“I’m Not a Liar”: Team Penske’s IndyCar Champion Caught in a Cheating Scandal

Amidst NASCAR’s strict surveillance of car parity, you would think it is almost impossible to flout the rules. But Team Penske is somehow managing to do it. Joey Logano did it back in the Atlanta race with a pair of webbed gloves. 

Now a deeper, more well-executed rule-bending plan has come to surface. Three of Penske’s IndyCar drivers were recently caught for a violation they did almost six weeks back. Officials nullified their stellar finishes and cost them heavily.

Team Penske may have a penchant for the outlawed

Granted, cheating has been part and parcel of the sport since 1949. In June of that year, Glenn Dunaway won the very first Strictly Stock race. However, officials soon confiscated his trophy after discovering illegal “bootlegger” rear springs on the back of his car. 

It is kind of a similar situation for Team Penske, except that they almost got away with it. At Indycar’s season-opening race at St. Petersburg, Florida on March 10, Roger Penske’s team passed with flying colors. Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, and Will Power finished 1st, 3rd, and 4th respectively. But not without a crucial manipulation of their car systems.

At California’s IndyCar race on Sunday, a glitch popped up that knocked out push-to-pass systems in all cars except for three. The overtake systems on the Team Penske cars were operating perfectly, leading to the big reveal. Soon the finishes were declared invalid, and all three drivers were fined $25,000.

Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden protested his innocence, which journalist Jenna Fryer posted on X. She tweeted: “You can call me every name in the book…. I’m not a liar. I didn’t know it was wrong until this week,” Newgarden says.”

Team Penske president Tim Cindric was also adamant about proving innocence. “While I accept the penalty, I want to be clear that I did not gain an advantage over my competitors. IndyCar’s competition is the best in the world, and I would take no pleasure in achieving success in any way other than honestly.” He also added: “To say we purposefully did this to get an advantage, I don’t know how you come to that conclusion unless it’s what you want to believe.”

Fryer also added her sarcastic take on Cindric’s plea of innocence. “Yeah I get it. Logano’s glove wasn’t to gain an advantage. That’s just what we want to believe.”

This is not the first time Team Penske has tried to defy the NASCAR rulebook multiple times in a season and Joey Logano was caught in the middle of it.

Penske’s cheating tradition is old

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In light of the 2024 events, let us take a look at 2017 as well. Joey Logano stormed to a win at Richmond Raceway, but officials soon uncovered foul means. His then Team Penske crew chief, Todd Gordon, had doctored up the car’s rear suspension. He was slapped with a fine of $50,000 and a two-race suspension, while Joey Logano lost his playoff eligibility. 

Not only that, Penske’s other crew chief Paul Wolfe got a three-race suspension earlier that year. He flunked NASCAR’s Laser Inspection Station after the Phoenix race. Hence, NASCAR penalized the team multiple times just in the first eight races of 2017. Sound like 2024 much?

Yet one thing can be granted to Team Penske: they leave no stone unturned for creativity.