During Top 12 qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, two Team Penske drivers were pulled out of line and not allowed to make their qualifying runs.
It was discovered that the rear attenuator on the #2 of Josef Newgarden and the #12 of Will Power were not in a legal configuration.
The team attempted to make fixes on pit lane, but it was too late by that point and they were excluded from the qualifying round altogether.
The team got ahead of the story by explaining the situation to FOX Sports shortly after the incident.
“There’s a seam on the attenuator,” explained Team Penske’s IndyCar president Tim Cindric. “We filled that seam on evidently some of attenuators. I think it’s an arbitrary thing. Once I knew the #2 and #12 cars were the same, no need to put our cars at risk.
“Essentially the #12 car had actually passed inspection. “As the #2 car went through inspection, it was pointed out that the officials didn’t like the blending on the attenuator.
“We decided the #12 car, let’s go look at that. And the #12 car was the same way. There was no reason to run the #12 car knowing it was like the #2 car. I went back and looked at the #3 car, and it didn’t have that.
“There’s a bit of randomness internally that we need to sort out. It’s a shame we didn’t give our guys a chance to go for it.”
IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch also confirmed the reason for the failed inspection.
“There was a body fit violation on the rear attenuator. As quick as this process happens, we ran them through tech, we got everybody in line. Prior to qualifying, they decided to pull out of line.”
The three Team Penske cars will start 10th, 11th, and 12th, with none taking part in the Top 12 session.
