Malukas becoming complete package at Penske

The knock on David Malukas was the limited threat he posed during the formative years of his IndyCar career. If it was an oval, the Illinois native was expected to rise and exceed expectations for Dale Coyne Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and AJ Foyt Racing, but elsewhere?

The kid from the greater Chicago area wasn’t bad on road and street courses by any means, but the ovals are where he made his early name. And that’s changing — and rapidly so — as the newest member of Team Penske continues to lead the program with stellar performances in qualifying, including his latest front-row run to claim second alongside polesitter Alex Palou at Road America’s XPEL Grand Prix.

From nine races and 10 qualifying sessions held in 2026, Malukas had been Penske’s standard bearer as his No. 12 Chevy has started and finished in front of teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin at the majority of events.

“For my sake, I always put a lot of pressure on myself, no matter the situation, to keep getting better and looking at what you can do differently, right? You learn more from your losses than you do your wins,” Malukas said.

“Every day, man, I feel like I'm changing so much. If I even look at myself now to one month ago, I feel like I'm a completely different driver. If I compare to last year, it's not even relatable. Keep learning, learning. 24 years old, we still got time.”

Palou went through a similar spike in aptitude once he had a stable and high-caliber team to explore the depths of his talent. He’s growing accustomed to having Malukas in his orbit since the move was made to Penske, and shared a humorous take on how far he’s seen the No. 12 Chevy driver come in just a half season.

“Hopefully he doesn't get much faster or much better (smiles),” Palou said. “I mean, it would be cool for me if you just stay like this. Will be great. We can be very good friends. Otherwise maybe not (smiles).

“It's very tough. People think you jump in a car and that's it. I think you jump in a fast car and it makes your life a lot easier, [but] there's two other teammates for him, two other teammates for me, as well, that have the same car. It's very tough. You need to build your team. You need to feel confident with yourself. It's always hard work to execute every single weekend. Yeah, happy for him. Again, if he stays here [in second place], [it] will be good.”