By Helio Castroneves

Our trip to Japan is always one of my favorites each year, and I’m not saying that just because we were victorious in our latest race there. I’m saying that because it’s true.

I love the Japanese culture, and I’ve learned a great deal from it. It’s built on honor and discipline and integrity, all concepts that I admire and attempt to put to use in racing and everyday life. From the moment you get off the plane in Tokyo, you notice the pride people take in their work and the discipline they use in their daily routine. I’ve tried to use some of that in my approach to racing, and it works.
When I meet Japanese people during the course of my travels there, I’m always impressed by their manners and conduct. If you’re in a hotel or restaurant, it is their honor and privilege to perform their jobs at the highest level of their abilities. It’s truly remarkable to see, and it’s shocking –- in a good way –- to most Westerners. The Japanese people go out of their way to perform at the highest level in every aspect of their lives.

That’s part of why I love racing for the Japanese crowd at Twin Ring Motegi. They are knowledgeable, passionate race fans, yet they are so polite and well-mannered. They love autographs, so they follow us everywhere at the racetrack. But they don’t get pushy or demanding. If you need to stop and talk to another driver or a crewmember while signing autographs, you make a gesture that says, “Hold on a second,” and the fans will politely back up a step and patiently wait for you to finish. It’s such a cool thing to see. They respect our privacy and our space, but at the same time they're very enthusiastic.
And they go all out at the races. They dress up in costumes, carry signs, and bring us gifts. Not something they bought in a store, but something they made themselves -– something personal and unique. It’s just a joy to race in front of an audience like that. I never get tired of racing in Japan. I look forward to it every year.

We’ve had some success there, too, including this latest win. This was our second victory, fifth top-five finish and fifth pole position since I started racing at Motegi in 1998. I was extremely proud of this win because it took so much effort by the entire team. They applied the Japanese principles of discipline and honor and integrity to put together a nearly flawless effort. It’s not often that a racer has a car that is as perfect as the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda was at Motegi.

So I want to take some time to thank my crew guys for what they did in Japan. The trip itself is not easy for them. It’s a 13-hour flight from Washington D.C., then a three-hour bus ride to the track, so the entire day of travel is usually something like 20 hours from start to finish. It’s grueling. And when you get there, your world is completely upside-down. Noon there is 11 a.m. in the U.S. You’re awake when your body is telling you to sleep. Through all of that, the teams go to the track and work –- physical work -– for long hours. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for their effort and expertise. They were as proud of the win in Japan as I was, and they deserved to be. I’m blessed to have so many talented, smart, dedicated people around me.

The run we’ve had near the end of the season –- consecutive wins at Kentucky and Motegi –- is an important building block for the 2011 season. The goal now for the No. 3 team is to carry this late string of success to next season. If we can do that, and get off to a good start when racing resumes next March, then we have a strong chance to contend for the IZOD IndyCar Series championship.
But that doesn’t mean we aren’t focused on the season finale this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The goal there, of course, is for the team to win the season championship with my teammate, Will Power, but we’re also there to contend for the win. Will is 12 points ahead of Dario Franchitti going into the race, so it’s going to be close. We want this championship for Team Penske and Will, who’s been a great teammate and friend. But if our car is as strong at Homestead as it was in Japan, then we’re going for it. That’s really best way we could help Will, anyway –- win the pole, lead the most laps and then win the race and to take away points from Franchitti so he can’t catch Will for the title.

This has been a great season for the entire Team Penske organization. It looks like all three of us will finish among the top five in the final standings, and we’re contending for the championship. I’m proud of this season and –- much like my Japanese friends -– feel a great sense of honor in the effort and accomplishment.

Merrill Cain
Penske Racing
Director of Communications
2555 Telegraph Rd.
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48302
O - (248) 648-2592
C - (704) 677-9200

By Helio Castroneves

It’s great when you can make the most of a bad situation. The race at Kentucky Speedway was a perfect example of that.

We had a problem during a pit stop early in the race, and that put us behind. We decided to take advantage of it by changing our strategy and getting out of sequence on pit stops. It was a great call by my boss, Tim Cindric, who ran the numbers and came to the conclusion that the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda could make it to the finish with only one more stop for fuel. The rest of the field couldn’t do that.

So we stayed right where we were, running our own race behind the leaders and saving fuel, knowing that everybody else had to come to the pits more times than we did. That’s exactly what happened. One by one, all of the leaders went to the pits at the end of the race. There we were, suddenly in the lead with a few laps to go. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in a race car.

We won this one completely by teamwork. We won it because we planned it out and worked together to do it. We didn’t have the fastest car on the track, but circumstances allowed us to create our own strategy, and it worked to our advantage. Racing isn’t always about speed. It’s also about strategy and teamwork and knowing what the race is going to give you.

