LONG POND, PA – We knew entering this weekend’s ABC Supply 500 at the Pocono Raceway that Team Penske would likely be the ones to beat. 2019 has been a great season for them. All three of their drivers sit in the top five of the NTT IndyCar Series points standings. In the oval standings, they were 1-2-4.

That’s why it shouldn’t be too surprising that they finished 1-3-5 in Sunday’s rain shortened race.

Will Power passed Scott Dixon 13 laps prior to the red flag being displayed for lightening which was the start of the track and series officials to have to end the race 72 laps early. That netted him his third Pocono win in the last four years. His worst finish in that time frame is second.

The reason you could question it is because Penske seemed to struggle in Saturday’s lone practice session of the weekend. Or did they?

“We weren’t struggling at all” Power said. J”ust some people run light fuel. We were straight into heavy fuel running, really understanding the car. I think we just tried a lot of things to get an understanding of what we needed for the race, particularly the downforce level we need to run, which everyone in the field ended up on anyway.
As soon as the race started, I knew we had a good car. I knew we had a good car going in. Yeah, we just made some adjustments, kind of had a lot of push. Obviously back in traffic there, I ended up trimming out a little bit at the end there. All the right moves.”

It was Penske’s fourth win in the last six years on the Tricky Triangle. But, it’s not just Pocono to where they’ve been strong at – it’s all ovals.

On superspeedway’s this season, they finish 3-for-2. On superspeedway’s the last couple of years, they’re 6-for-8. In fact, since the start of the 2016 season, Penske has won seven of the 12 races contested on superspeedway’s.

Josef Newgarden has finished fourth, first and fifth respectively in 2019 on them. Simon Pagenaud has finished first, sixth and third respectively himself.

Pagenaud won Indy. Newgarden won Texas. Now Power wins Pocono. Three superspeedways run, three different winners, same team.

In fact, in Pocono, Newgarden, has six top five finishes in seven tries with his worst finish being eighth. Pagenaud, has six top eight finishes in seven tries himself.

From here, it’s to Gateway where Penske is riding a four race win streak including both since the series’ return in 2017.

Newgarden, has finished first and seventh respectively in Gateway. Pagenaud, has finished third and fourth respectively. Power, has finished 20th and first respectively on the 1.25-mile St. Louis area oval.

On short ovals, Penske has won three of the four under this current aero package with the new car and six of the last seven overall.

Also, on ovals in general, Penske has won five straight and 13 of the last 18 overall.