INDYCAR penalizes two-time defending champ Josef Newgarden for Indy 500

Bob Pockrass

FOX Motorsports Insider

INDIANAPOLIS — INDYCAR penalized two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and Penske teammate Will Power by sending them to the rear of the field for the 109th Indy 500, suspending their race strategists for the race Sunday and fining the teams $100,000 for modifying spec parts.

INDYCAR found the illegal filling in the seams of the attenuator, a piece that the rules require not to be modified, prior to the cars qualifying in the Fast 12 session Sunday. Team Penske INDYCAR President Tim Cindric said that the filling of the seams was done to make the cars sleek and he did not feel it was a performance advantage.

Cindric, who doubles as the strategist for Newgarden, will be suspended for the Indy 500 as is Will Power strategist Ron Ruzewski.

Team Penske did not announce their replacements.

“We accept the penalties issued today by the INDYCAR Series which are due to a ‘Body Fit’ violation that occurred prior to the qualifying session yesterday,” the team said in a statement. “We are disappointed by the results and the impact it has on our organization.”

INDYCAR President Doug Boles said Sunday night that because the two drivers had qualified Saturday to compete for a spot in the top-12, that they would keep a top-12 starting spot with Newgarden in 11th and Power in 12th. But after revisiting the issue later that night, Boles said immediate, additional penalties were necessary.

“This is a clear indication, I hope, to the paddock, that we take this seriously, that this is not something that we are going to continue to allow to happen,” Boles said. “We are going to make sure that the cars on the race track are evenly prepared and fall within our rules.”

The rules say that only certain parts can be modified and Boles said that the inspectors first saw those modifications Sunday. Boles said he didn’t consider throwing the cars out of the race because they passed tech for the first day of qualifications Saturday and were among the top-30 cars, which put them in the race.

The issue with the Penske cars is sensitive because team owner Roger Penske also owns the series. The organization suffered through an embarrassing scandal last year where Newgarden was stripped of his St. Petersburg win (and teammate Scott McLaughlin was also disqualified) for having push-to-pass engaged on restarts when they weren’t allowed to have it. Team Penske then suspended the strategists for two events, including the Indianapolis 500.

Boles, who is new in his role as series president while also retaining his role as president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said he called Roger Penske on Monday to inform him of the penalties.

“I can tell that this is devastating to him,” Boles said. “Nothing means more to Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. 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.”

Boles said the issue is closed and there will be no additional penalties. There has been consideration on whether there needs to be a more independent body administering the rules considering Team Penske also competes in the series.

“As far as the series goes, we are open to looking at wherever we are, but right now at this point in time, we have a tech team that did their job yesterday,” Boles said. “They found the attenuators. We stopped both of them, and I think we’ve appropriately resolved or at least appropriately addressed — maybe not resolved forever – but we’ve appropriately addressed this particular situation.”

While two Penske drivers were penalized, one was not. McLaughlin will keep his starting position of 10th. He had crashed in practice Sunday and never made a qualifying attempt. Boles said INDYCAR looked at the crashed attenuator, which was in tact, and it did not have any illegal filling of the seams.

“In our eyes, it’s not a performance advantage but at the end of the day, if they don’t like the seam being filled, they don’t like the seam being filled,” Cindric said Sunday about the filling of the seams. “You’ve got to do what the inspection process is and conform to that.

“We’ll live with it and start on the fourth row. … Everybody’s trying to make the cars as sleek as you can and whether this much makes a difference or not, the facts are this didn’t pass inspection.”

Other team owners were skeptical. Boles and Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles met with team owners Monday, and owners were still seeking answers to make them comfortable that there is an even playing field and future issues such as this one will be handled properly, according to those familiar with the meeting.

“In racing you can sometimes have mechanics who make miscalculations and you can sometimes have manufacturing issues that can all lead to honest mistakes,” Arrow McLaren owner Zak Brown told the Associated Press. “I don’t believe that’s what happened here or last year, which raises questions over the integrity of the decision-making within that team.”

Chip Ganassi, in a previously arranged interview for the “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast, noted that Penske breaking rules, especially in light of the investment he has made in the series and the track, is a problem.

“All teams have a certain responsibility to uphold the integrity of the sport in any series,” Ganassi said. “And [that includes] no team more than Team Penske, they’ve had so much success over the years. … It’s certainly a problem when the pursuit of winning compromises integrity and sportsmanship.”

Rinus VeeKay, who was supposed to start last in the field in Row 11, now will start 31st and share the row with Newgarden and Power.

“If you had told me a week ago that I would be starting on the same row as two Penskes, I would have been very happy,” VeeKay quipped.

INDYCAR had the teams re-choose their pit stalls (which are chosen in order of starting position) Monday night for the race Sunday.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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