Kevin Harvick Hints Penske’s IndyCar Leadership Changes Is Going to Negatively Affect Joey Logano and Co

NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick warned Team Penske's NASCAR operations over the recent Indy 500 controversy.

Kevin Harvick Hints Penske’s IndyCar Leadership Changes Is Going to Negatively Affect Joey Logano and Co

Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano (via IMAGO)

Penske is an iconic name in the world of motorsport. The American family runs a host of racing teams across various series, most notably in NASCAR and IndyCar. Though, at the Indy 500 last weekend, the team announced some major exits from its open-wheel operations. Now, Kevin Harvick has predicted that this will have an impact on Penske’s NASCAR team.

Team Penske announced the exit of its IndyCar Team President Tim Cindric, who is the father of Penske’s NASCAR Driver Austin Cindric. He had been part of the iconic team for around 25 years. Moreover, Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and General Manager Kyle Moyer were also shown the door.

Kevin Harvick pointed out at Penske’s difficult weekend at the Coca Cola 600, the first after the departures. Roger Penske‘s squad shocked the entire field as its drivers failed to be even close to the frontrunners. With even Joey Logano failing to make a mark on Memorial Day.

Let’s put it in perspective, they were awful at Charlotte. That was a surprise. We all thought that they were on this consistent path to having that speed. They showed up at Charlotte and weren’t in the mix all night. Never even a part of the conversation.

Kevin Harvick said on Happy Hour podcast.

The NASCAR legend recalled the words of Mamba Smith, the co-presenter of his Happy Hour podcast, over the potential impact of the IndyCar exits on the NASCAR team. Harvick reckoned that the dismal outing at the Coke 600 might just be a coincidence, but the situation at Team Penske seems to be at its worst in a long time.

You (Mamba Smith) mentioned everything that happened at Indy with the Indy cars and the departure of those people makes you wonder what the trickle-down effect of that is going to be. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that they ran bad at Charlotte, and it all happened on the weekend when all this happened, or whatever the scenario is. But it was as bad as I’ve ever seen all year as a group.

Kevin Harvick explained.

Roger Penske blames ‘organizational failures’ behind IndyCar overhaul

The decision to let go of three of its most senior figures came as a surprise for fans last weekend. The call was made shortly after the cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power violated the rules ahead of the Top 12 Qualifying session at the Indy 500. The two Penske drivers were forced to the back of the starting grid with the team being fined $100,000 each.

Roger Penske
Roger Penske (image via Getty Images)

Roger Penske issued a statement shortly after the big name exits. The American legend asserted that his team was going to uphold the integrity of the sport. The 88-year-old blamed organizational failure in the team’s past two campaigns for a lack of results. Penske assured fans that the team will improve and no longer let them down in IndyCar.

Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams. We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.

Roger Penske said in a statement.

Team Penske is going through a difficult time at least in IndyCar. The chaos will undoubtedly drip its way to the NASCAR operations. As personnel within the organization try to understand what Penske has planned for the future. While its IndyCar team could likely have some big names arrive in the future, the NASCAR team must remain unaffected from all the noise and focus on its results.

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