Roger Penske Tells FOX Sports About Indianapolis 500 Scandal

INDIANAPOLIS – In an exclusive interview with FOX Sports on Wednesday, May 21, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Team Penske owner Roger Penske discussed the latest scandal to hit his racing team from infractions in Indianapolis 500 qualifications on Sunday.

The penalties that were assessed by IndyCar that sent two-time and back-to-back Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden and 2018 Indy winner Will Power to the back of the field were not enough. On Wednesday morning, Penske dismissed Team Penske IndyCar President Tim Cindric, Team Penske IndyCar Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and Team Penske IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer effective immediately.
The interview airs exclusively on FOX Sports Social Media and was conducted by longtime FOX Sports reporter Jamie Little at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I just had a call with all the team owners to go through the process, through my thinking about what action I’ve taken, because 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 told FOX Sports. “I think the integrity of the sport; I didn’t help it any.

“From my perspective, what I have to do, and I told this to the team owners, I’ve got to take the role on along with the Penske Entertainment leadership and gain back that credibility because I know this is the Speedway here this weekend.

“It’s 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 got to make it better. I have to help do that in a way that I’m not affecting anything beneficial for our team.”

Penske continued to say how much effort has been made to bring the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indy 500 and IndyCar back to worldwide prominence.

Now, it has to overcome the latest scandal.

“Well Jamie, I would say that I’m totally disappointed with the outcome, certainly on Sunday,” Penske said in the interview. “I really have to go back four-and-a-half years ago when we bought the Speedway and I said number one that I would invest capital, I get the best people, and we take the series, IMSP (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions) and certainly in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to higher levels. I think we’ve done that.

“Then I look at my right hand and say what about Team Penske? And when I think about Team Penske, we really have had an organization failure two times, not once, but two times. And believe me, it hurts me in my gut when you think about it.

“But I look at it this way, that there’s a certain amount of credibility you have to have. It’s integrity, individually and collectively, our team, the sport.

“I think we let people down. I’ve made some management changes we announced today. I think we’ll move on. And our goal is to win the race this coming weekend.”

Little asked Penske if owning the series and the IndyCar Series team that competes in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a conflict of interest?

“I’ve heard the word used optics,” Penske said. “I would say this that as I look at my response to that 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 an inspection. I have nothing to do with officiating and especially the rules.

“So, number one, I can look myself in the mirror and say, I’ve done the right thing.

“Obviously, we have not done a good job in the optics for people outside this, and these two violations, you would call them, certainly show the fact that I need to be more diligent on where we’re going as a team.

“And certainly, I would challenge if we go back and look at what we’ve tried to accomplish and what we have, we made a lot of progress.

“But I think this independence is very important as we go forward for the credibility of the series, the teams, and everyone else the fans that follow IndyCar.”

Penske owns IndyCar, the sanctioning body of the series, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. He also owns Team Penske, the most successful team in Indy 500 and IndyCar history.

He was not involved in the decision to heavily penalize Newgarden’s and Power’s teams after IndyCar technical inspection discovered modifications to the rear attenuator on both cars.

Little asked Penske if he would be open to an independent officiating body to govern the IndyCar Series.

“Well, It’s amazing that you’d ask that question,” Penske responded. “For probably the last six months, we’ve talked internally as IndyCar, Mark Miles (Penske Entertainment President), and now, of course, Doug Boles (IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President), and some outside input on how we could become more independent from the operational side of the racing inspection, race control, etc. I would expect that the team at IndyCar and will take a look at that and we’ll make take some action as we go forward.”

Some fans and critics have advocated that both cars should not be allowed to compete in Sunday’s 109^th Indianapolis 500.

Penske gave a stern response.

“Well, 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.

“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 109^th Running of the Indianapolis 500.”

Little asked about the photos circulating showing Newgarden’s winning car from 2024 had the same modifications to the rear attenuator that led to the severe penalties this year.

When asked if that were true, Penske said, “I would say yes. I would say we had nine attenuators that were modified by Dallara back at the beginning of 2024 and those have been rotated through the cars over the last 15 months. We also had newer ones that we bought and those have been in the same batch and that’s why you see that Scott McLaughlin didn’t have an issue with his car.

“From my perspective when you think about the attenuators and what happened there my question to you is what would we do we know that the situation was not right from the standpoint from the officials on Sunday?

“But when I go back to night to 2024, that car was taken apart piece by piece in detail following the race, and it was said to be completely legal for the win.”

This year’s Indianapolis 500 has a complete grandstand sellout for the first time since the 100^th Indianapolis 500 in 2016. More than 350,000 fans are expected for Sunday’s race.

“Well, it was it was sort of a journey back five years ago when I got a call from Tony George to talk about the future, not knowing that he was going to talk about possibly selling the assets of the Speedway, the series, and IMSP,” Penske recalled. “It didn’t take me 2 seconds to say, ‘I’m interested.’

“I put my hand up. I’m interested.

“But to step back and see the progress that we’ve been able to make over the last four years and more importantly, it’s not me. it’s the people we call it the human capital made so much difference here at the Speedway.

“The people have joined us at IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hit the ball out of the park.

“We’re going to have one of the greatest races we’ve ever had here. We’ve been sold out here now for a few days.

“But more importantly, it’s Memorial Day, where we celebrate the men and women who defend our country, along with the first responders, to make it safe and secure.

“When that flyover goes by and you see those planes, I’ll be the proudest guy in the stands.”