Chevrolet has denied any involvement or knowledge of the recent IndyCar cheating scandal within Team Penske. The company announced on Friday that it had hired an independent law firm to investigate whether any General Motors employees were involved in the incident.
The scandal came to light nearly two months after the March 10 season-opening race, where Josef Newgarden and his Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin were disqualified from their first and third-place finishes, respectively. IndyCar discovered that the push-to-pass software system on all three Penske cars had been manipulated to override series rules, allowing the drivers to utilize a boost of horsepower during restarts.
Newgarden claimed he used the button improperly three times, assuming there had been a rule change, while McLaughlin said he pressed the button once out of habit but gained no on-track advantage. Will Power, the third Penske driver, was fined because his car had the same software but was not accused of any wrongdoing.
The issue was discovered during the morning warm-up ahead of the April 21 race at Long Beach when a glitch knocked out the software for every car except the three Penske entries. Penske rivals have expressed disbelief at the team’s explanations, believing that Newgarden’s team was cheating and that it’s unlikely no one at Penske or Chevrolet noticed the incorrect software.
Mark Reuss, General Motors President, stated that a third-party law firm found no evidence of any Chevrolet employee having knowledge of or involvement in the matter. He added that Chevy will work with IndyCar and its partner teams to help maintain the integrity of the series.
The scandal has raised questions about the relationship between IndyCar, Team Penske, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, all of which are owned by Roger Penske. The 87-year-old has denied any knowledge of the scandal, and Newgarden claims he was “interrogated” by his boss when IndyCar alerted the team to the disqualification.
As the reigning Indy 500 winner, Newgarden is scheduled to be celebrated at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for three consecutive weekends of racing leading up to the May 26 Indy 500.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.