Rahal “not a fan” of new IndyCar push-to-pass rules
- Archie O’Reilly
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Graham Rahal has voiced his opposition to IndyCar’s new rules enabling the use of the overtake-aiding push-to-pass system on race restarts.
It was announced on Tuesday that the circa-60-horsepower boost will be available at all times under green-flag conditions, aside from the initial race start. This comes in the wake of a review following a software glitch during the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which incorrectly made push-to-pass available to drivers on the Lap 62 caution restart.
“I’m not a fan,” the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing veteran said. “Yes, it’s not available on the initial start, but it’s available on the restarts. Yeah, I’m not a fan. We’ll just leave it at that.
“Particularly at a track like this one this week [the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course] and Road America, everybody’s going to be on the [push-to-pass] button and everybody’s going to save up to make sure they’ve got button left to use. And I’m not sure that that makes the racing any better. It would be the same if you all weren’t on the button.”
This was the second issue related to push-to-pass being used on a restart in three seasons, after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were stripped of their victory and third-place finishes respectively for illegally using the system in St. Petersburg in 2024.
Penske’s case was team-specific after modified software for hybrid testing was not reverted. In the latest case, investigations concluded that a glitch occurred due to simultaneous CAN (Controller Area Network) signals being sent to the cars, when only designed to send individual messages, which meant no signal was received to disable push-to-pass.
A new, tested code will be enforced with immediate effect and an additional software engineer and measures will monitor the CAN messages and push-to-pass status.
While IndyCar says now making push-to-pass more widely available “will provide teams and drivers additional tools and overtake possibilities during the crucial moments of race restarts”, Rahal believes part of the move could be to make the officiating job more routine.
“I think they’re trying to get away from the need to police that after what happened with Newgarden and everything else, which I understand that part,” he said. “But to me, the rules are the rules. They’ve always been the rules. I wouldn’t change them.”
Alongside the rules update, IndyCar Officiating revealed the 12 drivers who used push-to-pass on the Long Beach restart. While its use was illegal, they were not penalised as the burden was placed on IndyCar to ensure the system was functioning correctly. Given teams were compliant with the rules, it could not be deemed an infraction on their part.
By passing AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, only Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong gained a position through its use in that instance. But both drivers used near-equal amounts of push-to-pass anyway, thus no unfair advantage was obtained.
Rahal was also listed as having pressed the button but was left a little miffed by that fact.
“IndyCar announced that I hit the button for 0.00 seconds so explain that to me,” he said. “I would say that means I didn’t use it. I don’t know what the hell that is.”
From now on, under the updated rule set, the responsibility for wrongful use of push-to-pass from any IndyCar-centred malfunctions will be placed on the driver. Beyond the race start, its use also remains prohibited on restarts before the designated restart line.
The parameters for push-to-pass usage where available on road and street courses - the time available and maximum individual bursts of extra horsepower - remain the same.
