Team Penske
The cast: Drivers – Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power. Chief engineers – Jonathan Diuguid (Castroneves), Ron Ruzewski (Montoya), David Faustino (Power).
Twitter: @h3lio, @jpmontoya, @12WillPower, @Team_Penske
The cars: Chevrolet-powered Nos. 2 (Montoya), 3 (Castroneves), 12 (Power)
Snapshot: Montoya, the 1999 CART champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, returns to Indy car racing after long and successful stints in Formula One and NASCAR. The No. 2 car will have Verizon as its primary sponsor in at least eight races and the Hawk Performance Products Group will be the primary sponsor for three races. … Montoya, 38, is from Colombia and lives in Miami. … Power has been the series’ championship runner-up three of the past four seasons and finished fourth in 2013. The No. 12 car carries primary sponsorship from Verizon throughout the season. Power, who turned 33 on March 1, enters his fifth full season with Team Penske, while Castroneves has been with the team since 2000.
The stats: Castroneves recorded one victory (Texas) and 16 top-10 finishes in the 19 races to challenge for the championship through the final race. He wound up as the runner-up. He started the season with podium finishes and added four other top fives. He led seven races for 239 total laps and was running at the finish in every race. Castroneves had an average finish of 7.5, best of all full-season entries. … Power had an average starting position of 4.3 and delivered three victories (Sonoma, Houston 2 and Auto Club – all in the final five races of the season) and four other top-five results. He added three pole starts, including the opener at St. Petersburg and the finale at Auto Club Speedway. Power led a field-high 15 races for a total of 351 laps – also tops among all drivers. He was the only driver to lead in each of the first three races.
The gist: Castroneves has finished second in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship three times. He led the points for 10 consecutive races heading to Houston – the penultimate race weekend – where the No. 3 car experienced gearbox issues in both races. Scott Dixon assumed the points lead and secured his third title in the season finale. “Last year it was an unfortunate situation because it was out of our control,” Castroneves said. “That’s the great motivation for this year. That’s what I’m looking for here in 2014, to start the same way and hopefully finish with one step ahead.” … In 121 Indy car starts since 2005, Power has posted 21 victories and 32 poles. Like Castroneves, he’s seeking his first drivers’ championship.
They said it: “I felt comfortable with what I was doing and everything,” Montoya said about the move to the IndyCar Series. “But if I look back at everything I've done, the most fun and best racing I've done in my career, it's been in Indy car. This was the perfect time to do it. I felt like two years from now, wouldn't be able to do it. Timing-wise, it was ideal.”
Added Power: “(2013) was an unusual finish to a season for me if you go off the last few years. Definitely had a good offseason and very motivated to have a good year. I feel as though we're going to be pretty competitive. Just working hard, not leaving anything on the table, not leaving anything to chance. You just can't be lazy. You've got to work hard in this game if you want to continually be competitive.”
Added Castroneves (about what it will take to win his first title): “I have the right line with God, to be honest, and with the Pope, too, especially with John Paul. He said, ‘When the time comes.’ I just have to keep pushing. You can't wait for something to happen. You have to continue giving yourself an opportunity. Certainly we did our job last year. Unfortunately, circumstances outside of our control and it didn't happen. But right now that's the attitude I'm going with in 2014; give ourselves an opportunity, that door will open one day.”