Team Penske dismisses longtime executive Tim Cindric ahead of Indianapolis 500 amid qualifying penalty

Ahead of the 2025 Indianapolis 500, Team Penske has made a major decision regarding longtime executive Tim Cindric. The President of the team’s IndyCar program, as well as Roger Penske’s longtime right-hand man, is departing the organization, per a team statement.

Cindric has been with Team Penske since 1999. His departure comes after he was embroiled in an IndyCar scandal where their two drivers, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, were found to have illegally used the push-to-pass boost system during the season-opening race when it should not have been programmed to work in 2024, per ESPN.

The incident led to Newgarden and McLaughlin being stripped of their first and second-place finishes, while Cindric and Ron Ruzewski, the team’s managing director for the IndyCar team, were suspended. Cindric was subsequently moved from the President of Team Penske, leading their NASCAR team, to overseeing only their IndyCar program.

Then, there was another controversy surrounding Team Penske during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 this past weekend. The aforementioned Newgarden and teammate Will Power will have to start from the final two spots on the grid Sunday after their teams were penalized for violating the rules during qualifying weekend.

Additionally, IndyCar announced that the team strategists for the Nos. 2 and 12 will be suspended for the race. The cars will forfeit their qualification points and pit box selections, and each of the entries has been fined $100,000.

With that in mind, both Cindric and Ruzewski, along with IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer, are being dismissed from the team. Two controversies in two years seem to be the undoing of their tenure with Team Penske.

“Team Penske announced today the departures of INDYCAR Team President, Tim Cindric, INDYCAR Managing Director, Ron Ruzewski and INDYCAR General Manager Kyle Moyer from the organization,” a statement from the organization read. “Team Penske will have further announcements this week related to personnel and replacements for this weekend’s Indianapolis 500.”

It’s evident this all didn’t sit well with famed team owner Roger Penske. He added his own words on the matter, apologizing to his fans and partners for the actions of his IndyCar team, which have dampened their reputation.

“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams. We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes,” Penske’s statement read. “I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”

As to how this pertains to the NASCAR side, Cindric is of course the father of Team Penske drive Austin Cindric. In his three years in the Cup Series, Cindric has won a Daytona 500, last year’s race at Gateway and this year’s trip to Talladega Superspeedway.

All told, the Indianapolis 500 will take place this weekend, but there’s a black cloud over Team Penske at the moment. The race means the world to Roger Penske, as Penske Corporation has owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 2019. Perhaps their drivers can rise above and make the team owner proud, which is something he’d appreciate during a tumultuous time for the organization.