![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/06-19-Malukas-Inside.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAs the NTT INDYCAR SERIES embarks on its second half of the season, Team Penske\u2019s David Malukas understands the need to weigh personal goals against team aspirations even as they might be one in the same.<\/p>\n
Yes, both team and driver want to win the series championship, and Malukas is third in the standings, highest among Roger Penske\u2019s trio. But Malukas also desperately craves his first series victory, and he knows that can\u2019t come at the expense of high-level consistency.<\/p>\n
Hence, the dilemma he faces.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could still (use consistency to win the title),\u201d Malukas said Friday at Road America, site of this weekend\u2019s XPEL Grand Prix of Road America Presented by AMR. \u201cI think going for a win is more just a \u2018me\u2019 thing, and it\u2019s just something that I need to keep under control. If the opportunity arises, of course, we\u2019re going to try to go for it, but I don\u2019t want to be pushing (for a race win) so hard, making stupid moves to try to go for that win, and the next thing you know we end up in a crash and now we\u2019re not even anywhere close to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we still have a points race to focus on \u2013 that\u2019s the No. 1 priority. But if the opportunity (to win) is there, of course, we\u2019ll try and get that first one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reason these goals might align is that it would be nearly inconceivable for a driver to win a season championship without having a race win on his resume. In the past 30 years, only Scott Sharp earned a series title without previously having won a race, and that 1996 season was an anomaly because it spanned only three races.<\/p>\n
Since then, 21 drivers have claimed INDYCAR SERIES champions and averaging 8.3 career race wins by the time they accepted the series crown. Buzz Calkins, who shared that abbreviated 1996 Indy Racing League title with Sharp, and Tony Stewart (IRL, 1996-97) each only had one race win, but at the other end of the spectrum was Paul Tracy, who had 26 race wins when his 2003 Champ Car season culminated with his only title.<\/p>\n
Among drivers in this weekend\u2019s field, Scott Dixon had four race wins when he won the first of his six season championships in 2003. Will Power had 24 when he won his first championship in 2014, Josef Newgarden had seven before taking the 2017 title, Alex Palou had three before wearing the crown in 2021.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Malukas has another factor in his pursuit of this year\u2019s championship: Palou. The Spaniard has won four of the nine races to date and has won three of the past five races at Road America, including last year\u2019s. Given how consistent the three-time-defending champion has been over his five-plus seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, any driver hoping to dethrone him likely needs to win several races in the nine to come.<\/p>\n
So, Malukas likely needs to win races and score the most points possible when Palou doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet certainly has done well in the latter category. He finished second in both May races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he finished third in the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway in March. Seven of his nine finishes have been in the top seven.<\/p>\n
But of course, Palou has been better. So has Andretti Global\u2019s Kyle Kirkwood, for that matter, which is why both have more points than Malukas.<\/p>\n
Malukas finished seventh in last year\u2019s visit to Road America, his best of three series starts at the 14-turn, 4.014-mile permanent road course. But in 2021, he won one of the INDY NXT by Firestone races (Kirkwood won the other).<\/p>\n
Malukas\u2019 best lap in Friday\u2019s practice ranked 12th of 25 drivers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis would be a big one for me,\u201d he said of Sunday\u2019s 55-lap race (2 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). \u201cThis is kind of where a lot of my racing, started here. My dad put the Corvette out here when I was a little kid. To come full circle and get my first INDYCAR win here would be pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
But make no mistake about Malukas\u2019 situation: He is proud of what he and the team have accomplished in their first season together, but they are not satisfied.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yeah, for sure, 100 percent,\u201d Malukas said of that description. \u201cBut along the way (there have been) mistakes from me, so we could even be even better, be even closer. You always just look at the season from a distance, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, we\u2019re (third) in the championship, what an incredible season it\u2019s been.\u2019 But still we\u2019re only roughly a little bit past halfway, so we\u2019ve got to keep on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if I would rate (the season), I’m giving it like a B-plus. It\u2019s been a really good season, but it’s not been perfect. Like, we’re still making mistakes. The potential is still through the roof, which also, in some ways, is a good thing, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn’t our maximum. We know we can be that much better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the NTT INDYCAR SERIES embarks on its second half of the season, Team Penske\u2019s David Malukas understands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-501703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}