Team Penske suspends key personnel ahead of Indianapolis 500

ROGER:

This is Roger Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indie, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans and insiders view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to this week's edition of Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental and Hy-Vee, as we continue our fourth season of giving IndyCar fans a behind-the-scenes look at the NTT IndyCar Series and the drivers and teams that compete in the Indianapolis 500. We want to welcome back our friends from Hy-Vee, who will be sharing the show with Penske Truck Rental this month and again in June in the big build up to the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway, July 12th through July 14th. This year's schedule includes a night race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 13, and another full race scheduled for Sunday, July 14. Four of the biggest names in entertainment will perform before and after each race, including Luke Combs, Eric Church, Kelsey Ballerini, and DePost Malone. For Malone, it will be the first time the famed entertainer has performed in Central Iowa. But first we have some breaking news as IndyCar heads into the month of May at the Indianapolis motor speedway. On Tuesday, May 7th, team Penske owner, Roger Penske announced that president Tim Sendrick, managing director for IndyCar for the team, Ron Rizewski and Joseph Newgarden's engineer, Luke Mason and senior data engineer, Robbie Atkinson have been suspended for the next two races. Those races include Saturday's Sancio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the 108th Indianapolis 500 on May 26th. All four of the key members at Team Penske have been suspended for the ongoing push-to-pass scandal. On April 24, IndyCar officials disqualified Joseph Newgarden's win in the March 10 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for violation of push-to-pass regulations. He became the first IndyCar driver to be disqualified and lose his race win since Al Unser Jr. at Portland International Raceway on June 25, 1995. Unser's car failed CART's two-inch rule during post-race technical inspection, and he was informed of the disqualification about one hour after celebrating the win in Victory Lane. New Garden was disqualified six weeks after driving the victory in the March 10th Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after IndyCar officials discovered the violation in the push-to-pass software that IndyCar believed gave the team an advantage. IndyCar discovered the software issue after the Sunday morning warm-up at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 21st. Also disqualified was third place finisher Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske. Will Power was penalized but not disqualified because he did not utilize the push to pass software against regulations. But the software issue was also in his number 12 Chevrolet. Team Penske completed an internal review. After a full and comprehensive analysis of the information, Team Penske has determined that there were significant failures in the processes and internal communications. As a result, Luke Mason, Robbie Atkinson will be suspended from Team Penske for the next two IndyCar races, including the Indianapolis 500. In addition, Ron Rizewski and Tim Sendrick will also be suspended for two races because they have accountability for all of Team Penske's operations. After making the announcement, team owner Roger Penske said in a quote, 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. 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. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

WILL:

This is Will Power of Team Penske, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

Welcome back to this week's edition of Pit Pass Indy. As you heard at the top of the podcast, team owner Roger Penske took decisive action by sending four key team members to the sidelines ahead of this month's 108th Indianapolis 500. Two of those work for Will Power's team, including Rzuski, his race strategist, and Atkinson, his engineer. Power is the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar Series champion. I contacted Power by Phone shortly after the announcement on Tuesday. He remains confident that despite the setback, his team is still capable of winning another Indianapolis 500, as he tells me on this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. Can I ask you, though, what it's going to be like not having your race strategist?

WILL:

Yeah, obviously that's I'm going to say that's definitely a blow to my timing, Stan, for sure. Ron is a big part of the success I've had. I've got a very strong engineer that's been with me for more than a decade. I think Dave will have to take up that slack. cold the rice is for me.

BRUCE:

So you're talking about David Faustino who's been your engineer for well over a decade.

WILL:

Yes that's right.

BRUCE:

Do you believe that the reason why Ron was one of the ones suspended is because he's overall team management is the same as Tim Sindrick being the president?

WILL:

Yes Ron is the head of the um what's his what's his formal uh managing director indycar yeah he's a yes he he manages the whole of indycar um so yes that's why

BRUCE:

So basically, it was just like oversight. They had oversight over the other three cars, which is why he would get a suspension. It has nothing to do with the fact that even though the software was on your car, you didn't use it. So you weren't really found to be out of the rules.

