Newgarden & Scotty Mac DQ'd from St. Petersburg Race

[mikeamerica84]

Team Penske hit with penalties over Push to Pass use; O'Ward declared St. Petersburg winner

By Marshall Pruett | April 24, 2024 10:36 AM ET

The IndyCar Series has disqualified Josef Newgarden from the season-opening race in St. Petersburg which he won handily, disqualified teammate Scott McLaughlin from third and penalized Will Power with the loss of 10 points after determining Team Penske, the team owned by IndyCar Series owner Roger Penske, violated the series' push-to-pass rules.

Second-place finisher Pato O'Ward of Arrow McLaren has been promoted to first and awarded the win.

IndyCar's longstanding practice in its road and street course races is to disable the push-to-pass system, which gives drivers an extra shot of 50hp or so, prior to starts and restarts. The system only becomes active when the series enables the buttons on the steering wheel to command the engines to deliver the extra power.

During last weekend's event in Long Beach, the series found the three cars from Team Penske were able to bypass that software restriction and use push-to-pass at any time.

"During the Sunday, April 21 warmup session ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, IndyCar discovered the team's possible rules violation," the series stated.

"An extensive review of data from the race on the streets of St. Petersburg revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the IndyCar rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line. It was determined that the No. 2 and the No. 3 gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 did not. Additionally, all three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the streets of St. Petersburg race."

IndyCar president Jay Frye says the push-to-pass issue was rectified before Sunday's race won by Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon.

"The integrity of the IndyCar Series championship is critical to everything we do," Frye said. "While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, IndyCar discovered the manipulation during Sunday's warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Beginning with this week's race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation."

Team Penske issued a statement through president Tim Cindric after the matter was made public by the series and blamed a software oversight for the problem and subsequent advantage that was seen when Newgarden streaked away from the field at St. Petersburg to win by more than eight seconds.

"Unfortunately, the push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars," Cindric said. "This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted."

Cindric also acknowledged Newgarden and McLaughlin chose to use the illegal access to push-to-pass power, which calls into question whether the unfair advantage was known to exist in advance.

"The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated IndyCar rules," he added. "Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by IndyCar."

https://racer.com/2024/04/24/team-penske-hit-with-penalties-over-push-to-pass-use-oward-declared-st-petersburg-winner/

[muz]

Classic Penske.

[djr18fan]

McLaughlins denied knowing about the "error" saying he used push to pass on the restart out of habit. Apparently it's only an extra 50hp. I wonder how noticeable that would be to a driver.

And now Newgarden says he and his crew knew P2P was available and he deliberately used it believing the rule had changed. Yet the other 2 drivers say they were aware P2P was not allowed.

Newgarden states that's the truth and he accepts its hard to believe.

[LG]

I guess it could be put down (from the drivers point of view) that it's there so it must be ok to use it. It's a problem with different rules for different races.

[Sonic]

question then... if the p2p is 'not active' at a restart, how did it work if it wasn't available?

and saying they gained no advantage by using it is BS... the whole point of p2p is to gain advantage. if it gave none then the series would dump it.

[mikeamerica84]

McLaughlins denied knowing about the "error" saying he used push to pass on the restart out of habit. Apparently it's only an extra 50hp. I wonder how noticeable that would be to a driver.

And now Newgarden says he and his crew knew P2P was available and he deliberately used it believing the rule had changed. Yet the other 2 drivers say they were aware P2P was not allowed.

Newgarden states that's the truth and he accepts its hard to believe.

Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

What a sticky situation, too.  Penske owns IndyCar via Penske Entertainment.  I am wondering if more penalties are being tabled but still hobbled by this.  I know NASCAR flat out deals suspensions for rules infractions even if they are unintentional, like a wheel falling off.

[stevo qld]

If you can't stand the time, don't do the crime.

It wasn't the driver's choice to fiddle with the rules (probably), but, like Power, the drivers did not have to use it,

Power effectively got pinged for his crew's nonsense.

It is still not a good look for a Penske Team to be fudging (that is being kind) the rules in a Penske owned series.


It is difficult to find Roger Penske at fault on a personal level.


I consider that it is a major part of a professional driver's role to understand the rules, personally.

[mikeamerica84]

Power effectively got pinged for his crew's nonsense.

Agree.

It is difficult to find Roger Penske at fault on a personal level.

Agree again.  However, he is ultimately responsible for his employees' actions.

I consider that it is a major part of a professional driver's role to understand the rules, personally.

Agtree again, Steve.

[skaifeman]

For a team as advanced and on the ball as Penske, they certainly make a lot of 'whoops, silly us' errors.
Wrong drop gears, rear wing angles, valve lift. All stuff that the little teams at the back manage to get right. And that's just a brief stint in the Southern hemisphere.

Whether it was intentional or not (Scotty even said that his sector was slower or something when using the P2P), rules are rules. It's not about 'what was the advantage,' it's about playing by the same book as everyone else.
Absolutely we want teams to be pushing the edge, but get caught and pay the price.

What a way for Scotty to hit back, with actions on track.