INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Roger Penske personally told Will Power about the firings of Team Penske's top three executives — a decision Power said his boss made after a sleepless night contemplating how to handle a cheating scandal ahead of the Indianapolis 500.
“I know it was very tough for him. He said that. He said he didn’t sleep the night before because he had to make a very hard decision,” Power said Thursday, one day after the shock dismissals of team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer.
Penske cleaned house after the cars for both Power and two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden failed inspection ahead of Sunday's final round of qualifying. The cars were found to have modified a spec part — the rear attenuator is a safety part and IndyCar said it has found no evidence the Team Penske filling a seam on it provided a competitive advantage.
Newgarden declined to discuss the situation Thursday.
“I don’t want to disappoint or offend anybody. I’m here to talk about the race. I’m here with my team. I’m ready to go racing,” he said. “I love this race. My goodness, I’ve been enjoying being here this whole time. I look forward to it every year, as we all do. Ready to go to work with our group. Proud of everything that we have done up to this point. Ready to go racing. So that’s what I got to say.”
It was the second major technical violation for Team Penske in just over a year. The team last year was found to have illegal access to its push-to-pass system at times the drivers should not have been able to gain the additional boost of horsepower. Newgarden was stripped of last year's season-opening victory once IndyCar discovered the team was illegally using the software.
Power expressed sympathy for Penske, who owns the three-car race team, IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. Penske confirmed to new television partner Fox Sports that IndyCar is exploring an independent governing body that does not consist of Penske employees.
“I feel bad for him. He’s in a very tough spot in that situation,” Power said of Penske. "You could tell it was heavy on him. Tough, tough for him to have to do that. I think Roger moves forward very quickly. He makes decisions. He moves forward. Doesn’t dwell on it.
“Starts looking at what is absolutely best for the team and everyone to move forward. That’s Roger. That’s why he’s so successful,” Power continued. “He’s not going to sit and spend a month worrying about what happened. I think he’s ‘How can we fix this and let’s move forward and make sure it doesn’t happen again.’”
Team Penske earlier Thursday announced the personnel that has been adjusted for its three cars ahead of Sunday's 109th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Penske has won the race a record 20 times.
Newgarden, who is trying to become the first driver to win three consecutive Indy 500s, will have Luke Mason as his strategist and Raul Prados as lead engineer. As part of the penalties levied on the team, he was dropped to 32nd on the starting grid and no driver has ever won from the last row.
“You can win this race from any seat in the house. There’s no bad seat in this house,” Newgarden said. “I like the challenge of coming from 32nd. We do have a great car. It just seems to be getting better every year. I’m trying to protect that right now. It’s one of these things where every day changes a little bit at the Speedway. You have to stay on top of it. Sunday is really going to be the day that counts. We have to make sure we’re in the right place for that day. If we can do that, we should be in a good spot.”
Scott McLaughlin, who crashed early Sunday and didn't participate in the final rounds of qualifying, will start from 10th with Ben Bretzman as his strategist and Malcolm Finch as lead engineer.
He was the only driver of the Penske three to admit to being angry over the situation.
“I’m disappointed with how Roger’s name has been thrown through the mud, his integrity, our team, the people on the floor, the people that spend hours away from their families trying to build these cars,” McLaughlin said. “Basically they’re being thrown to the mud. I take that personally.”
Power, who is in the final year of his contract at Penske and was dropped to last in the 33-car field, will have Jonathan Diuguid as strategist and David Faustino as lead engineer.
He believes Penske was forced into the firings by the external pressure from other team owners who are furious Team Penske has had major technical violations in two consecutive seasons. He also said the attenuator modification gave him no advantage and felt good people lost their jobs over the incident.
Cindric had been with Penske since 2000.
“It’s kind of a shock and a pity. They’re all extremely good at their job,” Power said. “It was just the pressure from outside. I guess Roger had to make a tough decision, but I can tell you these were very credible people. They really were. As you know, the infraction was very minor. It wasn’t a performance gain.”
Cindric posted on social media late Wednesday calling his time with Penske “an amazing ride!”
“While my conscience remains clear through all of the noise and accusations, I'm grateful to have so many great people to draw strength from in times like this,” Cindric wrote. “Still standing tall!”
A second social media post on Thursday encouraged “those who truly want to understand more about the technical side of the part that was in question” to read an article explaining the modification that was written by a motorsports mechanic.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