WILL:

Right. Yes. I obviously never touched the button. Ron oversees the whole of IndyCar. And I still want to say that there was nothing malicious in this mistake. There was nothing malicious in the oversight at all because it was something that went in the software way back when we were just trying to get the hybrid to work. And it was just missed, unfortunately. To me, no one's really guilty of doing anything wrong.

BRUCE:

It's got to be a big blow coming before the biggest race of the year. One that Roger lives for, that he always wants to win. We saw how important it was to him last year to get win number 19, which was his first win since buying the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Can you even begin to describe how difficult a decision this really was for him? Or was it an easy decision in the fact that he wants to maintain integrity?

WILL:

No, I don't know. I have no idea of how they came to that decision. But for me, just focusing forward, the month of May, I have an extremely strong crew. So we have a very strong group, certainly going to miss Ron and Robbie, but Pence gets and you know, I'm gonna say that my group is very strong. I think we can We can I Want to be as nice as I can to Romney to feel bad for him, you know He put all his effort into the Indy and so does this now elevate Kyle Moyer to a position where he's going to basically be in charge of everyone for the month of May I actually don't know the how that's all going to play out, even if it elevates Dave, my engineer, to more of a... He is already the management. I think he manages all the engineers, but maybe that puts him in... He has more to manage this month than what he had before. So I am unsure. I don't know. I don't know the details. I actually don't know any of the details because they just, I'm not sure I know how this is all going to work. All I know is like how are we going to, that we're just going to have to do our best with what we've got.

BRUCE:

Will any of them be allowed to work in the war room or be allowed to communicate with the team by a computer?

WILL:

I doubt it, man. There's no way. Yeah, no. I just cannot see that flying. That wouldn't be a thing. I'm sure people are going to ask that, but I'm going to say that they have to bow out completely. I don't know. I don't know the answer to those questions, Bruce. All I know is what I was told is that I'm not going to have Ron and Robbie, and that's it. That's what I was told. It's no real, like, hey, this guy's gonna fill in to this guy and this guy's gonna fill in. It's just really straight up.

BRUCE:

So you don't know whether, say, whether Myron will fill in or Jonathan Duguid, you know, returns, you know, from the IMSA team.

WILL:

Yeah, I... I don't know the answer to any of those questions. I was just told he's taken off.

BRUCE:

So how do you turn this around To enter the month of May at the Indianapolis motor speedway in an upbeat, positive and confident way to go win the race.

WILL:

Oh, I'm, I'm confident that we're going to be competitive all month, starting at the race this weekend. I'm not worried about the performance of the cars at all. And I'm not worried about anything else. I think we've got such a well oiled machine that I think it will still flow. It will still be fine. I think it will still flow well. We have enough good people. I just think everyone's got to look at the facts of this situation and the facts are that it was just an oversight. That's the facts. We happen to be doing a lot of the hybrid testing and We were trying to get the system to work and that software was put in, put in to help a situation that was, you know, happening way back last year in August. So it's not a, yeah, I just think if you look at the facts, it's not really any major deception or anything like that. It was just a mistake.

BRUCE:

So when you arrive on Thursday, It's just, is it going to be business as usual for willpower and the drivers?

WILL:

Absolutely. It's going to be business as usual for me. Yeah. I'm just focused and you know, I'm telling my guys, let's just head down, look forward. Let's go. We've got good stuff. We've got good equipment. Let's let's make the most of it. Um, I still say that we as a team have a great shot at winning the championship and winning an Indy 500 so and that's with a Chevrolet engine so I think as a partnership you know we've had a lot of success together and I think it think that uh I think we just this this is obviously not the best thing best thing to have happened but I think we'll move forward and um have a lot of success this season so It's one of those things that happened and I think it's got to move forward and I think it'll be forgotten with after a few couple of wins. Championship.

BRUCE:

Yeah, well, the other thing is you enter the weekend one point out of the points lead.

WILL:

So yeah, no man, I'm determined. I'm very determined, so I feeling good feeling really good.

