Ever since its inception, NASCAR hasn’t entered the race track as a competitor on Sunday. Unlike the major stick and ball sports, NASCAR is a family-owned business. Bill France Sr. was the founding father, and since then, the Series has remained within the family. No franchise, no outside influence, just pure racing. They might look like a monopoly from the outside, but they do have the charter system in place to govern and reward the teams participating in their sport. The reason why the France family stays away from racing in its own series is a conflict of interest. And it seems like Roger Penske needs to learn a thing or two from the rival Series.

Like NASCAR, industry veteran Roger Penske owns the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series. But at the same time, he also fields a team under his banner, Team Penske, and needless to say, it has landed him in trouble. It started last year with the Push-to-Pass scandal during the St. Petersburg race, and the backlash was severe that Penske had to issue a public apology. “Everyone at Team Penske along with our fans and business partners should know that I apologize for the errors that were made and I deeply regret them.” Surely, Team Penske would’ve learned their lesson, right?

As it turns out, they are right in the middle of another controversy. Josef Newgarden and Will Power’s cars were found to have an illegal modification to an attenuator. This was during the Indy 500 Fast 12 qualifying rounds, and IndyCar officials sent both cars to the rear. But this incident has once again led to questions about fairness and integrity within the paddock, especially when Roger Penske is the one calling the shots.

Roger Penske might need an overhaul in how the IndyCar Series is governed

Initially, both Newgarden and Power were starting the Indy 500 in Row 4, but for some reason, officials doubled down on the severity of the punishment and decided to move the two cars to the rear of the field. Yet, this wasn’t enough to silence the noise and allegations about Team Penske abusing power and resorting to cheating, knowing that they are backed up by Series owner, Roger Penske. Is it time that Penske should distance himself from the functioning of the sport, and can a new independent body take over the tech inspection process?

In response, IndyCar president Doug Boles stated that he does not have a solution in place to resolve the ongoing issues, but he assured that Roger Penske would understand the actions against his team. “I can tell you that Roger Penske would not condone this,” said Boles. “In fact, I had a chance to talk to Roger and I can tell that this is devastating to him. Nothing means more to Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. He certainly loves racing across the board and this is something that I think he’s going to have to address at some point in time.” Perhaps, IndyCar should take a page from NASCAR’s notebook on how to deal with such issues.

NASCAR has a strict pre- and post-race inspection process. All the Cup cars have to go under rigorous checks, and only if they pass the pre-race tech, are they allowed to race. It doesn’t matter if the car is from Team Penske or Hendrick Motorsports; any illegal adjustment is dealt with. In fact, Team Penske’s very own Joey Logano failed to pass the pre-race tech twice and was cleared on his third attempt ahead of the championship race in Phoenix. So, rather than depending on random inspections, a methodical approach would smooth out the process in IndyCar.

But ever since the IndyCar has punished the two Penske drivers, a lot of fans have been wondering: What is the attenuator? And what modifications were made to them on the two cars that led to controversy?

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What is an attenuator?

IndyCar supplier Dallara introduced a new attenuator in 2023 to improve the safety and the crushability when the car takes a hit during a crash. It was an aerodynamic feature to enhance the safety feature on the car. But this is where the Team Penske engineers tried to bend the rules to their advantage. According to FOX broadcast, they filled the gap in the attenuator, eliminating a slight lip.

“When you’re trying to make an Indy car go as fast as possible in a straight line, you try to eliminate any edges, any lips, anything like that. What the Penske team seems to have done is filled it in. This part, you’re not allowed to modify.” Former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe said on Sunday’s broadcast. Interestingly, last year’s Indy 500 winning car from Josef Newgarden, which is placed in the IMS museum, seems to have a similar modification to the attenuator.

Clearly, there are a lot of loopholes and gaps in how IndyCar does its routine checks, especially when Team Penske is involved. Who knows how many times they got away with such adjustments? And this is indeed a concern for the rest of the competition and the overall integrity of the sport. Roger Penske needs to clean his house, or we might see his team land in another controversy, leading to another embarrassment.