Ryan Blaney Breaks Silence on Team Penske Indy 500 Scandal After Nashville Win

Ryan Blaney laments Team Penske's illegal tactics at the Indy 500 after easing the team's pain by winning in Nashville.

Ryan Blaney Breaks Silence on Team Penske Indy 500 Scandal After Nashville Win

Ryan Blaney (Via IMAGO)

Ryan Blaney emerged victorious in Nashville after a tough weekend for Team Penske in the Indy 500. Blaney managed to keep Joey Logano and the trailing drivers at bay after the third restart and swiftly took the race lead and ultimately the win. Now, after providing Penske some relief following his win, Blaney has opened up on the dire situation faced by the team in the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Team Penske’s most recent scandal occurred in the 2025 season of the Indy 500 as the two drivers, Josef Newgarden and Will Power, were accused of using illegal tactics in their cars to gain an advantage. The team and the drivers reportedly made some unauthorized modifications to the rear attenuators of the car that violated the safety regulations. Both drivers received substantial grid penalties, with the teams being fined $100k for each driver.

The team owner, Roger Penske, dismissed multiple top roles of the Indy 500 team following the cheating scandal. Ryan Blaney helped ease some of the wounds of the team after winning in Nashville and has also condemned the team’s illegal tactics in Indianapolis. Blaney reckoned that he hated the whole situation and the consequences that the people involved faced. He noted that the incident ‘stunk’ as a team which definitely shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

I hated it for those folks over there last week at Indy, and for those guys have to go through that, and the people that got let go were really prominent figures in the company, and it definitely stunk.

Ryan Blaney told Cup Scene.

Regardless of the team’s massive low in the Indy 500, Blaney asserted that Penske’s NASCAR team remained focused on its goal of achieving success in Nashville. The Sunday race winner added that Roger Penske had informed the NASCAR crew of all the dismissals regarding the scandal, which took a massive hit at the morale of the team in Nashville.

But, on our side, we just focused on kind of what we were doing and RP told us all things happen, and we’ve done things about them and we’re going to move forward.

Ryan Blaney added.

Ryan Blaney reveals the backlash NASCAR’s Team Penske faced after Indy 500 woes

Team Penske’s scandal in the Indy 500 did not happen for the first time, as they have also been penalized for similar tactics in 2024. As such, the team needs to ensure that such a situation never occurs again as Indy 500 pushes for an independent officiating body by the 2026 season. Penske’s NASCAR team also faced a lot of public shame following its controversies in IndyCar.

Ryan Blaney (via Imagn)
Ryan Blaney (via Imagn)

Ryan Blaney lamented the backlash and unnecessary disrespect that Penske faced following their victory in Nashville. The No.12 driver explained that they were accused of making some illegal changes in the NASCAR challengers, similar to their tactics in the Indy 500. The naysayers believed that there was something fishy, as their performance in Charlotte was completely different from their victorious pace in Nashville.

I mean we had to hear all week that Penske cars are bad because the IndyCar guys got caught and that’s why we were bad at Charlotte and then we come here tonight and kick everyone’s a**.

Ryan Blaney noted.

Following the firing of the top executives at Team Penske in the Indy 500, the team is likely not to face such a situation ever again. Still, the sport is now forced to take stricter actions to ensure that such a condition never occurs again. As for Penske’s NASCAR team, they are well off on their own without using any such illegal tactics in the cars. The team just has to make winning races a habit in NASCAR as the rivals continue to improve in pace.

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