IndyCar drivers share hot take on Josef Newgarden's St. Pete cheating scandal ahead of potential 2025 redemption

Josef Newgarden goes into the first IndyCar race of 2025 at St. Petersburg with last year's cheating scandal looming over. It is a chance for the two-time Indy 500 winner to redeem himself with a victory that he was stripped of in 2024. With the race weekend beginning today, two IndyCar drivers have cleared him and teammate Scott McLaughlin of their alleged wrongdoing.

Newgarden's 2024 outing at St. Pete spelled utter dominance. He qualified in pole position and held his ground to take victory over Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward. The Team Penske driver's teammates, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power, finished in third and fourth, respectively.

However, nearly two months later, during the Long Beach race weekend, IndyCar discovered that Newgarden and McLaughlin had illegally used the push-to-pass system at St. Pete. The officials disqualified them, and O'Ward inherited the win.

Ed Carpenter Racing driver Alexander Rossi and former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe discussed the controversy on their 'Off Track with Hinch and Rossi' podcast. Rossi defended his Team Penske rival, saying:

"Josef wasn't cheating. There was no... whether you want to use the word cheating or not, there was no shenanigans in qualifying. He was on pole."

Hinchcliffe, who has been signed by FOX as an IndyCar analyst for 2025 and beyond, seconded his co-host's stance and also defended Scott McLaughlin.

"Do I think what happened won him (Newgarden) the race? I don't. And if you look at the data of what Scott's contribution to that controversy... it affected the race 0.0%, and they still finished 1-3-4. The only thing that kept the podium sweep (for Team Penske) was Pato hanging onto a super loose race car," the 6-time race winner said.

After being found guilty by IndyCar, Josef Newgarden admitted to using the push-to-pass button thrice in the race, and McLaughlin to using it once. Though Penske's third driver, Will Power, didn't infringe the rules, he was docked 10 points, and all three drivers were slapped with $25,000 fines.

Team Penske's Managing Director sets the record straight about Josef Newgarden's St. Pete controversy

Josef Newgardena and Roger Penske at the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 - Source: Getty

Josef Newgarden's cheating controversy immediately put Team Penske's reputation in the dumps. Billionaire owner Roger Penske, who also owns IndyCar, suspended four senior leaders in the team for the month of May.

Team President Tim Cindric, Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, and engineers Luke Mason and Robbie Atkinson sat out the two May races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the Indy 500. In January this year, Ruzewski came out and denied any "ill intent" in the matter.

"From where I sit, it was a major distraction, there's no question. But for the people, the feet on the ground here, it didn't change because we knew what the truth was, we knew how the issue came about, we knew there was nothing done with ill intent or to do something out of the norm," he said on the Pit Pass Indy podcast. "So it was business as usual. You can't ever control what people are gonna say or think. So you just have to move on and go forward."

The situation arose from a mistake on Team Penske's part. They forgot to disable an unofficial version of the push-to-pass system that they used on their cars during preseason testing.

Josef Newgarden recorded his worst standings in a decade last year, finishing eighth. His second consecutive Indy 500 victory in May was the highlight of his year.