In the wake of Monday’s announcement that Josef Newgarden and Will Power would be sent to the back of the field for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500, journalists wandered over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
There, they found the #2 Team Penske car driven to victory in the 2024 race by Newgarden had the same modification to the rear attenuator that the squad got stung for on Sunday.
The attenuator is a crash structure and rear wing support, which cannot be modified by teams and must be run as supplied by IndyCar.
Power’s car got through Sunday’s scrutineering but was flagged by officials after it was found Newgarden’s car was in breach moments later. At that point, Power’s car was re-scrutineered and found to be in breach.
Team Penske was told it risked disqualification if it did attempt to qualify, prompting both cars to be withdrawn from the Fast 12.
Whether the sealant gave the #2 Shell Chevy or the #12 Verizon Chevy any advantage is unclear, though the rule stands that no modifications can be made to the attenuator.
Once cars go through technical scrutineering they cannot be modified. In full view of those trackside or watching the broadcast, Team Penske crew members were seen trying to remove the sealant from the attenuators before being pulled away.
Taking to social media, RACER journalist Marshall Pruett showed the 2024 race winner with the modification but stopped short of accusing Team Penske of any foul play.
“The thing that we’re told didn’t happen is indeed here,” said Pruett.
“There is a blended attenuator. See the dark bit in the middle? That’s the blended bit.
“This car placed here by Team Penske, glorious and amazing, unfortunately from 12 months ago has the same offending modification – another word for that would be illegal, unfortunately.
“Here, to my surprise, I actually thought this might have gotten changed overnight but yes, for folks who come here, you can indeed see the illegal blending of the rear attenuator on last year’s Indy 500 winner.
“Now, because you always have to be honest, was this put on the car when it came here for display? Is this exactly as it came off the track? I don’t know. Someone would have to tell us. Can’t say that this is proof that the car had this on it as Josef won the race last year.”
I can’t say if the illegally blended attenuator was on the 2024 #Indy500 race-winning car when it crossed the finish line, but it is on the winning car currently on display in the IMS Museum. pic.twitter.com/he5PQqr1Wx
— Marshall Pruett (@marshallpruett) May 19, 2025
IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boules addressed the media on Monday.
When quizzed about allegations made by other teams that the offending cars had been fitted with the sealant well before being discovered, Boules said they could only make a ruling based on what happened on day two of qualifying.
“It was found on Sunday. So those are the facts. The facts I know is it was found on Sunday. This penalty is based on what happened on Sunday,” Boules explained.
“I have had teams tell me since last night that they have photos of cars – not just Penske cars – other cars with things on cars that are not within the rules, and I’ve asked them why no one has sent anything to me or ever said anything to me about that? So I have never heard that.
“I know that’s around the paddock, but I have never heard the news. If somebody had told me that was the case, I would have gone to Rocket (IndyCar technical delegate Kevin Blanch) and talked to Rocket and made sure we paid attention to that.
“In my conversations with Rocket, Rocket has said that he does hear from teams occasionally about a lot of things, but he did not specifically say that he heard something about this particular issue.
“Again, I’m just going on the facts that I have. The facts that I have is I know that yesterday the car was not conforming to our rules. I can only make a decision on what I know. I can only encourage people if there are photos of cars with things illegal on them, they need to tell me.
“Then I can address it, but I can’t address something that happened last year when I wasn’t even in this job, and I can’t address something that happened on Saturday if nobody had the guts to come and tell me it was going on Saturday.”
Photos of both sides of the attenuator on Josef Newgarden’s 2024 Indy 500-winning car inside the IMS Museum.
Clearly has the seam between the parts of the attenuator filled and smoothed.
Not aware of any rule change that would’ve allowed that to have been legal a year ago. pic.twitter.com/KRk2dpQATg
— Nathan Brown (@By_NathanBrown) May 19, 2025
Boules said the gravity of the situation warranted the hefty penalty. Power will start 33rd while Newgarden will start 32nd.
“Throughout the night and sort of getting into this a little bit more and, frankly, thinking about the integrity and the importance of this race, IndyCar has a rule,” said Boules.
“It’s Rule 9.2.1. I highlighted a couple of pieces of it here because I think it’s important in this conversation: ‘Penalties can be determined by the gravity of the violation and its impact on the fairness of competition.
“INDYCAR has the authority to impose any or all or any combination of the following penalties against any member for any violation of the rules at any time’.
“It sets out a lot of things. If you read the release, all of which we have the authority to do based on this rule. The thing that strikes me the most about this rule is the gravity of the violation. This is the world’s largest motorsport event, the Indianapolis 500. This event defines who people are.”
Boules said the cars passed technical inspection on Saturday for the first leg of qualifying and felt they couldn’t respectively disqualify them from that session, which would have put them in the Bump Day Last Chance Qualifying.
“When we left here on Saturday, we left here with the 30 fastest cars locked in. Some folks have asked me, ‘Why would you not remove the two cars?’ Those two cars, the #2 and the #12, qualified on Saturday. They had passed tech,” Boules explained.
“We did not see anything illegal with those cars in tech. So, therefore, we are starting the 33 fastest cars in the Indianapolis 500. The #2 and the #12 just happen to start at the back.”
The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 is set to take place on Sunday, May 25 (2:45am AEST on Monday, May 26).
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