What does a $16.3 billion corporate buyout mean for one of NASCAR’s most successful racing organizations? Penske Automotive Group has agreed to a deal that would take the publicly traded automotive company private according to DBusiness, leaving auto racing fans with questions about whether the massive deal could affect Roger Penske’s NASCAR operation, Team Penske.
Team Penske’s NASCAR operation is not part of the transaction. The proposed transaction involves Penske Automotive Group, the automotive retail business, rather than Team Penske itself. Penske Corporation and Mitsui & Co. are parties to the agreement, which values Penske Automotive Group at approximately $16.3 billion, including debt. Although the deal represents a significant corporate development for the Penske business empire, no corresponding change to Team Penske’s NASCAR ownership, management or racing operations has been announced.
Penske Corporation and Mitsui & Co. will hold roughly 64 percent and 36 percent of the dealership group once the sale closes, and the racing side of the family business stays exactly where it was, at least for now.
Motown Acquisition Corp., owned jointly by Penske Corporation and Mitsui, will pay public shareholders $212 per share in cash. That price sits 8.84 percent above the Oct. 14 closing price, according to DBusiness. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approvals and two shareholder votes. Penske stock will then leave the New York Stock Exchange.
“This transaction marks an important next chapter for PAG,” Roger Penske, chair and CEO of the company, said, as quoted by DBusiness.
PAG began in 1990 as United Auto Group, went public in 1996, came under Penske Corporation control in 1999 and took its current name in 2007, according to DBusiness.
Team Penske’s NASCAR Operation Stays Private
Team Penske races under the privately held Penske Corporation, not the publicly traded dealership group, according to Penske Corporation’s racing division information. The organization fields three full-time Ford entries in the NASCAR Cup Series. The drivers are Joey Logano in the No. 22, Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 and Austin Cindric in the No. 2.
All three sit in the championship hunt. Blaney finished third at the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 11, Logano took ninth and Cindric placed 17th, according to Team Penske’s official website. The series standings after that race put Blaney fifth, Logano sixth and Cindric eighth.
The organization has won five races since the summer, three by Logano and two by Blaney, according to NASCAR.com. Cindric added a second-place finish at Kansas Speedway, his best result yet on a 1.5-mile oval.
“It says the potential’s there, right?” Logano said, as quoted by NASCAR.com. Cindric’s Kansas run prompted the team to test new setups at Las Vegas.
The same three-driver lineup is set for 2027, with Blaney on a multiyear extension and Logano signed through at least that season.
Team Penske’s NASCAR History Under Roger Penske
Team Penske made its Cup Series debut in 1972 at Riverside International Raceway with driver Mark Donohue. Joey Logano’s title-clinching victory at Phoenix Raceway in 2024 gave the team its 150th Cup win, according to Forbes.
The team owns five Cup championships, with Brad Keselowski in 2012, Logano in 2018, 2022 and 2024, and Blaney in 2023. Three straight titles from 2022 through 2024 put Roger Penske alongside Junior Johnson and Rick Hendrick as the only owners with three in a row, Forbes tallied.
Across all series, Team Penske has 670 major race wins, 715 pole positions and 48 national championships, according to the team’s website. Those include 20 Indianapolis 500 victories and three Daytona 500 wins.
Roger Penske, born Feb. 20, 1937, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, raced cars before retiring from driving in 1965 to run a Philadelphia Chevrolet dealership, according to Team Penske’s biography of the founder. He set up Penske Corporation in 1969 and has owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar since 2019.
Forbes estimates the 89-year-old Penske’s personal net worth at $11.5 billion.
“Racing is a common thread to our company, it’s our brand and of course we want to win,” Penske said, as quoted by Forbes. The racing programs have long operated privately, and the buyout leaves that structure intact.
NASCAR Team Penske: What Does $16 Billion Corporate Buyout Mean for Racing?