Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud have ruled out making changes to the team’s approach despite remaining winless in the 2021 IndyCar season.
Penske has failed to secure a victory within the opening eight races, marking its worst start to a season in 22 years, despite seven different drivers claiming a win.
The operation has nonetheless come close on several occasions, most notably at the recent double-header on the streets of Detroit.
Will Power succumbed to reliability issues from the lead in the first race while in the second encounter Newgarden lost out to a charging Pato O’Ward, having led 67 of the 70 laps.
When asked post-race if Penske needs to change its approach to the season, Newgarden swiftly said: “Nope, nope, I wouldn’t change a thing.
“Look, you can’t predict these races. You can look like a hero or a zero pretty easily in this sport, so yeah, I would ask anyone to change anything.
“I think they’re doing all the right stuff, it’s just not worked out. It’s not exactly what we wanted, but it’s not too bad.
“We’re in the hunt. But we’ve got halfway to go, so a lot of racing to hopefully still be in this fight.”
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s race at Road America, Pagenaud echoed the sentiments of his team-mate in believing a win is within imminent reach.
“I don’t think anything needs to chang,” he said. “Sometimes in sport, it has to come your way, then you look like a superstar. Sometimes you working really well and things just don’t work out, you look like an idiot.
“It’s difficult because, like I said, I think there – Pato is on a tear right now for example. I believe it could happen to us very quickly. It’s just a matter of everything aligning well.
“Performance is there, which is the most important thing. After that, we just have to execute. I feel like the momentum is coming, especially on the No.22 car. I really do.”
Discussion about this post