Team Penske’s Sustainable Data Hub continues transformative journey

Team Penske is on the fast track to changing how people think about digital transformation in professional racing.

Over its 59-year history, Team Penske has distinguished itself with more than 640 major races, nearly 700 pole positions, and 47 national championships. But the motorsports organization has also been working on projects behind the scenes to become more efficient, innovative, and sustainable. Those efforts are having a big impact on the track – and beyond.

Team Penske announced on Earth Day 2025 that it will deploy Capgemini’s Sustainability Data Hub (SDH) to accelerate its environmental reporting and achieve greater visibility across operations.

“This Earth Day, I think it’s important to take a second and look around and say, ‘How beautiful this place is that we live in!’ and ‘What can we do to try to keep it that way?’”

Joey Logano, Team Penske Driver and three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion

“Team Penske and Capgemini do an amazing job trying to find ways to be sustainable, whether they’re at work or at home…trying to find ways to keep Earth as beautiful as it is today.”

The SDH project is just the latest adventure that Team Penske and Capgemini have embarked on together. For 25 years, the partners have improved supply chains, telematics devices, onboarding processes, and much more. But this new engagement is bound to have an outsized impact.

Fueling sustainability with better data

SDH is an advanced cloud-based solution that collects real-time environmental data in a single, secured, and trusted environment, and then presents the information within an intuitive dashboard. This empowers team members throughout the organization to make data-informed decisions toward many business objectives. The same data that power sustainability projects can illuminate places where a company can cut costs and explore opportunities.   

But the scalable platform also automates data integration and processing that’s traditionally done manually. This removes room for error and ensures compliance with existing reporting regulations.

SDH integrates the company’s existing data platforms and adds modular capabilities to create a centralized platform unique to each organization. Together, Team Penske and Capgemini built a platform that will support ongoing sustainability initiatives.

“At Team Penske, we strive for best-in-class performance both on and off the track. The data hub we’ve built with Capgemini will supercharge our existing sustainability programs by enabling us to make data-driven decisions as we continue to find ways to reduce our environmental impact across multiple motorsport series.”

Bill Combs, Vice President of Sustainability at Penske

Capgemini will build the solution architecture, perform the data engineering, deploy the platform, test its functionality, and provide strategic support for achieving sustainable outcomes, which includes developing a decarbonization road map.

Team Penske will use the platform to track carbon emissions and other factors so it can measure progress precisely. This will help the organization perform audits and ensure it’s moving toward sustainability goals and key performance indicators.

“We have been proud to work with Penske on their digital transformation journey over the last 25 years, and this new sustainability engagement is an exciting next step.”

Anirban Bose, CEO, Americas Strategic Business Unit and Member of the Group Executive Board at Capgemini

Penske’s commitment to sustainability

Team Penske is the racing arm of Penske Corporation, a diversified transportation services company based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In addition to motorsports, the corporation operates subsidiaries across many industry segments, including retail automotive, truck leasing, and transportation logistics. It operates in more than 3,300 locations and employs more than 73,000 people globally.

Penske is committed to reducing its environmental impact and challenging itself to do what’s good for people and the planet. This includes decarbonizing vehicles, building more sustainable facilities, optimizing supply chains, and decreasing the amount of non-renewable energy consumption (versus renewable) year over year.

In 2023, Team Penske became the first motorsports team to fuel all tractors and support equipment for headline races (NASCAR, INDYCAR, and SportsCar series) with renewable diesel (R99), as opposed to conventional petroleum diesel.

Chris Yoder, Director of Transportation at Team Penske, started working in Penske Truck Leasing in 2002 and transferred to the racing program in 2005 – where he’s worked ever since.

“In my department, the initiatives relied heavily on our introduction and implementation of using renewable diesel for our heavy-truck commercial fleet,” Yoder said. “R99 diesel has been on site here for the past almost three years and been running exclusively in our equipment since then.”

The company has one of the largest electric vehicle (EV) test fleets in the transportation industry and has operated alternative fuel vehicles for more than 30 years.

“We have a fully electric Ford Transit van that we’re using for in-town running with our partners from Penske Transportation Solutions,” Yoder said. “It’s been a real benefit for us. These final-mile type deliveries and pickups that we rely heavily on, it’s integral to that.”

Yoder said the van is raising awareness about the benefits of EVs among people who might not have considered them otherwise.  

Over the years, Penske has been proactive in identifying and pursuing ways to make the business more efficient and more sustainable – working with Capgemini frequently to bring these ideas to fruition.

Forging a true partnership

Digital business transformation is not a “one and done” engagement. It’s the perpetual process of using digital technologies to modify (and replace) existing processes and products. When done correctly, it can improve customer experiences and business outcomes while reducing impacts on the planet or society.

Ben Atkins, the Operations Director at Team Penske, has worked on race engineering for the team for 17 years. He’s proud that Penske’s Logistics has played a major role in the industry’s efforts to recycle and repurpose products at end of life. These are the kinds of efforts that have enabled NASCAR’s Next Gen car to be created entirely of composite material.

“Sustainability is important for all of us, not just for a race team but for all of us. It’s important to pay attention to the environment and how we impact it, what we’re doing,” Atkins said.

Just like with adding parts to a racecar, he said, it’s important to establish a baseline before making changes to the business. He credited Capgemini with helping Team Penske find opportunities for growth and greater efficiency.

“They help us find where we are to begin and how we’re going to get better,” Atkins said.

Capgemini is dedicated to helping our partners become more sustainable, and to driving business value through the transformative power of emerging technologies and innovative solutions.

Together, Penske and Capgemini are continuing to explore the ways these scalable, tech-driven solutions can prepare them for whatever the future holds. This includes achieving ESG (environmental, social, and governance) goals, providing reliable logistics services, and finding new ways to entertain motorsports fans.

Yoder said Team Penske will need to compile and analyze its raw data to determine the success of these sustainability initiatives: “That’s where Capgemini has come in and is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for us and has been a tremendous partner from that standpoint.”

Logano said, “As a father, I feel responsible for teaching my kids how we can live in a way that makes a difference now and into the future. I’m committed to learning more about sustainable changes to help pave the way for a better future for my family. Both Team Penske and Capgemini are committed to leading the pack to a cleaner future.”