Penske won’t have a shot at the Indy 500 pole after inspection issue

Team Penske had three shots at the Indianapolis 500 pole going into Sunday, but now they will have none. Scott McLaughlin crashed in morning practice, destroying his primary car in the process. But the issue for his two teammates is far more surprising.

Eyebrows began to raise as Josef Newgarden and Will Power had their No. 2 and No. 12 Penske Chevrolets pushed from the pit lane abruptly just as Fast 12 qualifying was set to begin. Power or Newgarden did not take any further part in Sunday qualifying, denying them a shot at the Indy 500 pole.

What was the issue?

As for what actually happened, some clarification soon followed.

“There was a body fit violation on the rear attenuator,” explained IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch. “As quick as this process happens, we ran them through tech, we got everybody in line and then prior to qualifying, they decided that they would just pull out of line.”

Team Penske president Tim Cindric then spoke with IndyCar on FOX, giving more details about what transpired from their perspective.

“Essentially, the #12 [Power] car passed inspection, and as the #2 [Newgarden] car went through inspection, it was pointed out that the official didn’t like what you saw on television there. There was a blending there on the attenuator and we decided, let’s go look at that (on the #12) and it was the same way so there was no reason to run the #12 car knowing it was like the #2 car.

“In fact, I went back and looked at the #3 [McLaughlin] car from this morning and it didn’t have that, so there was a bit of a randomness there internally that we need to sort out. Just a shame that we didn’t give our guys a chance to go for it.”

Cindric went on to explain that it was their understanding that they could fix those issues in the pit lane, but competitor’s took issue with that and it was decided that it was outside the scope of what teams are allowed to do.

As a result of these inspection issues and McLaughlin’s earlier crash, all three Penske drivers will share Row 4 on the starting grid. Using their Saturday times, McLaughlin will start 10th, Newgarden 11th, and Power 12th for 109th running of IndyCar’s crown jewel event.

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