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The Indy 500 Josef Newgarden and Will Power champions were affected with a major penalty less than a week before the drop in the green flag for the race.
The Dreske team drivers will be forced to start the back of the field on modified attenuators, the Indycar series announced on Monday. The team’s strategists for the two pilots were suspended for the race.
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Will Power, from Australia, crosses the first turn during the Indianapolis 500 car race training at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (APPO / Michael Conroy)
“The integrity of Indianapolis 500 is essential, and this violation of the Indycar rule against the modification of this part and using it” as supplied “is clear,” said Indycar president, J. Douglas Boles, in a press release. “The penalty should be more than just starting where cars may have qualified anyway, if they have the opportunity. The cars belong to the land as two of the fastest 33; however, starting the tail of the terrain is the appropriate penalty in this case.”
Indycar said Newgarden and Power will lose qualification points and have been fined $ 100,000.
“The positive momentum around the NTT Indycar series and the Indianapolis 500 has been on a steep crescendo in recent months, and we want it to be clear that our intention is to maintain this momentum and to discourage the teams from putting Indycar in positions where it calls for the integrity of the opportunity of the officer and the level of the playground,” added Bols.
Will Power, on the left and Josef Newgarden were moved to the back of the pack. (AP)
Robert Shwartzman, the recruit pilot Indy 500, celebrates the historic victory
“While we look at the rest of the week and the race this weekend, we will do everything possible to clearly indicate that it is not only the best race on the planet, but the race where the best victory in completely equitable conditions.”
Indycar said that an illegal filling had been found in the seams of the attenuator, according to Fox Sports.
The president of the Penske team, Tim Cindric, said on Sunday that the modification had been made to make the vehicles elegant and not give it an advantage.
“In our eyes, it is not a performance advantage but in the end, if they do not like the full seam, they do not like the seam to be filled,” said Cindric via Fox Sports. “You have to do what the inspection process is and conform to it.”
Newgarden won Indy 500 in 2023 and 2024. Power won the race in 2018.
Each pilot will now have to make superb races to go ahead and perhaps win the race.
The Indy 500 will be broadcast on May 25 on Fox with pre-coverage from 10 a.m. he. It will also be available to broadcast live on Foxsports.com and the Fox Sports application.
