INDYCAR announced a penalty stemming from post-race technical inspection of the June 8 Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The No. 3 Team Penske car driven by Helio Castroneves was fined $35,000 and docked 15 entrant points for not complying Rule 14.6.6.14 (Underwing).
Members may contest the imposition of the penalty pursuant to the procedures and timelines detailed in the protest and appeal sections of the IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook.
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric issued the following statement: "Obviously, we are very disappointed that the No. 3 car did not pass post-race inspection after Saturday's race at Texas. The rule in question (14.6.6.14) states that the diffuser exit must measure 7.600." After the race, ours was 7.575" because we neglected to tighten the braces that position the rear of the diffuser following pre-race inspection.
"The way Helio's car raced did not provide any advantage as a lower diffuser height actually adds drag and reduces downforce. To ensure this is the case, we ran this configuration in the wind tunnel on Monday morning and found that the No. 3 car actually raced with three pounds less downforce and one pound more drag than what it would have had if we tightened the underwing braces properly."