Penske Looks to Pick Up the Pieces After St. Pete Disqualifications – Motorsports Tribune

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Team Penske apology tour has begun.

Still sifting through the ashes of the disqualifications, points and monetary fines levied by INDYCAR earlier this week for tampering with its Push to Pass system in St. Petersburg, the organization comes into race weekend in Alabama having to fight a war on two fronts.

Before the cars ever turn a lap for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, the team will have to find a way to navigate through the noise of not only having to answer for their transgressions, but also find a way to focus on the task at hand on the winding 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course.

First up to face the music was Josef Newgarden, who was stripped of his win in the season opener after Team Penske felt the heavy hand of the sanctioning body and fell to 11^th in points from the points lead.

Unlike his teammates that elected to put out statements on social media to display their stance on the penalties, the two-time champion and defending Indy 500 winner chose to sit down in front of the gathered media at Barber on Friday morning to answer for the actions of himself as a driver and the entire No. 2 team.

Tearing up at times, Newgarden did not shy away from owning up to the fact that his team was in violation of the rules at St. Petersburg and apologized profusely for the incident and the wide-reaching effects it has had since the penalty news dropped.

“There’s no doubt that we were in breach of the rules at St. Petersburg,” Newgarden said. “I used push to pass at an unauthorized time twice, on two different restarts. There’s really nothing else to it other than that. Those are the rules, and we did not adhere to them.

“For me, what’s really important about that, too, is there’s only one person sitting in the car. It’s just me. So that responsibility and the use of the push to pass in the correct manner falls completely on me. It’s my responsibility to know the rules and regulations at all points and make sure I get that right. With that regard, I failed my team miserably. A complete failure on my side to get that right.

“It’s my job as the leader of the 2 car to not make mistakes like that. You cannot make a mistake at this level in that situation. There’s no room for it. There’s no room for that type of mistake anywhere, certainly not at the top level of motorsports. I don’t want to hide from…