It was a very clever victory, and that’s what I liked most about it. It wasn’t brute force and blazing speed. It was a thinking man’s win, and that’s what I love about this team. They think things through. Team Penske has been racing for so long and has so many people with decades of experience. They know how to see the shape of a race. It’s like a football team reading another team’s defense. We took advantage of some openings that we didn’t expect at the beginning of the race, and it all played out in our favor.

So, for the first time, I climbed the fence at Kentucky Speedway and it was a great feeling to celebrate our second victory of 2010. I really feel like we should have three wins this year after the penalty was called on us while leading late at Edmonton, but that is the past. This one felt very good.

I was excited to learn on Friday where we will be racing in 2011 when the IZOD IndyCar Series released its schedule for next season.  But I have to say the news was a little bittersweet as we discovered that we won’t be coming back to Chicagoland Speedway in 2011. Conditions change constantly in racing. The economy, politics, business decisions – any number of things can affect where and when we race.
As drivers, we understand that this is a business. But it still made me sad, as I’ve always loved the city of Chicago and racing at Chicagoland Speedway. I’ve had a lot of success here. I won in 2008, missed by inches a few times and won a pole position there. It’s an exciting racetrack that has produced many of IndyCar’s closest finishes. If it were up to me, we’d race at Chicagoland Speedway every year, but unfortunately it’s not my decision.

Yes, I will miss the speedway, but most of all I will miss the people. The reason I’ve always enjoyed coming to Chicago isn’t about the track or winning races. It’s about all of the great people I’ve met over the years. I see some of the same people every year in Chicago, and I always meet new friends, too. It’s such a friendly, welcoming place. I always feel at home here, and I will miss that feeling.
But never say never. Like I said, conditions and circumstances change constantly in racing. Just because we don’t return to a racetrack one season doesn’t mean we’ll never go back to racing there. I am hopeful that we will be back in the future, but for now, thanks to all our fans in Chicago. You guys have been great.

At the same time Chicagoland isn’t on the schedule, we also find out that my hometown track, Homestead-Miami Speedway, won’t be on the schedule in 2011 either. We’ll hold the IZOD IndyCar Series season finale there on Oct. 2. Like the Chicago race a few weeks ago, the Homestead finale will be bittersweet.

But if I know one thing about the IndyCar Series, I know that it wants what’s best for the fans and the teams. So I’m not ruling out the possibility of returning to both tracks in the future. It’s happened before, and it can always happen again. And, it’s exciting that we will be racing in some new markets next season and that we’ll be trying some different things.

In the meantime, we’ll go back to focusing on the immediate future. We’re off to Japan in a few days for next weekend’s race at Twin Ring Motegi. It’s an important time for the team. There are just two races left in the season. We’re in the middle of a championship battle and doing everything we can to see that Team Penske wins it. It’s getting interesting now, so stay tuned!
 

 

 
By Alex Marcotullio,

Coach Carmody decided to let us sleep in a little bit today. We had late check out from the hotel. Most of us took full advantage of the sleep and decided to skip breakfast. It was supposedly the right decision because I heard the spread wasn’t even close to what the other ones have been like. So we caught up on some sleep and recovered from the previous nights overtime thriller in preparation for our game tonight.

Around noon we packed up the bus and headed to the city of Pavila. The bus ride was rather short and we arrived in Pavila in around an hour or so. We hopped off the bus and went into the city square where there was a market set up. It was Sunday so most of the shops were closed. The marketplace was filled with regional goods and clothing. That particular reason is known for their grains so I made sure to pick up some Italian-made pasta from one of the vendors. This pasta may be a little better than Barilla.

For a couple of hours we browsed around and got a little hungry. The team sat down for our pre-game meal. The food was terrific as usual and I must say I would rate that meal in my top five of the trip. After the meal we returned to the bus and drove a half hour to the arena. Typical European arena but it seemed to seat a nice amount of people.

We went through the usual warmups and it was time to leave Italy undefeated and accomplish our goal we set out from the beginning of the trip. The energy level was down from our previous game and we came out a bit sluggish with a couple early turnovers. We managed to muster an early lead and we never trailed. JerShon Cobb came out hot with a quick 8 points to help jumpstart the team. We continued to increase our lead throughout the first half with an energy boost from Ivan Pelusic off the bench. We lead by 10 going into the half, 38-28.

The second half started out similar to the first and they trimmed our lead to one point.  Then we picked up the defense and stifled them and went on a monster run to blow the game wide open. Drew Crawford found a groove and had a great second half, finishing with a game-high 21 points. The lead grew to 22 and we were on our way to a 4-0 record.  Great win and great way to finish up our trip. Now it’s off to Lake Como for our final days in Italy. We will definitely take advantage of these days to enjoy each other’s company. Time to kick back and relax and enjoy beautiful Lake Como.

