“We let people down” over rules violations at Indy 500

Team Penske is in the spotlight again for rules violations, this time for modifying the rear attenuators of the #12 and #2 cars ahead of Sunday’s Fast 12 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As a result, both cars were penalised and sent to the back of the field for Sunday’s Indy 500, among other sanctions for the team.

On Wednesday, Team Penske announced the departures of IndyCar team president Tim Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski, and general manager Kyle Moyer. All three have been with the team for decades.

Roger Penske, the owner of Team Penske, IndyCar, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, acknowledged failures within his team and said that they “hurt him in his gut” during an interview with IndyCar on FOX.

“I would say that I’m totally disappointed with the outcome, certainly on Sunday. I really have to go back four and a half years ago when we bought the Speedway, and I said, number one, that I would invest capital, I’d get the best people, and we’d take the series, and certainly Indianapolis Motor Speedway to higher levels. I think we’ve done that,” he said.

“Then I look at my right hand and say, what about Team Penske? And when I think about Team Penske, we really have had an organisation failure two times, not once, but two times. And believe me, it hurts me in my gut when you think about it.

“But I look at it this way, that there’s a certain amount of credibility you have to have. It’s integrity individually and collectively, our team, the sport, and I think we let people down. I’ve made some management changes, we announced today, and I think we’ll move on and our goal is to win the race this coming weekend.”

Comments on his possible IndyCar influence

Ever since Roger Penske bought the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while continuing to compete with his own team in the championship, questions have arisen about how this unique situation would guarantee independence and separation between the organisations. Situations like the one that came to light last Sunday have only drawn more attention to the issue.

“Well, I’ve heard the word used, optics, and I would say this, that as I look at my response to that and what my MO has been over the last four and a half years, I’ve not been on a pitbox,” he said. “I’ve not been in race control. I’m not in inspection. I have nothing to do with officiating, and especially the rules.

“So, number one, I can look myself in the mirror and say, I’ve done the right thing. Obviously, we have not done a good job in the optics for people outside this, and these two violations, you would call them, certainly show the fact that I need to be more diligent in where we’re going as a team, and certainly I would challenge, if we go back and look at what we’ve tried to accomplish and what we have, we’ve made a lot of progress.

“But I think this independency is very important as we go forward for the credibility of the series, the teams, and everyone else, the fans that follow IndyCar.”

The need for an independent technical inspection process and overall governance of the series seems to have increased following the latest technical breach within Team Penske. When asked about it, Roger Penske said that IndyCar began working in that direction several months ago.

“It’s amazing that you’d ask that question for probably the last six months. We’ve talked internally as IndyCar, Mark Miles (CEO IndyCar and Penske Entertainment), and now, of course, Doug Bowles (President IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway), and some outside input on how we could become more independent from the operational side of the racing, inspection, race control, etcetera. So we certainly expect, and I would expect, that the team at IndyCar and PE will take a look at that and will take some action as we go forward,” he explained.

Fallout continues

After modified rear attenuators were found in Will Power’s cars last Sunday before the Fast 12, it came to light that Newgarden, the winner of the 2024 Indy 500, also had this same modification.

When asked if that was true, Roger Penske said: “Well, I would say this, yes. I would say we had nine attenuators that were modified by Dallara back at the beginning of 2024, and those have been rotated through the cars over the last 15 months. We also had newer ones that we bought, and those have been in the same batch, and that’s why you see that McLaughlin didn’t have an issue with his car.

“From my perspective, when you think about the attenuators and what happened there, my question to you is what would we do? We know that the situation was not right from the standpoint from the officials on Sunday, but when I go back to 2024, that car was taken apart piece by piece in detail following the race, and it was said to be completely legal for the win.”

Roger Penske demonstrated self-criticism, assuring that he will take a leadership role in an attempt to recover the IndyCar Series’ credibility.

“I just had a call with all the team owners to go through the process, through my thinking about what action I’ve taken because people have come to me and said, you’re supposed to be a leader of this sport, and here you have these two situations. And I think the integrity of the sport, I didn’t help it any.

“From my perspective, what I have to do, and I’ve told this to the team owners, I’ve got to take the role on along with the Penske Entertainment leadership and gain back that credibility because I know this is the Speedway here this weekend.

“It’s a world-class event, the best racing event in the world, and the last thing I want to do is tarnish it with any kind of issues from the standpoint of any inspection or any rules violation. So my thinking is we’ve got to make it better. I have to help do that in a way that I’m not affecting anything beneficial for our team.”