'We let people down': Roger Penske on Indianapolis 500, IndyCar rules violations
Roger Penske, the owner of IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Team Penske, spoke about his team's rules violations prior to the Fast 12 on Sunday of Indy 500 qualifying.
Penske spoke with Fox reporter Jamie Little while at IMS on Wednesday, hours after he fired Team Penske president Tim Cindric and two other executives. The interview was conducted just days after the tech inspection violations for Josef Newgarden and Will Power's cars.
Here is what Penske had to say:
Roger Penske on rules violations during Indy 500 qualifying
Penske said he was disappointed with the outcome Sunday.
"I really have to go back four and a half years ago when we bought the speedway and I said, 'No. 1, that I would invest capital, I would get the best people and we take the series ... to higher levels,'" Penske said. "I think we've done that."
Then Penske asked, "What about Team Penske?"
"When I think about Team Penske, we've really had an organizational failure two times," Penske said, including the push to pass violation in the 2024 season opener. "Not once but two times. Believe me, it hurts me in my gut when you think about it. But I look at it this way. There's a certain amount of credibility you have to have. It's integrity, individually and collectively, our team, the sport, and I think we let people down. I made some management changes we announced today and I think we'll move on. Our goal is to win the race this coming weekend."
In the wake of the violations, Penske fired team president Tim Cindric, who had more than a 25-year tenure with the organization, managing director Ron Ruzewski and general manager Kyle Moyer — the strategists on the team's Nos. 2, 12 and 3 IndyCar entries of Newgarden, Power and Scott McLaughlin, whose car was found in compliance but a crash Sunday meant he couldn't make qualifying runs and will start 10th.
Roger Penske on potential conflict of interests
Little asked Penske about a potential conflict of interest for owning IndyCar and IMS and competing in the series with three teams.
"I've heard the word used, optics," Penske said. "I would say this: As I look at my response to this and what my MO has been over the last four and a half years, I've not been on a pit box, I've not been in race control, I'm not in inspection and I have nothing to do with officiating, and especially the rules. No. 1, I can look myself in the mirror and say, 'I've done the right thing.'"
However, Penske said his team has "obviously, we have not done a good job in the optics for people outside this."
"These two violations, you would call them, certainly show the fact that I need to be more diligent and where we're going as a team," Penske said. "Certainly, I would challenge if we go back and look at what we've tried to accomplish and what we have we've made a lot of progress. But I think this independencecy is very important as we go forward for the credibility of the series, the teams and everyone else, the fans, that follow IndyCar."
Roger Penske on a possible independent officiating body for IndyCar
Penske said talks have been underway about a possible independent officiating body for the IndyCar Series.
"For probably the last six months, we've talked internally, as IndyCar, Mark Miles, and now of course Doug Boles, and some outside input on how we could become more independent from the operational side of the racing, inspection, race control, etc," Penske said. "We certainly expect, and I would expect that the team at IndyCar ... will take a look at that and take some action as we move forward."
Roger Penske on more penalties for Team Penske cars
Little said some people want to see more penalties for Team Penske, which include not having Newgarden and Power compete on Sunday.
"I don't agree," Penske said. "No. 1, those cars went through inspection on Saturday, got the sticker, they performed in the top 12 and were available to run on Sunday," Penske said. "From that point on, there was a question about our cars on Sunday. We actually pulled the cars and did not make a run because of the question from the officials. But as far as I'm concerned, they earned the right to be in the 109th running of the Indy 500."
Roger Penske on Josef Newgarden's 2024 Indy 500 winning car
Little asked about Newgarden's 2024 Indy 500 winning car, which has the same modified attenuator that Team Penske failed its tech with.
"We had nine attenuators that were modified by Dallara back at the beginning of 2024," Penske said. "Those had been rotated through the cars over the last 15 months. We also had newer ones that we bought and those had been in the same batch. That's why you see that McLaughlin didn't have an issue with his car."
Penske said Newgarden's 2024 car was taken apart "piece by piece, in detail, following the race."
"It was said to be completely legal for the win," Penske said.
Roger Penske on moving forward after rules violations
Penske said he had a call with all of the team owners.
"People have come to me and said, 'You're supposed to be a leader of this sport and here you have these two situations,’” Penske said. "I think the integrity of the sport, I didn't help it any. From my perspective, what I have to do ... I've got to take the role on, along with the Penske Entertainment leadership, and gain back that credibility. I know the speedway here, this weekend, is a world-class event, the best racing event in the world. And the last thing I want to do is tarnish it with any kind of issues from the standpoint of any inspection or any rules violations. My thinking is we've got to make it better. I have to help do that in a way that I'm not affecting anything beneficial for our team."
Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the three fired were strategists.