Team president Tim Cindric and two other senior figures have left the Penske IndyCar team as part of what Roger Penske called "necessary changes" in the wake of its Indianapolis 500 qualifying cheating row.
Penske pulled two of its cars from the top-12 qualifying shootout on Sunday afternoon when the #2 car of Josef Newgarden, winner of the last two editions of the race, failed a technical inspection due to a modification to the rear attenuator - an impact structure that cannot be modified.
As well as withdrawing Newgarden's car, the #12 of Will Power - which had passed its pre-run inspection - was also parked.
IndyCar subsequently sent both cars to the back of the grid for this Sunday's race for a "clear" violation and issued further sanctions against both cars, with IndyCar president Doug Boles stressing that "the integrity of the Indianapolis 500 is paramount".
Cindric said on Sunday that there was "a bit of randomness internally there that we need to sort out" when asked about Penske sealing the attenuator on two of its cars (the attenuator on the third car, Scott McLaughlin's #3, had not been sealed prior to his crash in practice that morning).
Cindric had already been suspended from his role as Newgarden's strategist for the remainder of the Indy 500 as part of the penalties imposed by IndyCar.
He has now left a team he had been with since 1999.
The son of an engine builder, Cindric has more than three decades' experience in IndyCar (he was with Rahal before joining Penske) and was the president of all Penske teams until January this year, when he stepped back to just IndyCar.
Cindric was previously suspended by Penske for last year's Indy 500 in the wake of a push-to-pass scandal at the 2024 St Petersburg season opener.
That also involved team owner Roger Penske - who heads up the Penske Entertainment Corporation that owns both the IndyCar series and Indy 500 venue the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - issuing an apology for the "errors" the team had made.
Penske's IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski, who like Cindric was also suspended by Penske over last year's push-to-pass incident and by IndyCar for the rest of this year's Indy 500, and general manager Kyle Moyer have also left the team.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams," Roger Penske was quoted as saying in a statement announcing the trio's departures.
"We have had organisational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologise to our fans, our partners and our organisation for letting them down."
Ruzewski was another long-standing Penske figure, the 2025 season representing his 21st with the team.
Moyer's departure means all three Penske strategists have left, as he was working with McLaughlin - who will start Sunday's race from 10th. Moyer was crew chief for Jacques Villeneuve in 1995.
The team referred to these as "personnel changes" and said it would have "further announcements this week related to personnel and replacements for this weekend's Indianapolis 500".
In addition to the now-redundant suspensions of Cindric and Ruzewski, Newgarden and Power have forfeited their pit positions and have lost the points - two for Newgarden, one for Power - that their Indy 500 qualifying results would've given them in the championship standings.
A $100,000 fine has also been issued against each of the entries.
