On the track, the IndyCar Series provides the most competitive open-wheel racing on the planet, including one of its pinnacle races, the Indy 500. Off track, it’s an absolute basket case, and its proclivity for self-harm has reached new heights.
The maelstrom that raged around Team Penske last week is simply the latest in a long line of dysfunctional mishaps to make you roll your eyes. While exploiting grey areas in the rulebook is common in motorsport, Penske’s gold standard has been tarnished by this scandal, which involved railroading through the push-to-pass overtake system to allow its drivers to gain an advantage over their rivals by illegally using it at starts and restarts.
IndyCar officials only discovered this after they neglected to enable the device during warm-up at Long Beach, and all three Penske cars lighted up the P2P live data stream in race control. If it had not happened, who knows how far into the season it would have gone undetected?
Consider Team Penske to be whiter than white on such issues. Roger Penske controls the series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a team with a sparkling history of success based on a reputation for attention to detail, thanks to his immense passion for the sport (and fortune). To minimise potential conflicts of interest, Penske Performance Inc contains the IndyCar team, Penske Entertainment Corp controls the IndyCar Series and IMS, and RP owns Ilmor, Chevrolet’s technical partner for IndyCar engines.
Team Penske president Tim Cindric, who manages the race team to further isolate Penske’s church from its state, stated that a line of software code had been incorrectly copied and pasted from its testing setup with the hybrid system. Starting in August 2023, they needed unfettered access to the push-to-pass, therefore the on/off variable was set to ‘on’. This single piece of code was incorrectly inserted in the central logger units of its 2024 race vehicles.
Outsiders find it difficult to believe that one of IndyCar’s premier teams, which prides itself on getting details right, would make such a blatant blunder. Insiders of the series see a considerably more sinister undertone of suspicion: “It’s unbelievable,” a long-time team owner told Motorsport.com, speaking anonymously. “Was this a one-time occurrence, or had it happened previously? “I certainly do not believe Tim Cindric’s explanation.” McLaren CEO Zak Brown commented on the Monaco Formula E race, claiming that he was “disappointed in the various excuses or explanations that the team and drivers have made” and that “none of that, I think, stacks up”.
Cindric was unequivocal, telling the Indy Star: “To suggest we purposely did something to gain an edge, I don’t know how you can arrive to that conclusion unless that’s what you want to think. The trouble with this situation is that many believe we were attempting to evade the restrictions with the software, which we were not.”
But here’s the catch: Penske’s three drivers, all top-tier champions, acted differently in the St. Petersburg opener. Will Power didn’t use it at all, thus he wasn’t disqualified but did receive a points penalty for the unlawful software. Scott McLaughlin used it once for 1.9s, claiming he doesn’t remember doing it but admitting the data shows he did. However, Josef Newgarden used it three times for nines, including a positional pass to Colton Herta.
In a hurried press conference at Barber on Friday morning, an emotional Newgarden revealed that he was under the impression that push-to-pass was permitted at regular-season restarts, as it was for the exhibition race at Thermal, which took place between the St. Pete and Long Beach races. In the media bullpen thereafter, McLaughlin said, “I’m not sure why he had that impression,” while Power said, “I didn’t think it was a thing, so I didn’t press it.”
“Did I try to create a conspiracy and then cover it up? The truth is, somehow, we got that jumbled up; it became intertwined with the mistake.” Josef Newgarden
None of Penske’s drivers used it at the St. Pete start, which was also permitted at Thermal, where it would have been most visible. Race control receives a live stream of push-to-pass usage, which it then uses for TV graphics, and teams receive an end-of-lap report at the conclusion of each tour. If it had been used on the first lap, it would have stood out more than a mid-race restart.
Not only had Penske modified the software to make it available, but its drivers did (Power and McLaughlin) or did not (Newgarden) follow the rules. You are left with these improbables. That Team Penske’s software checks and balances failed completely, that neither it nor Ilmor noticed the anomalies in data reviews (Cindric claims “deployment isn’t typically looked at”), and that its two-time champion and reigning Indy 500 winner is unfamiliar with the rules after a dozen years in the series.
NBC confirmed Newgarden’s radio signals indicating that his P2P was not working on restarts in Long Beach (which he claims supported his false idea that it was legal). But why didn’t Cindric or team manager Ron Ruzewski notify him of the situation and that a key electronics adjustment had been performed to assure legality before the race? Why did Cindric declare last Thursday that none of his drivers knew their push-to-pass system would work, then Newgarden contradicted that the next day by saying he thought it would?
“Did I try to come up with a conspiracy and then cover?” Newgarden said unexpectedly during his news conference. “The truth is, we got that jumbled up, and it became intertwined with the mistake.
“It’s created some ridiculously unbelievable storyline now.”
That final paragraph is the only part of this awful story that is indisputably factual.