Malukas building a home for himself with Foyt team

03/31/2025 01:50 PM

David Malukas never imagined he'd have something in common with the legendary NASCAR crew chief Jake “Suitcase” Elder.

Best remembered for changing teams in an instant — which spawned the nickname — starting in the 1960s, Elder worked for just about every NASCAR Cup team across the decades, and while the 23-year-old Malukas isn't trying to emulate the late and great stock car mechanic, the young native of Illinois has amassed a rather impressive collection of IndyCar racing suits and paraphernalia during his brief time in the series.

Entering his fourth IndyCar season, Malukas is driving for his fourth team, having started with Dale Coyne Racing from 2022-23, joined Arrow McLaren in 2024 and conducted pre-season testing for the outfit before a training accident and injury led to his being cut before participating in his first race for the team. Then came Meyer Shank Racing, in need of a new driver after benching an underperforming rookie, which presented a recovering Malukas with the chance to prove he was healed and capable of performing at a higher level in a bigger team.

And in his latest move, which should bring an end to the “Suitcase Jake” stage of his career, Malukas is settling in at AJ Foyt Racing where he drives the No. 4 Chevy. His placement within the car comes through a relationship forged between Foyt and Team Penske, which had a remarkably strong 2024 season where Foyt's Santino Ferrucci claimed 10th in the drivers' championship.

For Malukas, who has Penske's James Schnabel — Ferrucci's race engineer from last season — overseeing his car, it's an amazing opportunity to learn within the greater Foyt-Penske family and acquire some of the big-team knowledge he lost while sitting idle at Arrow McLaren.

The two opening races of 2025 haven't been especially kind to Malukas, with finishes of 13th at St. Petersburg and 18th at The Thermal Club, but he was encouraged after last week's test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course where the settling-in process is starting to wind down.

"This was the first proper day we’ve had that’s been really good all day," Malukas told RACER. "In the beginning, it was a lot of just trying to get comfortable, figuring out what I need, what I want from the car, not trying to pick off of Santino's setup.

"Because with where we started with the team, it’s always been that we unload with Santino setups and then we try to figure out how to make that work for me. But now, I think we can officially start unloading with what is my setup and then work from there. The test was a super productive day for us."

With the frequent changes and traveling from team to team, Malukas has done his best to adapt to the chassis setup philosophies of his race engineers; as a rookie with Coyne, he wasn't expected to take a leadership role in shaping the car's suspension and aerodynamic settings. The same was true in his brief spell with Arrow McLaren and again at MSR, which is why the formative days with Foyt and Schnabel is being received as a vitally important stage in his professional development.

"Because of just how ’24 was crazy, then jumping in mid-season, there’s was no time, really, to start making your own setups; it's been just a lot of piggybacking," Malukas said. " been driving other people’s setups for a whole year, so it feels good that I can finally start from scratch and build a setup that’s unique to myself.

"Me and James have been doing a really good job in the first few tests, especially the Barber test. That was a lot of misdirection, but we finally found the direction we need to go. We’re building a car that I think is very good, so let’s just say next time we go to Indy, we should be a good chunk quicker, and Long Beach, too. Because Thermal…Thermal was just a rough one for us."

The good news is Ferrucci, last season's breakout performer, and his new teammate have been a match for each other on the racetrack. The bad news is that after St. Pete and Thermal, the Foyt duo have plenty of work to do to propel themselves upwards from 17th (Ferrucci) and 18th (Malukas) in the drivers' standings.

Comfort in the No. 4 Chevy, and his new racing family at Foyt-Penske, is where Malukas sees the chance to turn their fortunes around in the coming weeks and months.

"It’s jelling together pretty well," he said. "Just from my short experience in IndyCar from the past few years, at least with Dale's team, a lot of it really jelled in May, because you’re there with them every single day you wake up. You're there every day for the month, and that is always a massive change. Even with Dale, I was there for the two years, but we had a new crew again for the second year, and everything really changed because you’re just building those new connections.

"But I’ve done a pretty good job starting in the preseason to already building that chemistry, getting to know everybody a lot better than I have before. Took them out to dinner, went to the shop a lot, just to try to get these connections built up. And recently, things have been connecting really well. I think me and Santino, we're pushing each other very, very well. He's very strong. Always looking at the data, figuring out where we can push each other more and more.

"The Foyt team has that family feel, even though, including me, there are a lot of new guys with the team, as well when it comes to the mechanics. And so we're going into it together like, 'OK, I’m new here, you’re new here, and let’s build our own home.' Everything’s coming together really well."