Team Penske sweeps Phoenix Winning both INDYCAR and NASCAR Races with Josef Newgarden and Ryan Blaney. Also, Big News on Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.

Roger Penske:
This is Roger Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indie, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental

Bruce Martin: IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, Auto Week, and Speed Sport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, as we continue our sixth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. We welcome back our friends from Penske Truck Rental, who return as the presenting sponsor of Pit Pass Indy. Penske Truck Rental helps Pit Pass Indy bring you the inside stories of IndyCar from the paddock, to the racetrack, to the highways and streets of America. And this season, Penske Truck Rental and Pit Pass Indy will celebrate Team Penske's 60th anniversary. Team owner Roger Penske began the most successful racing team in history in 1966 out of a small garage in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, along with his driver, engineer, and team partner, Mark Donohue. By 1972, Donohue was the winning driver of the Indianapolis 500, the first of Penske Racing's record 20 Indy 500 wins. After a successful time based out of Reading, Pennsylvania, since 2007, Team Penske has operated out of a massive facility in Mooresville, North Carolina that also includes championship winning teams in NASCAR, IMSA sports car racing, and the World Endurance Championship. Team Penske showcased that 60th anniversary celebration over the weekend at Phoenix Raceway, the first time IndyCar and NASCAR had a doubleheader weekend on an oval track. By the end of the weekend, Team Penske turned it into the Penske Game, sweeping the weekend with David Maloukas winning the pole on March 6th, and two-time IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden winning the Good Ranchers 250 on March 7th. Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano won the pole for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 on Saturday, March 7th, and teammate Ryan Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, won Sunday's race as Team Penske swept the weekend. In what may be the most packed episode of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental, we have exclusive interviews with the biggest names in IndyCar and in NASCAR. Let's start it off with the man who started Penske Racing in 1966, Team Penske owner and IndyCar owner, Roger Penske, as he explains how important it was to bring the two series together for a fantastic weekend in Phoenix in this exclusive interview. To be able to pull off this weekend, celebrate it here, Phoenix means so much to you and both your IndyCar and NASCAR thing. How important is it to honor the 60th anniversary here at Phoenix?

Roger Penske: Well, first, the 60th anniversary is certainly special, you know, based on what we've been able to accomplish over the years in Phoenix. part of the foundation of a lot of our success. I think the key thing here is that we've raced here, we're here when it was just a little bit of a track came across our bridge to get in, but to see it now and to have the capability of the team we have and what we've been able to accomplish is, it's hard for me to believe, but as you know, racing is a common thread throughout our company.

Bruce Martin: Two-time IndyCar Series champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden has once again regained his place as the best oval driver in IndyCar. He won last year's season finale at Nashville Super Speedway and in just the second race of 2026 won another oval race at Phoenix Raceway. PitPass Indy caught up with Newgarden entering the race weekend at Phoenix for this exclusive interview. From a racing standpoint, when you go from 23rd to 7th, is that a lot of satisfaction derived from that type of effort?

Josef Newgarden: It's not a victory, it's not a podium, but you know that you raced hard to get there. Yeah, I mean, I was satisfied with the consistency. Look, we didn't make any mistakes, as I was just saying. That was the biggest thing. You know, we've got to do that all year. And so I felt, you know, the best session we had all weekend was the race. And it's typically the most important time. But we've got to be better than that too. We can't have tough practices like we did. We sort of know why the cadence got thrown off for us. I think we can fix that going forward. I was happy with the way we performed on race day.

Bruce Martin: It's a tough schedule. You got a race next weekend in Arlington, Texas. So are you not going to stick around on Sunday or are you going to stick around?

Josef Newgarden: No, I'll be here Sunday. I'm going to watch the cup race and then I got to be in D.C. on Monday, then testing Tuesday for Arlington. So it's busy. It's definitely been a busy start to the year.

Bruce Martin: Was it frustrating to look at the top of the board after you finished seventh and go, him again?

Josef Newgarden: No. I mean, it's looked like a pretty normal day for the most part. I mean, they had a good day. They did a good job. I wish I would have started up higher. I think I could have… I mean, you know, it's easy to say after the fact. I think we could have challenged if we were in the top five, but that's our fault to not be there in the mix. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, look, I think I said it after St. Pete. We've just got to be better every day we show up. You know, we were good on race day in St. Petersburg. It was encouraging. We got to be better than that this weekend, and then we got to be better than that the weekend afterwards. I think if we can continue to just get better and not have too many falters, then we should be in the mix. Yeah.

Bruce Martin: Ryan Blaney was saying how excited he is to be at an IndyCar race on an oval in person for the first time in his life. So when you hear that kind of exuberance from a NASCAR Cup Series champion like Ryan Blaney, it really says something about what IndyCar is like on an oval.

Josef Newgarden: Wow, look, I know Blaney's a big, he's an IndyCar fan, and we're NASCAR fans. I love watching Blaney. I'm always texting him. But yeah, he's going to be excited to see us race here. You know, we look very different to their car. It's a different style of racing, right? We're racing at the end of the day the same, but different style. And I know he's excited to see that. And we're excited to watch them. I'm going to be here on Sunday cheering them on. I mean, there's definitely like, you know, a little bit of bragging rights if you can get the job done versus the rest of the team.

Bruce Martin: you know we'll have to see how it shakes out you're gonna be in some pretty big company monday in washington with secretary of transportation secretary of the interior Big event for IndyCar. You've done a lot. You've raced in front of 350,000 fans at the Indianapolis 500. You've celebrated Indy 500 victories. But is that even something that really grabs your attention that I'm with some pretty important people here who are in charge of running the country?

Josef Newgarden: Well, I'm just a racer, to be honest with you. I look forward to racing. And so to have a race in D.C. is obviously going to be big for everybody. And really, it's the race that I look forward to. I'm excited to represent our team and hopefully win another one. You were the last winner here.

Bruce Martin: The track surface itself hasn't changed, but the layout has. What else has changed about this track? Is it the same grip level you remember from 2018, or the same methods that get you around this track faster, the same ones you use now that you used then?

Josef Newgarden: Honestly, it seems pretty similar. A car's different in that it's heavier, but I think the driving style and the track style is honestly quite similar to 2018. So we're going to try and apply a lot of those principles that we knew back then to be successful this weekend.

Bruce Martin: And final question for Josef Newgarden. There used to be a saying that there was no facial hair at Team Penske, but apparently that's no longer the case when you look at Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. In your opinion, which one has the better game right now when it comes to facial hair?

Josef Newgarden: It's hard to beat Blaney. I mean, this is an impressive, it's an impressive mustache. I mean, it's, he should have that. With how much hair growth that man has, I think he's doing the right thing. Did you have to do a double take when you saw Joey? They're just different. I mean, but I'm voting for Ryan. He's he's the top. Alright, Joseph, thank you.

Bruce Martin: It was a difficult season for New Garden in 2025. He explains how he remained upbeat.

Josef Newgarden: I feel good. I mean, look, it was tough last year to keep, you know, fielding what felt like asteroids out of the, you know, the sky. It was like, you know, just everywhere I turned, it was like I think I said this last year was like someone had a bat. They were just ready to hit me with a bat every time I turned around a corner or so. You know, after a while, you just you're sick of getting hit in the head with the bat. I think that's kind of where I was at. But, you know, it's I love racing. I love racing for this team. So I'm still excited. I do. I do. I mean, even St. Pete, you know, we didn't have a great weekend, but you saw Scott had speed. David had speed. I know we were capable of that speed, too, and I know in the race we would have been in good shape if we could have started top five, so I know we can have a good weekend in Arlington. The road course is where I'm keeping a close eye on everything and hoping that we continue to have good progress there. It doesn't mean we have to be lights out, but we need to be in the mix. We gotta be fast six, just in the mix of the top runners. If we can do that consistently, then we'll give ourselves a shot. Yeah, for sure, I mean, there's times where you're you're really great over here and you're weaker over here and vice versa. And I, you know, there's times we've had it all where we've been good everywhere. And right now I feel like, you know, our oval program has been pretty tremendous. And yeah, just there's other areas where we've fallen back a little bit, specifically road courses. So we made progress where we're working on it and you know, we'll see, we'll see how it shakes out this year where we, where we land. Thanks.

Bruce Martin: Alex Pillow of Chip Ganassi Racing has won the last three NTT IndyCar Series championships, four overall. Newgarden shared his thoughts on Pillow's dominance.

Josef Newgarden: We just got to be, you know, he's excellent, right? He's excellent. He's going to be tough to beat. I mean, right now he's by far the favorite, I think, to your point. So, you know, we've just got to execute at a higher level than him is really going to be the key. It does. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think until he starts hitting walls or something consistently, you know, you're going to get that question pretty often, right? You know, I mean, this is what happens when people get on runs and they're they're on it, then that's the trend right now. So he is the trend. And until the trend changes, we're probably going to keep fielding it.

