"His work ethic is just second to none": Ryan Blaney, Josef Newgarden pour heartfelt praise on $6.6B Roger Penske on his special day

Team Penske drivers, including Ryan Blaney, Josef Newgarden, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, showered owner Roger Penske with kind words on his 88th birthday.

Penske leads one of the most successful teams in NASCAR and the IndyCar Series, with five NASCAR Cup Series championships in about 60 years. He has produced six champions in IndyCar, which he bought in 2019, along with an incredible 20 Indianapolis 500 wins.

In a video posted by the team on X, former NASCAR Cup Series champion Blaney honored $6.6B worth Penske (according to Forbes) on his birthday on February 20 and said:

"His work ethic is just second to none you know and I feel like anyone would agree with that. It's amazing the type of drive that RP has."

Meanwhile, two-time IndyCar champion Newgarden pointed out Penske's respect for others.

"You see the way he interacts every day with people whether it's you know just day-to-day or it's within business and I definitely see a common thread within Roger in that he treats everybody with respect," Newgarden said.

NASCAR driver Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric, shared what they learned from Penske.

"I'd say the number one thing that I've learned from Roger is his ability to lead by example," Joey Logano said.

"At a very young age, Roger taught me how to properly shake someone's hand," Austin Cindric added.

Team Penske also competes in IMSA and FIA World Endurance races and previously raced in Formula One.

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"I needed to borrow money from a bank" - Roger Penske on giving up racing

Roger Penske also had a brief racing career in the early 1960s. He raced in Formula One and NASCAR but retired in 1965 to focus on his business. During the latest episode of 'Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour' podcast, Penske talked about his favorite race car that he drove, Tellar along with Chaparral and Pontiac.

"Well, I guess the favorite race car that I drove was, the Tellar Special. It was a car, it was a Formula 1 car that had been wrecked up at Watkins Glen, and then we had the engine out of Jack Brabham's car that he ran at Indy," Penske said (21:30 onwards).

He further explained why he had to give up racing to start Team Penske.

"But those are things that, it’s so long ago, but it built a base for me. And then I got out because I wanted to become a business guy. We had a Chevrolet dealership, and I needed to get insurance. I needed to borrow money from a bank, and you couldn't do that unless you were not a race driver," he added (23:30).

Roger Penske is the chairman of Penske Corporation, which he founded 56 years ago. Apart from its motorsports division, the company headquartered in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, also operates in transportation, automotive retail and truck leasing.