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David Malukas arrives: Team Penske’s new phenom on ovals, legends, Lithuania
Posted by Talbot Payne on November 24, 2025
David Malukas on track at World Wide Technology Raceway for his first test in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. IndyCar
Southfield – IndyCar driver David Malukas has been living with legends. Now it’s time to make his own.
The 24-year-old racing phenom has been on a meteoric rise through the open-wheel-racing ranks. Last year, his fourth in IndyCar, he raced with Indy legend AJ Foyt’s team, finishing second in the Indy 500. For 2026, he will fill the big shoes of two-time IndyCar champion Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for America’s most famous motorsports owner, Bloomfield Hills-based Roger Penske.
“Growing up as a kid, Team Penske has been the dream for me,” he said here on his first Motown media tour wearing the iconic Team Penske black jacket. “I want to have a lot of success with them, and it’s very special that I’m also in that No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. This is writing my own story, the David Malukas story.”
It’s a worthy story already.
A first-generation Lithuanian-American, Malukas is the son of immigrant truck drivers who fled to Chicago with nothing in 1991 as the Soviet Union crumbled. He spoke Lithuanian until he was 5 and got behind the wheel of his first go-kart in Indiana at the age of 6. At 15, he raced an open-wheel Formula 4 race car in the United Arab Emirates before he was old enough to own a driver’s license in the United States.
Growing up as a kid, Team Penske has been the dream for me,” David Malukas says. Justin Casterline, Getty Images
He raced F4 in Germany, then crossed the pond back to the U.S. in 2017 and entered the so-called Road to Indy series. Living the American Dream, his parents had by then built the multi-million-dollar HMD Trucking company, and in 2019 they invested in an Indy NXT team so their young son could pursue his dream. He finished second in the series in 2021 – winning seven races – and earned an IndyCar seat with Dale Coyne Racing for 2022.
“I’m lucky in the fact that (my parents) went through all that, and still decided to put it all into me,” Malukas told IndyCar.com in 2022. “Without them, I wouldn’t be anywhere near this goal.”
He joins a Team Penske Dream Team including future Hall of Famers Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin at a time when interest in American open-wheel racing is at its zenith – boosted by IndyCar’s exposure on the Fox broadcast network and the notoriety of the world’s premier motorsport series, Formula One.
“With all the success that Formula One has created here in America, they got it started during COVID,” he said of the international series that has five of its 24 events in North America. “With (the mega-hit Netflix series) ‘Drive to Survive,’ they really brought in that younger audience – my audience. That show helped motorsports overall. For my generation, motorsport numbers (were) dropping, and after that show, they’ve blown up.”
For Malukas, it’s always been about IndyCar and Team Penske.
David Malukas visited Metro Detroit for his first media interviews as driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“There are key differences between IndyCar and F1, for sure. Drivers have their favorites, and IndyCars has always been mine,” he said.
IndyCar is ferociously competitive. On any given day anyone in the 27-car field could win a race. Where F1 is dominated by a few teams, IndyCar’s margins are razor thin. Details – like a Team Penske – can make the difference between 10th place and first place.
“I think a lot has to do with Roger himself,” said Malukas of Team Penske’s secret sauce that has won an unmatched 20 Indy 500s. “There’s this environment that Roger has created that works to make sure that we can compete and be the best of the best. The dynamic of the team is so competitive, so performative. Everything has meaning, there’s purpose to all of it.”
David Malukas with his parents (Henry, left, and Daiva, right) at Belle Isle after David finished in top five in the 2021 Indy NXT series. Gavin Baker
Like those impossibly clean, formidable Team Penske trailers in the paddock.
“Their trailers have this style, this chrome-like reflective look,” he marveled. “I always thought: I wonder what’s going on inside there. Now, being inside, and seeing what’s going on, it’s just really good chemistry.”
His teammates, Nashville native Newgarden, 34, and New Zealander McLaughlin, 32, are already superstars. Newgarden is a two-time Indy 500 and series champion and McLaughlin a three-time Australian supercar champ who has twice finished third in the IndyCar championship. Malukas feels at home with them.
“Team Penske has figured out a perfect unification of two different sides: You’re competitive, but at the same time, you’re family-oriented and can still have a very good time. It’s a really good mix,” he said.
David Malukas rolls out onto World Wide Technology Raceway for his first test in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. IndyCar
Newgarden and McLaughlin had Malukas on their “Bus Bros” YouTube Channel his rookie season and they’ve been close since. Plus, Malukas’ father, Henry, is a Newgarden fan.
“My dad’s always said Josef’s his favorite,” David laughed. “So now, maybe me and Joseph are his favorites. He’s like, ‘If you’re not going to do it, then Joseph’s got to do it.’ It’s good relationship with all of them.”
Malukas fills the seat of Power, 44, who Team Penske did not re-sign for 2026 despite his illustrious career including the all-time IndyCar pole winner (71). In typical, disciplined Penske fashion, it was time to turn over No. 12 to the next generation.
Power has hardly been put out to pasture. He immediately landed a job with Andretti Global for the 2026 season.
“Will Power is a legend, and I watched him at Team Penske as a kid through the TV screen,” said Malukas. “I remember going on my little Razor scooter inside the house, and my mom was very upset. I was racing against Will Power. Fast forward, I get to race side-by-side with him in real life. I know he’s going to do fantastic things (at Andretti).”
Malukas has done fantastic things in his brief IndyCar career. The series demands mastery of road courses, street courses and ovals. It’s a shock to many athletes who grew up on a single, road-course diet like Malukas.
“When I first came into the series, I really didn’t like ovals. (They’re) pretty terrifying,” he admitted of the extremely high-speed, low-downforce racing inches from concrete walls. “But I knew IndyCar was my dream, so I put my head down and said: I have to learn ovals.”
David Malukas in the pits at World Wide Technology Raceway for his first test in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet. IndyCar
In his breakout 2021 season in Indy Lights (now renamed Indy NXT), he won twice at World Wide Technology Raceway’s 1.25-mile oval east of St. Louis. He finished second at WWTR in his 2022 IndyCar rookie year – challenging Newgarden for the win. In 2025 he nearly won the Super Bowl of ovals, the Indy 500.
“(Oval racing) is something I’ve fallen in love with. It’s my preferred track,” said Malukas. “It’s like this big chess game – a mental game between all the drivers. Am I going to attack? Am I going to defend? What does he think I’m going to do? I love it.”
He’s not too shabby on street courses either. Last summer, he qualified on the front row for the Detroit Grand Prix.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or X @HenryEPayne.