Bruce Martin: New Garden believes team Penske is ready to have a great turnaround season, as he explains in this interview.

Josef Newgarden: Well, you don't know what it's like, you know, when you're when you when you look at team Penske from the outside, It seems like this intimidating environment, but it's kind of the opposite of that. We have such a good team relationship amongst everyone. We were talking about it with Lucas and how he fits in. Everybody works together as a group. It's very comforting in a lot of ways. I mean, we're we're intense. We're all pushing each other to be the best, but we're great teammates. And you see that up and down the organization. So, you know, I think that was It just was unknown to me. You know, before I came here, I didn't know what it was going to be like behind these doors. And, you know, you end up finding a team that works so well together. I think that's why they find so much success and have had so much success.

Bruce Martin: Does it kind of blow your mind? Ten years with the team. Did you ever think you'd get to that point?

Josef Newgarden: No, definitely not. I've been here a long time. You know, I'm I'm certainly an older man now than when I was. I mean, it's my 15th year. It's kind of crazy. But yeah, I mean, I've had a I've had a great run in a lot of ways. I've been very fortunate.

Bruce Martin: Newgarden has a new teammate at Team Penske as David Maloukis has moved over to drive the number 12 Verizon Chevrolet, replacing the legendary Will Power, who has moved on to Andretti Global. The 35-year-old Newgarden explains the unique approach the 24-year-old Maloukis brings to the team. I think great.

Josef Newgarden: He's been great. It's weird having the other end of the spectrum now. He is the young guy. We don't understand half the stuff he says. It's really funny. He's great energy, though. I sort of love it. We've got a little new energy in the team. We've got that exuberance. And he fits in great. Look, he's good. I said this before the year, too. I think he's going to do a tremendous job. I won't be surprised to see him winning races sooner than later. He's got good feedback. So he's fitting really great up to this point, yeah. I don't even know. What did he say? I mean, we went to a baseball game last night and he said home run and he did like a field goal like he doesn't even know baseball. There's just so many things we're learning about him. But yeah, he has a lot of words and phrases. Gosh, I don't I can't even. He's low key lit that kid. I mean, he says so many things that I cannot. Decipher it and he has to explain them to us Something for you is apparently a thing. I just learned that it was like it's like a diss back somehow It's like say something to someone and then you say but for you and I don't even know how that works But I'm learning these things someone can decipher this. Yeah, it's great. It's really great. And he's not letting up on it You know, he's not changing. He's being him. So it's kept us. It's kept us a very fun environment ten years ago wasn't that you No, no, they're different than what we were 10 years ago.

Bruce Martin: What I'm saying is in 10 years, you were the cutting edge new social media guy.

Josef Newgarden: Now they've surpassed it that much more in 10 years. I had the energy back then. I mean, I still have a little bit of it now, but you can just feel the, you know, the youthfulness from David. But they are a different breed. I don't know what they talk about now. It's very different than what we had 15 years ago.

Bruce Martin: In the race, New Garden started second to teammate David Maloukas. At the green flag, Maloukas had the number 12 Chevrolet in front for 73 laps before ECR's Christian Rasmussen raced his way from 18th to the lead when Maloukas pitted. Rasmussen was one of 11 different drivers that changed the lead 18 times in a wild and thrilling race on the One Mile Oval that featured 565 on-track passes, 323 passes for position, 145 in the top 10, 60 in the top 5, all IndyCar records at Phoenix. Newgarden kept his number two Chevrolet near the front throughout the race and was in position to make the race-winning pass with six laps remaining to win the 33rd IndyCar Series race of his career, 10th on the all-time list. Newgarden also has the championship points lead, breaking a streak of 623 days when Alex Pillow was the leader of the standings. The last time a driver other than Palou was not the leader of the IndyCar standings was after Will Power won at Road America on June 9, 2024. Palou won the next race at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California and led the remainder of that season to claim the 2024 championship, was the points leader after every race of the 2025 championship, and started 2026 with a win at St. Pete to lead the title race after the first contest. On lap 22, Palou tried to close the gap ahead of Rinus Fike. The two cars touched, and Palou's number 10 Honda crashed in turn four. He finished 24th out of the 25-car field in a rare moment for Palou. At the end of the race, it was Newgarden celebrating the victory. He joined me for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview after his big win. Welcome back, Josef Newgarden of Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental. It was only two races ago we interviewed you after winning the last oval race of the 2025 season, the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Super Speedway. Came back out here to Phoenix, won a dramatic Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway. It's a heck of a show. How on earth do you even begin to describe the way that race played out?

Josef Newgarden: It was just a tough-fought race. Very difficult conditions as far as the racing style. You really had to drive the car hard. I don't know how else to put it. You just had to be aggressive with the race car. you know, be on it all the way throughout. Conditions were changing, track grip level was changing, and people were, you know, people were pushing the limits in a lot of ways all the way throughout. And so to be a part of it was cool. And I felt like we were right place, right time. And I had just a great race car at the end. My car was where it needed to be at the right time for that new tire call.

Bruce Martin: You were the last driver to win a race at Phoenix Raceway when IndyCar was last out here in 2018. An eight-year gap in between before IndyCar came back as part of an IndyCar NASCAR doubleheader weekend. You win again. What is it about this track that has become such a favorite for Joseph Newgard?

Josef Newgarden: I don't know that it's, I mean, I don't know that I have favorites. I certainly love short oval racing, but I, you know, I like street courses, I like road courses, I like super speedways. I don't know that I have a favorite. We've been pretty good on short ovals and, you know, I think today we were good, but we weren't great. I think we needed to be better in the middle and we were great at the end. I mean, if I, you know, if I'm going to summarize it, definitely, I mean, I think we had the car to win at the end and that makes the difference. You know, I think this team, They know how to show up at the right moments and execute and make it happen, and they did today.

Bruce Martin: You've won a race every year for over 10 seasons. So how important is that to an IndyCar Series driver?

Josef Newgarden: I mean, I try and show up and just do my job every single weekend. And so I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be with the team. And it's difficult to win these races. It really is. And you've just got to get it right. But we've got a lot more to go. Hopefully in 26, we can do some more damage.

Bruce Martin: 33rd career victory, 10th on the list, you're only one behind Al Unser Jr. You're really entering some glorified air when it comes to great names in IndyCar. How does it feel to be part of that group?

Josef Newgarden: It's cool to still be here, you know, and to do it, and I've always loved racing and You just never know what you're gonna get when you show up, but I feel like I've got the team to perform and execute, and I'm just trying to do my part. That's what everybody's doing here on this team. They're trying to interact and work together as a unit and make it happen.

Bruce Martin: This is the first time IndyCar and NASCAR have shared the same weekend on an oval track. How important was that? There are a lot of fans in the stands today who probably have never seen an IndyCar race before. How important is that to be able to put on that type of show.

Josef Newgarden: Yeah, it's cool. I mean, it's great to have this crowd here and, you know, to execute a great race. And we want people to see that. And I love being here with the Cup guys. I think, you know, I wish, I hope we can have more weekends like this in the future. I really think it's good for everybody.

Bruce Martin: Do you think you won any new fans today? Because a lot of the people may be here to see the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race. They saw the end of the IndyCar race. How many of them do you think walked away from here and thought, damn, that was really exciting?

Josef Newgarden: I don't, I don't know. I mean, I hope they, I don't think they can get a much better product. I'll tell you that, you know, if you, if you didn't like the show, then I don't know what we're going to do. We, we, we can't do anything different with the race cars and what we put on the racetrack. That's, that's IndyCar racing you saw today. And if that didn't work for you, then it didn't work. So, uh, I hope, I hope people enjoyed it for the reasons we enjoy it.

Bruce Martin: And so far you've continued a huge sweep for Team Penske this weekend with David Maloukas won the IndyCar poll, you win the IndyCar race, Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series poll. By the time this airs we'll know who won the NASCAR Cup Series race, but That's a pretty big weekend for Team Penske. How important is that? Because I know this was a passion project for Roger Penske.

Josef Newgarden: Yeah, it's very cool. I mean, look, we get paid to win races. I can tell you that. Roger would tell you that himself. And it's nice to be able to perform and to put this weekend on and to do so well as a complete team, not just on the IndyCar program, but on the Cup side too. Let's see what the Cup guys can do to hopefully finish off a great weekend.

Bruce Martin: And our final question with Team Penske's Josef Newgarden, the winner of the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway. It's the first time in 623 days that a driver other than Alex Palou has led the NTT IndyCar Series Championship. I guess we've discovered he is human, but how does it feel to be the driver that's now the first guy other than Alex Palou in the 623 days to be leading the standings?

