By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
From sweeping the front row last year to inadvertently locking up the fourth row wasn’t in the plan for Team Penske on the second day of qualifying for the 109th Indianapolis 500.
It has been a disastrous Sunday for one of IndyCar’s powerhouses. Earlier in the day, the team endured a crash from Scott McLaughlin during the morning practice, resulting in him not partaking in the Fast 12. The other two cars of defending two-time Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden and 2018 winner Will Power didn’t even get a shot of qualifying altogether.
Per Indianapolis Star’s Nathan Brown, Team Penske were busted for adjusting the attenuator while in the pits leading up to both drivers attempting to qualify into the Firestone Fast Six.
This was later confirmed by NTT IndyCar Series technical director Kevin Blanch, who told IMS Radio’s Rich Nye what resulted in both the No. 2 (Newgarden) and No. 12 (Power) not being allowed to fight for a top-six spot.
“They had a body set infraction on the rear attenuator and then near the end there, they just decided to pull out the qualifying line to go back to the garage,” Blanch explained.
According to AP’s Jenna Fryer, the person who allegedly pointed out the violations prior to pre-qualifying inspection was rival owner Chip Ganassi.
Both Blanch and Team Penske President Tim Cindric downplayed the matter with the former explaining tech officials found something they didn’t like.
Power’s No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet was the first one to go through before his teammate Newgarden’s No. 2 Shell V-Power Chevrolet did.
Either way, it was a violation of the rules.
“We worked our way through the process and then it ended how it ended,” said Blanch. “Both cars (had that same problem). That’s just a process we go through the tech happens in a really quick short amount of time. We just work through the process, and they decided to pull out at the end.”
Cindric spoke with IMS Radio about Sunday’s drama, saying the ordeal was unfortunate for all parties.
Among things told was once Newgarden’s Chevy went through inspection, they saw a filled seam which INDYCAR officials disapproved of. But since they’ve gone through inspection, only wing and tire pressure adjustments can be made. Therefore, it was game over for Penske.
“With all the will in the world to get it to where it would pass inspection, it was too late to do that,” Cindric commented. “If I was one of the other competitors, I would complain the same way. We were honestly willing to fix that and go do something.
“Basically, they conformed in the eyes of the officials. Internally there, there’s a bit of an arbitrary thing because I went back and actually looked at the 3 car (McLaughlin) that crash this morning, it was fine.”
Cindric added that Team Penske would have to find a better process to prevent the events of Sunday from happening again.
“If you don’t pass inspection at that point in time, you don’t get the chance to go,” said Cindric. “There was no use, really putting one of our cars both of our cars out there and doing a qualifying run and put our drivers at risk, if we knew that it essentially had the best inspection on the way through.”
With Penske occupying the positions 10 through 12, Cindric is confident that his cars can work their way to the front and capture another Indy 500 victory next Sunday.
“You can win from there. The fourth row is not the first row,” said Cindric. “We’ll give it a shot. I’m certainly confident in the cars that we have and the team that we have. Again, it’s an unfortunate way to give our drivers a chance to do it or the fans a show from our perspective. We’ll pick up and move forward.”
Once qualifying wrapped up, additional details emerged.
According to Brown, a group of reporters spoke with INDYCAR President Doug Boles. During the discussion, it highlighted that the series’ tech crew noticed the issue on Power’s car and were initially unsure of the problem. Thus, Power was cleared to move to pit lane.
However, once they noticed the same issue on Newgarden’s car which turned out to be filled-in seams, they held Power for further inspection. That’s when the attenuator adjustments were noted which is against the rules.
They told Power can qualify, but would’ve had his four-lap average disallowed for failing inspection.
Furthermore, any additional penalties could take place after next Sunday’s race. Similar to what Penske endured last year when their cars were caught manipulating their overtake systems at St. Petersburg which was noted several weeks later in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The team were handed several penalties, including Newgarden being disqualified from his race victory.
As far as Saturday’s inspection, Boles could only tell the select press both Power and Newgarden’s cars passed tech. Much to the chagrin of others, including Pato O’Ward, who didn’t mince words in Sunday’s post-qualifying press conference.
“Those cars should have been in the last chance qualifier,” said O’Ward. “Like, those cars should have never — obviously they didn’t do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the LCQ because they had that yesterday, I guarantee you. Until someone pointed it out today. Those cars, if they’re disqualified today, they should have been disqualified yesterday.
“It’s a shame really because they don’t need to be doing that stuff. They’re a great team. They have got great drivers. Why are doing that? It makes no sense.”
With the grid now set, the order of the fourth row will be McLaughlin, Newgarden and Power ahead of Sunday’s 109th Indy 500.
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