IndyCar would have a new champion if not for Penske scandal

As a gamer who has spent countless hours navigating the twists and turns of virtual racing tracks, I can’t help but feel a sense of bittersweet nostalgia watching the 2024 IndyCar season unfold. The drama that unfolded at St. Petersburg back in March was reminiscent of those glitch-filled, save-scumming days when a single bug could make or break your chances at victory.

If a random system malfunction during the morning preparation in Long Beach, California on April’s calendar hadn’t occurred, IndyCar would have crowned a fresh series champion this past Sunday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway.

It emerged that Team Penske retained control of the push-to-pass overtake aid even after it had been disabled for all other teams that morning.

It was discovered through further examination that two out of the three drivers had utilized an exploit in their system, which apparently happened because of a programming mistake caused by mixed testing, during several race restarts at the season opener held on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, around six weeks ago.

As a devoted fan, I’m sharing an intriguing incident from the recent race. Josef Newgarden pressed that button not once, not twice, but three times, unlike Scott McLaughlin who used it just the one time. Now, here’s where things get interesting! Newgarden asserted he believed a rule had been altered (even though it seemed a bit too convenient to accept at first glance), and surprisingly, this was later confirmed via in-race radio communication. On the other hand, McLaughlin straightforwardly admitted his action was due to a simple mistake.

Over that particular weekend, Newgarden’s victory was taken away from him, leaving him with just the single point he rightfully earned for qualifying first on the grid. On the other hand, McLaughlin lost his third-place finish entirely and forfeited all 35 points he had accumulated during that period.

Drivers that ended the race behind them advanced their positions, with teammate Will Power going from fourth to second position.

Power initially gained an advantage of eight points from his teammates’ infractions, but since team No. 12 was also found to have illegally accessed the system, IndyCar chose to penalize Power by taking away ten points to avoid the appearance of a teammate unfairly winning a title due to their team’s scandal. Consequently, Power ended up losing two net points in total.

But most notably, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou moved up from sixth to fourth place, marking a net gain of four points.

Through a shift of 39 points, the 27-year-old Spanish driver Palou benefited significantly as McLaughlin dropped 35 points.

In the end, the drivers of car number 10 (Honda) and car number 3 (Chevrolet) had a significant gap in points when the 2024 IndyCar championship was tallied up.

If McLaughlin had still finished in third place during the season opener, and if the loophole had been closed eventually without Team Penske using it again, both Palou and McLaughlin would have earned 540 points each for this year’s competition.

If McLaughlin and Palou both ended up with an equal number of race wins this season, McLaughlin would have been named champion for the first time in his IndyCar career due to a tiebreaker situation. This hasn’t occurred since Scott Dixon clinched his fourth title over Juan Pablo Montoya back in 2015.

Understood, however, please note that this analysis takes into account any potential consistency across other factors like race tactics and point calculations, although these specific conditions might not always align in real-world race situations.

However, unlike since Dario Franchitti, who consecutively claimed three championships from 2009 to 2011 while driving the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi, Palou is now the first driver to win back-to-back titles in recent years.

In the past four years after joining Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou has managed an impressive accomplishment by winning three titles, which is remarkable given that he outdid his six-time champion teammate Dixon in this achievement.

In the year 2025, the location that sparked the opening controversy of 2024 will also kick off the 17-race IndyCar season. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is slated to air live on Fox, bringing the race action from the streets of St. Petersburg straight to your screens on Sunday, March 2.

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2024-09-16 16:02