In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone who made this amazing trip possible for us.  I think it will be very helpful for our team in the upcoming season. I would also like to say hi to my mom and everyone else in my family. I love and miss you all. Let’s sell out every home game this year! Thanks for all the support.

 

 

 
By Michael “Juice” Thompson

Day four of our trip is coming to an end. Based on the outcome of the game we just finished playing, everyone has completely recovered from jet lag. Everyone has adjusted to the style of play here in Italy. The physicality here in Italy is as physical as the United States, this is evident, as the referees in our first two games have been letting us play through a lot of fouls. The main adjustment that our team had to make was dribbling the basketball before moving. Our team has been called for several traveling violations in our first two contests because traveling is called differently in Europe than in the U.S.

Today was a fairly easy day consisting of mostly travel. We woke up this morning ate a healthy breakfast then got one last opportunity to explore around Rome before taking our two and a half hour journey to Persuia, Italy, for our game. Prior to the game we enjoyed a meal that was sponsored by Dream Team Italy. After the meal our team played card games in the lobby while others surfed the Internet.

We then traveled to the gym to play our game. We got off to a great start and eventually earned ourselves a double-digit lead, but the opposing team used their home court advantage and crowd participation to gain the momentum. Fortunately, we still went into halftime with a six-point lead. The second half was delayed due to an injury of one of the referees. We were still able to come out to a hot start and eventually regained our double-digit lead. We got great contributions from everyone on the team.

Now we are on the bus on our way to Florence, the drive is approximately two hours. Once we arrive to Florence we are going to a local restaurant for post game dinner that consists of pizza and salad. Personally, I am looking forward to Florence more than anything because of the shopping. I have an addiction to shoes and clothes and I plan to shop until I drop. Tomorrow the team is given the entire day to shop and sightsee on our own. The next two days we are away from basketball the sightseeing and recovery time for our bodies will be great, but Saturday and Sunday its back to business on the basketball court.

+++

By Drew Crawford

We are just leaving Florence on our way to Venice. It’s about a four-hour bus ride, but with the company of our team there isn’t a boring moment. We had a great time in Florence yesterday. As we have done the whole trip, we started the day off with breakfast in the hotel. I really enjoy getting as much sleep as I can, but I am willing to sacrifice 45 minutes of sleep for such a good breakfast in the morning.

The food on the trip has been amazing so far. From the fancy restaurants, to the cafes in the afternoon, to the gelato shops, everything has been delicious. I was really looking forward to the food and it definitely hasn’t disappointed me. Italian food is one of my favorites, and although I love the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden, the authentic food here is unrivaled.

After breakfast we walked to the Galleria dell’Accademia which showcased some beautiful artwork, most notably the statue of David by Michelangelo. We met a tour guide at the museum who informed us about all of the artwork. As a group we then walked to see the Duomo, the third-largest church in the world. We didn’t go inside, but from the outside we got a feel for how huge it was. After our tour we got a chance to walk around on our own to experience the city. Some of the guys climbed the stairs to the top of the Duomo from where there’s an awesome view of Florence. Others walked around and looked in some stores. Juice always has to get his shoes so we went to Foot Locker for the third time on the trip!

After a long day of walking we were all very tired so most of the team took a nap to rejuvenate. Last night, instead of going to dinner as a huge group as we have done each evening, just the players went to a restaurant. It was a great time with a lot of laughs. Coming to Italy has been a great experience so far, not only because we are getting a chance to play, but also because it gives us a chance to bond as a team. It’s great to be part of a team that is talented on the court and also really close off the court.

We have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of days as well. When we get to Venice today we will be touring St. Mark’s square and taking gondola rides through the canals. We will get a good night’s sleep tonight in preparation for our game tomorrow in Alessandria. Hopefully we will continue to play well as a team and get another win!

Go ’Cats!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Austin Nichols

Ciao NU Fans,

By day three, almost of the guys have recovered from their case of jet lag. Despite having to get up early in the morning, we were all anxiously waiting in the lobby to tour the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. I am sure all of us have heard the cliché, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and in this case that phrase is definitely true because words simply do not do it justice, but I am going to try my best to give you an idea of what it was like anyway.

Before we could begin our tour, we first had to clear security, which reminded me of security checks at the airport. After we cleared security we began with our tour of the Vatican. The artwork at the Vatican is phenomenal; from the statues, to the paintings, to the panoramic view of Rome, the tour was nothing short of incredible. We then made our way to the Sistine Chapel. The atmosphere in the Sistine Chapel was very different from that of the Vatican. No pictures could be taken and talking was kept to a minimum. However, being able to see the amazing artwork of Michelangelo up close and in person was unbelievable. Funny how I used to think I was the best artist in the world when I would give it my all to color in the lines and my mom would hang my picture up on the fridge for friends and family to see. Another thing that I found remarkable was the number of different people from different cultures around the world that the Sistine Chapel attracts. This was evident when a recording over the intercom reminding visitors to keep talking to a minimum was played in over 10 different languages. Last, we toured St. Peter’s Basilica, which simply put is huge! I was most amazed by the tomb of St. Peter, which is over 400 feet high.

