Three drivers issued massive penalties following Indianapolis 500

As if losing the Indianapolis 500 was not painful enough, the post-race penalties that were handed down on Monday only added insult to injury for three of the top-12 finishers in Sunday's race.

IndyCar announced the penalties on Monday to PREMA Racing's Callum Ilott and Andretti Global teammates Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood. 

Per IndyCar.com, the cars of Ericsson and Kirkwood were found to have unapproved modifications that could have aided their aerodynamic efficiency. Ilott's car failed to meet the minimum endplate height and location specification.

While Kirkwood (sixth) and Ilott (12th) had solid finishes, Ericsson's penalty only magnified the disappointment after his runner-up showing on Sunday.

As a result of the penalties, the three drivers drop to the tail of the field in the final running order with Ericsson in 31st, Kirkwood 32nd and Ilott 33rd. To make matters worse, each of them had to forfeit their earnings and championship points from the race and will now receive the money and points for their updated finishing positions.

Each team was fined $100K, and the competition managers were issued a one-race suspension, which will sideline them for the upcoming race on the streets of Detroit on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET, FOX).

After the penalties, David Malukas is credited with a second-place finish with Pato O'Ward (third), Felix Rosenqvist (fourth) and Santino Ferrucci (fifth) rounding out the top five.

This comes one week after Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power failed pre-qualifying inspection due to modified attenuators. The two drivers were forced to start on the last row for the Indy 500, and the team announced the firing of its senior leadership team a few days later. 

While fuel pressure issues prevented Newgarden from a three-peat and Power was never in contention, Ericsson, Kirkwood and Ilott were toward the front, which only makes the penalties that much more crushing.

After this Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the NTT IndyCar Series will enter a much-needed off-week after a busy month of May leading up to the Indy 500. Perhaps a reset is exactly what Andretti Global and PREMA Racing can use after their massive penalties following the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."