It is not a happy time for Indycar. A plethora of off-season drama- the delayed hybrid, contract disputes, a change in venue for the season finale-seemed to be brushed aside with record crowds and successful events at St. Pete and Long Beach. Yet, something seemed off.
St. Pete was a snoozer of a race, dominated by Josef Newgarden and Team Penske. I was amazed at the way Newgarden pulled away at the start of the race and the restarts. Now I know why.
The Thermal debacle was annoying, but at least it is out of the way.
Long Beach was a very good, compelling race on many levels, and I thought, “Here is some momentum Indycar can build on with another race next weekend. The euphoria crashed with a loud thud yesterday.
Team Penske, one of the gold standard teams of the series, received fines totaling $75,000 and two driver disqualifications, including Newgarden’s win at St. Pete. Will Power was docked 10 points.
The issue- Using push to Pass at prohibited times-on starts and restarts.
While the team and one driver has accepted the penalty, I didn’t see any acceptance of responsibility for the problem. Team Penske’s owner, Roger Penske, also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indycar Series, compounding the issue.
Foer the mechanics of what happened, I refer you to Marshall Pruett’s excellent stary in Racer magazine at the link below:
How Team Penske took push-to-pass beyond the limit https://racer.com/2024/04/24/how-team-penske-took-push-to-pass-beyond-the-limit/…
Besides the egregiousness of the violation, two things disturb me even more. How did Race Control, with all the technology at their fingertips, miss this during the race? I am a former official, and I did miss a call or two in my time, and I get that. But something as black and white as this, which surely appeared on a monitor somewhere in the booth, should have been noticed.
If it weren’t for a glitch in the P2P software last weekend which exposed Penske’s override of the system, the transgression would not have been caught. It could have continued all season.
Some people have called for a review of the entire 2023 season, but I think we need to worry about the present. We can’t rewrite history.
I’m baffled as to why no one on the pit stand received any kind of sanction. I would think a one or two race suspension is in order here for a couple of crew chiefs.
If there is a positive in yesterday’s news, it is that race officials have put to rest the notion that they show favoritism to Team Penske. It is better that this infraction was caught and dealt with now. Can you imagine if a disqualifying rules violation was noticed two weeks after the final race of the year and a series championship was taken away from a driver?
I don’t think I’ve ever been more frustrated as an Indycar as I am now, nor have I ever been as sad for the series as I was yesterday after I learned all the woeful details.
There is a lot of work to be done to try to get the series back on its feet,
Indycar needed a good show last Sunday, and it delivered. This weekend, instead of riding what should have been a wave of momentum, the series has to prove itself all over again. We need an even better show Sunday, with 100% transparency from race officials.