May 18, 2025 — Top 12 qualifying was about to get underway for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500.
It was already a difficult morning for Team Penske, as 2024 pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin suffered an airborne crash in practice, forcing him out of qualifying. However, none of the Penske trio ended up taking part in qualifying that day.
Just before the beginning of the Top 12 qualifying round, Penske mechanics started frantically working at the back of their cars, causing an uproar from their rivals. They were attempting to rectify a problem that was discovered during the technical inspection of Josef Newgarden‘s No. 2 car. The No. 12 of Will Power had the same problem, but that was not found until it was re-checked. The impulsive attempt to fix the issue in the pit lane itself was its own violation, and only worsened the matter.
“There was a body fit violation on the rear attenuator,” explained IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch soon after. “As quick as this process happens, we ran them through tech, we got everybody in line and then prior to qualifying, they decided that they would just pull out of line.”
Chaos and controversy erupted. With the cars being owned by the same name that ran the entire series, and just one year removed from another scandal involving the Penske cars, people were understandably touchy — and outraged. It also didn’t help that video and photos from the infield museum quickly emerged, showing the same modification on Newgarden’s winning car from the 2024 Indy 500.
Diving deeper into modified attenuators
According to sources that spoke with Motorsport.com contributor Bozi Tatarevic at the time, here’s the backstory: “Team Penske started receiving these updated attenuators back from Dallara in early 2024 and members of leadership were not pleased with the aesthetics of the new glued-on panels as they showed a bright glue line that stood out and with a large raised edge. A member of the technical leadership is rumored to have instructed members of their team to “clean up” the edges on the pieces in order to make the bright glue stand out less so these technicians applied a dark compound to the edges and smoothed them out.”
These modified attenuators were in use for well over a year, including the 2024 edition of the Indy 500. That much is certain. A tsunami of questions followed this revelation, including how IndyCar inspectors possibly missed it for so long.
While the modifications could improve airflow, there was debate between those with technical knowledge of the cars if there was really any tangible advantage to these unapproved modifications, or if it was just aesthetics. Regardless of intent, it didn’t change the fact that these were unapproved modifications that should have been caught months prior.
The immediate fallout
While the scandal exploded far beyond the IndyCar bubble, few could have predicted the true scope of the fallout. To protect “the integrity of the Indianapolis 500,” Newgarden and Power were sent to the rear of the field. Team strategists Tim Cindric and Ron Ruzewski were both suspended, and a fine of $100,00 was issued to both teams. Interestingly, McLaughlin’s car did not have the same discrepancy on the attenuator.
But it didn’t end there. Days later, Roger Penske decided to clean house of some of his most loyal executives. Long-time president Tim Cindric was ousted after 26 years with the organization (he also worked as the race strategist for Newarden). They also dismissed managing director Ron Ruzewski (he also worked as the race strategist for Power), and general manager Kyle Moyer (he also worked as the race strategist for McLaughlin).
Penske apologized for the “organizational failures” that led to the scandal, with IndyCar president Doug Boles holding an emotional press conference, where he described the scandal as “devastating” to Mr. Penske.
McLaughlin tried to defend his team, Power expressed complete shock over the dismissals, and Newgarden was silent.
The long-term impact
IndyCar’s inspection process was tightened up substantially in the immediate aftermath. After the race, the No. 27 of Kyle Kirkwood, the No. 28 of Marcus Ericsson, and the No. 90 of Callum Illott were all penalized following post-race inspection failures.
As for the Penske cars, they all had an awful Indy 500, and the races that followed weren’t much better. They didn’t really return to form until the very end of the season, winning two of the last three races with Power and Newgarden. However, none of their drivers placed higher than ninth in the standings, and while everyone has down years, the loss of three key members clearly seemed to impact them.
Along with a bolstered inspection process that was far more stringent than before, ahead of the 2026 season, IndyCar also introduced a new independent officiating system — the Independent Officiating Board (IOB). This was a major departure from the status quo, and a way to add more transparency while also separating the Penske group from some of these sensitive decisions. However, race control itself remains unchanged.
But what about Cindric, Ruzewski, and Moyer?
Moyer ultimately moved to a rival team, and was named the director of competition for Arrow McLaren. Initially, he was paired with Nolan Siegel as his race strategist, but he is now with Christian Lundgaard, leading him to a big win in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis earlier this month.
Ruzewski also joined a rival organization, and is now the team principal for Andretti Global. There, he reunited with Power, who exited Team Penske at the conclusion of the 2025 season as the team promoted David Malukas as the new driver of the No. 12.
As for Cindric, he returned home to Team Penske in January of this year, taking on the role of team strategist for McLaughlin.
But even with the return of Cindric as a race strategist for the No. 3 team, upper-management looks very different for Penske than it did just one year ago. For example, Jonathan Diuguid is now the team president, and Travis Law is the competition director.
And now, Penske is back at Indianapolis, where they have enjoyed so much success over the years, and just want to put the stain of 2025 far behind them. Penske has 20 victories in the Indianapolis 500 since 1972, and no team in history is even close to that record. And the best way for them to move past last year’s scandal is to change Roger’s reserved parking spot signage to ’21’ on May 25th of the year.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
