The modification of the attenuators involved smoothing or blending an area of the part, which could have brought a minor aerodynamic advantage by reducing drag and increasing straight-line speed — although even rivals have acknowledged that the advantage is likely to have been minimal.
Scrutineers had not noticed the modification earlier in the weekend and passed the cars for qualifying on Saturday, as well as for the following day. But when other teams pointed out the part, officials stepped in.
Initially, the penalty was to remove Newgarden and Power from the Fast 12 qualifying session and place them at the back of that group, which would have seen them start 11th and 12th. However, after further review, IndyCar escalated the penalties.
“The integrity of the Indianapolis 500 is paramount, and this violation of the IndyCar rule against modification to this part and using it ‘as supplied’ is clear,” IndyCar president J. Douglas Boles said.
“The penalty should be more than simply starting where the cars might have qualified anyway, if given the opportunity. The cars belong in the field as two of the fastest 33; however, starting on the tail of the field is the appropriate penalty in this instance.”
Penske is the series owner as well
Organisational fallout
The scandal prompted Team Penske owner Roger Penske to dismiss the entire senior IndyCar leadership team, including Cindric, who had been with the organisation for 25 years.
Penske is the owner of both the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and so the situation has raised questions about conflict of interest, which are firmly rejected by all parties.
Penske denied any involvement in officiating or technical inspections, but conceded there had been “organisational failures” that he apologised for.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams. We have had organisational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes,” said Penske on Wednesday.
“I apologise to our fans, our partners and our organisation for letting them down.”
2024 admission
The scandal has been made even more serious by Penske’s own suggestion that Newgarden’s 2024 race-winning car had the same illegal modifications.
Newgarden has won the race back-to-back in 2023 and 2024
Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski
Photo of the 2024 cars were circulated showing smoothed rear attenuators for at least a year.
Asked by Fox Sports if last year’s car had the same modifications, Penske said: “I would say 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.
