Roger Penske and his IndyCar outfit, Team Penske, are in hot water with the sport’s officials. Two of the team’s three Chevy race cars failed post Indy 500 qualifying inspection last week after they were caught with illegally modified parts and must start at the rear of the Indy 500 field. The plot thickens, however. Penske – who also owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series itself – made sweeping, sudden leadership changes, firing three top executives.
As per a report from The Associated Press, Penske canned president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski, and IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer, effective immediately. He did not reveal exactly why he let them go, but indicated that the changes were necessary to keep the sport, and his team, running smoothly.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske explained 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.”
It’s worth noting that Cindric and Ruzewski were suspended by IndyCar for the 2025 Indy 500, and each team was fined $100,000 – the second time both execs were suspended from the crown jewel of IndyCar racing. Cindric – father of NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric, whose race car is fielded by Team Penske – has been with the team since 2000.
As a reminder, IndyCar officials cracked down on Penske for issues discovered in the Nos. 2 and 12 Chevy race cars after Indy 500 qualifying. Both race cars were found to have modified attenuators, which mitigate force in the event of a rear-end impact to protect the driver. Seams in the attenuators were sealed, potentially providing an aerodynamic advantage.
Team Penske statement and Roger Penske quote on Team Penske INDYCAR personnel changes: pic.twitter.com/EmzWY7YUnX
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) May 21, 2025
As such, Josef Newgarden and Will Power will take the green flag from 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Interestingly, Newgarden’s 2024 Indy 500-winning Chevy, which is on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum, was found to have the same modification.
Comments
My understanding is that it wasn’t that the modification to the part itself that was illegal, it was that it was modified after the car had gone through tech. If last year’s car was modified the same way, I assume that it was modified before it went through tech.
With regard to the Penske team, apparently the rules forbid the body filler or whatever they used to smooth the transition between the rear attenuator and the gearbox or whatever it’s attached to. It seems that were trying to remove the stuff in the pit lane while waiting for a chance to qualify. It didn’t work out and they were moved to the back of the grid. I guess the question could be whether this is enough of a punishment, or should they be pulled from the race altogether. Their previous qualification times have been thrown out and the obviously have to run the race legal. I’m torn, but I think they need to pull those entries. Back in the day I was with a team that ran an entire season of Can Am and finished a couple of points out of first for the season. At the awards dinner we found out the series organizer and head of technical inspection, who won the series that year, had been running a cheater motor (350 ci instead of 305 ci) all season. That left a very sour taste in our mouths.
the comment lead in the daily gm authority blast says when you own the series – anything goes…you are an unmitigated a$$….he didn’t fire people from the series -= he fired the top guys of decades working for him like Tim Cindric and two others. Why – cuz they cheated for some time, and kept it from him including last years’ winning car. He was sending a statement the opposite of your ignorant comment – no – when you own the series anything does NOT go – that he too follows the rules. Stick to stories like how mary barra is saving gm for example by making cadillac and buick all electric and how folks are mobbing to buy all electric. Check out my neighborhood….i know ONE p[erson with a hybrid plug in pacifica. Period. There was and is NO infrastructure. The real world everyone owns and buys what they always did – gas engine powered or hybrid gas and electric not needed to plug in vehicles.
Can I put “unmitigated ass” on my resume?
“he didn’t fire people from the series”
Where does it say that people were “fired from the series”?
“Stick to stories like how mary barra is saving gm for example by making cadillac and buick all electric and how folks are mobbing to buy all electric. ”
Say Jim, how many electric Buicks does GM sell in America?
Answer: none.
“i know ONE p[erson with a hybrid plug in pacifica.”
Chrysler Pacifica? A van from an almost deceased brand is far from a good example. How about telling us how many people have Teslas? Is it still the world’s most most valuable automotive company?
It ultimately doesn’t matter if you’re for or against EVs, plug-in hybrids, or whatever other form of energy for automobile propulsion. But when the world’s best-selling model was (still is?) electric from Tesla, it’s tough to deny that there is a sizable market for EVs, despite what you (or I) may think of them or the infrastructure for them. I have four pure ICE cars in my driveway and will continuing changing oil and doing other maintenance on them myself for years to come… but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the value an electric vehicle brings to the table.
in fact i agree with you