On Monday, news broke that the No. 12 car of Will Power and the No. 2 car of Josef Newgarden were being dropped to the back of the field at the Indianapolis 500 following both cars being pulled out of the Fast 12 qualifying session on Sunday, after modified attenuators were discovered on both. IndyCar also levied penalties against Team Penske, including fines and suspensions for the team strategists for both cars.
Roger Penske drops the hammer at Team Penske ahead of Indianapolis 500
Team Penske announced major leadership changes in the wake of technical violations at the Indianapolis 500
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Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
Now, Roger Penske himself is stepping in.
On Wednesday, the team parted ways with Team President Tim Cindric, IndyCar Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, and IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer from the organization “after two of the team’s entries were found in violation of IndyCar rules last weekend,” according to a statement.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske said. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”
Last year at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Team Penske was also found to have run afoul of the rules. The team was found in violation of the “Push to Pass” rules, IndyCar Rules 14.19.15 and 14.19.16. The team’s No. 2 and No. 3 entries were disqualified from that event, and its No. 12 entry received a ten-point penalty.
In the statement released Wednesday, Team Penske indicated that further updates regarding replacements and personnel for the Indianapolis 500 would be coming later this week.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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