Josef Newgarden: Wow, I mean, we got a long way to go here, Bruce. So I'm just looking forward to the next one. And we just got to do our jobs all year. It's as simple as that. So for me, that's all I focus on.

Bruce Martin: And hey, you get to stick around and watch the NASCAR Cup Series race tomorrow since Team Penske's in it. So is there anybody you'll be following around or be in their pits?

Josef Newgarden: I mean, I'm following everybody. I certainly cheer on the entire team. I might hang on Blaney's pit box. And yeah, I'm pumped. Definitely excited to see what our team can do.

Bruce Martin: Well, Josef Newgarden, certainly everybody's pumped after seeing that big win that you put on here today at Phoenix Raceway. Congratulations on the victory. Good luck the rest of the way. I'm sure we'll chat again soon. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Josef Newgarden: Thanks, Bruce.

Bruce Martin: Hey, everyone.

Josef Newgarden: This is two-time Indy 500 winner, Josef Newgarden, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney completed the big weekend sweep by winning a wild race at Phoenix on Sunday. Entering the race weekend at Phoenix, Pit Pass Indy caught up with Blaney for this exclusive interview on his thoughts on IndyCar and NASCAR sharing the race weekend at Phoenix. Your buddy Scott McLaughlin's been out here several times to cheer you on in the championship race. Now you get to return the favor a little bit by being at his race. You don't get a chance to get to many IndyCar races. How excited are you to be able to see him and cheer on Team Penske this weekend?

Ryan Blaney: Yeah, I mean, the only IndyCar races I get to go to is when we do doubleheaders. You know, schedules never line up. And I say the first thing I'm going to do when I retire is I'm going to the 500 for like the whole month of May just to hang out there and experience that. Yeah, I cheer those guys on a lot. It was really neat that Scotty came out in 23 for my championship, and it was fun to celebrate. So if he does end up winning tomorrow, I won't be able to celebrate too much with him. But I will be pulling for him, and that would be a fun moment.

Bruce Martin: How often would you like to see this concept happen where both series are at the same race weekend?

Ryan Blaney: Yeah, I'd like to see it happen a little bit more. I feel like it's important. I think it's healthy for both series, IndyCar and NASCAR, when you get two of the major U.S. motorsports series together. I think it just brings everybody closer and it's a fun crossover. It's easy for us to crossover because we have both teams under Penske, but I'd like to see a little more of it. Have you learned anything new and interesting about David Maloukis? I've learned some phrases that all the kids are using nowadays. That's my big learning from right now. I got a, you know, he, what's he, 22? Something like that. Ten years younger than me. Nine years younger. So yeah, I caught up a little bit on the terms that some of the kids are using. So that's good. It's helping me out.

Bruce Martin: And also, how much do you miss seeing willpower as part of the team?

Ryan Blaney: Yeah, I mean, you know, Will was there when I got to Penske and I loved watching Will Power. I mean, I think he's one of the best IndyCar drivers that have ever done it. It was, you know, unfortunate to have him not with the organization anymore, but… You know, I did enjoy my time with him, and he's a heck of a character. You never knew what you were going to get with Will, and I love watching him wheel a race car. So it is a little unfortunate, you know, he's not here, but, you know, David's a great fit, and it was a pleasure to get to know Will as good as I did when he was here.

Bruce Martin: And finally, you've had a lot of success at Phoenix. You won a championship here. How important would it be to kickstart the season with a victory here on Sunday?

Ryan Blaney: Yeah, I mean, that's the goal. We have a unique chance to sweep the weekend here with the IndyCar guys and us, and those opportunities don't come by very often. So hopefully they can get it done Saturday and we can do our part Sunday. And, you know, for our car, try to get in victory lane would be great. It'd be nice to get the first one of the year checked off the box. Cool.

Graham Rahal: Thanks.

Bruce Martin: PitPass Indy talked to numerous NASCAR Cup Series drivers to get their reactions to sharing the weekend at Phoenix with IndyCar. Let's start off with three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano of Team Penske.

Joey Logano: going to get exposed to something maybe they haven't seen before. Whether it's IndyCar fans or NASCAR fans, vice versa, they're getting exposed to something they've never seen before. So that's good. So I think in general, the sports, both of them, NASCAR and IndyCar, are going to be the winner on this whole thing.

Bruce Martin: Ryan Blaney talking about the first time he gets to see an IndyCar Series race on an oval in person. It's also your first time to see it in person, but when you go to Indianapolis and see him out there on the big track, it's a little bit different than a short oval. So what are you really expecting to see here at Phoenix?

Joey Logano: Apparently, whatever six seconds looks like, faster than what we're doing. So I don't know exactly what that is, but I'm pretty sure when I watch them go into turn three the first time and they don't lift, I'm going to think they're throttle stuck, which I guess they probably couldn't. It'd be fine. But it's kind of crazy to think that looking at that corner thinking I'm going to hold it wide open. That's nuts.

Bruce Martin: From an outsider looking at this doubleheader crossover weekend, Do you really wish there were more where IndyCar and NASCAR were together?

Joey Logano: I think the fans are going to want that. We'll see. But I do think this is good for both IndyCar and NASCAR. I don't think anyone outside of Roger can pull this off. So I'm proud to see that happen. I think the fans are going to be a big winner in this whole thing. And the sports, don't get me wrong. But the fans are going to get to see both. Where else do you get to go to a race and see something completely different from one day to the other?

Bruce Martin: And finally, as an outsider looking at what IndyCar gets to do next week with the Grand Prix of Arlington going around AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field, home of both the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers, from a racing driver, what do you think of that event? I mean, it's really taking it to a big event, taking it to a big city.

Joey Logano: I mean, it's what the name of the game is, I think, right now. You've seen IndyCar doing that. You see them racing up in DC. That's going to be amazing. You see us racing in San Diego on the Navy base there. All that's going to be just awesome, right? It's just bringing it to somewhere we haven't done before. And people have to see things they've never seen before. So we have to produce things they've never seen.

Bruce Martin: Well, Joey and Lugano, thank you and good luck. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Any presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Joey Logano: Thank you.

Bruce Martin: Kyle Larson won his second NASCAR Cup Series Championship in 2025 to go along with his title in 2021. The Hendrick Motorsports driver also competed in the 2024 and 2025 Indianapolis 500s for Aero McLaren and is highly respected in the IndyCar paddock. Here is an exclusive interview with Kyle Larson for PitPass Indy. Did you get to see some of your friends over at Arrow McLaren? Did you get to see TK or any of the guys that you worked with at the 500?

Kyle Larson: No, I just got here yesterday afternoon and then did an interview with Alex Pillow and then came in here, got my suit on and came in the bullpen. So I haven't had time to go do anything. Yeah, and I've heard you have to have special passes to get over there.

Bruce Martin: I think they'll let you in. To have this type of concept, IndyCar and NASCAR, and you having done both, how do you like that idea?

Kyle Larson: I love the idea. I think it's great. You know, I think especially doing it once a year, I think is great. You know, I think if you did it more often, maybe you would lose its kind of luster, but I think it's awesome, you know, so. I would love to see us do it again in the future, whether it's here at Phoenix or, I think, a road course, a street circuit. I think it would be awesome to have some crossover, because I think there'd be more IndyCar fans there than NASCAR. And I think that would also help the crossover a ton. So yeah, we'll see. I think it's a great concept, though, and I'm excited to see the cars on track.

Bruce Martin: And to see the way that Pato Award has developed, you having been his teammate, Kid's got a pretty bright future. And do you really feel like he's on the verge of really getting a championship?

Kyle Larson: Yeah, absolutely. Being around him, you can tell the talent that he has for all types of racetracks and race cars and his desire to be fast and how he can break down what he's feeling and all of that. I think he's got the package to be really, really good in everything. Yeah, I think they've made improvements year after year, it seems, you know, to progress towards the championship. It seems to be extremely hard to beat Alex Palou, though. So, you know, as everybody's getting better, so is he and his team, it seems. So, yeah, it's fun to follow along and, you know, definitely with my ties, you know, with McLaren in the past, you know, I definitely cheer for them. But also my ties with Ganassi, you know, I like seeing those guys do good as well.

Bruce Martin: And Ryan Hunter-Reay is going to have your car at the Indianapolis 500, and he's a former winner. So you have to really believe that's a really good shot for them to maybe get him in the victory lane at Indy.

Kyle Larson: Yeah, definitely. And I got to spend some time with Ryan Hunter-Reay when I have done the double the past couple of years. And him and his family are awesome. So was happy to hear him going into the same seat that I was in and look forward to seeing him do a great job. I know he will.

Bruce Martin: Kyle Larson, thank you.

Kyle Larson: Thanks.

Bruce Martin: Another Kyle is two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing. His 63 NASCAR Cup Series wins are the most among active drivers. Here is a quick exclusive interview with Busch on the shared weekend. Your thoughts on an IndyCar NASCAR weekend on an oval. We've done it before on the road course at IMS, but this is the first time on an oval.

