MOORESVILLE, N.C. — At the homebase for Team Penske, it’s business as usual for the only team in auto racing history to win both the NTT IndyCar Series and NASCAR Cup Series Championships in the same season.
December has been a time for celebration, especially at Team Penske’s annual Christmas Party when team owner Roger Penske brings the massive operation together to thank them for another season well done.
One of the key members for Team Penske’s success is Paul Wolfe, the crew chief for 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano.
Logano and Wolfe both scored their second Cup Series championships with a flawless performance in the final race of the season at Phoenix Raceway.
Wolfe won his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2012 with driver Brad Keselowski.
“A lot has happened in those 10 years for sure,” Wolfe reflected. “A lot has changed. Different driver, totally different car. The racing is totally different in my eyes from what it was back then.
“It’s almost like that happened in my second year in Cup racing; it’s almost like I didn’t know better, didn’t understand how difficult it really was to compete for a championship in this series with the best teams and drivers.
“A lot has happened. I just go out there every week and try to do the best, continued to try to build a team with the best people we can.”
With the level-headed Logano behind the wheel, the team won the pole and pretty much controlled the race. That left the other three teams in the Championship Four scrambling for second place.
Wolfe is a prototypical Team Penske leader. He realizes it takes a complete team to have success.
“I’m not going to say I’m the smartest guy in the garage, but I like to put a lot of good people around me and make me good look, and we’ve definitely got that on this team and within our company,” Wolfe said. “We just try to go out there and do the best I can and not make any mistakes.
“Gosh, it’s so hard to win these things. We knew we were prepared the best we could be. We had the speed when we unloaded, and you get into the Championship Race, and you just don’t want to screw it up.
“There’s so much work by a lot of people back at the shop and the guys on this team and our teammates. So much goes into it, and you just don’t want to have a mistake during that race.”
Key to that success is a deep engineering staff. The crew chief must develop the trust in the information relayed to him from engineering and the driver must have trust in the crew chief’s decisions.
“My engineers do a great job of trying to give me the best information we can,” Wolfe said. “When we had the lead at the end with 30 to go, you’re playing those scenarios: What are we going to do if the caution comes out? How many laps to go? Two tires, four tires, stay out?
It’s stressful at the end. When we finally got the checkered flag there, I just took a minute. It was a bit of relief and just a great feeling.
“I’m obviously not a super emotional guy, but it does mean a lot to me.”
It has proven to be difficult to win a NASCAR Cup Series Championship. It was even more difficult in 2022 because all the information and data from previous years was virtually useless.
That’s because of NASCAR’s completely new NextGen car, which had a dramatic impact on the style of racing and made the field even more competitive with a NASCAR-record 19 different winners in 2022.
Five drivers won their first NASCAR Cup Series races.
“It was a steep learning curve this year with this car,” Wolfe said. “It’s something totally different than what we’ve used in the past and with the whole underbody and the aero side of it, understanding some of the trade-offs of the mechanical setups versus aero, and a lot of the things we did in the past really don’t work with this car.
“It takes being open minded and continuing to have guys come up with different ideas. It takes things to try and just being smart about every week trying to take something out of it and learn something. With the very limited opportunities to test and practice with a 20-minute practice session and very limited changes, it makes it hard to try to advance and get better.
“When you have those opportunities, you really must make sure you’re prepared to get the most out of them. And that’s where I feel like having a great group of guys on this team and within Team Penske, we’re able to make the most of that.
“It has obviously made the difference for us.
Then there is the driver, himself.
When Logano first arrived in the NASCAR Cup Series garage area, he was a raw rookie, just a teenager, but his arrival had been long expected. He was a child prodigy and his arrival in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2008 led some of the NASCAR veterans to derisively call him “Sliced Bread” as in “The greatest thing since Sliced Bread.”
Logano struggled just as any rookie does, but with only two wins at Joe Gibbs Racing in four full seasons, he left for a bigger opportunity at the end of the 2012 season.
It was off to Team Penske as the driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford in 2013.
Logano won his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2018. Four years later, he captured championship No. 2 and has established himself as one of the best drivers in NASCAR.
“That’s a lot of what I saw out of Joey and his teammates when he joined us at Team Penske was that drive, he had and the effort he put in over the years,” Wolfe explained. “You always know what you’re going to get with him, and that’s 100 percent focus and doing the best he’s capable of.
“Those are the kind of people you want to work with. You never doubt his work ethic and what he’s putting into being the best he can be. That’s what makes you want to — motivates you to work hard.
“I knew he could win the championship race and the championship, and just didn’t want to let him down.
“We’ve got a great group of guys on our team and supporting us, and we were able to give him what he needed to do his job, and then we got the results we deserved.”
It also gave team owner Roger Penske a unique “double” in 2022. Team Penske’s Will Power won his second NTT IndyCar Series championship and Logano won his second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
It’s the first time the same team owner has won both of North America’s most prestigious racing categories.
“Like I said earlier, I’m just glad I didn’t screw it up,” Wolfe said. “When we go to Indy, we know how important that is to Roger and the team and being able to win two championships, I think it’s great.
“I feel the pressure every week, whether I’m racing at Bristol or Indy or trying to get a second championship for Team Penske.
“I know it’s very special, and it’s exciting to be able to be a part of that, of getting both championships this season. It’s hard to say I’ve worked any differently than I would have if we weren’t going for the second championship for Team Penske.
“But I know it means a lot, and it’s exciting for everyone involved. It’s tough to do and pretty neat at the same time.”