“[Team] Penske Answer the Bell”- NASCAR Veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr Deals a Sarcastic Blow as Fords Rack Back to Back Wins

In NASCAR, fortunes can change in a jiffy. The most recent example would be Front Row Motorsports‘ Michael McDowell, who turned around his season with a win at the Indy road course on Sunday. McDowell’s win made it three on the trot for Ford, who was riding on the fresh wave of success brought upon them by RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher.

Buescher swept the grid in consecutive weeks at Richmond and Michigan, which has changed the scenario of the standings completely. While the Mustangs of RFK and Front Row have delivered the goods this late in the season, one team which has toned down their season massively is Team Penske. NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr has some words of concern for the Roger Penske-owned team.

“Where’s your answer, Penske?”: Dale Earnhardt Jr questions the slump of Team Penske

Team Penske will have the added pressure of being the defending champions of the Cup Series. Joey Logano‘s championship-winning campaign last year had placed the team in a strong position to start this year, which they certainly did. Logano took the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta earlier this year, while teammate Ryan Blaney won at Charlotte to lay the foundations for their playoff qualifications. Compared to them, RFK Racing has picked up pace in the latter stages of the season through Buescher, while driver-owner Brad Keselowski continues to deliver stage and race points consistently.

Dale Earnhardt Jr has questions for Team Penske on the latest episode of his podcast, The Dale Jr Download. Expressing his concerns over their slump in form, he starts off with some praise for Keselowski and Co.

“RFK, hell, none of us can get it right. So that’s true; I mean, the BKR, Brad Keselowski Racing Truck Series team has my mind screwed up when I try to think about the name of Brad’s Cup team, which is Roush Fenway Keselowski, RFK, you have to think about that. So they’re doing great, doing great, and now you have Front Row running well.“

Speaking about the recent turnaround in the Bob Jenkins-owned team’s season with the #34, he draws comparison between them and Penske, saying, “They’ve been a top 15 or top 18 team all year, then they go and win a race.”

“And so Penske is like, where’s your answer, Penske? [Team] Penske, answer the bell, right? Cause, dammit, I need to look like I know what I’m talking about.”

The team have shifted their focus to the #2 Ford of Austin Cindric whom they want in the playoffs to take the number of playoff qualified drivers to 3. Although this does sound like a daunting task, and more so with only two races remaining in the schedule, another driver in the playoffs will increase their chances of retaining the championship.

McDowell beat Team Penske to finish line despite losing his chief engineer to them

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At the start of the reason, McDowell lost his two pillars of strength that helped him at the trackside. Losing his former crew chief Blake Harris to Hendrick Motorsports was big blow to the team in particular. Harris was one of the major reasons behind the #34 driver scoring his best ever career statistics last season. To pile up on the misery, Roger Penske also lured his chief engineer to his side.

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Replacing Harris was former RFK Racing man Travis Peterson. Peterson has proved his mettle as a strategist as he led the team from the garage that resulted in a dominating performance from McDowell. Peterson continued right from where Harris left and steadily improved the team to where they are right now. McDowell addressed the same in the post-race conference at Indianapolis, saying,

“When I lost my lead engineer to Penske, I knew we had to have an engineer-minded crew chief because we just didn’t have two people to fill the spot. When I met with him after coming off of Blake, who was a car guy, very little engineering experience, I’m like, oh, this is the opposite of what I just had and had success, but this is what I need.”

McDowell will look to bank on the newfound success and a second Cup Series win after Daytona in 2021 to land himself in a possible championship fight. Despite the losses that happened early on in the season, the 38-year-old shows no signs of stopping.

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