As struggles continue to mount, Penske's IndyCar program continues downward slide

In a series he owns, Roger Penske can't buy good luck for his IndyCar operation in 2025. 

Ten races into a 17-race 2025 campaign, 2025 has become an annus horribilis for Team Penske's IndyCar program, both on and off the racetrack. 

In regard to performance, only one Penske driver — Will Power — is inside the top-10 in the standings. Scott McLaughlin sits 11th, with two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden in 19th, having an exceptionally poor season that rivals only his rookie year in a lack of results. 

Penske's season hit a new low on July 6 at Mid-Ohio, when McLaughlin, Power and Newgarden finished 23rd, 26th and 27th, respectively. Going into the weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway, there's little momentum to speak of. 

Off the racetrack, Team Penske is still reeling from the cheating scandal that dominated the papers throughout the Month of May after modified attenuators were found on the cars of Newgarden and Power ahead of Indianapolis 500 qualifying. That news came just over a year after Penske was caught in a push-to-pass scandal at the beginning of the 2024 IndyCar season. 

Penske fired three key executives prior to the running of the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25 — team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer. 

Things only got worse for Penske on race day in Indianapolis when Scott McLaughlin crashed on the pace laps and Josef Newgarden suffered a fuel pressure issue that took him out of the running for a third consecutive Indy 500 victory. Meanwhile, Power finished 16th, one lap down. 

While the din of another major scandal has died down since IndyCar left IMS in May, the performance struggles of Penske have not. It wasn't just the aforementioned poor performance at Mid-Ohio that has fans talking, but a prolonged slump that goes back to the start of the season. 

That's been especially true for two-time Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden, who was marketed by a new broadcast partner in Fox Sports as the new face of IndyCar racing. But Newgarden's performance in 2025 has been extremely disappointing, as the 31-time IndyCar winner has only one top-five effort all season and has found most of his publicity this season by way of the Indy scandal, a massive crash at Gateway and his refusal to consistently speak with the media. 

McLaughlin and Power have put together more respectable campaigns, but have looked nothing like they did in 2024, when they finished third and fourth in the standings, respectively. 

With only seven races left in the 2025 IndyCar season, there's no hope of any Penske driver making a run at the championship. But what must happen is for either McLaughlin, Power or Newgarden to show signs of life over the final seven races, or risk going into 2026 with Penske's IndyCar program as down in the dumps as it's been in a very long time.