O'Ward: Penske should have been "sent to Last Chance Qualifying" after failing tech

Written by Dan Jones

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Pato O'Ward has stated that he believes that Team Penske should have been forced to compete in Last Chance Qualifying (LCQ) after they dramatically failed pre-qualifying tech ahead of the Fast 12 shootout for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

Penske had already had a disastrous morning, when one of the pole favourites, Scott McLaughlin, suffered a violent crash in morning practice which forced him to sit out of qualifying and provisionally line up 12th for next Sunday's 'Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'

And Penske's day would get worse, when McLaughlin's teammates, Will Power and Josef Newgarden, would be pulled out of the queue to run in the Fast 12 after the sides of the attenuators were deemed non-compliant by IndyCar, violating Rule 14.7.8.16.

It is believed that the team had sealed off a gap with filler in the rear crash structures to improve airflow to the car, which would have marginally increased straight line speed by reducing drag. This was spotted by Chip Ganassi on the qualifying queue who reported the believed violation to IndyCar.

Tim Cindric, president of Penske's IndyCar operations took a difference stance, stating that only the No.2 car of Newgarden had failed technical inspection, and the No.12 of Power had already been cleared. Cindric claimed that once the inspection had been complete on Newgarden's car, the team had opted to withdraw Power's due to the Australian's car having the same non-compliant part that Newgarden had. Cindric additionally stated that McLaughlin, who was not running, did not have the non-compliant part on his car before he crashed.

The team tried to remove the filler on pit road, but this was also a violation of the IndyCar rulebook as only wing angles and tyre pressures can be adjusted in the qualifying queue.

“We look back at it," Cindric said. "And if I was one of the competitors, I'd have the same argument that you're only allowed to change certain things once you pass inspection – wing angles, tire pressures and so forth. So that was out outside of what you're able to do. At the end of the day, we didn't do it, right?”

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Newgarden and Power were pulled out of the qualifying order, and will provisionally line-up 11th and 12th respectively for next Sunday's race, with McLaughlin moving up into 10th.

The team infamously had a cheating scandal at the beginning of last season, when both Newgarden and McLaughlin were disqualified from the season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg, from 1st and 3rd respectively. This was due to violating push-to-pass parameters on starts and restarts, which developed into a major storyline for the remainder of the 2024 season. It was O'Ward who inherited the victory from Newgarden after his disqualification - six weeks after the chequered flag fell.

IndyCar president, Doug Boles, has since stated that the technical crew noticed a possible issue on the No.12 they weren't sure about, but allowed the entry to move up into pitlane, and called it back once Newgarden's car came through inspection. The No.12 was offered to qualify but was later advised it would fail post-qualifying inspection.

Importantly, any penalties will come after the race is complete.

And when asked after qualifying third for the Indianapolis 500, O'Ward took a firm stance on his thoughts of the situation.

"They weren't accidentally doing it because they had the blowtorch right there in order to get it out," O'Ward said. "Honestly, I feel for Abel and for everybody that did the disqualifications or the last chance qualifying. Those cars weren't in regulations.

"I'm not an engineer, so I can't tell you what they were doing, how much speed that it is or if it is any speed. Obviously it's not in regulation. The rule is pretty black and white."

Credit: Dominic Loyer

It has since raised further questions as to why all three Penske cars successfully completed technical inspection yesterday with a violation of the technical rulebook that was almost certainly in-place on the car, but had failed the following day.

"Those cars should have been in the last chance qualifier," O'Ward continued. "Obviously they didn't do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the LCQ because they had that yesterday, I guarantee you. Until someone pointed it out today. Those cars, if they're disqualified today, they should have been disqualified yesterday."

LCQ is commonly known as 'bumping.' With the field capped at 33 drivers, if there are more than 33 entrants, the slowest drivers on Saturday must fight for the place on the final row on Sunday. Jacob Abel was the only individual bumped from the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

"It's a shame really because they don't need to be doing that stuff. They're a great team. They have got great drivers. Why are doing that? It makes no sense," O'Ward concluded.

All photos in this article were taken by DIVEBOMB Photographer, Dominic Loyer. You can find Dominic's work on Instagram (@dominicloyer_photography)