Penske Takes Two Checkered Flags; Wins Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600

For the first time in his legendary racing career, cars owned by Roger Penske, CEO and chairman of Penske Corp. in Bloomfield Township, won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C. on the same weekend.
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Penske race car
Team Penske NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney celebrates winning the rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 Monday evening. // Photo courtesy of Ford

For the first time in his legendary racing career, cars owned by Roger Penske, CEO and chairman of Penske Corp. in Bloomfield Township, won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C. on the same weekend.

On Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which Penske has owned since 2020, Penske driver Josef Newgarden won his first Indy 500 and Penske’s 19th as a team owner.

In dramatic fashion, Newgarden, who started 17th, passed last year’s winner Marcus Ericsson on the back straightaway in the final lap to score the victory. It was the fourth-closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.

“What a race,” Penske said during a post-race television interview. “The last two laps I forgot about being a track owner. It’s great to get the 19th. I’ll never forget it.”

The next evening, Memorial Day, another Penske driver motored into victory lane. This time it was NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney who had just won the rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., outside of Charlotte.

Blaney dominated a crash-filled race that wasn’t really in doubt over the last 10-20 laps.

“That was the goal,” said Blaney during his post-race press conference about winning the Coke 600 for Penske. “And fortunately, we executed well enough to get it done. I’m really looking forward to talking to Roger after I get back to the bus because I haven’t congratulated him enough, and I’m looking forward to hearing his voice.

“(This is) a big weekend, and obviously winning the 600 is massive,” Blaney continued after notching his eighth career win. “Obviously Memorial Day weekend means a lot.”

Penske started in the racing business as a driver in the late 1950s. By 1960, Sports Illustrated named him the Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year. Penske retired from the cockpit in 1965 to focus on his first car dealership, a Chevrolet store in Philadelphia. Banks and insurance companies didn’t want to back him if he was driving race cars.

Since then, he has built Penske Corp. into a business that generates more than $30 billion each year.

In November 2019, he purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the request of the previous owner and took possession in January 2020. Since that time, his drivers have been denied the traditional drink of cold milk in victory lane.

“I thought when we bought the track, it was a bad omen,” Penske said after the race. “But we got it done today.”

To read a DBusiness profile of Roger Penske, visit here.