Penske fires top 3, including Tim Cindric, from IndyCar organization as part of cheating scandal

INDIANAPOLIS — Roger Penske attempted to close the latest cheating scandal engulfing his race team — this one at his beloved Indianapolis 500 — by firing his top three executives at Team Penske after two of the Penske cars were found to be illegal.

Penske fired team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer on Wednesday in the wake of this Indianapolis 500 cheating scandal.

''Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,'' Penske said in a statement. ''We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.''

Penske is owner of the three-car team, IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500. He has won the Indy 500 a record 20 times.

The firings and Penske's statement have been his first public reaction since two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and teammate Will Power were found to have an illegally modified spec part on their cars ahead of Sunday's final round of qualifications for the 109th running of ''The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.''

Penske after the firings were announced held a team owner's meeting remotely in which he took responsibility for his team's actions. Some who dialed-in told The Associated Press the meeting lasted 20 minutes and the owners were satisfied with the outcome; no owners called for the Penske cars to be kicked out of the race, and the only questions asked were about how IndyCar moves on from the scandal ahead of the biggest race in the world.

''What he did in firing three people is a big deal,'' Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan told The Associated Press. ''I think everyone recognized how big of a deal this is to Roger and now it's just a question of how to move on and how to make sure tech doesn't miss these things again.''

Neither Newgarden or Power were allowed to qualify Sunday when rivals pointed out the illegal modification. Both drivers on Monday were dropped to the back of the field and will start 32nd and 33rd. Rival teams have been arguing it was not enough since it's the second cheating scandal in two seasons and potentially illegal cars bumped Jacob Abel of Dale Coyne Racing from the field.

Newgarden is attempting to become the first driver in history to win three consecutive Indy 500s; no driver has ever won starting from the last row.

Cindric and Ruzewski had already been suspended by IndyCar for the race and both teams fined $100,000. It is the second consecutive year Cindric and Ruzewski were suspended from the Indy 500.

Rivals have been calling on Penske to address the situation since Sunday while questioning if IndyCar and the Indy 500 can continue to operate without an independent governing body absent of any Penske employees.

The trouble for Team Penske began before the fast 12 shootout on Sunday, when rival team owner Chip Ganassi was among a chorus of competitors who accused it of cheating. They noticed unapproved changes had been made to the rear attenuator, a safety device designed to absorb and reduce the force of impacts, and the assumption was the modifications would have given the two Team Penske cars an aerodynamic advantage in their four-lap qualifying runs.

Further investigation showed Newgarden's winning car from last year that is displayed in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum has the same illegal modification, as did the car Team Penske brought to the White House last month. Rivals claim to have photos indicating the modification has been in place for some time.

Helio Castroneves, who won three Indy 500s driving for Team Penske, was among the few who doubted the team was cheating and believed Cindric's explanation that the illegal modification was for aesthetic purposes only. Penske, after all, requires everything he owns to be pristine and with as clean lines and looks as possible.

''I believe they did something to look good. I don't think that little (adjusted) lip is going to make them three miles an hour faster,'' Castroneves said. ''I know how Roger operates. He wants to make everything beautiful, perfect, shiny. I believe it was, again, a mistake, touching an area they're not supposed to. In the rule book, they're not supposed to touch. I believe what the series is doing is right. But they don't need anything like that to go fast. I don't see this as a situation that people are cheating. In terms of performance, I don't think it would have changed anything.''

Colton Herta of Andretti Global also did not believe this latest scandal was as damaging as last year's Team Penske fiasco.

''Do I think they had it for qualifying Saturday? Absolutely for sure. Do I think that's why they were fast? Absolutely not,'' Herta said. ''I'd imagine that would equate to the smallest margins of drag. It is still disappointing to see the team get caught up in something again, but sorry, this is way different than 50 extra horsepower and I won't be passed because of what they did.''

Herta is referring to last year's Penske scandal when the team was caught in a push-to-pass manipulation in which Newgarden was found to have access to an additional boost of horsepower when he should not have while winning the season-opener. He was stripped of his win and Penske suspended Cindric for two races, including the Indy 500.

Cindric is the biggest name to fall in this scandal. He's a member of the Team Penske Hall of Fame and has been with the organization since 2000 as President of Penske Racing Inc. He's been long assumed to be Penske's successor on the racing part of Penske's empire.

Cindric was elevated to the role of President of Penske Performance in 2005 and, until February, essentially ran the day-to-day operations of all of Penske's racing properties.

But Penske's right-hand man in February was stripped of most of his roles although he said he chose to step back as the overall leader of the organization. He remained president of the IndyCar program.

Cindric is the father of NASCAR driver Austin Cindric.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing