The Team Penske PR team is in damage control mode after two of its cars were disqualified from the Indy 500 for technical infractions.
After a turbulent few days, team owner Roger Penske has stepped up and addressed the situation in a newly released interview.
Roger Penske Addresses IndyCar Cheating Controversy
Penske, who owns IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Team Penske, commented on his team’s recent rule breaches ahead of Sunday’s Fast 12 qualifying.
At IMS on Wednesday, the 88-year-old billionaire spoke with Fox’s Jamie Little just hours after a sweeping shake-up at Team Penske. President Tim Cindric, two other execs, and three strategists were shown the door shortly before Penske sat down for the interview.
EXCLUSIVE: Roger Penske, Chairman of Penske Corp, sits down with Jamie Little to address the Indy 500 qualifying rules violations that led to the dismissal of three Team Penske employees. pic.twitter.com/AyybePid10
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“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 told Little. “I think we’ve done that.
“When I think about Team Penske, we’ve really had an organizational failure two times,” Penske pointed to the push-to-pass issue from the opening race of the 2024 season. “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.”
Team Penske Goes Through Administrative Reshuffle
Amid the fallout from the rule violations, Penske fired longtime president Cindric, who had served the organization for over 25 years. Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and General Manager Kyle Moyer were also relieved of their responsibilities.
The trio served as strategists for Team Penske’s Nos. 2, 12, and 3 IndyCar entries driven by Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin. While McLaughlin’s car was found to be compliant, a crash on Sunday prevented him from making qualifying runs, leaving him to start 10th.
Penske Addresses Alleged Conflict of Interest Concerns
Little raised concerns with Penske regarding a potential conflict of interest due to his ownership of IndyCar, IMS, and multiple teams competing in the series.
“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.
“I can look myself in the mirror and say, ‘I’ve done the right thing.’”
However, Penske admitted that his team hasn’t done a good job managing how this looks to people outside the organization.
“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.”