After our tour, we were given free time to either relax at the hotel or do some shopping.  It was no surprise that everyone elected to shop. Being from Michigan, the shopping plaza in Rome reminded me of the downtown shopping areas of small cities in northern Michigan, such as Mackinaw City. The narrow streets littered with local shops, restaurants, and brand name department stores, large crowds of people, tourists on four-seater bikes, music, and the almost tangible energy was truly an amazing site. After shopping we walked back to the hotel and rested before dinner. Dinner was very good. Various types of meats, chicken covered in tomatoes, mushrooms, and other vegetables, and of course pasta! And to top that all off was a delicious dessert of tiramisu.

This was our last night in Rome and it was a great experience. From the ruins of ancient Rome, to the beauty of Vatican, to the small town feel of the shopping plaza, we have enjoyed everything. We will be traveling to Florence on Wednesday and also playing our second game. We are looking forward to touring Florence and expect to have as many great experiences there as well. 

We appreciate all the support,

 

By Helio Castroneves 

We’re in an unusual situation heading into Saturday’s Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway. All three Team Penske drivers are still in the championship race, but Will Power still leads Ryan Briscoe and me by more than 100 points with just three races remaining -- all on oval tracks.

That means we have to approach this race from two perspectives: the small picture and the big picture.
The small picture is our own effort to win the championship, which we’re determined to continue chasing. We’re 130 points behind Will after our last Saturday’s sixth-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway. That’s a huge deficit, but it’s not impossible. We’re fully capable of winning races on ovals. The No. 3 team has proven that throughout the season.

The big picture, though, is our team-wide effort to secure a championship for Team Penske. Honestly, Will is the one who has more of a real and concrete place in the standings at this time. It’s not impossible for me or Ryan to come back and win the championship, but our chances aren’t as good as Will’s.

That makes for a delicate situation this weekend at Kentucky. We have to focus on the team while we’re focused on ourselves. We have to make sure that Will gets the points and Chip Ganassi’s team doesn’t get the points. That doesn’t mean we’ll give up positions to Will while we’re racing, and it doesn’t mean we’ll get in the way of Ganassi’s drivers, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.
It means that if we’re out of contention to win the race, our responsibility is to our teammate.
It might sound unusual, but it’s actually a nice place to be. It means that everyone at Team Penske has been competitive this season. Together, we have seven wins, 12 poles and 22 top-five finishes. That’s in 14 races. All three of us are among the top five in the standings, and that means the team has an excellent chance to win this championship.

And, obviously, the guy on our team who has the best chance is Will. He’s had an amazing season this year, and we’re all proud of what he’s accomplished. Five wins, a series record eight pole positions, and the Mario Andretti Road Course Championship. That’s an amazing season all by itself, and he still has three races to go.

As for my season, I’m not going to look back and dwell too much on what might have been, but the Toronto/Edmonton swing was truly damaging to us. What I’m most proud of about this group of guys is that they didn’t get down. We crashed in Toronto and had the controversial penalty in Edmonton, but nobody stopped moving forward. We got ourselves back on track with a third place at Mid-Ohio, a fifth place at Infineon, and a sixth-place effort Saturday at Chicago. We’ve bounced back.

If you didn’t see the Chicago race, you missed something special. It was breathtaking, as our races at Chicagoland Speedway usually are, and several cars were at or near the front -– including all three Penske cars -– in the final laps of the race. It was as stunning to be a part of it as it must have been to witness it. The moving and jockeying for position is sometimes unnerving but its always a challenge. None of us at Team Penske won the race -– and that was disappointing because our cars were fast and formidable all weekend -– but we worked extremely hard for our finishing positions.

You want to be at the very front of the championship battle right now, like Will is, but circumstances haven’t put us there. Instead, we have to remain positive that we can continue to pick up points and contend. What happened to our team in the recent past is outside our control at this point in time. We have put ourselves back in a positive situation by looking forward.

That’s exactly what Will’s team has done all year. They pressed forward, raced fast and smart, and won races. He put himself in this situation by being very good. If it turns out that I’m not racing for the lead Saturday night –- or not in contention for the championship anymore -– then I’ll do everything I can to help Will and Ryan.

It’s difficult, yes, but it’s an understandable and manageable situation. I want to be there in the end, but if I’m not, then I want to be helping the entire Team Penske operation. Everyone benefits from that.

To be honest, I’m excited about both prospects. Drama always makes for an interesting race weekend.