The Penske paradox: A worthy heir & IndyCar legend aggrieved
- Archie O’Reilly
- Sep 23
- 16 min read
Updated: Sep 24
Less than 18 months ago, David Malukas was staring down the barrel of a racing future in serious doubt.
After IndyCar’s late-April visit to Barber Motorsports Park in 2024, the then-22-year-old was informed that a dream opportunity with Arrow McLaren was ending as he was to be released from the team. He had not even raced once for the papaya outfit.
The move came as a result of a left wrist injury - including a dislocation and torn ligaments - suffered on a pre-season mountain bike ride a little over two months prior in early February. This forced Malukas to sit out the opening three competitive races of the season, as well as the Thermal Club exhibition event and Indianapolis 500 open test.
By the time Round 3 at Barber had concluded, the threshold had been reached for the termination of Malukas’ contract. It was the cutthroat nature of motorsport epitomised.
But being left as a free agent was not necessarily his biggest fear at the time, as much as he had lost out on a front-running drive in IndyCar for his third season. With healing not going as planned on an injury which had required surgery, simply getting his wrist to a point where he could even contemplate the prospect of racing competitively again was the priority.
“It was definitely one of the toughest things I had to go through,” he reflected in the months following the incident. “There were some really rough days, especially after the termination and things going very dark for me. Your brain tends to say: ‘This is over, it’s done.’ It just thinks of the worst thing, goes to Plan Z.”
A still-young journey on the IndyCar ladder which commenced in 2017 as a 15-year-old in USF2000 - the fourth-tier series - was placed at an abrupt standstill and under immense jeopardy in a cruel twist. But Malukas’ path since then has been quite extraordinary.
He first made his true mark in North American single-seater racing in 2018, stepping up to the Pro Mazda Championship (now USF Pro 2000) and winning three races en-route to finishing fourth in the standings as a 16-year-old rookie. That earned him immediate graduation to Indy Lights (now Indy NXT), where he placed sixth as a rookie.
The cancellation of the 2020 Lights season due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant a one-year deviation to the Formula Regional Americas Championship, which resulted in a runner-up finish in the standings, with only two wins but 15 podium finishes in 17 races. Linus Lundqvist, 2024 IndyCar Rookie of the Year, won all but two of the races.
Indy Lights resumed the following year, where as a sophomore Malukas emerged within a pair of dominant drivers. He ended the season with seven wins, a record 16 podiums and was second to the prodigious Kyle Kirkwood - a champion as a rookie on every rung of the Road to Indy ladder - by only 13 points, finishing 75 points clear of Lundqvist in third.
Malukas’ reward was a graduation to IndyCar in 2022 with Dale Coyne Racing, backed by his family team HMD Motorsports, with whom he enjoyed vast success in Lights.
His rookie season in the big league resulted in 16th in the standings, headlined by a late-season second-place finish - maybe one lap shy of victory - on the 1.25-mile oval at World Wide Technology Raceway (better known as Gateway).
That was backed up with another Gateway podium - this time third place - the following year as the tag of Malukas as an ‘oval specialist’ grew. He dropped one position to 17th in points in 2023 but doubled his top-10 results tally to sixth, also featuring fourth on a superspeedway at Texas Motor Speedway.
Off track, over the course of his early IndyCar career, his relatability with a burgeoning younger demographic of fans has led to growth into one of the series’ most popular drivers and a highly-valued figure on the grid.
“I’ve had a lot of experiences where fans would come up to me and tell me that they’re watching IndyCar and they’re there because of me,” Malukas admitted earlier this year. “That made me feel incredible. It’s an incredible feeling. I’m just really excited to actually be able to connect with my generation into racing and get them in.”
On track, there were rougher days to eradicate after his rookie and sophomore years. But his speed was recognised by Arrow McLaren, who by the end of the 2023 season had acquired Malukas’ services for the following year.
