INDIANAPOLIS – By changing its push to pass guidelines, IndyCar has only created more confusion and controversy.
On Tuesday, IndyCar announced it will now allow drivers to use push to pass — a feature that adds a 60 horsepower boost for up to 200 seconds per road and street courses — on restarts, which was previously not allowed. Drivers still can’t use push to pass at the start of races, and they must pass the alternate start-finish line on restarts before using it.
The midseason rule alteration came after another push to pass issue arose at April’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, where drivers were given access to push to pass on a Lap 62 restart when they weren’t supposed to. Twelve of the 24 drivers on track used it illegally, but starting this weekend, that move will be allowed.
Along with the rule change, IndyCar Officiating — the independent organization in its first season — announced a “responsibility update” for push to pass. A news release from IndyCar Officiating said IndyCar will now “place the burden on competitors to ensure Push to Pass is not used at restricted times.” IndyCar will update its Controller Area Network (CAN) to provide individual messaging, and an additional software engineer is to monitor outgoing CAN messages and push to pass.
At Thursday’s news conference ahead of the Sonsio Grand Prix, the top five drivers in the IndyCar standings — Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing), Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global), David Malukas (Team Penske), Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and Christian Lundgaard (Arrow McLaren) — still didn’t understand the change.
“If IndyCar (expletives) up again and I press the button, I get penalized?” questioned Palou, who won at Long Beach after being one of the 12 drivers to use push to pass.
Palou was not yet aware of the responsibility update, and the four-time IndyCar champion was not in favor of how IndyCar shifted the burden to its drivers.
“If we press it and it works because someone else does a mistake, we get penalized?” he asked.
“Yeah, because you’re not supposed to be able to use it until the alt start-finish,” Lundgaard responded.
Minutes later, as the drivers tried to understand what’s allowed and what isn’t, debate sparked about whether using push to pass illegally in Long Beach was justified since IndyCar wrongly gave cars the option.
Palou: “I am very surprised that only half of the grid used it. Very surprised.”
Kirkwood: “Well you guys must have an indicator because all your cars used it.”
Palou: “No, Scott (Dixon) didn’t.”
Kirkwood: “I know, but the (Meyer Shank Racing) cars did, (Kyffin Simpson) did…”
Palou: “(Dixon) didn’t.”
Kirkwood: “He must’ve not seen that indicator.”
Palou: “I pressed it three times, and I’m surprised I didn’t press it more. … I’m very surprised, as well, that they pinpointed every single car that used it when it was not our fault, it was IndyCar’s fault.”
Kirkwood: “Alright, let’s set the record straight, everybody would have used if they’d known it was active. Every driver would have. I wish I would have known it was on, because I would’ve used it.”
O’Ward: “False! I got told…”
Kirkwood: “You got told it was active and did not use it?”
O’Ward: “No, I did not use it.”
Kirkwood: “Why? You were told it was on.”
O’Ward: “Well because you know the rule, man.”
Palou, whose pit stop beat out Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist to take the lead before the restart, felt no remorse for using push to pass in Long Beach. Palou used it for 15.1 seconds, as Rosenqvist (18.5 seconds) was the lone driver to use it longer.
“If Rosenqvist overtakes me and I lose a win, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re very sorry, we’re gonna change the rule now?’” Palou questioned.
Palou felt the situation at Long Beach was different from the 2024 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg when Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified from the race weeks later for illegal use of push to pass. Newgarden was stripped of a win that was given to O’Ward.
“It’s very different to what happened two years ago, where someone changed the code,” Palou said. “We’re talking about someone not pressing the button (or) pressing the button. And it’s not on us to know if it’s active or not.”
IndyCar held a previously scheduled drivers’ meeting hours after the news conference, with one of the objectives being to clear up the new rule. For the time being, there remains confusion on what the rule is and if drivers should carry the responsibility of activating push to pass.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to theYouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar’s push to pass rule change sparks driver confusion, ethical debate
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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