Al Unser Jr. Doesn't Believe Team Penske Was Actively Cheating
Al Unser Jr. doesn’t believe Team Penske was actively cheating
Source: JEFF KOWALSKY / Getty
Last Wednesday, IndyCar issued penalties to Team Penske for violating the “Push to Pass” parameters in the NTT IndyCar Series season opener at St. Petersburg.
Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified from the race and Will Power was issues a ten-point penalty. Newgarden won the race, but with his disqualification, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward picked up his first win of the season.
The rules that IndyCar announced that Team Penske violated were:
- Rule 14.19.15. An indicator to enable Push to Pass will be sent via CAN communication from the timing and scoring beacon on board the Car to the team data logger. This signal must be passed on to the ECU unmodified and uninterrupted during all Road and Street Course Events.
- Rule 14.19.16. Race Starts and any Race Restart that occurs before the lap prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes remaining in a timed Race Event will have the Push to Pass system disabled and will be enabled for a given Car once that Car reaches the alternate Start/Finish line.
IndyCar first noticed the violation during a warmup session ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 21. It lead to further examination from the series. In the IndyCar’s press release, it stated:
“An extensive review of data from the race on the Streets of St. Petersburg revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line.”
Finally, Newgarden and McLaughlin were fined $25,000 and had to forfeit all prize money associated with the race because they utilized the Push to Pass.
A driver that is very familiar with the series, Roger Penske, and the way the team operates is Al Unser Jr. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner joined Query & Company Tuesday afternoon and gave his viewpoint on the situation.
To listen to Jake Query and Jimmy Cook’s conversation with Al Unser Jr., download the podcast containing the conversation below! You can always listen to the Query & Company from 12pm-3pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan. You can also watch and interact with the show by going to the 107.5 The Fan YouTube Channel.