Kyle Busch: Yeah, no, I think it's fine. It's good. You know, it's cool to bring the two worlds together. I see some of the drivers from the organizations that have cars in both fields, you know, taking pictures together and stuff like that. But, you know, what's the benefit of it? What's the positive of it? You know, obviously we want more seats in the stands and hopefully that holds true. Thank you.

Bruce Martin: Right behind Bush in terms of victories among active drivers is three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing with 60 NASCAR Cup Series wins. Here is another exclusive interview with Hamlin for Pit Pass Indy. They've had IndyCar and NASCAR together at the Speedway Road Course before, but how do you like this weekend having both series on the oval at Phoenix?

Denny Hamlin: Yeah, this is a small track for IndyCar, but this is one that I'm excited to kind of see how it plays out. It seems like those guys were pretty much on edge the entire time. I'm not an avid IndyCar watcher, but I'm certainly excited to see a share this weekend and excited to see who's got what. This is the first Oval for them to start the season as well, so again, just a measuring stick.

Bruce Martin: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports is the most popular driver in NASCAR, winning the award eight times from 2018 to 2025. Elliott won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. I caught up with Elliott for this quick interview for Pit Pass Indy. Do you like the idea of having a combined weekend with IndyCar? You have a lot of friends in IndyCar. Jay Fry, you've known him since you were a little kid. Do you like the idea of being here on an oval with IndyCar?

Chase Elliott: Yeah, I'm totally fine with it. I think if it's a win for the fans, I think it's a win for all of us. I'm sure that we do share some mutual fans throughout the two motorsports collectively. It's not really a question for me as much as it is for the people watching. My seat's a little different, you know, being a part of the show. And I think sometimes, you know, you have to, yeah, that perception is just tough to give a great opinion on with things like that. So I would always kind of, I guess, push that to the folks watching and you know do they like it the people here like is that a good thing for the folks around the area are they better suited have two different weekends i honestly don't know you know i think there's a lot of there's a lot of moving parts and all that that i don't see day to day um but yeah certainly um have a lot of respect for any car guys um i have not i didn't see any of their stuff yesterday leading up i Got in last night and so yeah, curious to kind of see how it works out throughout the week and kind of what the reaction is. But from my perspective, I think it's all good.

Bruce Martin: You come from a royal family of NASCAR. Great NASCAR drivers. But did you ever have a favorite IndyCar driver that you would pay attention to in the 500?

Chase Elliott: You know, I can't say I really had like one person that I enjoyed watching more than any other. I think, uh, just a lot of respect and admiration for what those guys do. And especially the oval racing. I've always found that to be pretty wild, you know, sharing some of the same racetracks as, as them, um, ton of respect for Scott Dixon, you know, watching him over the years. I have become friends with Scott McLaughlin as he's kind of transitioned over and he's a great dude, love being around him. So I think as time has gone on, I've found myself pulling for him just because it's probably one of the few guys that I know very well in the garage. So easy to pull for him. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Bruce Martin: Michael McDowell of Spire Motorsports won the 2021 Daytona 500. He also won the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2023. In the early days of McDowell's career, he raced in what is now the Indy Next by Firestone series. I caught up with McDowell to ask him about IndyCar at Phoenix in this exclusive PitPass Indy interview. As a member of Spire, have you spent any time with your Andretti Global teammates yet?

Michael McDowell: Yeah, we did this morning, a little bit yesterday, and we have, you know, over the off-season and things like that, and, you know, trying to be as efficient as we can with some resources and technology, and obviously it's not one-to-one IndyCar and NASCAR, but there are some crossovers when it comes to you know, processes and data collecting and things like that. So we're trying to be as efficient as we can with our partners at Intraday Global and TWG and, you know, Cadillac F1 program. And you go through the Rolodex, there's quite a lot happening right now. So, but yeah, it's fun to be here on a doubleheader weekend. It's really neat and cool for the fans to see the contrast between our cars and Indy cars. And yeah, it's going to be exciting weekend.

Bruce Martin: And as a driver whose career included Indy Lights, how excited are you to see this weekend where you're both on an oval rather than a road course?

Michael McDowell: Yeah, it is really cool. You know, somebody was asking me earlier about, do I want to be out there in the IndyCar? And absolutely not. I mean, those things are so fast around here. And watching qualifying yesterday, you know, the cars were extremely on edge and they have their hands full. So I'm excited to watch today. You know, our cars are just so different and it's been such a long time since I've, you know, we've seen, like you said, we've seen IndyCar at the road course at Indy and we've had Watkins Glen, you know, several years back, we had double headers, but this is the first time I feel like on the oval that we've gone, you know, side by side. So it'd be pretty cool.

Bruce Martin: NASCAR's Bubba Wallace of 2311 Racing has become friends with Team Penske's IndyCar driver, Scott McLaughlin, and he explains that friendship in this interview.

Bubba Wallace: Yeah, I went to dinner with the best ever, had the best start of the 2025 Daytona, or Daytona Indy 500 last night, Scott McLaughlin. We had a good, we had a good, come on, it's old news now.

Bubba Wallace: We had a good dinner. He's excited. You know, I am excited to see, this would be my first IndyCar race that I've watched. So yeah, I'll, I'll hang around for a little bit. Have a little team outing later, but yeah, it should be cool. Cheering on the three. Yeah, it's all right. That's cheap shot. It's okay.

Bruce Martin: In any of your sim racing, did you ever compete against any of those guys in sim racing? No, never did. Neither tried it or raced against them.

Bubba Wallace: Has there ever been something you've thought about? No, Scotty was trying to convince me that I could do it last night. And I was like, I don't mind going out and running hot labs or practicing or whatnot. When contact is made, open wheel cars, they usually go flying. So I'm good being grounded, all four tires on the ground. You can run into each other in our cars. So yeah, I'm good.

Bruce Martin: How did you get to know Scotty?

Bubba Wallace: I met him through Blaney, through obviously their Penske teammates, but we've become really close. And our kids, Lucy and Vex, are a week apart. So we're close there. We're the cool dads.

Bruce Martin: From a business standpoint, do you like the concept of having folks, from a racing standpoint, do you like it?

Bubba Wallace: I think it's great. I think, you know, just from being at the track, you know, more more things that are on track and activities is better for the fans. So I think that the I think the product should be good. Hopefully it's a good race for them.

Bruce Martin: Speaking of McLaughlin, let's hear from the team Penske star in this exclusive interview. Is this gonna be a race where you need to get all you can on restarts, or do you feel like there'll be opportunities to make green flag passes?

Scott McLaughlin: I think, honestly, I think the track's gonna open up, personally. I hope it does for the run, but yeah, it's gonna be interesting. We'll see in the race.

Bruce Martin: Felix Rosenquist has solidified his position in IndyCar at Meyers Schenck Racing. I caught up with the popular driver from Sweden for this exclusive PitPass Indy interview. Our old buddy Felix Rosenquist is back with us. Meyers Schenck Racing. Felix, we're at Phoenix Raceway. It's a track you didn't get to run when you were an IndyCar driver in the beginning. There's only five drivers that have ever raced here that are currently in IndyCars. So what do you think of the challenge of Phoenix Raceway?

Felix Rosenqvist: It's… I think it's cool. It's kind of like… There was a previous track we went to that was the same, we haven't been in a long time. I think it was Gateway, when we started going back. Some drivers had been there, most hadn't. Now it's like a very normal track on the calendar, obviously. But, you know, it's… I think it's a driver's track, this one. It's a very challenging lap. It's hard to put it together. It requires a good mix of bravery and precision. It's probably going to be a pretty daggy track, I think. And then how I race it, honestly, I don't know. But I think it's a cool challenge. I think it's something that we like to come out to facilities like these when it's a well-invested in the facility. It's good for the fans to come here and see two series. I think it makes a lot of sense for us to be expanding our calendar after we lost Thermal to still have a track out here in the West.

Bruce Martin: Even though the last 20 to 30 years NASCAR has kind of taken over Phoenix Raceway, really made this one of their signature stops on the circuit, it all started as an IndyCar track in 1964. It had a tremendous history of IndyCar racing from that point all the way through 2005 when IndyCar eventually left after the IRL drays. So do you feel the history of IndyCar when you come into this place to know that A.J. Foyt and the Uncers and Mario Andretti and Johnny Rutherford and Gordon Johncock all raced here in one year?

Felix Rosenqvist: I do, because being in Indy and in IndyCar and hanging around with a lot of IndyCar people, you always hear people talk about Phoenix as one of the big races. I think you can feel that, even if it's been a long time. You can sense that from a historical point of view. Yeah, I just hope we can come back here and bring a good race. I think that's the biggest concern right now. Can you pass? Can you run too wide? All that stuff. Or at least, will you be able to have entertaining racing? That's going to be the biggest concern for me. I think if it does, it's going to become a classic again pretty quickly.

