Team Penske drivers talk Indy 500 qualifying scandal

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Nothing, not even a rookie sitting on the pole for the first time in 42 years or Kyle Larson attempting The Double, has rocked the 109th running of the Indy 500 quite like the qualifying scandal involving Team Penske.

After Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Will Power ran fast enough to be among the 12 drivers to go for the pole Sunday, NTT IndyCar Series officials barred them from having that opportunity due to the discovery of a modified attenuator on each car.

As a result, officials moved Newgarden and Power to the back of the field Monday. Two days later, Roger Penske fired Tim Cindric, Kyle Moyer and Ron Ruzewski — three team executives who also served as the race strategists for Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Power. After putting month’s worth of work into the 500 with them, the trio of drivers was suddenly without their main men just days before the race.

“Ultimately, those three guys are friends of mine and have done a tremendous amount in my career to get me to this point. I guess you could say there’s sadness from my perspective,” McLaughlin said.

Despite not being directly involved in the controversy, McLaughlin has arguably felt the emotional weight of it the most. His last time on track ended in a crash that took out his primary car Sunday, around when all the controversy arose.

“At the end of the day I drive for Roger Penske. I respect the decision. I understand the decision. We move forward. I think I’m disappointed in some of my peers and people in this room, just how it was taken out of proportion in some ways,” McLaughlin said.

Some team owners were quick to raise their voice about the integrity of the series and the 500 with Penske in ownership of it and the track and a controversy last year at St. Pete.

“At the same time, I think people forget just what Roger’s done for this sport in general, and that definitely gets thrown to the side a little bit, which I find a hard time not being passionate about that,” McLaughlin said. “But ultimately what’s done is done. This happened. We have to move forward. The penalties are accepted. Personally I think I had the fastest car, I put it in the fence. I didn’t have what was said. Smart people in this paddock know there was no gain with that, you know?”

McLaughlin declined to name names to FOX’s Bob Pockrass and said he had nothing more to say on the situation. Sensing the air in the room, the next reporter then asked about a fun bet he had on the NBA playoffs.

Newgarden, likely thinking of his ownership of the last two Borg-Warner trophies, tried to remain positive on the matter.

“Well, I think we got a lot of people sitting here today, it looks like. I don’t want to disappoint or offend anybody. I’m here to talk about the race. I’m here with my team, I’m ready to go racing. I love this race. My goodness, I’ve been enjoying being here this whole time. I look forward to it every year, as we all do. Ready to go to work with our group,” Newgarden said. “Right now I’m trying to remain – what’s the way to put this – trying to remain happy. This is the Indy 500. I just said it at the very beginning, too. I look forward to this time of year every season.”

Power was in the middle of Newgarden and McLaughlin. He stood by his team and echoed McLaughlin’s emotions as he spoke at length about the situation.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a shock and a pity. They’re all extremely good at their job. Yeah, it was just the pressure from outside. I guess Roger had to make a tough decision, but I can tell you these were very credible people. They really were. As you know, the infraction was very minor. It wasn’t a performance gain,” Power said. “It’s just a tough — I don’t know what else to say. They’re all extremely good people, great at their job, won a lot of races, championships, created an incredible team.”

Power said Penske called him into his office to inform him of what was going on with the personnel changes. As the senior driver with the team, Power has seen firsthand what Penske went through.

“I know it was very tough for him. He said that. It’s obviously a very tough decision to make. He said he didn’t sleep the night before because he had to make a very hard decision,” Power said. “I feel bad for him. He’s in a very tough spot in that situation. Yeah, it wasn’t really a long conversation with us. He just explained what happened. You could tell it was heavy on him. Tough, tough for him to have to do that.”

Despite all of this, Power is ready to race.

“I think between Dave and Jonathan, those two guys are incredibly smart and understand strategy, everything. It’s a very strong group for all three cars,” Power said.

Newgarden and Power will start 32nd and 33rd. Meanwhile, McLaughlin will start 10th.