A promising talent combined with a team still growing in its relative infancy, it felt like a natural fit. Typically effervescent and energetic as a character, Malukas was glowing upon making the move. This is what he had worked towards his entire career.
“You know when you were a kid and everything seemed a little bit brighter?” he posed ahead of the 2024 season. “I feel like putting the papaya on, I have that same brightness back. I see everybody a lot brighter now so life is good.
“We are going for the top: podiums, wins. For my skills and to get the maximum out of my potential, this is the place to be.”
But unfortunately for Malukas, it never got better than an October hybrid test outing on the oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That transpired to be a brutal taste of what could have been seven months in the future but was ultimately not to be.
Less than a month shy of making his racing debut for Arrow McLaren, the injury occurred. And on top of the physical pain, Malukas had to contend with the anguish of watching others deputise respectably in his coveted No.6 seat as the season got underway.
By the time May came around - set to be possibly the best month of his life to date with an opportunity to contend for the Indy 500 - he was left with the sole job of supporting IndyCar’s social media content team. It was no doubt a role suited to a meme-making marvel in Malukas, but sidelined from driving with his wrist in a brace, it was a role reluctantly taken.
When Malukas should have been in the cockpit, driving at over 240 mph on track and chasing his lifelong dream during a month that is the IndyCar equivalent of Christmas, he was instead confined to the media centre. A torturous watching brief.
“I wasn’t even in IndyCar anymore,” Malukas recalled. “I didn’t have a left hand and I was up in the media centre just being a fan. It’s been an insane year. It’s always going to be a year of maturity for me. Although it was a year, I feel like I’ve aged 10.
“Everything happens for a reason and I’m taking all this knowledge and everything I’ve learned and all the hardships and going to put it into more success in the future.”
If there was an initial silver-lining to ties being cut with Arrow McLaren, it was that Malukas was at least afforded the chance to focus on his recovery without the pressure of a timeframe to work to. But May was still unquestionably a month of anxiety in the wilderness.
At the start of June, though, a lifeline emerged.
Tom Blomqvist, a sportscar ace but novice in the IndyCar realm, flattered to deceive at Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) early in his rookie season. An opening-lap Indy 500 crash ultimately ended up being the last he was seen in an Indy car before transitioning back to the familiarity of sportscar racing, meaning an opening appeared in the No.66 Honda.
Having retired from full-time racing at the end of 2023 and moving into a leadership role at MSR, albeit fresh off an Indy 500 attempt, Hélio Castroneves stood in for Detroit and again at Road America. But on the Friday of that second weekend, MSR announced that Malukas was to step into the vacant car for the final 10 races of the season, starting at Laguna Seca.
“It did happen very fast,” Malukas said at the time. “One door definitely closed and another one opened.”
With the team having made the first move by reaching out to Malukas, it was deemed that, four months on from the cycling accident, his wrist was healed enough to get back behind the wheel of a car for the first time, kicking off with a pre-Laguna test at the Milwaukee Mile.
The wrist was by no means perfect - described by Malukas as being at the 80-percent mark - and a recently-repaved Laguna Seca promised a physical racing return. But that only made it all the more impressive that Malukas qualified inside the Fast 12, going on to better that with a stunning third-place qualifying result in his second weekend back at Mid-Ohio.
His return for the close of the 2024 season featured two further third-place qualifying finishes at Gateway and Milwaukee, showcasing Malukas’ oval prowess for a second team. He only started lower than 14th once and started inside the top 10 on six occasions.
His race days scarcely reflected that pace, with only two top-10 results in 10 races. But this felt an injustice compared to the true level of his performance, given for the first time in the team’s infancy, Malukas had MSR fighting at the front across both cars.
This lack of results was not to matter massively though. Another major moment in his rollercoaster juvenile career beckoned.
Not even two months into his racing return, Malukas had caught the eyes of an IndyCar giant - with enough vigour for a poaching move to be made an entire month before the conclusion of the season. Without a ride yet secured for 2025, by mid-August Malukas’ return full-time competition was made official. And it was not with MSR.
