IndyCar Officiating announced its next phase in the process to separate governance and help process transparency with the launch of official post-even reports, which is set to include the use of technical penalty guidelines.
The effort is “to provide a framework toward consistency across events,” according to the press release. The post-even records will also feature summaries of technical and procedural distinction to improve clarity. The reporting update will begin with this weekend’s Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
This is the next step following the establishment of IndyCar Officiating, a not-for-profit organization, in December 2025, which is governed by the three-person Independent Officiating Board (IOB) of chairman Raj Nair, secretary/treasurer Ray Evernham and FIA appointee Ronan Morgan. The IOB appointed Scot Elkins to the Managing Director of Officiating (MDO) in April 2026, with his first day in the role taking place on May 11. Elkins reports directly to the IOB – with no oversight from INDYCAR or Penske Entertainment officials – to provide officiating governance and management.
"One of the takeaways from the initial months of IndyCar Officiating was a need for thorough infraction communication and, in some cases, comparison to prior rulings to continue our goal of transparency and consistency in rule implementation,” Nair said. “This post-event report will be clear in structure, process, and findings.
“The board would like to thank the entire IndyCar Officiating team for implementing this important step as we continue our mission. Working across the paddock with key stakeholders, we believe this structure will lead to a very positive result for the sport.”
The post-event reports will summarize the activity of officiating from each race event, which will include penalties imposed under the IndyCar Series rulebook and findings from technical inspections before and after qualifying and races. Post-event reports will be posted and made public during the week following an event at https://noticeboard.indycarofficiating.org.
Examples of content that will be summarized in the post-event report:
Race Recaps
- In-race penalties imposed – for example, passing under yellow, emergency service in a closed pit or pit lane speed violations
- Incident reviews referred to the stewards and concluded with no further action
Practice Recaps
– In-practice penalties imposed – for example, pit lane speed violations, causing a yellow or red flag or entering the wrong pit box
Technical inspection findings from qualifying and races
– What was inspected and the extent and subject matter
– Explanation of any infraction and its resulting penalty-level classification o Summary of technical or procedural distinction, where relevant
The guidelines regarding technical penalties to provide consistency across events, post-event reports will include the classification of technical penalties based on the nature of the infraction via three levels:
Infraction Level 1
– A single-dimensional non-compliance, such as a height or size measurement outside tolerance, typically arising from wear, damage or assembly failure with no finding of altered component location or improper conduct.
Infraction Level 2
– A more significant compliance failure, such as an out-of-tolerance aerodynamic angle, driver or car weight, fuel-system or safety equipment matter, where the configuration is outside specification but does not involve modification of a spec part.
Infraction Level 3
– Modification of a spec part, regardless of which assembly or subsystem it belongs to, or the installation of unapproved or altered components – a departure from the car’s approved specification.
Associated penalties begin with point assessments and fines at Level 1 and rise to disqualification and suspensions at Level 3. Specific monetary fines, point assessments and other consequences imposed within a given infraction level remain at the sole discretion of IndyCar Officiating.
“We have moved quickly but meticulously in applying this next step in greater officiating transparency,” Elkins said. “Our goals include increased consistency and clarity as these reports look to provide an additional resource toward structure and process. We look forward to implementing this next phase beginning at WWT Raceway.”
Post-event reports for INDY NXT by Firestone events will begin later this summer.
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