Penske cars should have been moved to LCQ – O'Ward

Pato O’Ward secured the best Indianapolis 500 start of his career with a run to third place on Sunday. His best day was the polar opposite of his worst day, which came when he failed to qualify as a rookie in 2019 with Carlin Racing. It was from that memory that the Arrow McLaren ace was moved to speak out about Team Penske’s illegally-modified components on the cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power.

“They weren't accidentally doing it because they had the blowtorch right there in order to get it out,” O’Ward said on Sunday evening. “Honestly, I feel for (Jacob) 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. Those cars should have been in the Last Chance Qualifier. Like, those cars should have never... obviously they didn't do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the LCQ because they had that (on Saturday), I guarantee you. Those cars, if they're disqualified today, they should have been disqualified yesterday.

“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.”

The two Penske cars were subsequently moved from 11th and 12th on the grid to the last row in 32nd and 33rd while Abel, whose car was always legal, was kept out of the race.

IndyCar president Doug Boles cited Rule 9.2.1, which was used as a catch-all empowerment to take their Fast 12 positions away: “Penalties can be determined by the gravity of the violation and its impact on the fairness of competition. IndyCar has the authority to impose any or all or any combination of the following penalties against any member for any violation of the rules at any time."

With both Penske entries preserved for the race despite Newgarden and Power failing to turn a qualifying lap on Sunday, Boles said the rule that locks in the fastest 12 from Saturday to have a chance to go for pole on Sunday made welcoming Abel into the race a non-starter.

“Transparently, the 33 fastest cars are in the Indianapolis 500,” Boles said. “On Saturday all the cars passed tech. There was not a reason to look at those cars. They got through the cars, so on Saturday that qualification attempt should stand as far as I'm concerned. On Sunday is where we're talking about right now, the facts are that those cars did not meet to qualify in the 12. The rule says, if you get disqualified from the [Fast] 12, you start 12th and 11th.

“We've gone one step further and put them in the back. Do I feel gutted for Jacob Abel? Absolutely. The guy is running our whole season. I know how important this race is to (Abel’s team owner) Dale Coyne. Dale Coyne and I have had arguments after arguments over whether we should guarantee starting spots at the Indianapolis 500. He and I are on opposite sides of that conversation, but in this instance I don't think that the result for the 33 cars should be changed.”