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Recent events have thrust Roger Penske’s integrity into the spotlight, sparking debate within the racing community. Team Penske’s IndyCar drivers, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin’s disqualification at the St. Petersburg race has particularly fueled this scrutiny. IndyCar officials’ decision has prompted paddock-wide discussions about Team Penske’s integrity.

Matters intensified when representatives from IndyCar teams convened with Roger Penske to deliberate over the “push to pass” scandal affecting Team Penske’s cars. At this meeting, held before the Barber Motorsports Park qualifying, attendees characterized Penske as remorseful and transparent. He admitted to the problem and shared his embarrassment regarding the incident. He also emphasized his accountability for his team and the critical nature of resolving the issue.

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Roger Penske is taking all the blame on himself!

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Josef Newgarden clarifies the possible misunderstanding

“At Penske, we care about details, said Josef Newgarden a couple of years back when a social media post wrongly had his first name. Eventually, he was right. Roger Penske’s strict oversight elevates attention to detail to an unparalleled level. This is precisely why the cheating scandal shaking IndyCar is so disturbing.

At Barber Motorsports Park, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion took responsibility for tampering with the push-to-pass system ahead of the weekend’s race. The incident happened in his season-opening IndyCar victory, which was later revoked. He labeled the incident humiliating and recognized his challenging journey to regain his peers’ respect.

In a heartfelt 25-minute press conference, the two-time series champion declared that he was not a deceiver and did not deliberately violate the rules. Notably, this was the series’ first disqualification in 29 years. “I want to deeply apologize to our fans, our partners, my teammates, the competitors that I race against,” Newgarden said. “Anybody that’s in our community. I’ve worked my entire career to hold myself to a very high standard, and clearly, I’ve fallen very short of that in this respect. It’s a difficult thing to wrestle with. It’s a very embarrassing thing to go through.”

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