Josef Newgarden was unwilling to talk abou🅷t the cheating scandal that has embroiled Team Penske ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis ܫ500.

It was Newgarden’s car that first caught the attention of IndyCar’s technica♛l inspectors during qualifying for the Indy 500, triggering a chain reaction that saw both him and teammate Will Power missing the session.

The rear accentuator - which forms the rear crash s🍸tructure on the car - was found to have been illegally modified by Penske, with the squad havi꧒ng filled the seams to smoothen the part.

The whole saga initially left Newgarden and Power 11th and 12th on the grid as they skipped the Fast 12, but 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:both were later sent to the bac🎀k oꦛf the grid as part of a raft of 💯penalties imposed by IndyCar on Mondꩵay.

The cheating controversy, the second for Penske in a little over a year after the push-to-pass saga that saw Newgarden being stripped of victor𝔉y a🌳t St Pete in 2024, has become a mainstream topic of interest in the wider sporting world.

All three Penske driver♓s appeared in fron🍸t of the media on Thursday, making their first public comments since the scandal broke out.

But while McLaughlin expres🅠sed his disappointment over Roger Penske’s name🍷 being dragged through the mud, and Power blamed external pressure for the tea꧑m sacking three key staff🦩 members, Newgarden preferred not to directly▨ comment about the news.

“I don’t want to disappoint or offend anybody. I’m hereꦑ to talk about the race,” he said. “I’m here with my team. I’m ready to go racing.

“I love this race. My goodness, I’ve been enjoying🌼 being here this whole time. ಌI look forward to it every year, as we all do. Ready to go to work with our group. Proud of everything that we have done up to this point. Ready to go racing. So that’s what I got to say.”

Newgarden is aiming to become the first driver in his🐲tory to score three victories in a row at the Indy 500, having triumphed at the fabled race in both 2023 and ‘24 with Penske.

However, his task will be exponentially harder from 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:32nd on the grid; no driver has won the race from lo🍎wer than 28th on tꦉhe grid.

However, the American dri🌄ver is not concerned about his starting position, believing he has what it takes to score a record-extending 21꧂st win for Penske in IndyCar’s blue riband event.

“You can win this race from any seat in the house. There’s no bad seat in this house,” Newgarden said. 
“I like the challenge of coming from 32nd. We do have a great car. It just seems to be getting better every year. I’m trying to protect that right now. It’s one of these things where every day changes a little bit at theꦐ Speedway. You have to stay on top of it.

“Sunday is really going to be the day that counts. We have to make sure we’re in the right place for that day. If we can do tha🐭t, we should be in a good spot.”