Penske racing president Tim Cindric, three others suspended from Indy 500 in cheating scandal

Penske President Tim Cindric and three others were suspended for two races by the racing brand’s owner for their roles in a March cheating scandal.

The suspension will cause them to miss the Indy 500 on Memorial Day Weekend.

Team general manager Ron Ruzewski, Newgarden engineer Luke Mason and senior data engineer Robbie Atkinson were all suspended.

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NTT IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden poses for a photo with car owner Roger Penske and team president Tim Cindric after winning the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 29, 2023. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Penske driver and reigning Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden was disqualified from winning in March last month for tampering with his push-to-pass system. His teammate Scott McLaughlin was also disqualified for his third place in the race.

Penske said Tuesday that a review conducted by its general counsel found no “malicious intent on the part of anyone” and described the incident as a breakdown in internal processes and misunderstandings.

However, the series found that the three Penske cars were able to achieve performance increases during startup and restart using a software system, which is against the rules.

NTT IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden speaks with crew chief Tim Cindric after winning the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, on August 20, 2022. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The push-to-pass feature is controlled by IndyCar and is disabled on starts and restarts when the additional power increase is illegal. Two weeks ago in Long Beach, a software glitch crippled the software of all cars except 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.

Newgarden said he believes there has been a rule change and the P2P system is 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.

April 28, 2024; Birmingham, Alabama, USA; Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin (3) of New Zealand leads Team Penske driver Will Power (12) of Australia into a corner at Barber Motorsports Park. (Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports)

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McLaughlin said he used it once in St. Petersburg and that Will Power never used it illegally. In addition to Newgarden and McLaughlin losing their Florida results, IndyCar fined all three drivers $25,000 and gave them 10 points each.

Penske not only owns the team, but also the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the legendary race takes place.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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