Tim Cindric, Ruzewski & Moyer All Out At Team Penske

Tim Cindric and two other key executives have been dismissed from Team Penske. (Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment photo)

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – A second straight scandal surrounding Team Penske’s NTT IndyCar Series team proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for several key personnel within the organization on Wednesday.

With more controversy swirling than team and series owner Roger Penske was willing to bear, the 88-year-old released the top three members of his IndyCar team’s executive structure.

Dismissed just four days before the 109th Indianapolis 500 were Team Penske IndyCar President Tim Cindric, Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, and IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer.

Both Cindric and Ruzewski had already been suspended by IndyCar for Sunday’s ‘500’ after pre-qualifying inspection failures Sunday for the Nos. 2 and 12 entries of Josef Newgarden and Will Power, respectively, relating to illegally modified rear attenuators.

Now, they’re looking for new work outright.

“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” said Penske in a statement when the news was announced. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes.

“I apologize to our fans, our partners, and our organization for letting them down.”

Not only is Penske’s organization the winningest Indy 500 team in history, with 20 career victories in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, but he purchased both IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019 and has had to precariously balance his team, track, and series owner roles ever since.

This week’s drama extends a tumultuous 15-month stretch for Team Penske in Indy car racing, after the team was previously sanctioned for push-to-pass violations during the 2024 season opener in St. Petersburg, Fla.

That incident cost Newgarden the victory in that event and disqualified another Penske driver in Scott McLaughlin, while Power received a 10-point penalty as well. Cindric and Ruzewski were suspended by Team Penske, as opposed to IndyCar, for last year’s Indy 500 because of the St. Petersburg violations.

IndyCar and IMS President Doug Boles said Monday in a press conference that Penske was “devastated” by the events that have taken place during the Month of May with the team bearing his name.

“I’ve known Roger Penske for an awful long time, and I’ve gotten to know him really well since November [of] 2019. I don’t think Roger Penske understands some of the things that might be going on [behind the scenes],” explained Boles. “I get the optics challenge, and it’s definitely something we should think about. I mean, how do you manage the optics challenge? I think a lot of these challenges are – while they roll up to Roger at the end of the day, I think they are certainly below him. There are things that happen that don’t ever get to Roger, and maybe people don’t fully realize that.

“I can tell you that Roger Penske would not condone this. In fact, I had a chance to talk to Roger, and I can tell that this is devastating to him,” added Boles, referencing the rule violations from Sunday’s qualifying day. “Nothing means more to Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. He certainly loves racing across the board.

“This is something that I think he’s going to have to address at some point in time.”

Penske did just that Wednesday morning, with Boles noting his belief that the buildup of energy toward Sunday’s 500-Mile Race will remain, despite the turmoil that has arisen in recent days.

“The momentum of the Indianapolis 500 is still going to continue to be there. I’ve heard since [Sunday], even [Monday] morning, the number of text messages and notes that I'm getting from fans on how great the weekend was and how excited they are for the Indianapolis 500,” noted Boles. “It’s still there.

“The challenge right now is getting our paddock to feel comfortable that it’s still there. We need our biggest stakeholders, the people that are investing in our sport, to believe that it's a level playing field and that they have every chance as anybody else does to win the Indianapolis 500 … so we’re all singing from the same song book.

“I don’t think our momentum will slow going into this weekend,” Boles noted. “In fact, I think our momentum will continue to pick up going into it. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be right here right now addressing this the way we’re addressing it.”

As a result of Sunday’s qualifying situation, Newgarden and Power were moved from 11th and 12th to 32nd and 33rd on the Indy 500 starting grid. Their teams also lost pit selection, were fined $100,000 each, and relinquished all Indy 500 qualifying points they would have earned.

Team Penske will have additional announcements forthcoming regarding personnel and replacements for the 109th Indianapolis 500.