Roger Penske has long been one of the classiest and most successful multi-team owners in motorsports for more than six decades. He also believes in forgiving and forgetting, giving people who have worked for him and who’ve made mistakes – whether intentional or not – second chances.

The 88-year-old Penske’s generous and forgiving soul was on display yet again Thursday when he essentially forgave and brought former team president Tim Cindric back into the organization.

Cindric returns to Team Penske in a smaller and less powerful role than his previous position, serving only as chief strategist in the upcoming IndyCar season for the organization’s No. 3 Chevrolet driven by New Zealand native Scott McLaughlin. The role will primarily be a part-time situation for race weekends only. Cindric had previously done double duty in his former role as team president, also serving as chief strategist for two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden.

Penske initially fired Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski, and general manager Kyle Moyer prior to last year’s Indianapolis 500 due to penalties incurred – many critics called it outright cheating – during qualifying for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Penske not only owns the team, but he also owns the NTT IndyCar Series and the world’s most famous racetrack, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Even as valuable to the organization as Cindric and the others were, Penske wasn’t about to put up with the bad look and reputation the infractions gave to his usually clean and spotless company.

Here’s the rest of the team’s strategist lineup for 2026

As for the other two cars in the 2026 Team Penske IndyCar lineup, Cindric’s successor as Team Penske president, Jonathan Diuguid, will serve as strategist for the No. 2 Chevrolet driven by Newgarden, while Travis Law will be strategist for team newcomer David Malukas, who replaces Will Power, whose contract was not renewed after last season and has since joined Andretti Global for this season and beyond.

Cindric returns to Team Penske after logging more than a quarter-century with the organization, working his way up through the ranks before his abrupt dismissal last May. Even though he was fired for cause, his depth of knowledge as a strategist was too much of a powerful force for Penske to ignore. Essentially, Team Penske is a better team with Cindric, even in a part-time role, than without him.

“Tim Cindric brings decades of experience to Scott’s timing stand, and given his experience and time within our organization, he will be a great addition to our lineup on race day in the role of race strategist,” Diuguid said in a social media post.

Cindric’s meteoric rise from his start with the team in 1999 to becoming the organization’s president just seven years later was an indicator of how important he was to all facets and teams within Team Penske (including IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA, World Endurance Championship and several other series), where he was president from 2006 through 2024 before scaling back by choice to serve only as president of the organization’s IndyCar program.

During his nearly 20-year tenure as the organization’s overall president and second in command behind only Penske, Cindric oversaw an incredible program of success, with over 400 victories and 31 championships across several series, including IndyCar, NASCAR, and more. His wins total as Team Penske president includes 10 Indianapolis 500 wins.

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Cindric can focus solely on McLaughlin and help him potentially win an IndyCar Championship

Now that he’s back in the Team Penske fold and with no administrative or leadership duties for the overall organization, it will give Cindric great latitude and flexibility to focus solely on McLaughlin, how each race is going, and putting his driver in the best position to be successful.

“I missed the competition,” Cindric told RACER magazine. “Six months ago, I probably would have told you that (returning to Penske) wasn’t something that was in the cards. Then I got some offers where I thought that might not be a bad gig, all things considered, and when I left [Penske], I told them I really didn’t think I’d be looking to come back.”

Added Diuguid to RACER, “The way I would describe it is, it’s my job to always make sure the best players are going to play. I was surprised that Tim reached out, but I was glad that he did. We’ve done a lot of restructuring in the team, and being able to bring somebody like Tim back on board puts us in a very strong position, and can allow us to have more capacity to focus on all the stuff that we’ve been trying to do through the middle of summer and through the winter, to put the team back to where it needs to be. I couldn’t be more excited about it, to be honest.”

Cindric has played a pivotal role in McLaughlin’s shift from winning three Australian Supercar championships to his move across the Pacific Ocean and to IndyCar several years ago. He’s made impressive progress and has been a consistent competitor for the IndyCar championship. With Cindric now as his strategist, it could be the final piece of the puzzle McLaughlin needs to win his first IndyCar crown.

“This feels like the most incredible gift,” McLaughlin told RACER. “I’m tremendously honored to have Tim with us on the 3. He’s achieved so much in this sport already. … He is one of us and I understand what he’s done for our team for many years. Tim is a friend of mine, and now to go into racing and battle with him as a friend, and a guy that’s just completely and utterly focused on me, from a race strategy perspective, to have that focus from a guy that’s got the competitiveness and tenacity to be the best, it’s a huge honor.”

While McLaughlin will be Cindric’s primary focus, just having him in the paddock and on pit road will also serve to help Newgarden and Malukas, as well. It’s a win-win for Cindric and Team Penske. While the overall dynamic may be unusual – where a guy who was publicly embarrassed by his shocking firing is brought back into the fold less than a year later – that Penske gave Cindric a second chance more than shows how much respect for and faith in he still has for Cindric.

Team Penske is better off with Cindric than without him — and last season proved it

Plus, if you’re the winningest team owner in IndyCar history like Penske is, it’s easy to answer one very important and crucial question: Is Team Penske better off with Cindric back in the fold or not — especially after a rare off-year for all three Penske drivers in 2025: Power finished a team-best yet still dismal ninth, followed by McLaughlin (10) and Newgarden (12). And the three-car team managed just a collective two-win season, with Power and Newgarden both earning one win apiece, while McLaughlin failed to reach victory lane, something he hopes dramatically changes in 2026 now with Cindric on his pit box.

Ironically, the man who replaced Power, Malukas, finished right in the middle of the Penske triumvirate last season with an 11th-place season showing.

Cindric’s son, Austin, has raced for Team Penske in NASCAR for nearly the last decade, including winning the 2020 Xfinity Series championship, and enters his fifth full-time season in 2026 in the premier NASCAR Cup Series. The younger Cindric has won three races in the Cup ranks, including a startling upset win as a rookie Cup driver in the 2022 Daytona 500, as well as 13 wins in the Xfinity (now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) ranks.