NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers and their teams will again compete this season for more than $1 million in the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge.
Last year, Josef Newgarden won PeopleReady’s big prize – $1 million that was shared between Team Penske and its chosen charities – by being the first driver to win a series race on all three different types of circuits. Newgarden won an oval race at Texas Motor Speedway, a street race in Long Beach, California and a road course race at Road America.
Newgarden and Team Penske shared the spoils with a pair of charities: SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks of Nashville.
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“We want to help these groups as much as we can,” Newgarden said of the charities he and the team selected. “To have something like (the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge) fires you up more competitively, that you want to get it done for (the charities). You know it’s just a bonus and a plus.
“I just know how impactful (the money) is, so I get really competitive and want to make it happen.”
Winning races throughout the season helped many drivers support their chosen causes, as the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge also delivered $10,000 to each of the 17 race winners during the 2022 season.
Newgarden won five races while Team Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power won three and one, respectively. Arrow McLaren Racing’s Pato O’Ward and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon won two races each, with Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi, along with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou, winning one race each. Each driver and team shared their prizes with the charities listed below.
The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge prize money will be up for grabs again, beginning with last Sunday’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. Winner Marcus Ericsson split $10,000 with his Chip Ganassi Racing crew and his chosen charity, Riley Children’s Foundation.
“Being a force for good is a part of our PeopleReady DNA, and this challenge has truly accelerated our ability to support the local communities we serve in a unique and meaningful way,” said Taryn Owen, president and COO of TrueBlue, PeopleReady’s parent company. “We are pleased to once again serve as the official staffing partner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and look forward to staffing positions essential to the running of another successful season.”
PeopleReady, a TrueBlue company (NYSE: TBI), has been helping businesses succeed and grow while putting people to work for over 30 years. The North American staffing company specializes in quick and reliable on-demand labor, and its skilled trades division focuses on providing highly skilled tradespeople to support a wide range of blue-collar industries, including construction, energy, manufacturing and logistics, retail and hospitality. They served approximately 83,000 businesses and put over 226,000 people to work in 2022.
History shows that PeopleReady’s grand prize can be attained again. One driver achieved the feat of winning on a road course, street circuit and oval for six consecutive seasons from 2015-20, with a one-year break before Newgarden did so last year.
A Team Penske driver won on all three types of tracks on five occasions since 2016, with Newgarden three times (2017, 2020 and 2022), Power in 2016 and Simon Pagenaud in 2019.
PeopleReady also partners with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and the staffing giant will be the primary sponsor of driver Jack Harvey this season. Its first experience with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES team was in 2020 as a primary sponsor of Takuma Sato’s car that won the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
2022 Race Winners and their Selected Charities for 2022:
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske (5 wins): SeriousFun Children’s Network, Wags and Walks of Nashville
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske (3): Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing (2): St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital
Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren Racing (2): Conquer Paralysis Now
Will Power, Team Penske (1): Speedway Children’s Charities
Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing (1): St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital
Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport (1): Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport (1): AutoNation Drive Pink Campaign, Leilani Mae Horse Rescue
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing (1): The American Legion