For those who’ve used social media in racing circles earlier than, there’s probability you’ve heard the phrase “Penske Excellent.” Principally, it refers back to the completely meticulous means Roger Penske manages his racing groups: all the pieces from crews outfitted in pressed polos to the cleanliness of the golf carts utilized by the group to shuttle personnel round. However on the 2023 Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway, I realized that the Penske Excellent extends even so far as its sponsors. On this case, that sponsor is XPEL.

Full Disclosure: XPEL hosted me on the Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend at Iowa, the place they put me up in a stunning resort and let me free to terrorize the race monitor.

XPEL provides protecting movies and coatings for all the pieces out of your vehicles to your home’s home windows, and in the intervening time, the corporate is the first sponsor of Crew Penske No. 3 driver Scott McLaughlin for a handful of races. A part of that deal really contains using XPEL’s protecting movie on McLaughlin’s race automotive.

Racing is a sport the place the most minute margins are the distinction between success and failure— so it was a bit of shocking for me to be taught {that a} group would willingly apply an extra layer of movie, figuring out that the additional grams of weight it could add may very well be the distinction between a win and ending exterior of the highest 5. In truth, I had a chance to tour Dale Coyne Racing’s storage throughout the Indy 500 weekend, the place I realized that each one of its vehicles is definitely hand painted, since a skinny coat of paint really weighs lower than a wrap. These are the form of margins we’re speaking about. A transparent protecting movie appears antithetical to the whole Penske mission.

I ought to have identified higher. Over the weekend, I realized that the protecting coating has a professional, well-considered objective.

The protecting coating solely stays on McLaughlin’s automotive throughout observe classes; it’s eliminated instantly afterward for qualifying and the race. See, that unofficial “Penske Excellent” motto additionally pertains to the No. 3’s livery; by utilizing the protecting coating in observe, Penske can assure that the livery might be in pristine situation come an important components of the weekend — the components of the weekend the place marginal variations weight issues essentially the most.

In the course of the Iowa weekend, drivers solely had one observe session — and sure, XPEL’s protecting movies had been in use throughout that single session. Even when it’s just for a second, presentation issues.