Ever since penalties from St. Petersburg were revealed, Team Penske has been a primary topic of discussion within the NTT IndyCar Series community.
In that race, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified and Will Power was docked 10 points.
All because Team Penske manipulated the Push to Pass parameters to their advantage.
‘He Doesn’t Need to Cheat for His Cars to Win Races and I Really Respect Him’
Although McLaughlin ended up winning at Barber Motorsports Park, people are going to continue to talk about this.
Including IndyCar owner A.J. Foyt, who recently spoke with the Associated Press on the “cheating scandal.”
Despite many now criticizing Team Penske, Foyt defended them.
“I think the drivers thought they could use the [system] at a certain time, and it turned out they couldn’t, so I think it was all just a big misunderstanding,” Foyt said.
“I have known [Roger Penske] longer than anyone in my career. He is straight up,” he added. “He’s not a B-plus guy, he’s an A-plus guy. He doesn’t need to cheat for his cars to win races and I really respect him for standing up to the owners and offering his side.”
What Really Happened?
Maybe Foyt is right and mere mistakes were made. Maybe the team is just playing dumb.
Either way it’s not a great look for Indycar right now and especially considering that the organization owns the series.
The AP’s Jenna Fryer had this to say, “Here’s the problem: Penske Perfect is a way of life and, as Newgarden himself stated, the entire operation pays immaculate attention to detail. So there is only one of two options in this scenario: Either Newgarden and multiple members of the No. 2 team cheated, or, Penske’s employees are incredibly inept at their jobs.”
Perhaps. Reardless of what might happen next, this controversy simply isn’t going away anytime soon.
