If you happen to’ve used social media in racing circles earlier than, there’s probability you’ve heard the phrase “Penske Good.” Principally, it refers back to the completely meticulous means Roger Penske manages his racing groups: all the pieces from crews outfitted in pressed polos to the cleanliness of the golf carts utilized by the crew to shuttle personnel round. However on the 2023 Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway, I discovered that the Penske Good extends even so far as its sponsors. On this case, that sponsor is XPEL.
Full Disclosure: XPEL hosted me on the Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend at Iowa, the place they put me up in a stunning lodge and let me free to terrorize the race monitor.
XPEL presents protecting movies and coatings for all the pieces out of your vehicles to your own home’s home windows, and in the intervening time, the corporate is the first sponsor of Staff Penske No. 3 driver Scott McLaughlin for a handful of races. A part of that deal truly consists of using XPEL’s protecting movie on McLaughlin’s race automotive.
Racing is a sport the place the most minute margins are the distinction between success and failure— so it was slightly shocking for me to be taught {that a} crew would willingly apply an extra layer of movie, figuring out that the additional grams of weight it will add could possibly be the distinction between a win and ending exterior of the highest 5. In reality, I had a chance to tour Dale Coyne Racing’s storage in the course of the Indy 500 weekend, the place I discovered that each one of its vehicles is definitely hand painted, since a skinny coat of paint truly weighs lower than a wrap. These are the form of margins we’re speaking about. A transparent protecting movie appears antithetical to the whole Penske mission.
I ought to have identified higher. Over the weekend, I discovered that the protecting coating has a official, well-considered goal.
The protecting coating solely stays on McLaughlin’s automotive throughout follow periods; it’s eliminated instantly afterward for qualifying and the race. See, that unofficial “Penske Good” motto additionally pertains to the No. 3’s livery; through the use of the protecting coating in follow, Penske can assure that the livery might be in pristine situation come an important elements of the weekend — the elements of the weekend the place marginal variations weight issues probably the most.
Through the Iowa weekend, drivers solely had one follow session — and sure, XPEL’s protecting movies have been in use throughout that single session. Even when it’s just for a second, presentation issues.
