INDIANAPOLIS -- Two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and Team Penske teammate Will Power will have to start from the final two spots on the grid Sunday after their teams were penalized for violating the rules during qualifying weekend.
IndyCar also announced Monday that the team strategists for the Nos. 2 and 12 have been suspended for the race; the cars will forfeit their qualification points and pit box selections; and each of the entries has been fined $100,000.
The trouble began before the fast 12 shootout Sunday when rival team owner Chip Ganassi was among a chorus of competitors who accused Team Penske of cheating. They noticed unapproved changes had been made to the rear attenuator, a safety device designed to absorb and deduce the force of impacts, and the assumption was the modifications would have given the two Team Penske cars an aerodynamic advantage in their four-lap qualifying runs.
Tim Cindric, president of Penske's IndyCar program, said Power passed inspection but officials flagged Newgarden's car. He also said the modification was not on the car of Scott McLaughlin, who had crashed in practice ahead of fast 12 qualifying.
Newgarden and Power had their cars pulled from the qualifying lineup, effectively ending their chances at the pole.
IndyCar president J. Douglas Boles initially said Newgarden and Power would join McLaughlin in starting on the fourth row of the race. But after the series gathered more facts overnight, Newgarden and Power were penalized to the rear of the field.
McLaughlin will keep the 10th starting spot because his wrecked car was found to have used a legal attenuator.
"The integrity of the Indianapolis 500 is paramount, and this violation of the IndyCar rule against modification to this part and using it 'as supplied' is clear," Boles said. "The penalty should be more than simply starting where the cars might have qualified anyway, if given the opportunity. The cars belong in the field as two of the fastest 33, however, starting on the tail of the field is the appropriate penalty in this instance."
