Team Penske finished 1-2-4 in the IndyCar Series in 2022, as it did in 2014. And now, as then, it was Will Power who prevailed. But the team’s total of nine wins in 17 races with its Chevrolet-engined cars doesn’t truly reflect how tight the championship battle was, how close Scott Dixon came to clinching a record-matching seventh title, or the fact that seven drivers entered the penultimate round still in contention, and five were mathematically capable of taking the title even at the Laguna Seca finale.
What was notable by then was the fact that IndyCar’s traditional powerhouses, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing, had prevailed once more, highlighting dysfunction and error at Andretti Autosport and the capricious nature of Arrow McLaren SP’s form, the only other teams to notch up victories.
The Firestone Pit Stop Performance awards can’t tell the whole story of the difference between the first and second-tier teams, but they are a useful indicator, given that the quality of the pitcrews is measured via time spent in the pitlane. It’s not a coincidence that the top five drivers in the championship had the
