Pato O'Ward: Penske cars should have been sent to LCQ after rules breach

O'Ward will start the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 from the front row, and he has a fairly strong opinion on which row the Penske cars should be starting in...

After qualifying third for the this year's Indianapolis 500, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward met with the media to discuss his strong showing. But when asked about the technical violation involving Team Penske's two remaining cars in Fast 12 qualifying, he did not hold back.

IndyCar officials found something amiss with the rear attenuator on Josef Newgarden's No. 2 Chevrolet. Will Power's No. 12 Chevrolet had the same issue, but was already sitting in the pit lane. Penske decided to work on the cars, believing they could rectify the problem and still qualify without issue, but that was not the case.

In the end, both cars were pulled out of line and took no further part in qualifying. They, along with Scott McLaughlin who crashed heavily in Sunday morning practice, will share Row 4 (10th - 12th) on the grid. But O'Ward thinks the immediate punishment should have been far more severe.

UPDATE: On Monday, IndyCar penalized the cars of Penske and Newgarden, sending both drivers to the rear of the field, suspending their race strategists and fining each entry $100,000.

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

"They weren't accidentally doing it because they had the blowtorch right there in order to get it out," said O'Ward. "Honestly, I feel for [Jacob] Abel and for everybody that did the last chance qualifying. Those (Penske) cars weren't in regulations."

Rookie Jacob Abel was the lone driver who failed to qualify for the Indy 500, losing out in the LCQ to Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Armstrong, and Marco Andretti. Meanwhile, all three Penske cars were fast enough for the Fast 12 via their efforts on Saturday.

"I'm not an engineer, so I can't tell you what they were doing, how much speed that it is or if it is any speed," continued O'Ward. "Obviously it's not in regulation. The rule is pretty black and white. Those cars should have been in the last chance qualifier. Like, those cars should have never -- obviously they didn't do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the LCQ because they had that yesterday, I guarantee you. Until someone pointed it out today. Those cars, if they're disqualified today, they should have been disqualified yesterday.

"It's a shame really because they don't need to be doing that stuff. They're a great team. They have got great drivers. Why are doing that? It makes no sense."