How He Became Team Penske Driver For 3 Days In 2022

Santino Ferrucci did not compete in last year’s Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway, but that race made him a driver at Team Penske for three days last year.

When Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden was injured in a crash while leading the second race of the IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa Speedway in 2022, Ferrucci was named as a potential replacement if Newgarden was not cleared to compete one week later.

Medical personnel were concerned the Team Penske driver had suffered a concussion in the crash at Iowa and before he would be allowed to compete in a race six days later, he would have to be cleared by the IndyCar Medical team.

Newgarden was cleared and competed the next Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in the Gallagher Grand Prix.

That made Ferrucci a Team Penske driver for three days.

“That was such an honor to be called by Roger Penske and Tim Cindric to potentially fill in for Josef,” Ferrucci said. “That really made my name prominent. If Team Penske believed in my talent, then why not another team?”

Another team did believe in Ferrucci’s talent and hired him as the full-season driver in the No. 14 Chevrolet. It was AJ Foyt Racing, a team owned by the legendary former driver that was the first man to win the Indianapolis 500 four times in his career.

The 88-year-old Foyt is the team owner, but his son, Larry, oversees the operation on a day-to-day basis. They believed Ferrucci could bring the team back into relevance and that was never more evident than at the Indianapolis 500 this past May.

Ferrucci finished third in the 107^th Indianapolis 500 on May 28 and that momentum from May has continued for the team.

“It’s huge,” Ferrucci said. “We got to Road America, and we put both cars in the Fast 12, something they haven’t done in five years, and we easily had a top 10 finish, but something failed on a pit stop gun, but we were able to come back and show we have the pace, momentum and direction with engineering and trying to keep up with that.”

Ferrucci was one of 20 drivers that competed in last Wednesday’s IndyCar private test at the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway as they prepare for the Hy-Vee Indy Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway July 22-23.

Ferrucci and teammate Benjamin Pedersen both tested using three different Firestone Tire compounds including one set of Indianapolis 500 tires, three sets of last year’s Iowa Speedway tire and one set of the 2023 tires that will be used at Iowa Speedway next month.

Ferrucci was 19^th out of the 20 drivers and Pedersen 20^th. Because it was a private test, all times are unofficial, but Ferrucci was clocked at 166.532 miles per hour and Pedersen’s No. 55 Chevrolet’s fastest lap was 164.784 mph.

Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta was unofficially the fastest at 175.008 miles per hour in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

Herta completed 292 laps, the most of any of the 20 drivers in the test. Ferrucci completed 188.

Ferrucci would like to see the road course package used at Iowa Speedway. Bigger rear wings are featured on the road course aero package and the AJ Foyt Racing driver believes the added downforce would be a better show and it would not turn into a “pack race” – something IndyCar doesn’t not want to see.

“The series doesn’t want pack racing and that is logical, but now that we are out of the aero kit cars, if you gave us the road course package to run at Iowa and Gateway, the racing would be better for the fans,” Ferrucci said. “You would see more on-track passes, strategy is better, tire life is better. Everyone’s life would be so much easier. And I would love to get the extra horsepower here.

“This car doesn’t produce enough downforce, so you would close the gap but not be all the way back to pack racing.

“With the extra wings and extra downforce, you can run the second and third groove without the car sliding. You can run the bottom of the track without the car sliding. It gives you more options to race and less moments of cars losing it in the corners and saving equipment.”

Ferrucci calls the current Indy car a “great racing car” but the biggest challenge is in the extra weight from the aeroscreen. He believes the 2019 Indy car was best racing car he ever had and compared it to an older GP2 car.

With the cars getting heavier, he believes it needs more horsepower. There will be an increase next year with hybrid-assist, but Ferrucci would like to see 850-900 horsepower available every weekend instead of 720 hp.

Ferrucci and the rest of the NTT IndyCar Series drivers have this weekend off but will return to action next week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, culminating with the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 2.