SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — Team Penske’s modified attenuators were in violation of IndyCar rules, an IndyCar investigation found.

Team Penske filled a lip on the attenuator, and as a result, Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 car and Will Power’s No. 12 car will be moved to the 32nd and 33rd starting spots in the grid for the Indy 500, at the back of the field.

Both drivers also lost their pit positions and will have to wait until the rest of the field selects their pit boxes to choose theirs. They also lost their qualification points and were fined $100,000.

WISH-TV driver analyst Graham Rahal said he doesn’t say it alone, and says it for every other owner and every other driver, that there is a pattern now.

“There’s a pattern,” Rahal said. “They did it last year, they got caught. They did it again this year, they got caught. But apparently, if you look back at the photos from last year’s race winning car, this race winning car last had these same modifications. So, it was illegal. That’s a concern, right. There is a pattern to this and I think that’s what bothers most people, because we’re all competitors. We’re out here fighting. They’re already the biggest and most powerful team. They don’t need to do these things. I thought Pato O’Ward said it best. They don’t need to do that. It’s silly to do it. But, ultimately, they chose to do it. They’re going to pay the price, at least with two of their cars on Sunday. I’m sure they’ll be able to motor right through though to be honest with you.”

“I mean, we don’t want to be racing against illegal cars,” O’Ward said. “We would love to see that it’s all an even playing field. For me, it’s more sympathy for the guys in LCQ (Last Chance Qualifying). You’ve got a car that was fully legal going home and then two others that just got a penalty. Obviously they’re in the show. They were going to be in the show whether they had that or not. They’re great drivers. It’s a great team. They’re super fast. They don’t really have to be doing that. That’s just my stand on that.”

“I mean if you break the rules, I think it’s obvious that you need to get penalized for it,” Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard said. “I think it’s nice to see that they were at least put at the back of the field. I think a lot of us feel strongly that they should have.”

“Unfortunately, the rules are there, right?” Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves said. “You’re not allowed to touch something, but I know those guys. They wouldn’t do anything like that to take an advantage of anybody else. I think it was just unfortunately trying to look too good.”

Newgarden’s car that won the Indianapolis 500 in 2024 seemed to have the same modified attenuator. O’Ward, who finished second to Newgarden, was asked about his thoughts on the modification.

“I want to win outright,” O’Ward said. “We lost that race last year. Obviously, it’s just frustrating that it wasn’t caught beforehand, I would say.”

The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 25. Grandstands seats are officially sold out for the race.

More Indy 500 coverage

Newgarden’s 2024 Indy 500 winner appears to have same disputed modification

Team Penske’s Power and Newgarden to start last for technical violations

Team Penske responds to pulling all cars from Fast 12 qualifying

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