Penske’s Hat Trick of Embarrassment: Disqualified at Le Mans, Shady at Indy, and Sloppy at Daytona

Here’s the full ruling from the 24 Hours of Le Mans stewards this week:

> “After having examined the Technical Delegate report, the Stewards considered the minimum car weight did not comply with the relevant regulations. During the hearing, the Team Manager confirmed and accepted the procedure of the scrutineering and the measurements. Consequently, the Stewards decided to impose the disqualification of car 6 from the qualifying session. The car 6 will start at the back of the grid of his category according to the Article 10.2.2 of 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans supplementary regulations.”

Translation: they ran the car underweight, got caught, didn’t fight it, and will now start from the back of their class in the biggest race on the WEC calendar.

Running light isn’t usually some Machiavellian plan, it’s often just a mistake. But when it’s Team Penske, a shop with more resources than some OEMs, that mistake reads less like a fluke and more like a trend. Especially when you stack it next to what happened at Indy and Daytona.

Let’s rewind:

Daytona: Joey Logano’s Magical Mystery Glove

Back in February, NASCAR handed Penske a hefty penalty for modifying Joey Logano’s gloves, yes, his gloves, with additional webbing between the fingers, potentially to manipulate airflow during qualifying at Daytona. Penske said it was for “safety.” NASCAR said it was for “aero.” The rulebook said it was illegal. The result? A steep fine, 100-point deduction, and Logano’s pole run wiped out.

Indy: The Blended Attenuator Shenanigan

Then in May, Roger’s golden boy Josef Newgarden had his Indy 500 win thrown under the microscope. The team had installed an illegally modified push to pass system, a blend configuration that allowed their cars to exploit a loophole in how power deployment was monitored. The penalty? Disqualification from the results and a PR headache for a team that should never be in that conversation to begin with.

And now, just weeks later: underweight at Le Mans.

Three Strikes: And They're Not Out (Yet)

These aren’t the sort of “innovations” you expect from a team that prides itself on discipline, execution, and polish. We’re not talking about gray-area tricks or crafty engineering sleight of hand. This is basic stuff. The car has to weigh a minimum amount. The glove can’t be a wind tunnel prop. The push to pass isn’t supposed to be programmable trickery.

At some point, it stops being bad luck and starts looking like sloppiness, or worse, a culture shift inside one of the sport’s most decorated organizations.

And while qualifying at Le Mans isn’t everything, it’s a 24-hour race, not a sprint, the optics are bad. Starting from the back again, for another rules infraction, at another major event? That’s a trend no billionaire team owner wants to see. Especially not one who owns the IndyCar series itself.

One thing’s for sure: if Team Penske is chasing perfection in 2025, they might need to rethink their definition.