In two of the three most recent editions of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach now, the IndyCar push-to-pass system has been at the forefront of controversy.
But this time around, Team Penske fans will be happy to know it has nothing to do with their team bending the rules.
Two years ago, a glitch in the system in morning warmup left only the three Team Penske Chevrolets with access to the system, a discovery which ultimately led to an investigation which rocked the sport.
That investigation uncovered that the team's trio of drivers also had access to the system during the start and restarts of the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida. The system is designed to be disabled during all starts and restarts, according to Rule 14.19.16 of the IndyCar Rulebook.
Because both Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin used it, they were stripped of the win and third place, respectively. Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward was named the race winner more than six weeks later.
As fans found out in the aftermath of that scandal, several drivers admitted that they push the push-to-pass button on restarts anyway, knowing (or assuming) that it won't work but not wanting to be at a disadvantage in the event that there is a glitch and others are using it.
This past weekend, there was indeed a glitch.
Upon the conclusion of the debris caution on lap 61 of 90 around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile (3.167-kilometer) Long Beach, California street course, during the only restart the Long Beach race has seen over the past two years, the push-to-pass system remained active when it was supposed to be turned off.
IndyCar reviewed the issue after the race and found that 12 drivers used the button illegally as a result of that glitch.
However, the only overtake that occurred during the period when the system should have been shut off happened when Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong passed A.J. Foyt Enterprises' Santino Ferrucci.
Not only did Armstrong end up 24th anyway, last among drivers not knocked out of the race, while Ferrucci was 18th, but both Armstrong and Ferrucci were among those who took advantage of the software error, so IndyCar decided that the results of the race would not be changed.
Here are the official race results from Long Beach.
Rank | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Alex Palou, No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
2 | Felix Rosenqvist, No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
3 | Scott Dixon, No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
4 | Kyle Kirkwood, No. 27 Andretti Global Honda |
5 | Pato O'Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet |
6 | Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet |
7 | David Malukas, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet |
8 | Graham Rahal, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda |
9 | Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet |
10 | Kyffin Simpson, No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
11 | Dennis Hauger, No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda |
12 | Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet |
13 | Rinus VeeKay, No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet |
14 | Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet |
15 | Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet |
16 | Louis Foster, No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda |
17 | Mick Schumacher, No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda |
18 | Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet |
19 | Will Power, No. 26 Andretti Global Honda |
20 | Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet |
21 | Romain Grosjean, No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda |
22 | Caio Collet, No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet |
23 | Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet |
24 | Marcus Armstrong, No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
25 | Marcus Ericsson, No. 28 Andretti Global Honda |
All things considered, the prompt review (and more specifically, the fact that the error didn't take 45 days to discover) is a positive. However, the fact that yet another glitch occurred in such a key system in regard to the competition is alarming, especially since we've known for years that many drivers are going to be on the button even when it's turned off, just in case.
According to a series release, "INDYCAR and INDYCAR Officiating will continue to evaluate the system failure and will implement additional protective measures to keep it from happening again at future events."
Race number six on the 18-race 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the Sonsio Grand Prix, which is set to be shown live on Fox from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 9. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action!
Add us as a preferred source on Google