BRANT JAMES

James: Will Joey Logano be Roger Penske's next champion driver?

Brant James
USA TODAY Sports
Team owner Roger Penske, left, and driver Joey Logano, right, earned their first win together at Michigan International Speedway in August 2013.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — They got the call in a familiar sort of way. An operative subtly informs the driver that Roger Penske is interested in speaking with them, soon.

The driver is intrigued. Whether currently employed or not, they take the meeting. Those meetings have taken place in transporters and grandstands, helicopters and while sitting on hotel room beds. Penske wouldn’t have arranged them without multiple years of due diligence. It is always therefore up to the driver to make a decision they’ve been ruminating since that first inquiry.

The prospect of racing for Penske, who has won 23 national championships, a record 16 Indianapolis 500s, and one Sprint Cup title in 50 years of ownership is flattering, validating, enticing, and depending on the career arc of the target, irresistible.

Team Penske can cull through premium talent, specifically in IndyCar, where he has won 14 titles. But in the past seven years, it has specialized in the journeyman, the opportune, the slightly scuffed.

IndyCar, NASCAR drivers give insight on the 'Team Penske way'

Granted, this was no philanthropy project. There was underlying talent to be capitalized upon. And for Penske, who covets development and sees unwanted personnel changes as wasted energy, assessing future contributors to his driver lineup was the same as finding an undiscovered or undervalued commodity to add to his business portfolio.

“You can run a driving school or you can take a look at who’s out there that has potential,” Penske said. “I think what we’ve done over time — now it takes a combination of not only the driver but the engineer and the crew chiefs to partner — we’ve had long-term drivers. Look at Helio (Castroneves), 15-16 years years. (Rick) Mears, how long as he been with us? Bobby Unser. So there’s been some that maybe came up a different route, but we’re looking for the best talent.

“The expectations are high on these guys, also.”

Roger Penske keeps his foot on the gas after 50 years in racing

Penske tabbed Will Power, budding breakout performer, when he needed at least a short-term replacement for Castroneves in the Verizon IndyCar Series as he stood trial for federal income tax evasion in 2009. Castroneves was acquitted of the charges, and Power acquitted himself enough in his stead for Penske to add him to his IndyCar roster full time. Power he won a championship in 2014 and finished second from 2010-2012.

Penske introduced himself to Power on pit road at Homestead in 2008, noting he came highly recommended from former team owner Derrick Walker, then interviewed the KV Racing Technology driver after the season. Power’s deal was different from many of his predecessors in that a verbal agreement was not struck in person, with paperwork soon to follow. He was set to fly home to Australia as Penske sprung.

“Just before I flew, literally, they called me,” Power recalled. “[Wife] Liz and I thought, ‘Nah, it’s obviously not me. That’s that.’ She was on the couch asleep, phone rings and I’m clicking my fingers, ‘Oh, thanks. Roger, I got the job, oh my God, I can’t imagine that.’

“I didn’t scream or anything, but, shoo — disbelief.”

Penske moved on to Brad Keselowski in 2009 after it became apparent that the driver’s freshly signed deal to race in NASCAR's Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports would be eroded by an extension of veteran Mark Martin’s career.

At the conclusion of a first meeting, Keselowski, who had won at Talladega Superspeedway with Phoenix Racing, had told Penske, “I like what you stand for,” and “I’ll be back” to team president Tim Cindric.

“We still joke about that one,” Keselowski said. “I was like Terminator.”

Penske was able to offer not only a Cup ride but the full-time, concurrent Xfinity Series ride Keselowski had brought up sitting in what Penske deems the “opportunity chair” next to him on one of his private airplanes.

Keselowski joined Penske full-time in 2010 and delivered the owner his first NASCAR championship in 2012.

Jimmie Johnson could join Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty in exclusive club

The billionaire had observed Simon Pagenaud for three years before adding a fourth IndyCar program for the French journeyman in 2015. Pagenaud, who had raced sports cars and showed promise in IndyCar with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, rewarded the decision by winning the championship this season.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Pagenaud said of Penske consummating their arrangement. “And it’s one thing my girlfriend helped me with, too. Last year when it was a bit difficult, she said to me, “Roger didn’t choose you by mistake.” She was right. Sometimes you have your doubts as an athlete. As a sportsman and you need to look at the route, why you are here, and certainly Roger has always hired the best drivers.

“For me, it was a realization to be part of the best. Maybe I am too humble sometimes, but it gave me a lot of confidence going into this year. Now I feel like it really uplifted me, this confidence.”

Simon Pagenaud, left, and Roger Penske, bottom right, celebrate after winning the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship on Sept. 19.

Joey Logano now has his second chance to pay off Penske’s faith, one of four drivers eligible to win the Sprint Cup championship Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Threatened by career drift after being hustled to NASCAR’s highest level at age 19 as a replacement for former series champion Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009, Logano struggled — as could be expected — with performance and establishing an identity — fairly or not — that his older peers didn’t find abrasive.

After four pedestrian seasons, he was to be replaced at JGR with Matt Kenseth, with an Xfinity ride as a consolation. Instead, he took a lifeline from Penske to take over the No. 22 Ford.

Tony Stewart exits NASCAR on his terms as driver, champion

Logano’s approach had come from Keselowski, who texted him before the 2012 Daytona 500 that Penske wished to meet.

“Roger Penske wants to meet you, heck, yeah you go to the meeting,” Logano beamed.

Logano joined Penske to begin the 2013 season, set then-career highs in top-5s (11th), top-10s (19th) and points finish (8th), then advanced to the championship final in 2014 in the first season of the new elimination-style Chase format, finishing fourth after being undone by a late pit stop problem.

Joey Logano answers a mother's request to attend son's funeral

Logano set career highs with 22 top-fives, 28 top-10s and six wins last season — including three consecutive victories in the middle round of the Chase — but missed qualifying for the final after being wrecked by Matt Kenseth at Martinsville Speedway. Logano won just three times this season, but made them timely — at Talladega to advance to the third round of the Chase and at Phoenix International Raceway last week to secure another championship slot.

Logano’s reflections on working for Penske also sum up the owner’s recent recruitment efforts.

“He knows what the right decision is by experience and living through it before, and he just does it, and he just makes great decisions all the time,” he said. “That's why he's where he's at.”

On Sunday, perhaps Penske is back on the celebration stage for the second time this season. And if so, good thing Logano took that meeting.

Follow James on Twitter @brantjames