Bruce Martin: But the other thing is, in order to make this work, IndyCar is the Saturday race. There will also be a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race Saturday after the IndyCar race. And then the big event of the weekend is the next day, the NASCAR Cup Series race. IndyCar is always the big event of the weekend, wherever they go, but in this scenario, they won't be. So as an IndyCar driver, is that hard to accept or do you understand the whole business aspect of why it's gotta be that way?

Felix Rosenqvist: Yes and no. I agree with you a bit there that I would like for us to be the main show wherever we are. I think we deserve that, but obviously the reality of it is that NASCAR is a bigger series. I think for the people following in the car, I don't think they care if they watch the race on a Saturday or a Sunday. They probably might or might not watch the NASCAR race on Sunday. Hopefully they watch both, but I don't think it really has to matter and be a competitive thing, let's say, but more of fans being able to enjoy two series. I think that's got to be the focus and also make it a good show.

Bruce Martin: We've tried this concept at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the road course in the past. Of course, IndyCar was a Saturday race and NASCAR Cup Series was a Sunday race. It's a little bit different though. That was a road course race. This is short oval racing, which in many aspects is the best for NASCAR and also the best for IndyCar. So do we get to see, do you see that as being the biggest difference now in that race fans are gonna get to see the two series do what they do best?

Felix Rosenqvist: Yes, I mean, I think what you mentioned in Indy, if you asked me about Indy, I would actually be more against it, because I feel like Indy kind of belongs to IndyCar, but being out here is more of a, you know, maybe more of a NASCAR land, or at least NASCAR owns the track. I think having both at the same weekend, The thing I hope that we can do is to give the best racing. I want fans to look at both and be like, hey, IndyCar is great racing. That's the main thing when you're getting compared on equal terms on the same track, because sometimes we go to an oval we can't pass, and I don't think that will look good next to NASCAR. So, yeah, that's my biggest worry, but I think, again, it has potential to be really good.

Bruce Martin: And our final question for Felix Rosenquist of Meijer Schenck Racing. Meijer Schenck has some big hopes for 2026. You, of course, are going to be the guy that leads them there. You've got a fast teammate with Marcus Armstrong. So what's your forecast in the 2026, what Meijer Schenck Racing can do in the NTT IndyCar Series?

Felix Rosenqvist: I think we're on a great move from where we were three years ago. And going into this season, we were like, hey, let's just turn everything up a little bit. You know, pit stops, qualifying, race pace. We just want to be a little bit better in everything. And we're not going out and saying we're going to win the championship, but we think it's realistic to to say a top five in the standings is something we could achieve. And we can also achieve winning races, because we have been very close to doing so. So I think winning a race is something really high on our list. And if we do that, I think we'll be able to achieve our other goals as well. But yeah, we definitely raised the bar this year a little bit compared to last year.

Bruce Martin: We'll keep your eye on the number 60 Meyers Schenck Racing Honda, because it's usually going to be up toward the front. But Felix Rosenquist, good luck in 2026. We'll catch up later this season. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Felix Rosenqvist: Thank you very much.

Bruce Martin: Christian Rasmussen put on the show at Phoenix with his aggressive racing style and was the leader before suspension damage after getting pushed into the wall by Will Power hampered his chances at victory. His car faded in the closing laps and he finished 16th. Entering the race weekend, however, Rosenquist talked about his prospects at Phoenix in this exclusive interview. One of the favorites of IndyCar, at least one of the favorite new drivers in IndyCar has joined us now, Christian Rasmussen, ECR Racing. We're at Phoenix, a short oval. We know how well you did on a short oval up in Milwaukee last year. How excited are you to be back on a short oval such as this, one that's very historic to IndyCar?

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, very excited. You know, I think it's, I loved this place from the test. I thought it was such a fun track to drive. And like you say, the short ovals were a very strong suit for the 21 crew last year. So having the opportunity to turn the season around early after a tough St. Pete and start building some momentum for the rest of the year is definitely exciting.

Bruce Martin: To get that first victory in the way that you did it, it was dramatic. It was a fantastic drive. You outdrove the best driver in IndyCar in 2025, Alex Palou. That's a great accomplishment in itself. So how satisfying did it make that victory?

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, it was a good one, wasn't it? Yeah, it was awesome. I think for me, getting my first win in IndyCar and proving to everyone that I can perform at the highest level and go win races here, which I have been doing on the smaller categories, but obviously first time in IndyCar. trying to make that into more of a habit and try to do it again. And yeah, like you say, like we did, it was the way to do it, to take it away from Alex Below.

Bruce Martin: You're from Denmark, but we're going to another place with a big D next week. Dallas-Fort Worth, the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington. It's the home of the Dallas Cowboys. With Java House, your sponsor being involved as the sponsor of the race, do you feel a little bit of extra incentive to go there and put on a show, not only for yourself, but for IndyCar and for your sponsor?

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, it's a big weekend for the team. I think it's super cool what our ownership group is doing together with the Grand Prix. So obviously the two cars of ECR is going to be in focus all that weekend. But yeah, it seems like it's going to be a great event. Looking forward to see how it all turns out. And yeah, of course, I mean, we always want to do great. So hopefully that can be the case.

Bruce Martin: The season started once again with Alex Pillow winning at St. Pete, but do you feel it's going to be a little bit different this year because a lot of your teams, including yours, have worked really hard over the offseason to try to narrow the gap?

Christian Rasmussen: That's a great question. Based off St. Pete, he's still a tough man to beat.

Bruce Martin: But yet, could you be a tough man to beat, especially here on some of the short oval races, which seem to be a little bit of the one area that Alex isn't really head and shoulders over everybody else?

Christian Rasmussen: I think so, yeah. I think we can again go out and have a great year on the ovals like we did last year, so this could be the first one.

Bruce Martin: Christian Rasmussen, good luck the rest of the season. We'll catch up later this year. Thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. Thank you, Bruce. Graham Rahal was just a youngster when his father Bobby Rahal won at Phoenix in 1992. I reminded Rahal of that and asked him about other topics in this exclusive interview entering the race. All right, he's back again, it's Graham Rahal. I just saw a photo of you in Victory Lane here with your dad at Phoenix Raceway in 1992. Gotta ask you, do you remember that?

Graham Rahal: No, no, no, no, I don't remember that. But I've seen the photo a lot. I remember the shirt, the ugly polo shirt I had on. But yeah, I mean, it's been… Yeah, I mean, I've been coming out here a long time, you know, supporting him for many years. And then, you know, it's good to be back, you know, in IndyCar and see what we can do this weekend.

Bruce Martin: It's also good to be back at Texas, which is where IndyCar is going next week for the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington. It's too bad we couldn't make it work attendance-wise at Texas Motor Speedway because they put on tremendous shows there. But this is going to be a new concept, street race, Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field with the Texas Rangers. So how excited are you that both IndyCar and Fox Sports have committed to create big events on the schedule?

Graham Rahal: Yeah, no, this is a big one for us. It's critical that we have a good weekend and we get a good crowd there. But I'm pumped up to be there. I'm excited to see the racetrack. I'm going to go watch it. film actually right now of the simulator. See all of that, but I'm very excited. I think it's going to be a tremendous event. And Dallas is a massive metro, so definitely a place we want to be.

Bruce Martin: Why do you think this type of race will work where Texas Motor Speedway wasn't able to draw crowds?

Graham Rahal: You bring the party to the people, you know, and people are in that, you know, that area. There's a lot of vibrancy, a lot of new stuff, a lot of development, AT&T, of course, Rangers Stadium. There's a lot happening there. And so you bring the party to the people and they come. It's always, I mean, look, Naturally, that's always been easier than expecting people to drive 30 minutes or an hour or two hours or whatever out in the countryside.

Bruce Martin: But as far as the racer goes in you, how much do you miss Texas Motor Speedway? Because like I said, they put on some thrilling races. I miss the old one, though. I miss the 2016. The pre-PBJ or PJB or whatever compound that was called.

Graham Rahal: And then the reshaping. I was never a fan of the reshaping, where the lane on the bottom only became one, and they basically tightened turns one and two. I was not so much a fan of that, and still not.

Bruce Martin: Also, there's another big event coming up here in August. It's going to be the Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C. This past Monday, the track layout was released. I'm sure you saw it in advance. But what do you think of moving forward? We now know what the course is going to look like in Washington, D.C.

Graham Rahal: Yeah, I mean, I I mean, it's, you know, I think fundamentally it's great. I think it's gonna be a big opportunity for us. And, you know, I'm really excited to get out there in August and go race. So there's a lot of logistical things that go on to make something like that happen. And, you know, I'm pumped up to get the opportunity to be there.

