NASCAR Cup Series

Has Team Penske reached the level of Hendrick, Gibbs?

Published Apr. 10, 2014 9:18 a.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

If you stop and look collectively at what Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have already accomplished so far in the 2014 season, you have to easily admit that Team Penske is at the top of its game right now. Every weekend the two Penske cars roll off the truck fast. They are fast in practice. They pretty much have this new qualifying deal down pat. They have been in contention to win races and now after Monday's race at Texas Motor Speedway, they have won two of our first seven events.

One of the concerns going into the 2014 season was how the Fords were going to perform in 2014. Obviously, after what we've already seen, at least we know one thing and that's that the Roger Penske Fords are going to be quite good. These two drivers, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, in my book are somewhat underrated. I think they have been very good for one another since the first day they became teammates for the 2013 season.

Roger Penske has to be extremely proud of how this 2014 season has gone so far. You always want to guard against putting a team or teams up against an organization that has won multiple championships. With that said, Penske Racing did win a championship in 2012 with Brad. I think we are seeing the emergence of a totally different Team Penske than we have seen in years past.

Their consistency and their commitment to excellence should not surprise us in the NASCAR world, based on all the success that Roger Penske has had in all other forms of racing. So I will say this cautiously, at this point in time: Team Penske is on the same level of a Joe Gibbs Racing and a Hendrick Motorsports.