“We moved on” - Team Penske boss insists on leaving ‘overblown’ cheating scandal behind

Last Sunday marked Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden's second consecutive win in the Indianapolis 500. However, his first victory at the famed race a year ago came with its share of controversies and an alleged scandal, that according to team owner Roger Penske, was "overblown".

In this year's race, Newgarden beat Pato O'Ward during the final lap en route to the 20th IndyCar victory for the team. According to reports, no driver since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002 has won back-to-back in the Indy 500.

Weeks after Newgarden's season-opener victory last year, officials found that all three Team Penske cars had a special, push-to-pass software installed on them. This illegal software allowed the drivers to use an additional boost in horsepower, which no other team on the grid had access to.

The discovery led to a lot of controversies and a cheating scandal, which ultimately resulted in Team Penske suspending four crew members and team President Tim Cindric. However, Penske himself stood by his team and said:

"We have a strong foundation. People know who we are and how we operate... sometimes when there’s blood in the water, people like to go after you and I think that’s what happened. I’m fine. I mean, we moved on. The controversy, as far as I’m concerned, was way overblown."

Despite the allegations, Roger Penske said that the push-to-pass tech was available for everybody. In the same interview with AP News, the 87-year-old NASCAR veteran said:

"Newgarden never should have had to worry about it because our team missed it, but it was not malicious. By the way, it was available for everybody to look at it at all the races. So at the end of the day, we took our medicine and we’re moving on.”

Team Penske has been equally successful in the arena of NASCAR with back-to-back championships in the last two NASCAR Cup Series seasons. Today, the Ford team is often referred to as the "New York Yankees of motorsports."

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Roger Penske refers to this year's Indy win as "the great redemption"

Josef Newgarden's latest win gave Team Penske a reason to rejoice, especially after what happened last year when the 33-year-old racer won the Indy 500 in his first year racing for Team Penske. Hinting at the same, Roger Penske said:

"Well, look, it was a great redemption, I would have to say, but we understood there was nothing malicious in the intent when we had this software issue, push-to-pass, people call it.”

Speaking of the team's goals in the IndyCar world, Penske said:

"But look, our goal now is going for three in a row.”

Penske applauded the team's efforts that brought victory in the rain-delayed race. Nevertheless, the race garnered the highest number of spectators since the 2016 Indianapolis 500.

"Well, it was a team effort. I think we started the month with speed. All the days prior to qualification, then to see the three cars on the front row was amazing," he added.

Besides owning a championship-winning NASCAR Cup team and a multi-time IndyCar race-winning team, Roger Penske also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500, and the IndyCar series.