Owner toasts win, 'terrific' title format with burger, milkshake
Play: NASCAR Fantasy Live
After winning his second Daytona 500, Roger Penske says clinching a spot in the new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this time around may be more important than going to Victory Lane itself after the Great American Race.
"(Making the Chase) to me, you win prize money, you win the 500, but when you really step back, that might be the biggest thing that comes out of this weekend, that we know we're in the Chase," Joey Logano's car owner said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's "The Morning Drive."
"We can be working on our car. It's no vacation obviously, but to me, that is amazing when you think about it. We can run the whole season, roughly 25 races, and be able to know that we're going to have a shot at it.
"That's a byproduct of the new format, one that I think is terrific. Obviously last year, we didn't get what we wanted to, but to me, that's a great part of this. And to see our car here in the museum is amazing again after seeing the Alltel car here a number of years ago."
It's a return trip to the Daytona 500 Velocitorium for Penske, who put the No. 12 Dodge there after Ryan Newman's win in the 50th running of the Daytona 500 in 2008.
This time, it's a Ford Fusion Gen-6 car, and Penske said his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil team had a lucky charm on the pit box.
"If you can believe it, the CEO of Ford Motor Company (Mark Fields) was sitting there, on the box for that race," Penske said. "First time he's been to a race, I guess, that they won so they were kidding that he might be a bad omen, but yesterday, he certainly made a difference."
Following a late pit stop that took the No. 22 out of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship running last November, Team Penske might consider inviting Fields to sit on the box during Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Penske also talked to "The Morning Drive" about his choice of restaurant to celebrate his second Harley J. Earl Perpetual Trophy.
"When I need to have a chocolate milkshake and a big burger, that's what I want," Penske said of his team's stop at Steak 'n Shake. "In fact the people wondered what was going on when we came in there. We got a table, and it was all of us. We had some fun. It was the closest, best place to the track."
While the Chase berth may be the most valuable prize of the weekend to Penske, @nascarcasm suggests the trophy may be worth something as well.
For his next trip to Daytona, Penske said he'll have another beverage on his yacht for Logano and fellow Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski.
"(Logano) and Brad came down on the boat one time so I'm going to get them on the boat again this year, and we'll sit back and we'll drink champagne rather than milkshakes."
MORE:
READ: Latest
|
PLAY: Sign up
|
WATCH: Latest
|
FOLLOW LIVE: Get
|
|---|