IndyCar powerhouse Team Penske fired its entire senior leadership team Wednesday morning, just five days before the Indianapolis 500, after being caught in a cheating scandal that has overshadowed the world’s biggest auto race.
Roger Penske, who owns the racing team, the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, announced team president Tim Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski and general manager Kyle Moyer had all left the organization.
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No replacements were announced for a team that had entered May as the prohibitive favorites to win Penske his 21st Indy 500 — as driver Josef Newgarden goes for his unprecedented third straight victory in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske said in a statement. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”
Shortly before pole position qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, two Penske cars — driven by Newgarden and Will Power — were suddenly pulled out of line after they failed pre-qualifying technical inspection.
An area on the rear of the car, called an attenuator, was found to have a gap filled in with a material that smoothed an uneven surface. But teams in IndyCar run identical spec cars, and in an attempt to create a level playing field, it is illegal to modify a part received from a single-source supplier.
IndyCar initially announced very minor penalties for the infractions and said Newgarden and Power would retain the starting positions they earned in the top 12 via Saturday’s initial qualifying session.
By Monday, IndyCar had changed its mind. Photos began to circulate of the Penske cars not only having the modified attenuators while on track this month — but dating back to last year. Several IndyCar beat reporters visited the speedway’s museum, where Newgarden’s winning car from last year is on display, and documented that the same infraction was present in 2024.
By the time the public began to learn of the newfound evidence, IndyCar had issued new penalties. It dropped Newgarden and Power’s cars to the last row, issued $100,000 fines to each car and suspended their strategists for the race.
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The fallout, though, was only beginning. IndyCar team owners and drivers vented about the violations in various interviews, incensed that IndyCar’s top team would break the rules in a significant way for the second time in a year.
Just last season, Penske was involved in a major cheating scandal when its cars were found to have illegal software that allowed them to use a “push to pass” engine boost at a time of the race when it was not allowed. Newgarden and another driver, Scott McLaughlin, were discovered to have pressed the boost button during a race and were disqualified from the St. Petersburg, Fla., race; suspensions and fines were also issued to all three of Penske’s cars.
The embarrassing scandals fly in the face of everything Penske stands for with his organization. A dignified man who demands the details be buttoned up in a “Penske perfect” way, his employees dress in starched white shirts and slacks and are expected to uphold his values.
Now, Penske will enter what should be a marquee moment for his series — the first Indy 500 with new broadcast partner Fox Sports, held in front of a sold-out crowd of nearly 350,000 people on Sunday — with a black cloud hanging over his organization and reputation.
(Photo: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / Getty Images)
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