Roger Penske summons IndyCar team owners for impromptu meeting

Various members of the paddock have questioned the integrity of Team Penske after IndyCar officials stripped Josef Newgarden of his victory in the season-opening round for illegal use of the push-to-pass system, while Scott McLaughlin was also disqualified from his third-place finish for similar infractions.

The revised classification, with Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward promoted to victory, was not released until 45 days after the event. It followed the discovery by officials of the issue during the warm-up session ahead of the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

It was revealed the issue was due to a software coding change during hybrid testing that was not removed when the 2024 season began.

The 30-minute meeting outside featured all the team owners, with the lone exceptions of Arrow McLaren, who had Team Principal Gavin Ward present as McLaren CEO Zak Brown is in Monaco attending the Formula E round.

Uniquely, Team Penske President Tim Cindric, who handles the majority of the organisation’s duties as Roger Penske is the owner of the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, did not attend.

Michael Andretti stated the meeting “went well” but did not appear to learn much from it.

“No, not necessarily learned a lot,” the Andretti Global boss said. “Just good talking session among everybody.”

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet with team owner Roger Penske

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet with team owner Roger Penske

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

When approached about the meeting, Chip Ganassi smiled and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”.

Ed Carpenter was the last to leave and shed the most light on the subject.

“It was a private conversation that I think we all appreciated and getting on with this weekend and season,” Carpenter said.

When asked if any of it was positive based on the recent controversy, Carpenter replied: “I mean, it’s obvious what we were talking about in there, but what we talked about in there, from my standpoint, it’s going to remain in there.

“Sorry, can’t give you more.”

Penske driver McLaughlin secured pole for Sunday’s race ahead of team-mate Will Power.

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