This week, Team Penske was stung with a raft of sanctions after the #2 Shell Chevy and #12 Verizon Chevy were found to have breached the IndyCar rules and regulations.

The rear attenuator, which acts as a crash structure and rear wing support, featured a blending of a seam. That, in theory, could create an aerodynamic advantage.

IndyCar allows teams to blend seams on several parts of the car. However, the attenuator is not one of those parts and it must be run as supplied by IndyCar

In the wake of the discovery by officials, it was found that the race-winning car from 2024 that is on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has the same modification.

Speaking with Motorsport.com ahead of the 109th Indianapolis 500, McLaren’s leading driver suggested that it may have played a part in him losing the 2024 race on the last lap.

“I mean, I feel like in a certain way it explains the unexplainable,” said O’Ward.

“From a gap that you wouldn’t be able to see any other car on the grid close.

“At that moment, at least in the last lap, the way that he just caught up even when the toe was broken a bit and just cleared.

“Like the speed, the natural speed of those cars currently. Even without this piece. What makes me wonder is that… that’s something we can see.”

Whether the modification gives the offending cars any advantage isn’t abundantly clear, though it begs the question: why make the modification in the first place if not for a gain?

It could be that Team Penske thought the attenuator was one of 16 items that could be blended, though that would be naïve to think they didn’t know the rule book back to front.

O’Ward mused that the Team Penske cars could have more trickery going on that’s not immediate obvious.

“I wonder what else and what other things are among those cars that we cannot see, that explain the ability to do some of the things where you’re like ‘How are they doing this?’ But I don’t want to get into it really,” he said.

“I think that’s just more motivation to when we actually get it done and we beat them. It’s going to feel real good.”

It marks the second major scandal for the team in a little more than a year after the push-to-pass saga that resulted in disqualifications for Newgarden and teammate Scott McLaughlin.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Graham Rahal hit out at Team Penske for its repeated offending.

“I don’t say this alone. I’ll say this for every other owner, I’ll say this for every other driver. There’s a pattern now,” said Rahal.

“There’s a pattern. They did it last year, they got caught. They did it again this year, they got caught.

“Apparently, if you look back at the photos from last year’s race, the race-winning car from last year had these same modifications, so it was illegal. That’s a concern.

“There is a pattern to this and I think that’s what bothers most people because we’re all competitors, we’re all out here fighting.

“They’re already the biggest and most powerful team. They don’t need to do these things. They don’t need to do that, it’s silly to do it. But, ultimately, they chose to do it.

“They’re going to pay the price at least with two of their cars on Sunday. I’m sure they’ll be able to motor ride their way through, to be honest with you.”

There is growing animosity in the paddock over Roger Penske’s involvement.

His business owns the IndyCar Series as well as Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and there is a perceived conflict of interest among some.

When asked if there was scope for a more independent governing body overseeing the series, IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boules said it’s worth considering.

“I don’t think Roger Penske understands some of the things that might be going on,” said Boules.

“I get the optics challenge, and it’s definitely something we should think about. I mean, how do you manage the optics challenge? A lot of these challenges I think are… while they roll up to Roger at the end of the day, I think they are certainly below him.

“There are things that happen that don’t ever get to Roger. I can tell you that Roger Penske would not condone this. In fact, I had a chance to talk to Roger, and I can tell that this is devastating to him.

“Nothing means more to Roger Penske than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. He certainly loves racing across the board. This is something that I think he’s going to have to address at some point in time.

“As far as the series goes, we are open to looking at wherever we are, but right now at this point in time we have a tech team that did their job yesterday.

“They found the attenuators. We stopped both of them (cars #2 and #12), and I think we’ve appropriately resolved or at least appropriately addressed – maybe not resolved forever – but we’ve appropriately addressed this particular situation.

“I’m not trying to dodge your question. It’s hard for me to just immediately give you an answer. That’s a big question, right, that we have to spend some time thinking about.”