McLaughlin’s engineer of the last four seasons, Ben Bretzman, has been promoted into an engineering management position across the team’s three entries.
Racer reports that former Penske Porsche IMSA SportsCar team stalwart Raul Prados will step into Bretzman’s place on the #3 Dallara-Chevrolet.
Bretzman’s promotion is part of the multi-layered fallout to the 2025 Indy 500 cheating scandal that resulted in Roger Penske firing the team’s top management.
The changes are among many under the rule of Jonathan Diuguid, who took over as Team Penske president from the ousted Tim Cindric in July.
Spaniard Prados spent five years in IndyCar from 2012 working with AJ Foyt Racing ahead of a move to Penske.
He engineered Juan Pablo Montoya to victory in that year’s Indianapolis 500 before switching to the team’s sportscar program.
This year marks McLaughlin’s sixth full IndyCar season having made the leap in 2021 following a Supercars Championship three-peat.
All seven of McLaughlin’s IndyCar race wins to date have come alongside Bretzman, who earlier engineered Simon Pagenaud to Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series success.
McLaughlin and Bretzman pair failed to add to their win tally in 2025 en route to 10th in the standings amid the team’s troubled campaign.
“Already hard at work with Raul,” said McLaughlin in a social media post reacting to news of Prados’ appointment.
“Amazing engineer. Can’t wait for what’s ahead. Benny my guy will still be around, he’s just a big boy now!”
Team Penske will field McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden and David Malukas this season, with Malukas having replaced Andretti-bound Australian Will Power.
The IndyCar Series is set to begin with the Grand Prix of St Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 1.
McLaughlin’s first race outing of the year will come at Daytona this weekend, where he’ll share a DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette in the 24 hour sportscar event.
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