Workforce Penske suffered a humiliating disqualification Wednesday when reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was stripped of his victory within the season-opening race for manipulating his push-to-pass system.

Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who completed third within the opener on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, was additionally disqualified. Will Energy, who completed fourth at St. Pete, was not penalized however docked 10 factors.

Moreover, all three Penske entries have been fined $25,000 and forfeited all prize cash related to the race. Energy has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Roger Penske owns the race group, the IndyCar Sequence and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, host of the Indy 500.

“Very disappointing,” Penske stated in a textual content message to The Related Press. “I’m embarrassed.”

The disqualifications gave the victory to Pato O’Ward, who completed second. It’s the first win for McLaren’s IndyCar group since 2022.

Though Newgarden is accused of dishonest within the March 10 opener, IndyCar stated the manipulation wasn’t found till Sunday morning’s warmup in Lengthy Seaside, California — practically two months later.

“The integrity of the IndyCar Sequence championship is important to all the pieces we do,” IndyCar President Jay Frye stated. “Whereas the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, IndyCar found the manipulation throughout Sunday’s warmup in Lengthy Seaside and instantly addressed it guaranteeing all vehicles have been compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Lengthy Seaside.

“Starting with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will likely be in place to discourage this violation.”

A evaluate of the information from the St. Petersburg race confirmed that Workforce Penske manipulated the overtake system so the three Penske drivers might use push-to-pass on begins and restarts. In line with IndyCar guidelines, the usage of the overtake is not obtainable till the automobile reaches the alternate start-finish line.

Workforce Penske President Tim Cindric stated in an announcement that the “push-to-pass software program was not eliminated because it ought to have been, following lately accomplished hybrid testing within the Workforce Penske Indy vehicles.”

“This software program allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed throughout restarts on the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it mustn’t have been permitted,” Cindric continued. “The No. 2 automobile pushed by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 automobile pushed by Scott McLaughlin, each deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated IndyCar guidelines. Workforce Penske accepts the penalties utilized by IndyCar.”

Newgarden, a two-time IndyCar champion and reigning Indianapolis 500 winner who’s in a contract 12 months with Penske, fell from first in factors to eleventh with the disqualification.

It is the second dishonest offense this season for Workforce Penske. Joey Logano was fined $10,000 and docked his second-place beginning place for a NASCAR race at Atlanta earlier this season as a result of he was sporting an unlawful glove throughout his qualifying run.

It’s assumed that Logano wore the identical unlawful glove — which had clear aerodynamic-deflecting alterations that made it look as if he was sporting a part of an amphibious costume — when he gained the pole for the Daytona 500 one week earlier.

The black glove for Logano’s left hand had webbing product of an unspecified materials in between each finger. The idea was that Workforce Penske had the glove altered to ensure that Logano to position his hand out his window as an aerodynamic blocker throughout qualifying.

Penske was furious after the Logano infractions.

“I did not like that in any respect,” Penske advised the AP on the time. “It is not good. Interval. I advised him. He is the chief of the group. Look, we’re beneath a lot scrutiny and the very last thing we have to do is have any noise like that. It is not good for us. It is not good for him. We’ll take our punches.”