New deal for Power next on Penske checklist

Team Penske has two of its three NTT IndyCar Series drivers in Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin locked into long-term contracts. Next on the list, according to Roger Penske, is his championship leader Will Power.

“We just did Scotty and we're on a long-term contract with Josef right now,” Penske told RACER. “And we have an extra year with Will through ‘23. With Will, we’ll talk to him at the end of the season, for sure.”

Power welcomed the news.

“I'm not retiring anytime soon,” he said. “I want to keep going. I'm right at the top of my game. I'm hoping they re-sign me for a long time.”

In downsizing the team to three cars, Team Penske has found the perfect combination with Power, Newgarden, and McLaughlin. They hold P1, P2 and P4, respectively, in the championship standings leading into Sunday’s 95-lap season finale, and it’s easy to envision the trio in a similar position for years to come.

“I really think the three guys have melded together,” Penske said. “I think Josef has been a real support tool for Scotty and I think the two of them are working well with Will. We're pushing each other, which you can see in the results. These guys are on it and credit to the team.

“I think when we came back from four cars to three, we got a lot more focused on these three guys. That's been an improvement and a good move as we were moving back into the sports car business. With everything else, we felt like, 'Let's be sure we have a solid IndyCar team, because that's where we came from with success.'”

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Penske paid tribute to the men and women on his IndyCar team who’ve put all three drivers in a position to win the championship after capturing nine combined wins from 16 rounds.

“You’ve got to put the numbers on the board and I think that our three drivers have been consistent, but I think you've gotta give a lot of the credit to the crews,” he said. “The pit stops have been the best almost every weekend and I’d say our reliability, we've had a couple of issues but overall, our cars’ reliability and staying out of trouble on track, qualifying well, gaining track position and execution is what's happened with the three-car team.

“It has worked out well and overall, we're in the position we wanted to be going into ’23. That's always a good feeling for our sponsors and we are in good shape. It's makes me feel good that we've done our job.”