Last place on the grid, a $200,000 fine, and suspension of team personnel: IndyCar punishes Team Penske even more severely after illegal modifications
One day after Josef Newgarden and Will Power were excluded from the Fast 12 qualifying, IndyCar has taken more severe action: The two former champions will start the 109th Indianapolis 500 from 32nd and 33rd on the grid.
In addition, Power and Newgarden’s team strategists have been suspended for the rest of the 2025 Indy 500, and Team Penske must pay a $100,000 fine for each offense. Both drivers also lose their qualifying points. Starting from the back row is a significant penalty, but it is possible to win the Indy 500 from the back of the grid. Nevertheless, the position is dangerous, especially in the event of a crash at the start.
Penske has straightened an edge at the transition from the chassis to the rear crash structure, which should provide aerodynamic advantages. Photos on social media show that a filler material was used to make the edge smoother. This should mean less turbulence in this area.
Will Power and Josef Newgarden have failed tech inspection and will not be able to qualify.
The team was seen making changes on pit lane, removing an apparent illegal modification to the attenuator where it attaches to the chassis.IndyCar Indy500 pic. twitter.com/MecVf7XBK5
— Kevin Dejewski (@KevinDMotors) May 18, 2025
Scott McLaughlin avoids a penalty after being unable to participate in qualifying due to an accident in practice. According to IndyCar, the chassis of the 3 was inspected and found to be legal. No modifications were made to the area in question.
IndyCar President Doug Boles said: “The integrity of the Indianapolis 500 is our top priority, and this violation of the IndyCar rule not to modify this part and use it ‘as supplied’ is clear.
”The penalty should be greater than just starting where the cars would have qualified [in the worst case] if they had been given the opportunity. The cars belong on the grid as two of the fastest 33, but starting at the back of the grid is the appropriate penalty in this case.” Patricio ‘Pato’ O’Ward demanded on Sunday that the Penske cars should have been bumped.
Why Will Power was initially waved through
Boles also explains why the penalty was not announced until the day after the violation: “We generally deal with rule violations and penalties after the event. That’s not something we deal with in the middle of a race weekend.”
The Indy 500 is an exception here because it spans two weeks. Interestingly, however, Boles announced on Sunday that penalties would likely not be handed down until after the race. Now they have deviated from this line. The unique schedule with a week between qualifying and the race makes this possible.
But why did Will Power’s car pass the inspection initially and then get flagged? Boles has an explanation for that too: “While the cars were going through technical inspection, a lot of things were checked, of course.”
The Indy 500 is an exception here because it spans two weeks. Interestingly, however, Boles announced on Sunday that penalties would likely not be handed down until after the race. Now they have deviated from this line. The unique schedule with a week between qualifying and the race makes this possible.
But why did Will Power’s car pass the inspection initially and then get called back? Boles has an explanation for that too: “While the cars were going through technical inspection, a lot of things were checked, of course.”
“Car 12, and tell him to stop the car because we wanted to take another look at it.”
Penske was apparently prepared for this scenario and wanted to make the cars legal for the Fast 12 session. However, this was not allowed, and Newgarden and Power were not allowed to start. Initially, both were supposed to start from eleventh and twelfth place, but now they will start from the back of the grid. McLaughlin will start from tenth place.
IndyCar has not named the suspended strategists. However, it is likely to be team boss Tim Cindric (Newgarden) and Ron Ruzewski (Power), who were also suspended in the 2024 push-to-pass scandal. Team Penske has not yet commented on the latest scandal.