Bruce Martin: And of course, I can't let you go without asking a college football question. Just the other day, He wasn't the head coach at Ohio State, but he was an assistant. He gained fame by winning a national championship as the head coach of Notre Dame, but Lew Holtz passed away. And for anybody connected with college football, they had to have known and admired in some degree Lew Holtz, what he meant to the game of college football. What do you think of when you think of Lew Holtz?

Graham Rahal: Yeah, I mean, I think about him calling Ohio State soft and then us beating him. That's what I think about. But to be honest, I mean, he was one of the greatest coaches to ever coach in the game and participate. And I think he, like Nick Saban and others, their coaching trees are massive. All the people that kind of grew up underneath them. And obviously, in the state of Indiana, with what he did in Notre Dame, is legendary and so it's certainly sad. It's really a sign of times changing a little bit, right? We're seeing Coach Holtz and obviously Coach Corso, the last couple of years, to see him on TV has been a little tough to witness at times. Coach Saban's in great health, but to see him starting to step away and You know, it's been a bit of a change, changing of times here, but to see somebody pass like that, you know, you know it's going to happen, but it still is. It's tough to see.

Bruce Martin: And they were also very entertaining.

Graham Rahal: No doubt. For sure.

Bruce Martin: Well, Graham Rahal, good luck next week at the Grand Prix of Arlington. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

Graham Rahal: Thank you, sir.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Scott McLaughlin: Hi, I'm Scott McLaughlin, driver of the number three team Penske Chevy, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. There was big news on Monday, March 9th, when the course layout and logo for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. was unveiled as a special event in our nation's capital. The August 22nd to 23rd Freedom 250 Grand Prix will mark the first ever auto race held on the National Mall and the historic streets of Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The landmark weekend will be free and open to the public, offering unprecedented access to North America's premier open-wheel racing series framed by America's most iconic symbols of democracy, freedom, and unity. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden, Ambassador Monica Crowley, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, were joined by Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with Freedom 250 CEO Keith Crotch, Founder, Chairman, Managing Partner, and CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment Ted Leonis, Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks, and Freedom 250 Grand Prix Chairman Bud Denker were at a special ceremony on Monday to unveil the course design. Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, had an exclusive interview with Penske Corporation President Bud Denker, who gives us a deep dive on the details of this big event. But Monday, March 9th, was a big day for our next guest. It's Penske Corporation President Bud Denker, who was part of a big media conference at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to not only unveil the logo of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, but also the course layout. You were surrounded by a lot of very important people. Bud, if you could explain to us how big a day this is, and it's the next step forward. to see IndyCars racing on the streets of our nation's Capitol in Washington, DC on August 21st through August 23rd.

Bud Denker: Yeah, Bruce, there's, there's so much to convey. I mean, the, the magnitude of the day to day with the announcement, the magnitude of bringing a race, first of all, to our nation's Capitol to celebrate our 250th anniversary is just one thing, but the magnitude of the partnerships that we've developed with the secretary of the interior, Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Transportation, Sean Duffy. The Mayor, Mayor Bowser, she has been just an amazing partner of ours. The Ambassador and the Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Crowley, who's also in charge of Freedom 250 Committee. You know, the founder of Monumental Sports, who owns the Wizards and the Capitals here in town, Ted Leonis, was here today. I mean, all these people took the stage today with me to show their support, not to mention the president of the United States who made this happen because of the executive order he gave me just less than a month ago to have this event. So it's just, it's hard to comprehend in so many ways because of how, first of all, complex it is, but now how big this event is going to be for our sport, for our, nation and at the time of what we needed to bring people together for this amazing event. So it's a, it's a big day for us, Bruce.

Bruce Martin: You brought up a very good point in saying how complex this is, because if you go look at social media, a lot of people look at the layout and say, which was more interesting or it should be longer. It should be this, or it should be that. They have no idea that when you're dealing with Washington, D.C., there are a lot of different jurisdictions that you have to work through in order to have these streets shut off so that you can have a street race. So how challenging was that? And how do you convey to some of the people? It's not as easy as just drawing up whatever you want in a downtown area, especially a major metropolitan area like Washington, D.C.

Bud Denker: Let me give you an example. Take third street, third street is a street that runs in front of their nation's Capitol, right? The right curb of third street is owned by the Capitol. The street is owned by the city. The left curb is owned by the national park service. And every one of those requires a different agency to work with. So try to determine that within one street, three domains alone. And I hope it gives people a sense of the fact that It isn't easy. It's the most complex city probably in the world to work within. But despite the complexity of it, the partnerships that have come together for me to put this together have been outstanding. No one has stood in my way. Um, not the mayor, not the department of interior DOT police fire permitting, you know, on and on and numbers. I have 49 agencies I got to deal with there. You talk about complexity, I get complexity here. So, and those that say the track should be longer, you know what? They have no clue. What's the most important thing of being here? It's not to go 1.6 or 1.7 miles or even one mile. It's the fact that we're here, racing our nation's capital around these iconic places, celebrating our country. The length of the track is way, way down my list of priorities.

Bruce Martin: Well, looking at the course, how racy do you think it'll be? And where do you see the passing zones being?

Bud Denker: Yeah, there's going to be probably once again, when I designed the Detroit Grand Prix track, people said, oh, that's not going to be a track you can pass on. Guess what? 240 passes, 230 passes, 220 passes. It's sporty and it's racy. Our guys find a way to race. So I'm not worried about that. Turn one is going to be a very hard right-hander at the end, left-hander at the very end of the straightaway. Very, very hard left-hander, 90 degrees that always creates a passing zone. But those short shoots between turn two and turn three, which is a ninth street, the content, uh, constitution and the short shoot from constitution to seven, which is turn three and four always create opportunities to jump inside for a pass. And then what people don't realize is most of these streets we're racing on are 80 feet wide, not 35, not 37, not 45. They're 80 feet wide in width. To get any kind of run on somebody, you're never going to block them because you've got so much room to maneuver around. So we had several passing zones. Joseph looked at it today. He was here. Alexander Rossi was here last month and looked at it as well. So, uh, they all said that this is going to be a passy track, but you know what? It's secondary to me. We're here for a, probably a one and done what's important about it. It's celebrating our country and celebrating it through IndyCar.

Bruce Martin: I know at one point you were hoping that the city, uh, with mayor Muriel Bowser and the federal government might be open to the idea of IndyCar coming back in the future. You just said, uh, it's probably a one and done what has changed since then?

Bud Denker: Well, I shouldn't say it's just that emphatically because we just don't know the mayor wants it to be for three years. So she is such a partner. She wants us to be here for. The next few years, cause she knows the benefit to the city, you know, Detroit brings in a hundred million dollars of benefit with 150,000 people. This is going to be probably several hundred thousand people that may triple, double the number of benefit for the city. So she wants to hear from multiple years. My caution is let's see how it goes year one. Okay. And let's see how it goes year one. And then we'll look at the determination of year two and year three, but I don't want to jump the cart before the horse until we really understand. Can it be done successfully? Can it be pulled off, um, to these, you know, the level of perfection that I expect and the Penn State organization expects. So, um, you know, I can't say it's going to be multiple year. Um, but right now I know I got one year to put it on and that's what I'm worried about.

Bruce Martin: Also for it to come after a weekend, like team Penske and Roger Penske enjoyed at Phoenix raceway, they swept the weekend out there. Won the poll for both races and won both races. And then you come back the following day after Ryan Blaney wins the NASCAR cup series race one day after Josef Newgarden won the NTT IndyCar series race. I would say that as a corporation and as anybody involved with Roger Penske, this has to be the continuation of a very successful streak and a continued high for the organization.

Bud Denker: Yeah, you got, you got to compartmentalize those, you know, look at the, at the team Penske side of it. Certainly, you know, I think this was a first ever in 60 years to have us win a, a race in IndyCar series and a race in NASCAR the same weekend. I don't think we've ever done that. I'm looking at Merrill Kane here beside me. Um, cause we don't often, we don't often race right at the same track. Yes. Right. Same weekend. So it's not very often we do that as a first, but then as you said, we were four for four. I mean, we're four, two polls and two wins. So we had four different drivers out of our six celebrate, you know, being on the podium in one way or another, either a poll or winning and, uh, or, or third place with David on, on Sunday. So, or on Saturday. So it was a truly amazing way for Roger to start his 60th anniversary of racing. And what better way could you do that than taking everything as we did? And then as you said, Bruce, we come here less than 24 hours later, Joseph and I are back here with Eric Shanks arriving in this great city of Washington, DC, where I am now to announce this epic event. So our sport should be elated with what's gonna happen here in August. No one else, no other series pulled this off but us. And for that, we all should be proud.