Instead, Malukas was bound for Team Penske’s technical allies at AJ Foyt Racing.
It was never confirmed but widely believed to be a Penske-funded ride - an idea only reinforced by the sidepods of Malukas’ No.4 Foyt machine being adorned in the colours of Penske associate sponsor Clarience Technologies for the majority of the season.
There was even an intermission to sport the Gallagher Insurance colours, frequented by the No.3 Penske, in Portland. That felt like shorefire evidence of Penske’s input and, with that, Malukas’ return onto the books of a powerhouse - only months after being cut from the ranks of another front-runner and fearing the worst for his career.
Before he could get down to business, Malukas had to have another surgery ahead of the 2024 season to clean up some scar tissue and further improve his wrist’s mobility. That led to some early-season difficulties and contributed a little to a slow start at Foyt, though the team struggled for performance across both cars in the opening races of the season.
“Obviously going back into the car, no matter what PT or training I can do, nothing is like the real deal and the hand got a little bit beat up on those first few races,” said Malukas in June. “But it’s at a good state now where there’s no more pain and it’s pretty much at the maximum it will be.
“I have a little bit of movement that’s never really going to come back. It is what it is. But we’ve done a good job with moving things around in the car and getting things to what I like. I had to change my driving a little bit and things are good now.”
After only one result inside the top 15 in the opening five races, Malukas’ year came alive at the Indy 500, driving to third on the road - promoted to runner-up post-race - only one year on from being restricted to the sidelines in May. It was quite the bounce-back tale and a result to put the paddock - and his admirers at Penske - further on notice.
He ended up with what felt an unrepresentative five top 10s across the course of the season - the best non-Indy result being fourth in the second Iowa Speedway race - with a mix of misfortune and missteps on race day. But the story was Malukas’ scintillating raw pace.
He finished with the third-best qualifying average in the full-time field at 9.6 - and up at 4.7 on ovals - having qualified inside the top 12 a total of 12 times across the 17 races. With nine top-seven starts, he began races in seventh or better in over half of the rounds, including front rows on the streets of Detroit and the Milwaukee and Nashville ovals.
Even with some errant race days, 11th in the standings for Malukas marked Foyt’s second-best championship result since 2002 - after Santino Ferrucci’s ninth in 2024.
All the while, Malukas was burdened - maybe welcomely in some ways given the links with one of motorsport’s great teams after the strife of the year prior - by constant talk about his future. Compartmentalisation became a big part of his season.
“No matter the rumours or no rumours, everybody is trying to strive to always live in the present instead of stressing about the past and the future,” he explained mid-campaign. “I’ve always gone about that no matter what the situation may be.”
But as much as Malukas was steadfast in his continued claims that he had a multi-year deal with Foyt - which there is no doubting - talk continued to linger about a promotion to Penske. The longer time went on without a new deal being formalised for out-of-contract 17-year Penske servant and IndyCar legend Will Power, the more that chatter intensified.
Malukas was in an ideal situation, knowing he would at best be with Penske or otherwise have a secure, still-competitive seat at Foyt for 2026. But on the flip side of the deal, Power’s frustration visibly grew as the year progressed without a resolution for his own future.
As he told the Off Track with Hinch and Rossi podcast in recent weeks, conversations were even promised after an impressive 2024 season but never came.
In a much more intense and rather more negative manner, circled with uncertainty, questions continued to surround Power’s future in the discussion about the famed No.12 ride. But with his contract running down, he continued to be left in the dark.
You could hardly knock Power if he grew to feel less desired at his long-time home, where he had been a loyal servant for the best part of two decades.
In what had been a barren season for Penske, going winless for the first 14 races of the season - an overall 15-race drought, which was the worst run for the team since 2007/2008 - it was Power who eventually broke that duck in Round 15 in Portland. After that, he finally received a call inviting him to meet about his future and an offer on the table.
