Team Penske announces Indy 500 replacements for Newgarden, Power, and McLaughlin's teams

Team Penske was involved in the Indy 500 scandal earlier this week before the Top 12 qualifying session. As a result of the controversy, three senior members, who served as the race strategists, were fired from the team. The IndyCar team has now come out and announced replacements for Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin’s teams.

The #2 Chevrolet of Josef Newgarden and the #12 Chevrolet of Will Power were found in violation of the IndyCar technical regulations during the tech inspection for Sunday qualifying. Subsequently, IndyCar penalized Team Penske with fines and sent the cars to the back of the grid.

Team Penske announced on May 21, 2025 that it will be parting ways with three senior members of the team, i.e. Team President Tim Cindric, Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and General Manager Kyle Moyer. The trio also served as the race strategist of the three Indycar drivers.

Tim Cindric served as Josef Newgarden's strategist, Ron Ruzewski as Will Power's, and Kyle Moyer as Scott McLaughlin’s. Parting ways with the trio meant Penske had to find replacements for the three before this weekend's Indy 500.

The team has now come out and made the announcement of who will be filling the spots. Luke Mason, Ben Bretzman, and Jonathan Diuguid will be taking over the strategist role for the #2, #3, and #12 Chevrolet's respectively.

Team Penske came out and detailed the same on the account on social media platform X. The tweet read,

“The following crew will lead Team Penske INDYCAR entries in the Indianapolis 500:

No. 2: Luke Mason (Strategist) + Raul Prados (Lead Engineer)

No. 3: Ben Bretzman (Strategist) + Malcolm Finch (Lead Engineer)

No. 12: Jonathan Diuguid (Strategist) + David Faustino (Lead Engineer)”

Luke Mason and Ben Bretzman previously served as engineers and have been moved to the role of strategist. Pradosh and Finch have taken over the positions left by the duo promoted to the role of strategist. Jonathan Diuguid served as Josef Newgarden's race engineer for last year's Indy 500.

Multiple senior members at Penske were suspended last year after the push to pass scandal, which included the trio who were fired yesterday, along with Robbie Atkinson. As a result, Diuguid filled in as the race strategist of Newgarden.

“My conscience remains clear”: Former Team Penske Boss reflects on IndyCar journey amid the firing

Tim Cindric, who stepped down at the start of the year from overseeing Team Penske’s motorsports to focus on IndyCar, was fired as a result of the attenuator scandal. Cindric took to the social media platform X to reflect on his journey with the team and share his thoughts on the accusations that followed the controversy.

“It’s been an amazing ride! While my conscience remains clear through all of the noise and accusations, I’m grateful to have so many great people to draw strength from in times like this. Still standing tall!” read Cindric’s tweet

Tim Cindric worked with Penske for over two and a half decades and played a crucial role in the team's success over the duration.