Bruce Martin: You brought up a good name, Eric Shanks, the CEO and executive producer of Fox Sports. Not only was he a key part of putting this race together, he was also a very key part in getting IndyCar and NASCAR to race together at Phoenix Raceway this past weekend. And to have that type of support, I would have to say is never really happened before in IndyCar, where your major TV partner is playing such a role outside of just putting the race on TV. There's the promotion that Fox Sports has done has been incredible. Looking back at how they did combined IndyCar and NASCAR together on their telecast, they brought in the talent, they shared talent during the race. We had Clint Boyer. in the IndyCar two seater. We had Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe working with the NASCAR Cup Series booth at Fox just to be able to open it up to people who may not pay attention to IndyCar and see the personalities. How important was that? And how do you describe the importance of what Eric Shanks has been able to do to help IndyCar grow?

Bud Denker: Boy, it's really hard to describe, Bruce. It really is. How do you put a value on all of that? How do you put a value on the what they did last year with the Super Bowl ads and how do you put a value on the ads they did again this year? Number one, how do you put a value on promoting us the way they've been promoting us all year long? How do you put a value on during the world cup event when a hundred million plus eyes will be watching this from around the world? Those are hard to put a value on. And then to have Eric's personal support in this, the fact that he flew back with me last night from, the Phoenix where he's getting into Detroit at 12 and me picking him up at six this morning to take him to here with us all day long is just really immeasurable. And we see it in the ratings, you know, from last year, 27% up. We saw it in a good rating again in St. Petersburg when we were flat year over year, when the previous year we were up 40% over the, when we were previously with another partner. So they have been, we couldn't buy that. We couldn't buy the marketing dollars that, Fox has given us, we just couldn't, first of all, I couldn't afford it. And secondly, I could never do it as good as they do. And, and because of their expertise and promotion in production, I loved having Joseph, um, during the stage two break yesterday, he had his Ryan Blaney t-shirt. And what he said was, he says, I'd never get to be a fan. I get to sit here and be a fan of racing. And Malukas was like a little kid when he saw, you know, Joey Chestnut, the driver's seating. These guys all enjoyed being together, so watching each other's successes, and that to me was a lot of fun.

Bruce Martin: You also had a chance with drivers from other teams, such as Scott Dixon, getting a chance to hang out with Michael Jordan on the 23-11 pit box. And there just seemed to be so much interest from both sides, the drivers on each side, about what this weekend really meant. A lot of them have said they'd like to see more of them on the schedule. But once again, I'll say it's probably the devil's in the details. It's just not quite that easy to put it together. But could we see some more of that in the future?

Bud Denker: Well, the devil is in the details. It's our schedule. It's NASCAR schedule. You know, this one worked out well because, you know, we wanted to see momentum created from the day one of St. Pete. And if you remember last year, we were off for three more weeks, um, than we are now, uh, with, so we had thermal, you'd lost a lot of momentum. So, you know, and it was a horse training too. The fact that, you know, NASCAR wanted to come to St. Pete to raise their trucks. And I talked to Ben Kennedy and said, okay, we'll let you do that. But here's the other thing. I want to bring our Indy cars to, to Phoenix and to race the oval there, which we haven't raced in eight years. So, um, it was a partnership between myself and Ben that made it happen. Um, you know, they would like us to come back next year again. Um, I told them that let's see how the racing product was, which this was now Saturday morning. Um, the racing product was exceptional. You saw first, what, 560 passes and the most ever at the speedway. So, Could there be more in the future? Yeah, sure. I'm not going to say there's not. Um, but you gotta find the right market, the right time of year, the right partnership to make it happen. Um, you know, and, uh, and that's not always easy, but Phoenix worked and worked for NASCAR because they had more people in the seats on Saturday than they had in the past. I learned they had every suite sold on Saturday and happened last year. So it worked for them and it worked for us. And we'll, we'll talk more about coming back again next year.

Bruce Martin: I hope another partnership race between IndyCar and Fox sports is coming up the Java house grand Prix of Arlington, which is this weekend that has the prospects of being a huge event. So how excited are you to see the prospects of what that can do for IndyCar?

Bud Denker: Yeah, we, you see what Greg Penske. and the team that created there. It was Greg's idea to partner with the Cowboys and the Rangers. And he really was the one that drove the initiative around that. So we should all give Greg a lot of credit for it. It's a first year event, so it's never easy, which I've experienced myself many times. But you're going to see a track that looks so beautiful. The painting they've done, the scrim they've done, the professionalism of the presentation that they're going to show. There's like any, unlike any other event we've seen in our series, we're raising the bar for Arlington. We really are. We're going to raise the bar in Washington, DC. You know, one of the best kept secrets, I think this year you're going to find out is the race in Markham. We have a race in Markham, a brand new racetrack, 2.1 mile, great track that we helped design with Kevin Savory. And that's going to be a sleeper, I think, in terms of success. So new race in Phoenix. New track in Arlington, back-to-back. New race in D.C. New track in Markham. We got a lot to be excited about.

Bruce Martin: Now getting back to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, you mentioned 80 foot wide streets in Washington, D.C. How much repaving may have to be done and working on such things as obviously manhole covers are always a situation where they have to be welded shut because the downforce on an IndyCar could suck them right out of the street. But from that point of view, what are some of the projects that have to be done for the infrastructure between now and August when IndyCar arrives?

Bud Denker: Yeah, if you've driven the streets in downtown DC, especially around where we're having our racetrack in Pennsylvania Avenue, constitution Avenue, independence Avenue, third street, seven street, they're in pretty good shape. In fact, they're in really good shape. Um, every four years, Pennsylvania Avenue has resurfaced for the, for the presidential motorcade. It's been a little nonsecret, right? Uh, for inauguration. So as a result of that, the roads are pretty darn good. So there is, there are some places where there are some islands in the middle of the road. that have to be removed because they have a, they have a light, they have a street light or a street lamp that has to come out because the roads too narrow and a couple of those locations. But other than that, there's not a lot of construction we have to do. Now you mentioned manhole covers, there's a manhole cover. We put a Silicon solution on any manhole cover that's less than more than a quarter of an inch sunk. And there's quite a few of those. Um, those always work well. Manhole covers will all get tacked down, but here's the thing, Bruce, When the president has his inauguration, they well down the mantle covers. Okay. They do that in advance. They're used to that. So it's interesting. The things they do already because of the preparation they need to do for the president that we're going to have to do in preparation for our race.

Bruce Martin: Now, how much of a Herculean task remains between now and race weekend? Because the race was added to the schedule after the schedule had long been out.

Bud Denker: Well, we've got 166 days from today's announcement to get it done. And here's the thing. We could not do it if it wasn't for two partners. There's a company called a Harbinger, the Harbinger group that's based in DC that does most of the president's big events, the UFC fight, the Easter egg roll, the, uh, the presidential parade, they had the army parade, the fireworks Harbinger is doing all of the off track stuff for me, for instance, temporary fence, permits, port-a-johns, comfort stations, first aid stations, tents, volunteers, all those things they do, but we typically bring people in to do ourselves. Because they have the domain knowledge and local knowledge, they're going to pull it off for me. On the other side, we could never do the sales and marketing fast enough if we didn't have monumental sports. They own the Capitals, they own the Wizards, they own the Mystics. They own the professional teams and therefore they have the relationships with their sponsors that I would not have otherwise. So, um, without Harbinger, without monumental, we couldn't do it. It's a, I love this model because it's outsourcing it to somebody else with domain knowledge. I got to come in, operate the event, build the track, build the, build the grandstands, build the suites, put the bridges up stuff that we do in our sleep and, um, make those things happen. But the small other details. Harbinger and Monumental are managing those for us. So I feel very confident in what we've got to do 166 days away. It's a daunting task, but I'm confident.

Bruce Martin: Because it will be a free event for many of the spectators that come there, because you go to the Washington Mall, the National Mall, I should say, in Washington, D.C., you can watch the race. So how daunting of a job is it for security?

Bud Denker: Well, that's to be determined because there's, as I've learned in D.C. being here several months, There's different levels of security. There's, there's what's called an NSSC level security, um, a level one and level two are the highest. Uh, when you reach those levels, the secret service come in and take over. They start managing the other local agencies. There's a seer S E A R level of that. That is a different level of security. So ours has not yet been determined which level it's going to be. I assume and hope. that it would be the highest level because I expect the president to drop the green flag, his cabinet to be there, his family to be there. And it's, that's not that if we have three or 400,000 people show up that they're saying locally, I don't believe that number, but they're saying it could be, um, then we have to have that kind of level of security. So it'd be a highly secured event. You don't have to be having magnetometers. And, um, you know, as you come through, we call it Megan bag and, um, that'll happen. And we just got to be sure it's efficient enough to get people in and out safely and efficiently. But we got time to plan those things. I just need to get that rating secured.

