IndyCar president breaks silence on Team Penske's Indy 500 technical fiasco

IndyCar President Doug Boles spoke after the 2025 Indy 500 qualifying and detailed the reason why the #2 and #12 Team Penske cars were forced to withdraw from the Top 12 qualifying session. Doug Boles revealed the technical rules that were broken and how the tech team was able to detect the technical fiasco.

Josef Newgarden and Will Power’s Chevrolets were withdrawn from the Top 12 qualifying session at the 109th running of the Indy 500. Will Power’s #12 Chevrolet passed the technical inspection before making it to the IndyCar pitlane, but the attenuator on the car caught the eye of the officials.

It was a few moments later that the technical team noticed a similar change of Josef Newgarden's attenuator that they went deeper into the inspection and found out that it wasn't in line with the regulations. Team Penske were then informed about the same, revealing that their cars were out of the regulations.

The team was given the choice to run the sessions, but that the cars would later be taken to detailed inspection, and if found out of line, would be sent to the back of the grid. Tim Cindric and Co. decided to withdraw from the Top 12 session, and start on the fourth row rather than risking it.

IndyCar and IMS President Doug Boles spoke about the same after the qualifying session.

“Rocket Kevin Blanch (leader of tech team) was 95% sure that we had a rule that said, you cannot modify the attenuator. We do have a rural rule 14.7.8.16, which actually tells you which parts in the car you can modify, which body parts you can modify. The second part of that rule says that if it's not listed here, you cannot modify. So the attenuator falls under that rule,” said Doug Boles.

“As Rocket is on pit lane, he did say to Kyle Moyer at that point, 'look, you've, already presented. You are here. You've got two options. The first option is you can go ahead and qualify and I'm going to impound eight cars. If your two cars are in the Top 6. Because in post-qualification technical inspection, you will fail or you can withdraw the car right now.' The team chose to withdraw the car,” he added.

Although Will Power passed the inspection, Tim Cindric was informed that both the Team Penske cars had the same modification to the attenuator, and hence, the team chose to withdraw both cars.

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What is an attenuator? What modification was made by Team Penske to Josef Newgarden and Will Power's IndyCar?

The attenuators are a part of the car's crash structures that helps absorb the impact from a crash. The Team Penske's rear attenuator, which houses the rear light, and are behind the rear suspension components were in modification according to IndyCar.

AUTO: MAY 17 INDYCAR 109th Running of The Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

The rear attenuators on Josef Newgarden and Will Power's IndyCars had seams that were filled in. Theoretically, the filled in seams would have provided the drivers a small aerodynamic advantage as it would've smoothened out the airflow over the rear attenuator.

However, the same was not allowed according to IndyCar's rulebook, as the attenuator is a spec part that cannot be modified. Hence, the cars were in violation and were withdrawn by Team Penske.