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PENSKE RACE REPORT - October 27, 2008


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Ryan Briscoe Wins IndyCar Series Season Finale at Surfers Paradise

SURFERS PARADISE, Australia – Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe celebrated his first IndyCar Series race in his native Australia with a dominating performance in Sunday’s Nikon Indy 300 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia. Starting from the third spot, Briscoe, in his No. 6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda, held off 2008 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon and the rest of the 24 car field after leader and fellow Aussie Will Power hit the tire barrier on lap 16, then led 39 of the remaining 44 laps of the race to bring home the win for Team Penske.

"What a way to come off the year, with a win in my home country," said Briscoe, who survived a successful fight on the challenging 2.795-mile temporary street course. "A lot of credit goes to my guys at Team Penske, and my new engineer Eric [Cowdin], who did a great job this weekend."

Although Briscoe had the fastest car on track, keeping Dixon at bay was not an easy task. "Dixon is very quick and consistent, and he was in my mirrors all day long, but I just had to focus on not making a mistake and bringing it all home," said Briscoe, who set the fastest lap of the race with only three remaining. "Dixon made me work for it, for sure - as his fuel load got lighter, he kept coming on stronger, but I knew I had the equipment to keep ahead of him."

Helio Castroneves also had a solid result guiding the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda to a seventh-place finish in the final IndyCar Series race of the 2008 season.

Visit PenskeRacing.com for the complete story, photos and more...

Kurt Busch Leads Penske Racing at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. – Kurt Busch led the charge for Penske Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway finishing sixth in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500, while teammates Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish Jr. finished 16th and 24th respectively.

With adverse weather conditions once again taking their toll, cancelling NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Friday, Busch started from the 19th spot in Sunday's race. Once the green flag flew, Busch and his Pat Tryson-led No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team flexed their muscle on the 1.54-mile quad-oval. A daring outside move on Lap 40 saw Busch clear the cars of "Chasers" Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick, catapulting into the eighth spot. Busch wouldn't look back for the remainder of the race as he came home sixth to score his ninth top-10 result of the season. Busch is now up to 17th in the Cup Series point standings with three races remaining on the 2008 schedule.

Newman and the No. 12 Kodak Dodge team battled a loose-handling race car for more than half of the 325-lap event. Newman's loose car caused him to go one lap down early, but he and the No. 12 Kodak team kept working as they battled back onto the lead lap with just 27 laps remaining in the event. Newman mounted a charge in the final stages of the race, moving up as high as 12th, but he ultimately finished in 16th place. Newman is currently 16th in the Cup Series driver point standings.

Hornish and the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge finished 24th on Sunday. A lap-three incident put the No. 77 team in an early-race deficit, but Hornish and the crew rallied to finish just two laps down to race winner Carl Edwards. After overcoming the early-race obstacle, Hornish secured a respectable result and was the top-finishing rookie driver for the third race in a row.

Justin Allgaier on Penske Racing Team Cam This Week

PenskePenske Racing’s newest driver, NASCAR Nationwide Series racer Justin Allgaier, will be this week’s featured guest on Penske Racing Team Cam. Beginning Thursday, October 30th, tune-in to Team Cam on PenskeRacing.com and watch as Justin shares his thoughts on joining Penske Racing this season and winning the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series championship.