Penske suspends 4 over post-Indy 500 cheating scandal

INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske said Tuesday he has suspended the president of Team Penske along with three others for two races for their roles in the cheating scandal that rocked IndyCar ahead of the Indianapolis 500.

Tim Cindric, who oversees all Team Penske operations and is the strategist for defending Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden, is the top name suspended for two races. Also suspended were the team’s general manager Ron Ruzewski, Newgarden engineer Luke Mason and lead data engineer Robbie Atkinson.

Ruzewski and Atkinson both work on Will Power’s car – Ruzewski is his strategist – and Power is the only one of the three Penske drivers not accused of wrongdoing in the push-to-pass scandal.

The suspensions apply to two races, including this weekend’s event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the Indy 500, which Penske is trying to win for the 20th time.

“I recognize the magnitude of what happened and the impact it continues to have on the sport to which I have dedicated so many decades,” Penske said in a statement. “Everyone at Team Penske, as well as our fans and business partners, should know this. “I apologize and deeply regret the mistakes made.”

The team said an internal review was completed after IndyCar discovered that all three Penske cars had an illegal software system installed that allowed drivers to use the push-to-pass feature on starts and restarts. The system is controlled by IndyCar and is disabled during starts and restarts when the additional power increase is illegal.

IndyCar discovered it in the Penske cars during morning warmups at Long Beach when a glitch in the software caused it to retire all but the three Penske entries. IndyCar’s investigation later revealed that the software was present at the season-opening race and that Newgarden used it to his advantage three times and admitted.

Scott McLaughlin said he used it once in St. Petersburg and that Power never used the software illegally. IndyCar stripped Newgarden of the win in St. Pete and McLaughlin of his third place, while all three drivers were fined $25,000 and had 10 points deducted.

Penske, the owner of the IndyCar racing team and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has been dealing with damage control since series officials discovered the manipulation late last month. Cindric said the software had been accidentally left on the cars since it was installed last August to test IndyCar’s upcoming hybrid engine.

IndyCar said it was working on its procedures to determine why it was not found through inspections at the first three season-opening events.

Newgarden, meanwhile, claims he assumed there had been a rule change and the P2P system was now legal on reboots. McLaughlin said he pressed the button out of habit and didn’t take advantage of the less than two-second increase in power.