"I applaud their transparency" - When Michael Andretti praised IndyCar President Jay Frye's handling of Penske controversy

Michael Andretti once featured on Kenny Wallace’s Kenny Conversation podcast. The former Andretti Global owner was questioned about the Team Penske push to pass scandal during the IndyCar 2024 season that led to penalties for its drivers. Andretti gave his opinion on the penalty given to Team Penske drivers by the IndyCar President.

Andretti hailed IndyCar President Jay Frye’s move and said:

“I really give Jay, you know, that was a gutsy move to expose it and go and give Roger (Penske) that penalty, you know, that to take all the points away from the team and the win. That was a gutsy move for Jay for sure. So, you know, I applaud them for being transparent on that side of it, but, yeah, it was just an unfortunate, disappointing thing.” (1:30 onwards)

The IndyCar features a push-to-pass button that gives a momentary boost of 60 horsepower to the cars for aiding overtaking and defending. However, the use of the push-to-pass (P2P) button is banned at the start and the restarts. Team Penske reportedly installed a version of the system that allowed drivers to use it during restarts on their 2024 IndyCar while testing the new hybrid powertrain.

Team Penske drivers reportedly used the push-to-pass button illegally during starts and the restart at the season opener in St. Petersburg. Josef Newgarden won the race with Scott McLaughlin finishing on the podium. Will Power finished just off the podium in P4.

However, once the scandal was exposed, Jay Frye, the IndyCar President, disqualified Newgarden and McLaughlin for the illegal use of push to pass and gave Power a 10-point penalty in the championship.

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Michael Andretti on how the Team Penske scandal was uncovered

IndyCar uncovered the Team Penske P2P modification at the second race in the championship i.e. Acura Long Beach Grand Prix. Following the revelation, multiple senior members at Team Penske were given a two-race suspension, including Team President Tim Cindric and Program Managing Director Ron Ruzewski.

Michael Andretti said on the same podcast:

"I think it's funny how the whole thing was exposed. It was all by mistake. So what happened was that at Long Beach, they forgot to turn on to push the pass in the morning warm-up. You know, IndyCar did. And the only three cars that had pushed the pass in the warm-up were the Penske cars. So that's what exposed it, and that's what got them to start looking at it." (3:05 onwards)

Michael Andretti, AUTO: MAR 04 INDYCAR Series Streets of St. Petersburg (Source: Getty)

Apart from the points deduction and disqualification, all three Team Penske drivers were also hit with a fine of $25,000.