LEBANON, TN. — Give me one more. Give me one more.
That’s what David Malukas requested of his body, specifically his right knee, inside of the cockpit of his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet during IndyCar’s 225-lap, 299.25-mile Music City Grand Prix on Monday.
Two days earlier, Malukas spent around six hours in a hospital near Nashville Superspeedway after he crashed into the wall of Turn 2 on the oval and bruised his knee from contact with his steering wheel. At one point, it looked like Conor Daly would replace Malukas in the race, but two days after an accident at this race sent him to the hospital for the second straight year, Malukas finished third and reclaimed second in the IndyCar championship.
For the first time since 2016, IndyCar started a race on a Monday after heavy rain caused the series to postpone the Music City Grand Prix. While the postponement agitated most in the paddock, it gave hope to Malukas – who raced with a U.S. Marine coin, pink rubber ducky and a baby Jesus figurine in his pocket for good luck.
“If we raced yesterday, it was survival. Today was game on,” Malukas said on Monday. “That was the situation I was in. … I am not going to lie, I heard the rain on my bus. I thought, ‘That’s really nice.’ I was already lights out at 8 p.m.
“I just thought if I go to bed, we’re not going to race today, it’s going to be committed. So I woke back up a couple minutes later, they told me that they canceled it. I said, ‘I knew it, this is good.’”
Since he missed qualifying Saturday, Malukas started the race dead last in 25th. After displaying clear speed during the race’s opening stint, strategist Travis Law decided not to have Malukas pit when most others did during a caution on Lap 23. Malukas led the second-most laps of the race behind Alex Palou, who won the race. If not for having to drive through the field twice, it may have been Malukas securing the first win of his IndyCar career.
The thrill of the race got Malukas through all 111 minutes of it, even as he battled the knee injury. Once that wore off, Malukas returned to the infield medical center for IVs as “things started to get a little spinny” during the podium celebration. That injection of fluids caused Malukas to arrive at the post-race news conference 55 minutes after his teammate Josef Newgarden, who finished second and would’ve spoken alongside Malukas under normal circumstances.
When IndyCar postponed the race, it also shortened the distance by 75 laps. Those two changes did wonders for Malukas’ chances near the front.
“I think with the power of adrenaline, I think we maybe could have gotten there,” he said when asked if he could’ve done a 300-lap race. “To be honest, on track, my face was covered in salt, salt crystals, snot coming out of my nose. I didn’t feel any of that till the end, or any yellow flag, to be honest. I was just running on pure adrenaline, focused on what’s in front.
“… I’m not going to lie, halfway through that race I thought, ‘I’m done.’ We kept going, kept going. The body kept pushing. Adrenaline is a beautiful drug.”
While Malukas is yet to win a race and seems unlikely to catch Palou in the championship, he continues to be Team Penske’s most consistent driver in his first year with the team. Monday marked the Chicago native’s fifth podium of the season, plus he’s had just two races outside of the top 10.
Even without the trademark victory that Malukas and Team Penske are searching for so desperately, he continues to show that the team’s investment in him was worth it.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How David Malukas made Nashville podium through injury: ‘Adrenaline is a beautiful drug’
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
