What’s Happening?

NASCAR may be close to getting one of the biggest names in motorsport to join. Andretti Global continues to flirt with joining NASCAR, but this is still a while away from happening. So, today, we look at the success that other top team owners in other motorsports have had when they try their hand at NASCAR.

• For this list, we will examine three current and former NASCAR team owners who started in other racing series. Their success in NASCAR varies depending on the team. We will also only consider their Cup Series statistics.
• To this day, NASCAR is the top form of motorsport in the United States. However, it is also unique in that its development ladder takes vastly different steps than other racing series.
• Regardless of how different NASCAR is from other forms of motorsports, it’s still attractive to many team owners. As a result, a few have tried their hand at stock car racing.

Roger Penske – Team Penske

Roger Penske dabbled in NASCAR throughout the 1970s, most prominently with Bobby Allison, but Penske joined NASCAR for good in 1991 with Rusty Wallace. Wallace won 37 races in the No. 2 car, which soon became synonymous with Penske in NASCAR.

Drivers like Ryan Newman, Jeremy Mayfield, and Kurt Busch all had varying levels of success with the team, but no one could get over the hump and give Penske a Championship. That changed in the early 2010s.

Brad Keselowski joined the team and broke out in 2011 before winning a Championship in 2012. Joey Logano joined the following year, bringing home two big trophies, with Ryan Blaney taking home Penske’s fourth in 2023. To this day, Team Penske is one of the top teams in NASCAR, and the organization continues to be the gold standard of success in multiple other racing series.

Chip Ganassi – Chip Ganassi Racing

Chip Ganassi partnered with Felix Sabates to form Chip Ganassi Racing in 2001. The team immediately saw success, with Sterling Marlin finishing third in the points, but an injury late in 2002 ended his title hopes. Ganassi was never quite the same after that.

The team had its’ moments, particularly winning the 2010 Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 with Jamie McMurray. Kyle Larson won four races in 2017 and could have been a Championship contender without a blown engine in the Round of 12.

However, Ganassi never rose above the rank of a “B” tier team. They were solid but never spectacular, even during the DEI merger years from 2009 through 2013. Ganassi left NASCAR after the 2021 season when Jusn Marks purchased the remainder of Ganassi’s NASCAR operation.

Jack Roush – RFK Racing

In 1988, Jack Roush expanded beyond sports cars and entered the world of NASCAR. With a single-car team featuring Mark Martin as the driver, Roush slowly worked his way up into a powerhouse. Martin crafted a Hall of Fame career, winning 35 races as Roush expanded.

While Martin never won a Championship, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch gave the team back-to-back Championships in 2003 and 2004. By 2004, Roush was a five-car team, forcing NASCAR to implement a rule that limited teams to four cars. The team fell on hard times in the 2010s but has experienced a recent resurgence.

Roush Racing has also brought two other owners on, with Fenway Sports Group in 2007 and Brad Keselowski in 2022, to form Roush-Fenway-Keselowski (RFK) Racing. Roush’s investment in NASCAR has been a genuine success.

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