IndyCar dismisses talk of switch to independent officiating

Could the IndyCar Series seek an independent officiating solution at some point in the future?

The topic was a hot one in 2023 after a red flag was thrown in response to a crash in the waning moments of the Indianapolis 500. It led to an expedited return to green without a full warmup lap, which broke from tradition, as drivers pulled away from the pits and went back to racing after rounding Turn 4.

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During the wild lap 200 shootout, second-placed Josef Newgarden from Team Penske was able to draft past Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson to capture the win, and afterwards, the concept of taking race control out of Penske Entertainment’s hands – as long as the series’ owner competes in the series – was raised.

Since then, whenever a call has been made in a Penske driver’s favor, the question of removing Penske Entertainment from stewarding its own races has occasionally been brought forth. There have been no calls from race control that generated accusations of favoritism so far this year,  and the topic's recent reemergence as a point of discussion within the paddock is understood to be based in a more general desire in some quarters for greater separation between the series' ownership and the way races are adjudicated.

According to Penske Corporation president Bud Denker, who serves as Roger Penske’s second in command, outsourcing IndyCar’s race control group to an external organization – just as the Indy Racing League did for a while with USAC, and was the norm prior to the CART IndyCar Series – is not at the top of the company’s to-do list.

“It's been tossed around since we bought bought the series,” Denker told RACER. “You're not going to see anything that's imminent regarding that at all, because we trust what's going on with [race director] Kyle [Novak] and race control and all they do and the rules they make and the stewarding they make. There's nothing imminent on the horizon.”