BRUCE:

OK, yeah, well, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, no problem, bro. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

JOSEF:

Hey, everybody, this is Joseph Newgarden, winner of the 107th Indianapolis 500. And you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

Welcome back to this week's Pit Pass Indy. Gavin Ward is the team principal at Arrow McLaren. After the April 28th Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, he met with injured driver David Maloukas to inform him that the team was terminating his contract after missing the first four races of the season. The 22-year-old from Chicago fractured his left wrist in a mountain bike crash on February 11th and remains in a cast with screws and pins in his surgically repaired wrist. Ward joins me on this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview with further information on the decision. And if I could squeeze in this question, I know you had to make the decision last Sunday with David Maloukis and letting him go. How difficult was that from one standpoint, but yet from a business standpoint, you really had to make the decision to move on.

GAVIN:

Yeah. I mean, it was a, it was a terrible situation. Um, uh, I said to David, there's nothing I want more than to bring him in the theme and have him be a big success. Um, definitely not an enjoyable process at all. Still trying to help him as much as possible. Um, to, and I, and I do believe they, he'll get back in a car, um, and I'll race again. But at the end of the day, we do have to, it's been a huge distraction for us, you know, to be when you, when you're trying so hard with so much effort to try and catch the Penske's and Ganassi's of this world who have had to sustain huge investment and stability for so long. Um, you know, we've got, we've got work to do to catch up and it's been just a huge distraction to be finding replacement drivers and looking at, you know, medical reports and not really knowing where we're going to land and dealing with the knockdown effect that has on our partners and our team, you know, it's just such a distraction across the board. Unfortunately, at some point, you've got to look after the well-being of the team. It's difficult decisions, not enjoyable in a lot of ways. But I guess that's part of the gig. And I said that when I took this job, I told the whole team, look, every decision I make here, I'm going to try and make with the best interests of the team at heart, what I think is best for the team. Some of those decisions Maybe right, maybe wrong, maybe like, maybe hate it, but just rest assured that that's my, it's going to be my approach. I will try and make the decision. Difficult or easy, but it seems best interested in art. And I think this is another one. Um, not easy one, definitely.

BRUCE:

And also the way I try to explain to some people, it's if he had gotten injured in the race car during testing or during practice, it would have been different than getting injured outside of the race car on a mountain bike. What was that? Yeah, 100 percent. Yes. That teams, of course, will stand by an injured driver that was injured in a racing accident. But something outside of the car. I don't know enough about contracts, whether that's viewed as risky recreational activity or what. But I do know that some professional athletes do have clauses such as that in their contract to avoid anything risky outside a race car, you know, even snow skiing, water skiing, anything that's got an element of risk to it.

GAVIN:

Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, we're always looking at like, I think it's interesting. Um, and there's different approaches that different teams take on that sort of stuff. At the end of the day, you know, you hire a race car driver to drive your race car and three months into this recovery, still don't have clarity about when David was going to be fighting fit. And at some point. you've got to kind of make a decision. Um, and yeah, there are different, you know, without getting into specifics of contracts, you can either try and cover all scenarios by saying that a driver needs to be available to drive X amount of races, or you can specifically ban certain activities or what have you. And I see a few different approaches out there. And, you know, I think it's been a time for us. We're always looking to learn how we can be better. I think there's There's always opportunities for us to figure out how to build a better race team. And this is one where we definitely look at it like, okay, there's a couple of things we could do better next time. Um, but also there's like some things that are out of your control and it's just been a tremendous unnecessary distraction when our competitors, frankly, don't have that. We already had quite a lot of distraction last year with the pillow situation. Um, so I'd be happy not to be a. involved in scrambling over a driver situation for a little while, to be honest. We've done too much of that in the last six months.

BRUCE:

And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy. We want to thank our guests, Team Penske driver Will Power and Arrow McLaren Team Principal Gavin Ward for joining us on today's podcast. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests helped make Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental and Hy-Vee, your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways, and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. And for all your shopping needs, be sure to visit your local Hy-Vee, where there's a helpful smile in every aisle. Pit Pass Indy is off to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the month of May, culminating with the 108th Indianapolis 500. We'll have much, much more from the Speedway beginning with next week's episode, so be sure to tune in, download, and subscribe to Pit Pass Indy from your favorite podcast platform. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at Twitter at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.

ROGER:

you