“Still Standing Tall”: Roger Penske’s Ousted Executive Holds His Head High Amidst Simmering Controversy

Anybody can land in trouble, but what matters is how they respond to it. Team Penske is currently undergoing its second bout of controversy in less than two years. During the Fast 12 qualifying session for the 2025 Indianapolis 500, the cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power violated rules. They were found to have illegal modifications on the attenuators. This led Roger Penske, the team mogul, to take some strong calls, yet that has left the receiving end undeterred.

At the 2024 season-starting race at St Petersburg, the team got involved in the push-to-pass scandal. What is more, even its NASCAR branch faced controversy due to Joey Logano’s ‘webbed gloves.’ These challenges have rocked the organization throughout. But one of its outgoing executives put up a strong, unwavering outlook.

Roger Penske’s man is bravely facing the consequences

Well, calling Tim Cindric Roger Penske’s man would be an understatement. The top executive has been in the organization since 1999. He served as President of Team Penske since January 2006, stepping back from his day-to-day role in January 2025 as a response to the push-to-pass controversy. Besides IndyCar, Cindric has supervised Team Penske’s top-notch competition in the NASCAR Cup Series, NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and FIA World Endurance Championship. Cindric was serving as the chief racing strategist for two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden. This wealth of experience has already made Cindric an invaluable asset in Team Penske.

The recent technical violation led to another bout of embarrassment for the Team Penske fold. As a consequence, Roger Penske cut ties with Tim Cindric, dismissing his top man after 26 years of working together. Yet, despite the ongoing turbulence, Cindric’s statement on X showed his unshakeable resilience. He wrote, “It’s been an amazing ride! While my conscience remains clear through all of the noise and accusations, I’m grateful to have so many great people to draw strength from in times like this. Still standing tall!”

It’s been an amazing ride!

While my conscience remains clear through all of the noise and accusations, I’m grateful to have so many great people to draw strength from in times like this. Still standing tall!

— Tim Cindric (@TimCindric) May 21, 2025

Two other executives in Team Penske would need to harness this level of confidence from Tim Cindric. Roger Penske relieved the duties of managing director Ron Ruzewski, who was also the race strategist for Power. Then, general manager Kyle Moyer is also departing the organization after 11 years. The other parts of the turbulence that hit Team Penske involve a total of $200,000 fine, and Newgarden and Power starting from the rear at the Indy 500. When the news of this penalty first hit, Cindric had displayed his rock-solid confidence then.

Tim Cindric said the team will weather this chaos. “In our eyes, it’s not a performance advantage, but at the end of the day, if they don’t like the seam being filled, they don’t like the seam being filled. You’ve got to do what the inspection process is and conform to that. We’ll live with it and start on the fourth row. Everybody’s trying to make the cars as sleek as you can, and whether this much makes a difference or not, the facts are this didn’t pass inspection.”

Clearly, the drive to win is still alive in the outgoing Team Penske executive. It is also alive in Roger Penske, who believes in his team’s talents despite the setback.

Rooting for his drivers nonetheless

After all, Team Penske is one of the winningest groups in motorsports, owning 650 major race wins across disciplines. Over the course of its 59-year history, the team has also earned 20 Indianapolis 500 victories. The motivation to win never really dies down in Roger Penske’s fold. That was evident in 2024. The push-to-pass scandal created a lot of buzz and backlash against Josef Newgarden and his teammates. As a result, Newgarden lost his St. Petersburg race win and landed a $25,000 fine. Despite this crippling setback, the two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion (2017, 2019) looked ahead. Newgarden went on to clinch his second Indy 500 victory the same year. Clearly, this trendsetter will still be a contender at the 109th Indy 500 as well.

What is more, Newgarden and Will Power went through Saturday’s inspection and qualifying smoothly. So Roger Penske believes that not only do they deserve to be in the race, but they also have a high chance. The team owner said, “Those cars went through inspection on Saturday, got the sticker, they performed in the top 12, and were available to run on Sunday. From that point on, there was a question about our cars on Sunday — we actually pulled a car and did not make a run because of the question from the officials. But as far as I’m concerned, they’ve earned the right to be in the 109th running of the Indy 500.” Penske added, “Our goal is to win the race this upcoming weekend.”

Hence, challenges cannot rattle any part of Team Penske’s fold. Be it an outgoing executive or be it the ones lucky enough to survive judicial storms, they aim to win.

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