After the brand was engulfed in a cheating scandal over the weekend, Roger Penske has fired the entire leadership group at Team Penske just five days before the Indy 500.
On Wednesday afternoon, The Athletic reported that team president Tim Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski, and general manager Kyle Moyer were given their walking papers by the same man who owns the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Roger Penske.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams. We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners, and our organization for letting them down,” Penske said in a statement.
Just before pole position qualifying on Sunday, the cars driven by Newgarden and Will Power were pulled out of line. After they failed technical inspections. It was eventually revealed that an area on the rear of both cars had a gap filled with a material that smoothed an uneven surface. Teams in IndyCar must have identical specs. The mystery substance made both vehicles illegal.
However, after it looked like the team would be hit with minor penalties, photos began to circulate of the Penske cars modification. And evidence of the same technique being used several other times, dating back to last year. Several IndyCar reporters visited the speedway’s museum, where Newgarden’s winning car from last year is on display. They found that the same illegal modification was on that car as well.
The situation created a groundswell in and around the Indy 500 that a harsh penalty needed to be levied. That finally came with the Team Penske boss ousting his top lieutenants. Nevertheless, Newgarden will still be eligible to win a record third-straight Indianapolis 500 this weekend.
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