INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Team Penske is in hot water for violating NTT INDYCAR SERIES rules regarding push-to-pass and Josef Newgarden has been stripped of his win in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.

Team Penske was in violation of the following “Push to Pass” parameters:

• Rule 14.19.15. An indicator to enable Push to Pass will be sent via CAN communication from the timing and scoring beacon on board the Car to the team data logger. This signal must be passed on to the ECU unmodified and uninterrupted during all Road and Street Course Events.
• Rule 14.19.16. Race Starts and any Race Restart that occurs before the lap prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes remaining in a timed Race Event will have the Push to Pass system disabled and will be enabled for a given Car once that Car reaches the alternate Start/Finish line.

The issue came to light at this past weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach when INDYCAR officials discovered the possible violation during the morning warmup.  The Series made sure the advantage that was discovered could not be implemented during Sunday’s race.

The series then began an extensive review of data from the St. Petersburg race, which revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line.

It was determined that Newgarden’s No. 2 and the No. 3 of Scott McLaughlin gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 of Will Power did not.  McLaughlin was stripped of his third-place finish and Power was docked 10-Championship points.  All three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.

The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” said INDYCAR President Jay Frye. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation.”

Team Penske issued a statement where President Tim Cindric blamed the violation on software that was not removed following a test session.

“Unfortunately, the push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars. This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted. The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated INDYCAR rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by INDYCAR.”

Newgarden’s disqualification handed the victory to Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward elevated PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon to the top of the Championship standings.

LONG BEACH, CA (April 21, 2024) Scott Dixon put on a Masterclass in winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Dixon started eighth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and used a combination of strategy and race craft to get the lead and hold off hard chargers Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and reigning and two-time series Champion Alex Palou.

“That was fun,” said a smiling Dixon about his second Long Beach win. “I think it was definitely a bit sketchy in the fact that the pressure is coming hard and strong. Huge credit to the team. A big weekend for Honda, Acura, HRC. I think we had almost 200 PNC guests this weekend here.”

Dixon and race leader Will Power pitted during a caution period triggered when Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen hit the wall on Lap 15.  That handed the race lead to series points leader Josef Newgarden who was followed by Marcus Ericsson, Herta, and Palou as the different strategies began to play out.

Newgarden and the drivers who elected to stay out started to hit the pits on lap 30 with Herta stretching it to lap 33.  Meanwhile Dixon, Power and those who pitted earlier cycled to the front of the field before making their second and final pit stops on laps 52-53, handing the lead back to Newgarden, Herta and Palou.

The differing strategies converged after Newgarden and the rest pitted for the final time between laps 58-62.  Newgarden came out of the pits in second, trailing Dixon by about three seconds with seven-lap fresher tires.

Newgarden was able to cut into Dixon’s lead but the six-time series Champion used an expert combination of push-to-pass and fuel saving to stay out front.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Dixon. “I think what you kind of hope for in the long run is that you get some caution laps again, which would have made it a lot easier for us. Again, the pace was pretty solid, man. We didn’t really have to push crazy amounts. It saved the tires as well. The car had plenty of pace left at the end.”

Newgarden got to Dixon’s gearbox in the hairpin turn that leads onto the frontstretch on Lap 77 but Herta made contact with the No. 2 Chevy, lifting the rear wheels off the ground sending the car into anti-stall mode.

“It seemed pretty obvious,” said Newgarden, who lost two-spots in the process. “He just misjudged it and ran into me. I’m not saying we were going to get Dixon. It was very, very difficult for me to get the run I needed to. I think traffic was going to provide me an opportunity, so that run right there, I was really excited about it.”

“I think he (Newgarden) set up pretty wide and was cutting back in and was a little slower at apex, but ultimately it’s up to me to carry the right speed into the corner and not run into the back of people, and I just misjudged it,” explained Herta.

Dixon took advantage of the extra breathing room to lock down his 57th career win, which is ten shy of A.J. Foyt’s series leading 67-victories.

“It’s one of those things that I always say hopefully when you leave the sport, you’re happy with the stats,” said Dixon. “Of course, these are big stats. This is a big deal. We’re still a long way away from that.”

The victory was Dixon’s fourth in the last six points-paying INDYCAR Series races dating back to last year.

“It’s great to win early in the season,” said Dixon. “It’s huge. It’s big for the team, big for everybody’s morale. Hopefully that stuff carries to the marquee event coming up here shortly in the 500. But right now the focus is Barber next week.”

The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on Sunday, April 28 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Live coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

LONG BEACH, CA (April 20, 2024) Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Rosenqvist’s fast lap of 1:06.1672 (107.317 mph) around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street course in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda was .0039 of a second quicker than Team Penske’s Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I had it because I had a big tank-slapper out of (Turn) 5,” said Rosenqvist.  “This is a hard-fought one. It doesn’t come easy. Every lap out there, you’re flirting with the walls. That was a fun one.”

“Obviously, it’s a bit (tough) when you miss out by that much, but Felix must have done a phenomenal lap,” said Power. “I couldn’t pick anywhere where I made a mistake. It was about as good as I can do.”

This is the third front-row start for Rosenqvist in 2024, who started second at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding and started first in the non-points-paying $1-million-dollar Thermal Club Challenge last month.

Power’s teammate and series points-leader Josef Newgarden will start third in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet after a quick lap of 1:06.1059 (107.173).  Joining Newgarden on the second row is California native Colton Herta, who qualified fourth at 1:06.3784 (106.734) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global.

Herta’s Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson qualified fifth at 1:06.4039 in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda. Reigning and two-time series champion Alex Palou will start sixth at 1:06.5444 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon will start eighth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda after being eliminated in the second round of knockout-style qualifying.  Marcus Armstrong will start ninth in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda.  Rookies Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson will start 17th and 26th respectively.

It was a mystifying qualifying session for the Arrow McClaren Chevrolets, who were in both practice sessions leading up to qualifying. Alexander Ross was eliminated in the first round of qualifying and will start 13th on the grid in the No. 7 Chevrolet and Pato O’Ward, who led Friday practice, will start 14th in the No. 5 Chevrolet.  Newcomer Theo Pourchaire will start 22nd in the No. 6 Chevrolet.

Long Beach Qualifying