MOORESVILLE, North Carolina – Two of the four management personnel that were suspended by Team Penske owner Roger Penske for the rest of the month were key members of Will Power’s timing stand.
Despite the loss of race strategist Ron Ruzewski and engineer Robbie Atkinson, the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar Series champion Power remains confident that he can win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the end of May.
“I’m confident that we are going to be competitive all month starting with the race this weekend,” Power told NBCSports.com in an exclusive interview on May 7.
He was referring to the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 11.
“I’m not worried about the performance of the cars at all,” Power continued. “I’m not worried about anything else. I think we’ve got such a well-oiled machine that I think it will still be fine. I think it will still flow well.
“We have enough good people.”
Four top-level members of Team Penske were suspended by team owner Penske, including president Tim Cindric, managing director Ruzewski, engineer Luke Mason and senior data engineer Atkinson, for their role in the violation of push-to-pass regulations from the March 10 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
According to Team Penske, none of the four suspended individuals will be at the track in Indianapolis during the next two race weekends for practice, qualifying or the race. In addition, none of the suspended individuals will be connected to the teams or drivers during any on track competition, including practice, qualifying or the race.
They are allowed to return to the race shop in Mooresville, North Carolina.
The team is finalizing its plans on additional team members and crew personnel, and their roles for each team from their “deep bench,” and will “finalize those plans in the coming days.”
Cindric calls the race strategy for Newgarden, who won the Indianapolis 500 last year. Mason was Newgarden’s engineer.
Because Ruzewski was in a position of oversight for the team’s three-car effort, Penske held him and Cindric accountable for the violation that led to Newgarden’s disqualification of his race victory at St. Petersburg. Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin was also disqualified after finishing third in that race.
Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet had the same push-to-pass software, but he did not use it illegally in the race on starts and restarts. Because of that, Power’s team was penalized, but the driver was not suspended.
“That’s definitely a blow to my timing stand for sure,” Power said. “Ron Ruzewski is a big part of the success I’ve had. I’ve got a very strong engineer that’s been with me for more than a decade. I think Dave Faustino (engineer) will have to take up that slack and call the races for me.
“But for me, just focusing forward, the month of May. I have an extremely strong crew, so we have a very strong group. We are certainly going to miss Ron Ruzewski and Robbie Atkinson, but I’m going to say that my group is very strong.
“I think we can win. I feel bad for Ron. He put all his effort into the IndyCar program.”
For Penske to make such a decision before the Indianapolis 500 is proof the most successful team owner in the world’s biggest race takes the violation seriously and needed to take serious action.
Penske’s 19 Indianapolis 500 wins are by far the most of any team owner in the long history of the race.
Penske also purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and the Indianapolis 500 from the Hulman George Family on November 9, 2019. That ended 74 years of ownership by the family of Tony Hulman, who purchased the facility for Eddie Rickenbacker in November 1945.
When Newgarden won last year’s Indianapolis 500, it was the first time Penske won the race since he purchased the Speedway.
This year, it will be a bit more difficult. Cindric is considered perhaps the best race strategist on pit lane and Newgarden will try to defend his race victory without Cindric’s guidance.
McLaughlin’s timing stand remains intact as none of the four suspended team members worked for the No. 3 Chevrolet crew.
Power lost two members but said when he arrives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, he will be determined to triumph over the latest adversity.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s going to be business as usual for me. I’m focused.
“I’m telling my guys, let’s just head down. Look forward. Let’s go. We’ve got good stuff. We’ve got good equipment. Let’s make the most of it.
“I still say that we, as a team have a great shot at winning the championship and winning an Indy 500 and that’s with the Chevrolet engine.
“I think as a partnership we’ve had a lot of success together and I think this is obviously not the best thing to have happened, but I think we’ll move forward and have a lot of success this season so just one of those things that happened.
“I think we’ve got to move forward, and I think it’ll be forgotten with after a few big couple of wins and the championship.”
Power heads into this weekend second in the IndyCar standings, just one point behind the leader, Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.
“Yeah, man, I’m determined, I’m very determined,” Power said. “I’m feeling good feeling really good.”
