CONCORD, N.C. — After two of Team Penske’s IndyCar teams were penalized for illegal parts modifications during last weekend’s Indianapolis 500 qualifying, the team announced it had parted ways with IndyCar team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer on Wednesday.
Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric addressed the fallout of a situation that ultimately cost his father, Tim, his job.
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“When family’s involved, you’ve got to understand it from both sides,” Cindric told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “And I feel like from every step of the way, since I started racing for the team in 2018, I feel like between myself, my pops and (team owner) Roger (Penske) and most involved, I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job at separating personal life and professional life. And I see this as no different.
“Racing can be a cool industry. It can be an incredibly rewarding industry. And past that, it’s not something that I have weighing on me heavily for this weekend and for my pops. I love my dad, and that’s kind of about all I have to say.”
Tim Cindric served as the president of all of Team Penske’s racing efforts from 2005 through 2024. In February, Cindric stepped back from that role to focus solely on the organization’s IndyCar program. His son, Austin, is the 2022 winner of the Daytona 500 and 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series, has already won in 2025 to lock his way into the playoffs, thanks to an April win at Talladega Superspeedway, the third of his career. The fourth-year racer — now a veteran at 26 years old — said his job security remains unchanged at the company.
“Professionally, I’m in a no different place than I was a week ago,” Cindric said. “You know, I feel like we have a lot of momentum on our team right now on the 2 car. I’ve never felt better. I’ve never had a better start to a season. So for me, I’m just more focused on execution, really. I feel like we’ve had some really fast race cars and some good opportunities.
“The interesting thing for me about my first three years in Cup was the first time I actually was in meetings with my dad. And that ended at the beginning of this year, so I feel like there really is only a personal connection to any of the news from this week.”
Joey Logano, teammate to Cindric and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, shared in expressing unity for the whole of Team Penske. While no immediate impacts will be felt on the organization’s NASCAR program, there is overlap between it and the group’s IndyCar outfit.
“We’re all one team. That’s the way I’ve always viewed it,” Logano said. “That’s why we love to support what the IndyCar guys are doing every week, and vice versa. And we’re in the same building, so there are some shared pieces there when we go to whatever manufacturer or engineering, those type of things, there are shared people there. So when we see something like that, yeah, does it impact us? Obviously, it’s going to.
“I think Roger’s comments in his sit-down with Jamie (Little, FOX Sports) was everything we needed to hear. Roger came down and visited all of us — visited drivers and crew chiefs, but then visited the whole team in a Roger-type way, as you would expect. And yeah, at this point, it’s unfortunate, right? But we’ve got to move forward. It’s something that happened and we’ve got to stay out the windshield, as Roger always says.”
Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion for Team Penske, had a close connection to Tim Cindric as well. So while the impact wasn’t quite as close to home as it was for Austin Cindric, Tim Cindric’s departure did strike Blaney as well.
“Tim was one of the first guys I met over at Team Penske, and he was in the very first meetings with me and my dad,” Blaney said. “He had a huge impact on my career and my life, and he’s been a friend of mine ever since I walked in the door that day. And so he definitely means a lot.”
Blaney echoed Logano’s sentiment of viewing Team Penske as “one team” but believes the NASCAR side of the team’s efforts will go on as intended.
“It’s definitely tough to see a few guys go that have met a lot,” he said. “Tim meant a lot to me in my early parts of my career and things like that. Roger said it very well. I’m not really concerned that it’s going to bleed over into our deal. Just kind of move forward from it.”
In Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET, Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Austin Cindric will start 14th, with Logano 16th and Blaney 21st.