Newgarden, Power moved to back of Indianapolis 500 starting grid

Driving the news: Two-time defending Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden and his teammate Will Power, winner of the 2018 Indy 500, were moved to the back of the starting grid for Sunday's race over illegal modifications made to their cars ahead of qualifying last weekend.

• IndyCar is suspending the team strategists for both cars and fining each car $100,000.
• Each also forfeits their qualification points for the IndyCar series and pit positions for the race.

What they're saying: "It's the biggest race in the world," Doug Boles, president of IndyCar, said during a press conference Monday. "Integrity is paramount in order for us to continue to grow this event."

Catch up quick: Newgarden and Power were both fast enough during Saturday's qualifying to make it into Top 12 qualifying on Sunday.

• The illegal modification was caught during technical inspection ahead of qualifying Sunday, so their cars were pulled and they were placed at the back of their qualifying group — 11th and 12th, respectively.

Monday morning, Boles announced that IndyCar had chosen to institute stiffer penalties, including moving them to the back of the grid — 32nd and 33rd, respectively.

• "For me, the result of being able to start where you might have ended up qualifying anyway had you been able to qualify is not a penalty deserving of what happened there," he said.

Yes, but: Not everyone thinks the penalties were stiff enough.

Pato O'Ward, who finished second to Newgarden in last year's 500, said he thinks Newgarden and Power should have been placed into last-chance qualifying, rather than guaranteed a spot in the field.

• With 34 cars vying for a spot on the starting grid of 33, rookie Jacob Abel was the lone driver bumped from the race.
• "I feel for Abel and everyone who did the last-chance qualifications," O'Ward said in a press conference after qualifying.
• "It's a shame. They don't need to be doing that stuff," O'Ward said. "They're a great team; they've got great drivers. Why are you doing that? Makes no sense."

State of play: Making things more awkward is that Newgarden and Power race for Team Penske, owned by Roger Penske, who also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar racing series.

• Boles said Roger Penske was not involved in any of the decisions, "other than to be told that there would be a penalty coming his way and it would be a severe penalty."

Team Penske issued a statement saying it accepted the penalties and was disappointed.

Between the lines: It's not the first time Team Penske's been caught cheating.

• Last year, IndyCar disqualified Newgarden's victory and teammate Scott McLaughlin's third-place finish in the season-opening race because the push-to-pass software had been illegally used by both drivers during restarts.
• McLaughlin also qualified in the Top 12 but crashed in practice Sunday. His car was reviewed and found to have an unmodified attenuator, so he is allowed to keep his 10th place starting spot.

Zoom in: The illegal modifications were made to something called an attenuator, a part at the rear of the car designed to minimize the force transferred to the driver's cockpit during a crash.

• There is a seam where the attenuator attaches to the car. On Newgarden's and Power's cars, it appears that seam had been filled in and smoothed, creating a more aerodynamic line.
• IndyCar has a rule that the attenuator cannot be modified.

The intrigue: There is also speculation that Newgarden's winning car from last year featured the illegal attenuator modification.

• Boles — who became president of IndyCar this year — said Monday that he's heard rumors that this issue predated Sunday but that he's working off the facts he has right now, which is the violation was found Sunday.
• "I know that yesterday the car was not conforming to our rules," he said. "I can't address something that happened last year when I wasn't even in this job."