But while until the end of the season he insisted nothing had been decided about his future, he later admitted it was at this post-Portland point that he told the team he did not wish to return. And maybe a four-word answer in the press conference after that win was telling…
“Maybe it’s my decision…”
It was a shift of the narrative that it was Penske’s choice to get rid of their veteran driver. But even if Power instigated his own exit, it is Penske-induced that he did not remain. Both can be true in terms of Power making the decision to leave but the team also, to a certain extent, disrespecting a driver with his legacy of two championships and an Indy 500 crown.
Maybe he would have taken a one-year deal ahead of the 2025 season or even in the early exchanges of the year. But you can understand why his views changed as time went on and he entered the final month of the season without an offer on the table.
And at 45 years old at the beginning of next campaign, you can hardly blame him for chasing the security of a potentially final multi-year deal. That is what, as CEO Dan Towriss confirmed, Power has received from Andretti Global. With Malukas in the pipeline at Penske, you would imagine a longer-term deal was probably not on the table there for Power.
All of that led to the feeling that Power, if he was to remain, would have felt a stop-gap rather than still a truly valued part of the team.
And still, the way he has departed feels unceremonious and as though it could have been handled better. Despite his service dating back to 2009 and no driver having won more races for Roger Penske, Power leaves without any defined farewell. Distinctly unfair, it feels.
The saga does not feel enough to wholly sever a long-time bond with Penske into the future, but you could imagine Power coming out of the blocks in 2026 with a point to prove with Andretti. He has been defiant in insisting he is still at his best and quicker than he has ever been - even in his mid-40s. And who is to doubt him?
The results back these staunch claims up. In Álex Palou’s legendary five years with Chip Ganassi Racing, Power is the only driver to break his four-time-title-winning monopoly in 2022. Having been the closest contender in 2024 too - with his three wins the joint-most in the field - Power was the last driver not named ‘Álex Palou’ to lead the standings.
That standard set as recently as 2024 is a valid reason why Power felt aggrieved that he was not re-signed by Penske ahead of this season. That was added to by his contract being allowed to run down across a trying 2025 campaign - the team’s worst since 1999 - where he was the lead Penske driver in points for essentially the entirety of the year.
All of this considered, Power did not remotely deserve to lose his seat. But at the same, it can be true that Power’s heir is one of significant potential and plenty of upside.
Penske’s disastrous year was largely owing to inexplicable misfortune, though there could be an argument that fresh blood - this the first change to their lineup since 2021 - may serve them well if they wish to pivot in a different, more future-focused direction.
With Power reaching the end part of his career, you can understand a wish to build for the longer term, whether that was to start in 2027 or now as soon as next year. Though the fact Penske eventually laid an offer on the table for Power does suggest they would ideally have given Malukas another season of development at Foyt.
The last time the team made a recruit truly of this ilk was signing Josef Newgarden ahead of the 2017 season, where he went on to win the championship at 26 years old. That said, the addition of experienced and successful racer but open-wheel rookie Scott McLaughlin in 2021, which has proven a successful decision, was a roll of the dice too.
Where the risk element factors in here is the fact that Power - still at the top of his game - is being replaced by a still-raw, even if high-potential, young driver. But that is not a slight against Malukas; was anyone really going to be a better option on paper than Power?
Penske are losing a leader and a legend - and Power is still very much both of those things. Not will they be without his on-track capabilities, but they will be deprived of his authority too.
At times, it felt as though Power acted as the glue for Penske - something that really emerged in the thick of their woes in 2025. This publicly came to a head as Power brought levity to an Iowa press conference where teammate Newgarden was visibly downcast, a quip bringing a smile out of his younger teammate.
“Josef loves to answer questions at the moment,” joked Power amid Newgarden’s concise responses to the media. “He’s seething. Seething.”
Right now, Malukas’ experience and resume is dwarfed by the legendary CV of a veteran in Power. The Australian is fourth on the all-time IndyCar wins list (with 45 victories) and podiums list (with 108 rostrum visits) and has the most poles of any driver in history at 71.
