In the wake of a cheating scandal that has shaken IndyCar ahead of the Indianapolis 500, Roger Penske has decided to suspend Team Penske President, Tim Cindric, among others, for their involvement.
Cindric, the father of NASCAR’s Austin Cindric, wheelman of the No. 2 Ford for Team Penske, obviously plays a prominent role in the team’s operations. While Roger Penske found the team had “malicious intent by anyone,” he still made the decision to suspend four key members.
“Roger Penske on Tuesday said he has suspended the president of Team Penske along with three others for two races for their roles in the cheating scandal that has rocked IndyCar ahead of the Indianapolis 500,” Jenna Fryer of the AP wrote. “Penske said in an interview with The Associated Press that a review done by his general counsel found that the team had no “malicious intent by anyone” and chalked up the incident as a breakdown in internal processes and miscommunication.
“He also said he remains committed to reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and is actively trying to sign the two-time IndyCar champion to a contract extension.”
The suspensions stem from, “illegal software system installed that allowed the drivers to use the push-to-pass function on starts and restarts. The system is controlled by IndyCar and disabled on starts and restarts, when the extra boost of horsepower is illegal,” Fryer noted.
Moreover, Team Penske and Roger Penske released a statement on the matter as a whole, where Team Penske explained the magnitude of the suspensions taking place.
“Following the penalties to the Team Penske INDYCAR team and drivers after Long Beach, Team Penske has completed an internal review. After a full and comprehensive analysis of the information, Team Penske has determined that there were significant failures in our processes and internal communications,” the statement from Team Penske read. “As a result, Luke Mason (No. 2 Race Engineer) and Robbie Atkinson (Senior Data Engineer) will be suspended from Team Penske for the next two INDYCAR races including the Indianapolis 500
” n addition, Ron Ruzewski (Managing Director, Team Penske INDYCAR) will also be suspended for these two races, along with Tim Cindric (President of Team Penske), who has accountability for all of Team Penske’s operations.”
Continuing, Roger Penske’s statement was one of apologies, letting the IndyCar family know how sorry he is for the bad look his team is currently going through.
“I recognize the magnitude of what occurred and the impact it continues to have on the sport to which I’ve dedicated so many decades,” Roger Penske’s statement read. “Everyone at Team Penske along with our fans and business partners should know that I apologize for the errors that were made and I deeply regret them.”
Alas, it’s going to hurt Roger Penske and Team Penske as a whole to suspend Tim Cindric and others for the two races they’ll now have to miss, including the Indianapolis 500. We’ll see what affect it has on their team over that timeframe.
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