INDYCAR has penalized a pair of Team Penske cars for the 2025 Indianapolis 500 due to rule violations, the sanctioning body announced May 19.
The NTT IndyCar Series entries of Josef Newgarden and Will Power will start in 32nd and 33rd, respectively for the race this weekend after the technical violation.
Additionally, the team strategists for both teams (the Nos. 2 and 12) are suspended for the remainder of the Indy 500, the cars have lost their qualification points and have been fined $100,000 each.
The penalties come after series officials found modified attenuators on the cars amid qualifying weekend for the event, prior to Sunday’s (May 18) top 12 session.
“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,” series president J. Douglas Boles said in a release. “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.”
The team’s third entry, Scott McLaughlin‘s No. 3, was not found to be in violation.
“We accept the penalties issued today by the INDYCAR Series which are due to a body fit violation that occurred prior to the qualifying session yesterday,” a Penske spokesperson said later on May 19. “We are disappointed by the results and the impact it has on our organization. We will make further announcements later this week related to personnel for the upcoming Indianapolis 500.”
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.