Malukas himself has only completed three full seasons, bringing three podiums, five top fives and 16 top 10s in 61 races - never having run with a reliable front-running operation. There is also intrigue surrounding how he may gel with Newgarden and McLaughlin, with whom he has had occasional run-ins on track - though you would not foresee any issues.
Any questions about Malukas’ present credentials are not to doubt what he could grow into; he has the raw materials to be a potential champion in the right conditions. That environment could well be at Penske should they rebound from their 2025 struggles.
But the present reality is, as Malukas has noted himself, he has a seismic void to fill.
“Will Power is one of the legends of our sport and the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet is one of the most-recognised cars on the grid,” Malukas said in Penske’s press release upon his signing. “These are big shoes to fill but I look at it as an opportunity because I know that it is one of the best teams in the paddock.”
Patience is going to be a virtue as Malukas undergoes the process of filling the sizable boots left behind by the great Power. Mercifully, a multi-year deal gives him the time and security he may require to grow into his new ride.
The 2025 season was the perfect showcase of his peaks - his outright pace up there with the very best - but the simultaneous inexperience and sometimes wavering execution that naturally remains for a driver of his tender age.
“Experience is king, especially with the skill being so high from all the drivers,” Malukas acknowledged earlier this season. “Looking at a positive from what has been a rough previous season of mine with 2024, I’ve already been with multiple different teams and felt different setups and seen a lot of different data from all different drivers.
“Having that experience is what’s going to make me a better driver. And still being 23, my mind is still fresh for learning and trying to absorb as much information as I can to make myself a better driver.”
There is little doubt that Malukas has the ability to win races once he knits everything together and avoids too-common calamity. While he has been cost by his own errors at points - probably too frequently still - there have been multiple instances of 2025-Penske-like bad luck when running in favourable, victory-fighting positions, particularly on ovals.
As recently as the Nashville finale last month, he was in win contention before colliding with the backmarker of Louis Foster. Even the season before with MSR, he could well have won at Gateway before a very late-race clash caused by Power.
He was also spellbinding Palou and Pato O’Ward laps away from being on pole position for each of the final two races of the 2025 season.
Of course, the Penske opportunity will now provide a different beast to contend with. It is a unique setting to anything else in the series. Compared to Coyne or MSR or Foyt, Malukas will have to grapple with a drastically different weight of expectation.
Where bad days were inevitable at the series’ smaller teams, most missteps are at best a minor disaster in Penske colours. And where good days are celebrated elsewhere, on top of that the standard is that they are expected at a team of Penske’s calibre.
The pressure will be like nothing Malukas will have experienced to date in his career. But he is a driver who has shown incredible adaptability and resilience in his rebound from the hardships of the last two years and has the thick skin to weather what that may bring.
He has taken positives from the harsh adversity he has been dealt, which will no doubt have contributed to building the mettle required to thrive at Penske.
“Your brain tends to spiral a little bit, you start asking: ‘What is the reasoning? Why is this happening to me?’” Malukas conceded after his time sidelined with injury. “I believe in the fact that everything happens for a reason. I think the reason for that was to become the driver I can be, with the potential I needed.”
He has already stepped up, looked comfortable and delivered on the biggest stages, which is the biggest step to make when moving to a Penske-like powerhouse. To succeed, it will take a level of consistency not yet found in the budding years of his career. But after all he has been through in his journey so far, there is no challenge he will shy away from.
From the darkness of as recent as 16 months ago, it is astonishing the manner in which Malukas has landed on his feet - and some. One dream opportunity was snatched away, but from that savage twist, another, possibly even greater shot has surfaced.
There is valid criticism over how that opening has emerged for Malukas to join one of IndyCar’s ‘big two’ teams. But it has allowed for another chapter of a compelling comeback story for a young driver worthy of the chance to fill one of IndyCar’s greatest voids.
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