Curt Cavin

curt.cavin@indystar.com

SONOMA, Calif. — Roger Penske is a master of saying very little, but he seemed to speak volumes about Team Penske’s plans for the next IndyCar Series season Saturday at Sonoma Raceway.

If Penske is to be understood, open-wheel racing’s most historic and successful team will soon replace Juan Pablo Montoya with Josef Newgarden.

Penske was repeatedly asked about the status of his four-car driver lineup, and he didn’t give a ringing endorsement to Montoya while offering that Newgarden “isn’t available, I don’t think, right now.” That’s true. But Newgarden could be as early as Sept. 28.

Newgarden’s current employer, Ed Carpenter of Ed Carpenter Racing, told IndyStar last month that the driver has 10 days after Sunday’s season-ending race to act on a contract offer presented by the Indianapolis-based team. Even then, ECR has a right of first refusal, but it seems unlikely Carpenter, himself a driver, would stand in the way of anyone with an opportunity to join Team Penske.

As generally happens in this sport, Penske gets what Penske wants, and what Penske wants are drivers who can stand with sponsors as well as they stand on the gas. Helio Castroneves can do that as well as anyone in team history, and Penske said Will Power and Simon Pagenaud have worked to become quality representatives.

Penske did not include Montoya in that vein.

“It’s not only important to the sponsors, it’s important to me for the team,” Penske said. “We use the drivers in our business all the time. In fact, there’s an automotive situation coming up and they’ve asked me to come and bring one of my drivers. It’s a really high-profile event.

IndyCar debate: Will Pagenaud or Power win series title?

“These are really ambassadors for our brand. We’ve built our Penske brand across all our businesses with racing, but the stars are the guys driving the cars. I think they’ve got to be articulate, they’ve got to understand the business. It’s not just coming in and putting a hat on and signing a few autographs. They’ve got to go to the stores, they’ve got to understand the technology.”

Penske said his partners “want more (from the team), they don’t want less.”

Moments before Penske said all this, he announced that John Menard’s chain of Midwestern-based hardware stores will be the primary sponsor of Pagenaud’s car for 10 races next season. The other seven races have other backers, Penske said, adding that the cars of Castroneves and Power have full financial programs in place for next season.

Montoya’s apparently does not.

Regarding Montoya’s future with the team, Penske said “we haven’t made that decision yet. We’re in discussion with him. Obviously, we have to look at the sponsorship available.”

Montoya has made it clear he wants to remain in IndyCar next season, and there have been several team owners who say his talent is too rich to ignore. The Colombian won the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Fla., and has 15 career wins, including a pair of Indianapolis 500 victories. He was CART’s champion in 1999.

Newgarden, who is in his fifth IndyCar season, has only won three races, but he enters the season’s final weekend with a chance to still finish third in the standings. He is the only driver currently in the top six not part of either the Penske or Ganassi teams.

'Business absolutely as normal' for Power, Pagenaud

Newgarden also is one of IndyCar’s most engaging drivers, a showman along the lines of Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe, and he is as willing as Graham Rahal to do anything IndyCar asks of him. Montoya? Not so much.

The other difference between Montoya and Newgarden: One turns 41 on Tuesday, the other will be 26 when next season begins.

When will Penske make his plans public? “Hopefully in the next 30 to 60 days we’ll have an announcement about what our final lineup will be,” he said.

It seems the decision has been made even as Penske chose his words carefully.

Follow IndyStar reporter Curt Cavin on Facebook and Twitter: @curtcavin.