There is a common phrase that perception is reality, and right now the reality is the IndyCar Series has a perception problem. While last Saturday’s round on the 1.25-mile oval in St. Louis featured incredible racing for the majority of the contest, it was quickly marred with multiple controversial decisions by Race Control.
When Josef Newgarden led the field to the green flag with nine laps to go, it was at a dramatically slower pace than any other restart that night. The field arrived at the start stacked on top of each other to the point that even pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin, running second, tapped the gearbox of his Team Penske teammate as they exited Turn 4 as the green flag waved. A chain reaction was set in motion as another teammate, Will Power, who led a race-high 117 of 260 laps, anticipated the restart slightly before Newgarden took off and was forced to crack the throttle. Power subsequently was run over from behind by Alexander Rossi’s No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, which caught air before both cars settled at the inside wall separating the racetrack from pit lane. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey also received damage from the incident—the resulting debris field caused Race Control to issue a red flag.
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, who was in third at the time, called over the radio shortly after the incident and stated, “That’s dirty by Newgarden,” while also calling for a penalty that never happened. In a fit of frustration, Power climbed out of his wrecked machine and walked to pit lane, where he greeted Newgarden with a middle finger salute as the field was brought down for the stoppage.
The next - and last - restart with seven laps to go saw Newgarden go with an alternate approach and speed away from the field of the exit of Turn 4 en route to claiming his fifth win at the 1.25-mile oval.
Following the race, Newgarden confessed the controversial restart that left Power with an 18th-place finish "was definitely late", but IndyCar officials found no wrongdoing in his restart, providing background less than two hours after the checkered flag that noted Newgarden reached the end of the restart zone and had not accelerated as Race Control activated the green condition almost simultaneously, as Newgarden accelerated. The procedure was viewed as standard should the leader not accelerate within the designated zone to allow the race to resume. According to IndyCar, the speed of Newgarden’s Team Penske Chevrolet was constant at 80 mph, which was always monitored by Race Control via live telemetry.
And that is reflected in the rulebook with 7.7.1.3, which states: “At the appropriate time, the pace car lights will be turned off, indicating the intent to restart the race. The leader is required to maintain the pace lap speed until reaching the restart zone designated by IndyCar when the leader shall accelerate smoothly back to racing speed and the green condition will then be declared.”
By that definition, it makes complete sense why Newgarden wasn’t penalized. And I get it, but what about waving off the restart? It’s not uncommon to see a restart waved off when the field is left roaming around at a snail’s pace and stacking up.
Look no further than last year’s Indianapolis 500, which saw a restart with, oddly enough, nine laps to go, was waved off after Race Control deemed the pace too slow by leader Pato O’Ward. That decision was made just a few seconds after O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet sped off and created separation from the field in the middle of Turn 4. That was also the same race that saw another controversial call by Race Control, which set up an unprecedented one-lap shootout with cars rolling off pit lane and taking the green and white flag simultaneously, with Newgarden running second and making the race-deciding pass on leader Marcus Ericsson heading into Turn 3.
There’s also a history lesson when crawling restarts leads to chaos. Back in 2021 in the second race of a doubleheader weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, a slow start by Scott Dixon wasn’t waved off by Race Control and it resulted in a massive six-car crash that saw Conor Daly upside down underneath the flagstand.
Going back to last Saturday night, there was a moment on lap 196 while Newgarden spun off of Turn 2 from second place while in hot pursuit of McLaughlin. Fortunately for Newgarden, he didn’t hit anything as the caution came out just 3.5s after he began to lose control of his car. Considering he didn’t hit anything and the new hybrid engines come with a self-start button so stalling is unlikely, it was surprising to see how quickly Race Control threw a yellow flag, especially considering recent history.
"There is a growing feeling in the paddock there is not a level playing field"
Bryan Herta
Earlier this year at Laguna Seca, Marcus Armstrong was hip-checked by Christian Lundgaard with 21 laps to go in Turn 5 and left stranded halfway across the inside of the track at the exit of a corner where speeds reach between 130-140 mph. Race Control waited 1 minute and 21 seconds from the moment of contact before waving the caution. The incident happened as the frontrunners already pitted between laps 67-70 of 95, but the caution was held as Newgarden, who was penalized earlier in the race, cycled to the lead and came in for his final pit stop on lap 75, with the yellow flag coming out right before sliding into his pit box. The result was Newgarden blending back into second, which was roughly 10 spots higher than he’d been running for the majority of the race. Oh, and since it was pre-hybrid, there was no self-start button available for Armstrong, so he was forced to sit stranded until the AMR Safety Team could get his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda refired.
