

Team Penske also aren't a team to rush into any driver decisions or sign an unproven rookie. They have made only a handful of full-time driver additions over the last decade-plus, and all of them have paid off in a big way.

Juan Pablo Montoya was a CART champion and an Indy 500 winner who was accomplished in many other forms of motorsport when he joined in 2014. Simon Pagenaud had had three top five championship seasons with Sam Schmidt's team when he joined in 2015. Both drivers won multiple races and an Indy 500 after joining, with Pagenaud adding a championship.

Even after posting no top 10 finishes as a rookie in 2012, current Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden had solidified himself as the top free agent before signing with the team as a six-year veteran in 2017.

And while teammate Scott McLaughlin had no IndyCar experience, the team's decision to sign him in 2021 came after several years of success with Roger Penske's team in Australian Supercars (and, of course, his success during the COVID-19 IndyCar iRacing Challenge in 2020).

Newgarden has since won two championships and two Indy 500s, while McLaughlin has emerged as a race-winning contender at all kinds of tracks and recently took the pole position for the Indy 500 with an all-time record speed.

Now Malukas, who has tested for Team Penske, finds himself in a position to impress Team Penske with an affiliated IndyCar team in year number four (and presumably five, given that he signed a multi-year deal) of his IndyCar career.

It may also be worth mentioning that, as rookies with Dale Coyne Racing, both Malukas and Palou recorded one podium finish, two other top 10 finishes, an average finish of 14th, and a championship finish of 16th.

Palou is now a two-time champion, the reigning series champion, and current points leader, and he has 11 wins to his name at Chip Ganassi Racing.

Provided he keeps doing what he's doing, Malukas can establish himself as exactly the type of driver Team Penske are looking for when it comes time to replace Power. It's hard to imagine that he's not already on their radar, and it's hard to imagine that anybody else is atop their list of possibilities.