The President of Indycar says that qualification scandal is “devastating” for Roger Penske

On Monday morning, News rocked the IndyCar driver camp as Team No. 2 Penske Chevrolet by Josef Newgarden and No. 12 Chevrolet of Will Power for the 109th direction of the Indy 500 on the back of the field [Tim Cindric and Ron Ruzewski] were suspended.

The reason? An illegal change from the rear damping company, in which a part was violated and smoothed in an obvious rules. Originally, the cars were pulled out of the line for almost 12 qualifying and should start in row 4, but that has changed dramatically since then.

Why McLaughlin was not punished

As for Scott McLaughlin's third Penske car, which was badly damaged during an Airborne training, the officials of the series also looked at the rear weaknesses of No. 3. With the assembled media on the route, Indycar and IMS, President Doug Boles, explained why he was not punished in the end.

“We have the weaknesses from all three cars,” said Boles. “The cushioning of No. 3 from the crash with the crashed wing was still made available to us, and we still have it. This damper was not modified at all. On Sunday we can tell you through facts – the lawyer in me – the car became at least with a damping contact. This will be the last car in the fast 12, which was not removed on the back of the field.

Why Abel has no way to the Indy 500 field

Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

The other burning question surrounds Jacob Abel, the only driver who did not qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Some have argued that he should now have a place in the 33-car field, and one of the Penske cars should be pushed out of the event instead. Boles disagrees.

“The 33 fastest cars in the Indianapolis 500 are transparent,” said Boles. “On Saturday all cars passed the technology. There was no reason to look at these cars. They went through the cars so that this attempt to qualify should be as far as I concern it.

“On Sunday we are talking about that we are talking about that these cars have not been impossible in the 12th and 12th and 11th. Should the starting places in Indianapolis guarantee 500. He and I are on the opposite pages of this conversation, but in this case I don't believe that the result for the 33 cars should be changed.”

Roger Penske's attitude and participation

Roger Penske, President of Penske Motorsport

Photo by: Fiawec – Dppi

This is also an unpleasant position for Roger Penske, which of course has the cars powered by Newgarden and power, but also operates Indycar as a whole. This is not the first a scandal in which the Penske cars have been involved since Roger has taken control of the series, since the controversy between 2024 push-to-pass (pass pass) is another unfortunate highlight. Where does Roger like all of this?

“I have known Roger Penske for a long time and have met him very well since November 2019,” said Boles. “I don't think Roger Penske understands some of the things that may be going on.

“I get the optics challenge and it is definitely something that we should think about. I mean, how can you manage the optics challenge? Many of these challenges that I think – while you roll for Roger at the end of the day, I think that they are certainly among him. There are things that never come to Roger.

“I can tell you that Roger Penske would not tolerate this. In fact, I had the chance to speak to Roger, and I can say that this is devastating for him. Nothing means for Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500.

Who has the last call to punish Team Penske, and Boles explained that it was a group of civil servants, including himself and the CEO of Indycar, Mark Miles. However, he emphasized that Roger Penske was involved in the decision in any way.

“I didn't sleep last night,” said Boles. “You probably can't tell it, but I didn't shower openly this morning. My hair is a chaos. The first thing I did this morning was call brand [Miles]. Mark basically said the same thing. We both sat down and considered what was the right thing to ensure that we manage the integrity of the Indianapolis 500? “

Clean the confusing timeline of events

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Boles also clarified the schedule of events because there were some inconsistencies about how all this developed. Boles confirmed that civil servants noticed that the damping agent in Power's car may have been changed when he went through the technology, but they were not quite sure. Power's car made it into the pit lane, but when more cars went through, they noticed that Newgarden's dampers were the only one who changed like power. Then alarm bells began to ring.

“At that time Kevin [Blanch, IndyCar technical director] Said to the car chef of #2 [Newgarden]If you stood with him, please call the car chef of the car #12 [Power] And tell him that he should push the car aside because this damper is also illegal, “said Boles.

Boles further explained the events that followed when Penke suddenly worked on her cars in the pit lane, much to the objection of competing teams. “It is not unusual – it is not common, but it is not unusual that our technical team finds something in a teammate and actually goes into the pit lane and a car, a team -mate car, inspects just to ensure that if they found something on one car, it is not on the other,” said Boles.

“So the Tech team did the job as they should. On the Pit -Lane, some confusion happened. As members of the 12 -car, I think I started to sand on the back of the damper, where it was changed -I think some rumors came out of it, but that was really the reason why we tried to think through the facts of this position.”

The Penske team was informed that it could still qualify, but they would probably be disqualified in the post-qualifying inspection. “The team decided to take off this option and take over this option when this is to be qualified and was certainly disqualified if they went through the tech line.”