Everybody in the IndyCar paddock is talking about Team Penske’s misuse of the Push to Pass system in St. Petersburg and subsequent disqualification.
On Friday at Barber Motorsports Park, Graham Rahal added his thoughts to the mix and said that he was more upset with the explanations Josef Newgarden and his team gave than the infraction itself.
“Just say this, you don’t want to criticize too much,” said Rahal, almost reluctantly. “I was hoping to stay anonymous on this topic.
“I didn’t appreciate some of the quotes that were made. I’ll say that. Like, I didn’t appreciate some of the excuses that were made because I don’t think that they’re valid excuses.
“I was kind of okay with, All right, well, this is a penalty, yeah, sure, whatever. But then when the stories kept coming out, I kept reading the quotes. I just thought to myself, ‘Now you’re just digging yourself into a hole that’s just absolute BS.’
“I just don’t appreciate that. In the spirit of sportsmanship, like screw up, you do something, fess up, move on with life. I’ll just leave it at that.”
The reasoning Team Penske gave for the violation was that a version of the car’s software used for testing was inadvertently left in the car for the first couple races of the season.
That software bypassed a lockout signal that IndyCar sends to all cars, which then allowed their drivers to use the boost system on the first lap of restarts when nobody else could.
Newgarden further explained that he was aware that he was allowed to use the system on restarts, and thought it was a new rule that had been put in place by the series.
Rahal continued his thoughts on the reasons given by relating, “I think the only thing I can say, you can take it as you wish, but is what I said: I don’t appreciate the poor excuses and the digging to kind of explain it.
“At the end of the day it’s fairly simple. You had access to something that nobody else did, and that’s the facts. That’s it.
“I think it’s really, really disappointing to kind of read some of [the quotes explaining the reason]. But aside from that, we’ll go race this weekend.
“Look, do I think it changes the end result? No, they’re damn good. They’ve shown today they’re going to be fast, they’re going to be up front, but…”
Newgarden put the controversy behind him quickly, setting the fastest lap of the first practice session Friday afternoon.
A second practice round and a knockout qualifying session for the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix will take place later in the day on Saturday.
