The following year, Tracy competed in his first IndyCar event at Long Beach, renting a vehicle from Dale Coyne Racing for $105,000. Noticed by Roger Penske, at mid-season he became a test driver for Penske Racing. In his first race for the team at Michigan he crashed and broke his left leg. He recovered and raced twice more for the team during the season. He was scheduled to start a selected number of races for Penske in 1992 and ended up starting 11 races, many of them as a substitute driver for the injured Rick Mears. Mears announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 1992 season and Tracy replaced him in the #3 car.