There was also the decision on the Streets of Toronto last month to not throw the caution immediately when O’Ward spun and faced oncoming traffic in Turn 1. O’Ward was hit from the side by Ericssson moments later before then taking on an onslaught of three consecutive hits to the front of his car that included AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci going up into the catch fence before landing upside down in Turn 2. It led to Arrow McLaren Team Principal Gavin Ward fuming at the lack of an immediate caution, especially knowing it was a blind corner for all of the spotters.
If all of this filtering into last weekend weren’t enough, there were additional dramas that took place on Saturday night at Gateway. With 21 laps to go, a complexity of strategies saw the possible fight for the win between Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas and Power. While navigating lapped traffic, Malukas dove to the inside of Power entering Turn 1 and was directly behind the lapped car of Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood. Although Malukas had little choice of where to go, with his left-side tires nearly touching against the inside curbing, Power continued to come down and squeeze him.
It ended in tears for Malukas after the left-rear of Power’s machine caught his right sidepod and sent him into a spin before crashing hard into the outside wall. Power wasn’t penalized for avoidable contact, even though he had an entire second lane that had proved stout to use instead of coming down, and the incident ironically led to the controversial restart that he was collected in 12 laps later.
Then, on the last lap, Andretti Global's Colton Herta was attempting to fend off Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist for third and ended up attempting a block that led both fighting fiercely to the inside of the backstretch. In the end, the two never made contact as Lundqvist took the position. Although Herta crossed the finish line fourth, he was penalized by Race Control and relegated to the last car on the lead lap - which slotted him down one position to fifth.
It's a bit perplexing to see that while Power’s incident with Malukas led to a crash and Herta’s did not, and also didn’t maintain position, that Herta was the one issued a penalty after the race.
This led to Herta’s father, Bryan, who is also the strategist for Kirkwood and a co-entrant for one of the cars at Andretti Global, voicing his thoughts to NBC Sports reporter Bruce Martin.
“I wasn’t saying that Colton didn’t deserve a penalty, what I’m saying is there is a growing feeling in the paddock there is not a level playing field,” Bryan Herta said. “One guy [Newgarden] who clearly caused a three-car accident checking up the field and wins the race gets no penalty. Then somebody else, racing hard, has to block a guy and gets a penalty. ... What Josef did was worse because he caused an accident taking three cars out of the race. Why does that not rise to the level of a penalty? His own teammates are flipping him off.
“He accelerated and slowed down. They tell them in every single driver’s meeting how to manage it.”
Bryan Herta went on to confirm there is a rising level of mistrust in the paddock regarding how races are being officiated, even in the wake of Penske’s push-to-pass scandal earlier this year that resulted in Newgarden being stripped of his victory and McLaughlin’s third-place finish as part of illegally manipulating the overtake system; Power was docked 10 points.
“Maybe I’m the first one to say that, but it’s what people feel," Bryan Herta said.
“If Colton deserved a penalty, the other one certainly should have been a penalty. That’s my whole point. Colton blocked Linus. That’s fine. They gave him a penalty. Fine.
"But how do you not penalize the guy that checked up the whole field and caused a crash, how is that not worse? How is causing a three-car accident with a car flying through the air not worse than a guy throwing a block with a lap to go. How is that not worse? Will Power was five cars back in the field and knows who caused that crash. It was clear. He was speeding up and slowing down all the way through Turns 3 and 4 if you talk to those guys. It’s in the rule book to maintain a steady speed and he didn’t do it. He didn’t follow the rule and didn’t get a penalty. Colton didn’t follow the rule, and he got a penalty.
“Why? Why is that different, especially when there are bigger consequences to what he did?”
It took IndyCar officials 45 days from St Petersburg to have “an extensive review of data” of the manipulated overtake system by Team Penske, yet less than two hours to see Newgarden’s telemetry cleared him of any wrongdoing
The comments expressed by Bryan Herta are similar to those Motorsport.com has heard in private conversations throughout the paddock since April—the same time the penalties were handed to Team Penske. It certainly doesn't help put those in the paddock at ease since IndyCar, along with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, are also owned by Penske.
Uniquely, it took IndyCar officials 45 days from the checkered flag in St. Petersburg to have “an extensive review of data” of the manipulated overtake system by Team Penske, yet less than two hours to see Newgarden’s telemetry cleared him of any wrongdoings. Make of that what you will.
Either way, this doesn’t set a good tone across the paddock at a crucial time when the charter system is nearing the final stages. The reality is there is a line where the outcomes go from becoming organic to feeling manufactured. And with that comes the question: has that line been crossed yet? That’s certainly the perception by many.
