Team Penske’s IndyCar operation came under intense scrutiny this week. The cars of two of its drivers, Josef Newgarden and Will Power, were found carrying illegal modifications during the qualifying session for the Indy 500.
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Severe penalties were levied as a result and the paddocks have since been ablaze. Joey Logano, the defending Cup Series champion, believes the fallout could affect the team’s NASCAR operations as well.
He said to the press at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, “We’re in the same building, so there are some shared pieces there. When we go to whatever manufacturing, engineering, those types of things, there are some shared people there. When we see something like that, yeah, does it impact us? Obviously, it’s going to.”
That said, Logano asserted that the team owner, Roger Penske, had visited all of them and made sure that the mindset within was strong. He also expressed clarity on the need to move forward and focus on the job at hand. Logano is currently ninth in the Cup Series driver’s standings and is awaiting his second victory of the season.
Why is Team Penske under fire?
As per the rules of the IndyCar Series, the majority of the Dallara DW12 is not allowed to be modified. The car’s chassis comes from Italy and more than 90% of its parts ought to be left unchanged forever after installation. Team Penske was found with modifications to the rear crash structures of its car last Sunday.
Fillers were applied to the seams on the rear attenuators and coated over the sides to create a smooth surface for air to travel across. These modifications were identified as illegal by the IndyCar Technical Inspection Group and inspectors flagged the attenuators during the pre-run check in the tech garage.
Ultimately, Newgarden was moved to start the Indy 500 from the last row. The same was done with Power. The promotion also voided championship points for their top-12 positions and hit them with fines of $100,000 each.
Penske drove the final nail in the coffin by firing team president Tim Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski, and team manager Kyle Moyer. Notably, Tim Cindric is the father of Austin Cindric, the No. 2 driver for Team Penske in the Cup Series.
What’s most concerning is that this is the second consecutive year in which the organization has been caught in such a scandal. Last year, it illegally accessed the car’s software to activate the 50-HP push-to-pass boost at any point during races.
