INDIANAPOLIS — Team Penske has parted ways with the three highest members of its IndyCar leadership team, the organization announced Wednesday on social media.
Four days ahead of the Indianapolis 500, team president Tim Cindric, who had more than a 25-year tenure with the organization, managing director Ron Ruzewski and general manager Kyle Moyer — the strategists on the team’s Nos. 2, 12 and 3 IndyCar entries of Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin — are no longer with the organization in the wake of Sunday’s tech inspection violations on Day 2 of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.
‘Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams. We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes,’ Team Penske, IndyCar and IMS owner Roger Penske said in a statement released Wednesday. ‘I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.’
The cars of Newgarden and Power were found to be sporting illegally altered attenuators — a part IndyCar’s rulebook requires to remain on the car unaltered — leading to them forgo Fast 12 qualifying runs. Power’s car went through inspection but was pulled off pit lane after Newgarden’s No. 2 was flagged by IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch. It was deemed Newgarden would start 11th and Power 12th based on Saturday’s qualifying times.
IndyCar president Doug Boles planned to address the situation after the Indy 500, but had a change of heart.
“As you realize the gravity of this event, it certainly makes you feel like, ‘You know what? We shouldn’t be treating this like any other event,’” he said Monday. “We should be treating this like the event that I tell everybody it is. It’s the greatest race on earth, and it needs to be treated differently. So we got to that point sometime shortly after that conversation.”
He levied penalties Monday morning against Team Penske. Cindric and Ruzewski were suspended through the remainder of the 500 and $100,000 fines hit the Nos. 2 and 12 entries, the loss of points gained from qualifying and the loss of Indy 500 pit selection.
Most importantly, both cars were moved to the final two starting spots of the 500, where Newgarden and Power will start Sunday 32nd and 33rd, respectively.
Boles said he called Roger Penske to inform him of his decision, an important one in the wake of growing unrest and frustration in the paddock over another scandal involving the team Penske owns, and that he owns the series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, too. Never mind the fact it was the second scandal in 14 months.
“I can tell you that Roger Penske would not condone this. In fact, I had a chance to talk with Roger, and I can tell that this is devastating to him. Nothing means more to Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500,” Boles said. “He certainly loves racing across the board. This is something that I think he’s going to have to address at some point in time.”
Team Penske was found to have illegally used push-to-pass during the 2024 season opener at the Streets of St. Pete. And journalists and fans on social media have compiled apparent evidence that Team Penske had been modifying the attenuators on at least one of its cars dating back to last year’s Indy 500 as Newgarden’s winning car showed that modification while on display at the IMS Museum.
Some in the paddock voiced their frustrations to IndyStar anonymously. Others were more open with their thoughts. Pato O’Ward finished second to Newgarden in last year’ 500 and spoke Sunday night before the revelation of Newgarden’s 2024 car apparently not in compliance.
‘They weren’t accidentally doing it because they had the blowtorch right there in order to get it out,’ he said. ‘Honestly, I feel for (Jacob) Abel and for everybody that did the disqualifications or the last chance qualifying. Those cars weren’t in regulations.
‘I’m not an engineer, so I can’t tell you what they were doing, how much speed that it is or if it is any speed. Obviously it’s not in regulation. The rule is pretty black and white. … Obviously they didn’t do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the (last chance qualifying) because they had that (Saturday), I guarantee you. Until someone pointed it out today. Those cars, if they’re disqualified today, they should have been disqualified yesterday.
‘It’s a shame really because they don’t need to be doing that stuff. They’re a great team. They have got great drivers. Why are doing that? It makes no sense.’
Rival owner Chip Ganassi took to Kevin Harvick’s podcast to address the situation, for which he had a heated moment Sunday upon witnessing it.
‘There’s a lot of spec parts on these cars, and they had a spec part that was modified on their car and they were trying to get it off before they got penalized, and that’s sort of a penalty in itself,’ Ganassi said. ‘They had an issue there, and I think … all teams have a certain responsibility to uphold the integrity of the sport in any series, and no team more than Team Penske. They’ve had so much success over the years, and it’s a team everybody knows and everybody’s heard of, and they have a lot of success around the world in a lot of different series, so I think they need to be held to an even higher standard to protect the sport.
‘Especially with the investment Roger Penske has at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in the IndyCar Series and in all these other series he’s involved in and his businesses for that matter. So they have a responsibility to respect the sport, and we all need to. Everyone that’s in it has to protect the sport, and it’s certainly a problem when the pursuit of winning compromises integrity and sportsmanship. That’s what you have.’
Wednesday’s move by Penske to move on from a loyal leader in Cindric, two executives and all three strategists, including that of No. 3 Scott McLaughlin, is an answer to the scrutiny he has faced in the wake of two scandals in 14 months.
