3 times Roger Penske's IndyCar attracted controversy

Former racing driver turned IndyCar owner/businessman (alongside Team Penske and IMS), Roger Penske, is a huge name in American motorsports. He has been running IndyCar since 2019 (bought the sport from the Hulman Family), and while the sport has witnessed decent growth in terms of fan engagement, his tenure as the boss has also been tainted by a few controversies.

In line with this, here are some of the controversies that have taken place in Roger Penske's IndyCar over the years:

#3 Roger Penske-led Team Penske's 2024 push-to-pass controversy

First up on this list is the 2024 controversy surrounding Josef Newgarden and the Team Penske outfit, which is also owned by the IndyCar boss, Roger Penske. In that year's season-opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Newgarden was initially declared as the winner as he crossed the checkered flag in first place.

However, exactly 48 hours later, it came to light that Newgarden's car was illegal because of a push-to-pass (system that gives extra boost to help in overtaking) violation.

The system is supposed to be disabled during race starts (resulting from a coding change during hybrid testing that was not removed when the 2024 season began), which Team Penske failed to do during the St. Pete race. As a consequence, the two-time IndyCar champion was stripped of the win, and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward was declared the winner by the Roger Penske-led IndyCar organization.

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#2 Josef Newgarden pipping Marcus Ericsson for 2023 Indy 500 win

In the 2023 season of the Indy 500, Marcus Ericsson was leading the race when the Roger Penske-led IndyCar decided to throw out the red flag after running the race under caution (yellow flags) for three laps following a crash.

Moreover, by the time it came to the last lap, the race was given the green light (after the clean-up of the debris) for a last-lap dash (Ericsson wanted the race to end under yellows), which ultimately benefited Josef Newgarden (who won the 200-lap race at IMS) and the Penske outfit. This did not sit well with Ericsson and many of the other esteemed personalities of the sport, as with Roger Penske also being the owner of Penske. Back then, several conspiracy theories made the rounds on the web in regard to the race being rigged to benefit Penske's team.

Had the 200-lap race ended under yellows, Ericsson would have won the Indy 500 back-to-back because of his triumph in 2022.

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#1 2025 Team Penske violation of Rule 14.7.8.16

The final controversy is that from the 2025 IndyCar season, which also took place at the Indy 500. Ahead of the final round of qualifying (Top 12) for the race, the #2 and #12 cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power (Team Penske) were found in violation of Rule 14.7.8.16 relating to the discovery of modified attenuators.

The two cars of Newgarden and Power were ultimately not allowed to take part in the session and were bumped to the last row for the 200-lap race (32nd and 33rd position) with a fine imposed on the two Penske entries as well. In light of the whole fiasco, Team Penske announced the departure of its President, Tim Cindric, along with some other key personnel.