Power and Newgarden penalized and will start at the back of the Indy 500 grid
A blow to Team Penske, which failed scrutineering in qualifying, resulted in a severe punishment. Palou leads the penultimate free practice session.
The technical infraction of two of Penske’s cars in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 continues to be a concern. IndyCar announced this Monday, before the penultimate free practice session, that the cars of Newgarden (winner of the last two editions) and Power have been penalized and will occupy the last places on the starting grid for next Sunday’s race after failing technical inspections during qualifying.
It’s worth remembering that McLaughlin, the 2024 polesitter and Roger Penske’s third car, also missed qualifying after suffering a severe crash in Sunday’s free practice prior to the Fast-12. He started from 10th, gaining two positions from Newgarden and Power. His teammates, meanwhile, were struggling with attenuator problems and were unable to compete for pole.
After the session, Pato O’Ward was already asking for a more severe penalty, which came on Monday afternoon. The McLaren driver had this his say about the Penske team’s irregularity. “They weren’t accidentally doing it, because they had a blowtorch right there in order to get it out,” O’Ward said. “Honestly, I feel for Jacob Abel and for everybody that did the Last Chance Shootout. Because (the Team Penske cars) weren’t in regulation.the third-place finisher on the grid stated forcefully.“I’m not an engineer, so I can’t tell you what they were doing or how much speed that’s (worth) or if it is any speed. But obviously, it’s not in regulations. The rule is pretty black and white.”
And after a few hours of deliberation, IndyCar issued a statement: “The Nos. 2 (Newgarden) and 12 (Power) entries of Team Penske have been penalized for violating Rule 14.7.8.16 related to the discovery of modified attenuators. The cars will be moved to the 32nd and 33rd starting positions for this year’s Indianapolis 500.”
But the blow to the Penske team involved goes further. The team strategists for the No. 2 and No. 12 cars are suspended for the remainder of the Indianapolis 500, both cars will lose their Indianapolis 500 qualifying points, lose their pit positions, and will choose their pit stops after the rest of the field has had a chance to adjust accordingly. “Additionally, INDYCAR is suspending the team strategists for the Nos. 2 and 12 for the remainder of the event. Both cars will forfeit their qualification points and each entry has been fined $100,000,” NTT Indycar Series posted on X.
Statement from INDYCAR president J. Douglas Boles: pic.twitter.com/oCp9nnCY7H
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 19, 2025
Meanwhile, the penultimate free practice session for the Indianapolis 500 took place on Monday afternoon. After qualifying, the cars returned to their race configuration, with lower top speeds. During the two hours of practice, the fastest was Alex Palou, with a time of 226.765 mph. Behind him were two legends of the oval: Helio Castroneves and Takuma Sato. The final practice session (CarbDay) takes place on Friday, with the goal of getting everything ready for Sunday’s race.
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