Team Penske, A.J. Foyt Racing form technical alliance

Team Penske and A.J. Foyt Racing have forged a new technical alliance that should benefit both NTT IndyCar Series teams in the short- and long-term.

On the more immediate front, the two-car Foyt team is making use of dampers and technical support provided by Team Penske during the final races of the season, but the arrangement goes much deeper than go-fast parts and assistance with chassis builds and setups.

The relationship, which will expand in the coming years, will see Penske place younger crew and engineering staff within the Foyt team to gain IndyCar experience, and in time, when some of Penske’s Force Indy drivers are ready to graduate from Indy NXT, the Foyt team will be ready and capable of running a development driver on Penske’s behalf in IndyCar.

“We had seen those relationships happen in IndyCar whether it was Shank and Andretti, or we obviously have our relationship similar to that concept in NASCAR with the Wood Brothers,” Team Penske president Tim Cindric told RACER. “And we’ve used it as a training ground for people, whether it’s drivers or crew or engineers or whatever else, as long as we can control the IP or kind of have some direction on where it all goes, but still have a good relationship.”

The concept of a Penske-Foyt alliance was established by former Foyt leader Scott Harner in 2022, but with his departure for Andretti Autosport, the topic was parked until a recent outreach was made by Larry Foyt.

“I’ve known Larry and A.J. Foyt forever,” Cindric said. “And just before Iowa, Larry called me up and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you’re open to revisiting it, but would you be interested in trying to try to help us in some way and maybe working together in a way that you and Scott had talked about?’

“I said, ‘I’m glad you called because, I’ve been thinking about something like this, and maybe not this year or next year, but at some point in time, if we’re helping guys like Myles Rowe, as an example, who we’re helping to come up the ladder system, and if they win the Indy NXT championship, what are we going to do with them?’”