Will Power Says Team Penske IndyCar Firings Were A ‘Shock’ And ‘Pity’

Team Penske driver Will Power said on Thursday that he’s putting aside the rules violation scandal that sent him to the back of the starting grid to focus on the race, but that his thoughts are with the three executives who were fired from the team this week.

“It’s kind of a shock, but a pity. You know, they’re all extremely good at their job,” Power said. “The pressure form outside, you know, I guess Roger just had to make a tough decision.”

Team Penske’s President of IndyCar operations Tim Cindric, Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and General Manager Kyle Moyer were let go.

“I can tell you that these were very credible people,” the 2018 Indy 500 winner said. “As you know, the infraction was very minor, it wasn’t a performance gain.”

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The cars were disqualified from the Top 12 qualifying session on Sunday after other teams reportedly pointed out that they had illegal rear attenuators, which is a crash-impact structure at the rear of the vehicle.

Power said it is “absolutely possible” to win from the back of the field, but that he won’t be motivated by revenge when the green flag waves.

“I just want to do a good job for all the guys on the team on Sunday,” Power said. “I’m just really focused on the race, not really out to get anyone.”

Power chalked the incident up to the unpredictable nature of the high pressure event, citing his teammate Scott McLaughlin’s crash in Sunday practice and rookie Robert Shwartzman’s pole position for first year team Prema Racing as other oddities this year.

“That’s Indianapolis, you just never know, man,” he said. “These things happen, strange things happen.”