Bruce Martin: With this being a 501c3 event, how do you make the numbers work? It's not for profit and whatever profits are earned are going to go to local charities in Washington, DC. But I have had team owners tell me in IndyCar, their sponsors are just ringing their phones off the hook, wanting to get involved in a big, big way. So how do you make it work from a sanctioning body standpoint and from a team standpoint?

Bud Denker: Yeah, well, the teams obviously will still get their leader circle money like they have in the past. So they're, they're, they're whole. Um, you know what they don't know yet is, and I have an issue to notice on this yet, but they don't know is we're not, they can't bring any team hospitality to our event. They can't bring any team motor coaches to our event. There's no space. I can't have a, uh, you know what I'm saying? I can't have another series here. So everybody who's going to want to stay overnight has got to stay in a hotel. Anybody who's going to want to, you know, put hospitality for their, their, their sponsors are going to have to get. You know, a suite or a club pass. So they don't know that yet, but that's, that's a notice during it for me here shortly, because there's no space. I mean, if they look at our site, look closely at our site, we are crammed into a space that is unbelievable to get. Only our IndyCar series and let alone any motor coaches. So, um, we have been very successful so far in the sales of our suites and they're very, very pricey because we're in a very pricey market. So, um, I'm happy to say we're going to build 73 suites. I'm happy to say we've already sold 31 and we just announced today. So these were all ones before today. And I can only imagine in my email box today, uh, opportunities that have come our way and probably our website as well, too. So, but interesting, Bruce, the partners that are coming forward are different than what we're used to. These are the general dynamics. These are the Westinghouse nuclear. These are the Raytheons. These are the Boeing's right. That are all working with the government. So they want to be part of it and they want to provide something to get back to freedom, to 50 for the president's initiatives. And this gives them an opportunity to do that. So I'm really happy where we are right now. So we've got to raise a lot of money. Um, Penske will be putting some money into it as well. And, uh, and, uh, but we've got to, we've got to go out and sell.

Bruce Martin: And how was the turnout today? Because this event, the announcement of the course layout, the logo and everything else with the other details that were announced on Monday drew a lot of media that aren't necessarily traditional sports media. So how important was that?

Bud Denker: Yeah. Wow. How would, you know, Merrill Cain and Alex Damron are the ones that can give you the insights into. what's a good turnout, what's a bad turnout. And today our riser, we put our cameras on, was maxed out with 15 different cameras. Never seen like that for any of our events, maybe Indianapolis, never seen it before. They, the people that were there, we think we have reserves, you know, seats for probably 20 or 30. We could have had reserved seats for a hundred. But beyond that, it was the people who turned out the secretary of interior, the secretary of transportation, mayor Bowser, secretary of, uh, ambassador Crowley of, uh, uh, chief of protocol on and on and on. So it was the people that turned out and then the media that turned out as a result that really was incredible. So, and the fact that we were on Fox, Fox news, Fox nation network news for 45 minutes for our event live. And then since then we've been on four or five more times with Joseph on about the last hour. So it has been a nationally televised announcement far beyond what I expected. I expected some good local hits, but I didn't expect the national hits we had here.

Bruce Martin: And finally, anytime you get involved dealing with whoever's in charge of our government at any particular time, even in the best of times, you have people who are strongly supportive and you're always going to have a faction who are absolutely against whoever's in office. How do you reach out to both sides? I know that this is being done as a patriotic celebration of America's 250th. Some people still want to throw water on it, but how do you deal with that to where it remains positive for IndyCar?

Bud Denker: board of both parties, whether someone chooses to be red or blue. I can't control that, but all I can tell them is that our mission is not to put money back in their pockets. We're a five Oh one C three. Number one, number two, our mission is to be inclusive. I don't care if you're a Democrat and independent Republican, come out and enjoy this event because we're going to entertain you and you got a great celebration. It's not about politics to watch our racing. It's about entertainment. And number three, We want to get back to charity and that's a sincere way in Detroit this year because of the Detroit grand prix, I gave checks of over six figures to five different charities because we have a grand prix race. We're going to argue against that. So let's do the same thing in DC. Some people are not going to ever listen to what I say about that. Some people, if I get my a hundred dollar bill, are going to complain because I gave him two fifties, right? So it's just the way it is. But listen to what I'm saying about, the mission, what we have here, which is a bipartisan supported mission. And that's all I can tell those folks that disagree with me.

Bruce Martin: And I also think it's important to point out the date of when you and Eric Shanks first came up with this idea and started to go to Washington, D.C. to try to talk to people and present them this idea. Because by my calculation, it happened long before any of the events of the day even took place.

Bud Denker: Indeed. My first visit here was in July of last year. I met with the Sergeant of Arms of the House, Sergeant of Arms of the Senate, and the Archbishop of the Capitals. We started that long ago. I started that mission. I met with those people with the help of Fox scheduling it for me. And then, you know, 81 meetings later, I couldn't get the 60 votes I needed in the Senate. Um, so the president said, let me have another idea. Mr. Danker, go back to, go back to DC and design another racetrack off Capitol grounds, which I did the day of the Rolex race of that morning. And, um, we designed it and the secretary of interior and the mayor approved it. And, uh, four days later I was in the white house, the executive order, this, event would not have happened without the executive order. It wouldn't have. And so therefore, because we had a good border, should we not do it? That's ridiculous. No, we're going to do it because we have the approval to do it. And now we're going to make it a fabulous event.

Bruce Martin: But the Genesis of the event actually happened last July. And I think that was the one point that, I was trying to make about how everybody seems to think this is a way to deflect from the news of the day, but who knew what the news of in March 2026 would have been in July, 2025. No doubt.

Bud Denker: It started way, way, way before this. So, uh, yeah, it evolves and we evolved and, uh, the world evolves and, but we have to keep our compass, you know, straight North, which is to ensure that we put on a safe, a great event and, uh, not be detracted by, detractors and, uh, by those that are gonna, you know, pour water on us, as you said, that's going to happen. It's just natural. And, um, and you know, some people wake up in the morning and they see dark and they go to bed, they see dark. I can't help that. Uh, I see light at the end of the day and I see light at the end of this event because it's going to celebrate our country. And, and to that, I'm proud to that. It keeps me motivated and going into that. I would say, you know, I got 166 days to make this country proud.

Bruce Martin: And then our final question for Bud Danker, president of the Penske Corporation, 2025 season for Team Penske's IndyCar operation. It wasn't quite a Penske-like season for Team Penske, but the team's off to a very fast start in 2026. And how great is that turnaround in your mind?

Bud Denker: Well, I'm just so happy for Roger. Yeah. You know, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's the 400 and some people at Team Penske that Put the effort in to get the results, effort, because results as Roger always says, and, and, uh, yeah, it wasn't an easy year last year for many reasons, obviously, you know, many of them, but, um, you know, uh, we, we've, we started out on a mission to improve. Um, remember in racing, you typically only win 15% of the time, meaning you lose 85% of the time. You learn a lot more from losing than you do from winning. And, uh, I think we've learned a lot over the off season and we learned a lot from last year as well, too. So, um, Got a long season ahead of us and, uh, uh, on the racetrack, but also a long season ahead of us. And the IndyCar series, which is what we're so involved in now, Roger, myself, Jonathan Gibson, and others to, to make it better and to having the leadership of Mark Miles and Doug Bowles, um, you know, at the helm, you know, very, a very steady ship and. The things we've done in the off season with the new car, getting Honda, getting Chevy, um, you know, recommitted these new events, announcing DC, the new track in Markham a year ago. Remember, we didn't know if we were returning to Ontario. We did not know. And, uh, that deal came together with the help of, you know, IndyCar and Kevin myself. And so we've got a lot to be proud of and a lot of momentum starting us off into the season that, um, I'm pretty excited about.

Bruce Martin: Well, Bud Denker, president of the Penske Corporation. We're all very excited about the big announcement. Let's see the course layout, the logo, and the other details for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, DC. Congratulations on that. I'm sure we'll talk soon. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. Thanks, Bruce. All the best. And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental as we continue racing into 2026. We want to thank our guests, Team Penske and IndyCar owner Roger Penske, Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix winner Josef Newgarden, 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion and Phoenix NASCAR winner Ryan Blaney of Team Penske, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano of Team Penske, Also, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR Cup Series star and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing, 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports, 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell of Spire Motorsports and 2311 driver Bubba Wallace. Also IndyCar Series drivers Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske, Felix Rosenquist of Meyers Schenck Racing, Christian Rasmussen of ECR and Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Flanagan Racing. Finally, we want to thank Penske Corporation President Bud Denker for going into great detail on the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., for joining us on this edition of Pit Pass Indy. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests helped make Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways, and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team. Executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Sean Ruhle-Hoffman and Nathan Horson.