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 in St. Louis featured incredible racing for the majority of the contest, it was quickly marred with multiple controversial decisions from race control.
When Josef Newgarden led the field to the green flag with nine laps to go on the oval, it was at a dramatically slower pace than any other restart previously that night. The field ended up stacked on top of each other to the extent that even polesitter Scott McLaughlin, running second, tapped the gearbox of his Team Penske team-mate ahead as they exited Turn 4 and the green flag waved.
A chain reaction was already set in motion behind, as another team-mate, Will Power, who led a race-high 117 of 260 laps, anticipated the restart slightly before Newgarden got going and was forced to crack the throttle. The outcome was Power getting hit from behind by Alexander Rossi’s Arrow McLaren, which ended up catching air before both cars settled against the inside wall. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey also received damage as a result of the incident, which brought out 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 was never given. In a fit of frustration, Power climbed out of his wrecked machine and walked to the pitlane, where he greeted Newgarden with a middle finger salute as the field was brought down for the stoppage.
At the next restart with seven laps, Newgarden went with an alternative approach and sped away from the field on 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 chequered 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.
That is reflected in the rulebook with regulation 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 penalised. 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, when 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 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 pitlane 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 lead to chaos. Back in 2021, in the second race of a double-header 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.
Going back to last Saturday, there was a moment on lap 196 when Newgarden spun off at 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 getting stalled is unlikely, it was surprising to see how quickly race control threw the 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 130-140mph. 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 penalised earlier in the race, cycled to the lead and came in for his final pitstop on lap 75, with the yellow flag coming out right before sliding into his pitbox. 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.
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 Ericsson 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 Saturday night’s race wasn't enough, there were additional dramas. 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 dived 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 tyres nearly touching against the inside kerb, 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. While Power wasn’t penalised for avoidable contact, even though he had an entire second lane that had proved stout all night to use, the incident ironically led to the controversial restart that he was collected in 12 laps later.
Then, on the last lap, 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 finished fourth, he was penalised by race control and relegated to the last car on the lead lap - which slotted him down one position to fifth.
Considering Power’s incident with Malukas led to a crash and Herta’s did not, and also didn’t maintain position, it was a bit perplexing to see the penalty handed out 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 on why his son was hit with a penalty but the restart by Newgarden that led to a multi-car crash wasn’t.
“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,” said Bryan Herta. “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 team-mates 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.
“It’s a growing feeling in the paddock,” he said. “Maybe I’m the first one to say that, but it’s what people feel. 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 penalise 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 rulebook 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 this writer 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.
It took IndyCar officials 45 days from the chequered 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 wrongdoing. 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.
