IndyCar made it clear after the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which was now contested two and a half weeks ago on the streets of Long Beach, California, that they had no intention of changing the results of the race due to the system glitch which allowed the push-to-pass system to be enabled on the race's one and only restart.
The push-to-pass system is designed to be disabled for all drivers on starts and restarts. This was the subject of controversy in 2024, when Team Penske retained access, and took advantage of it, during the season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida, resulting in the eventual disqualification of race winner Josef Newgarden and third place finisher Scott McLaughlin.
But in Long Beach, the entire field retained access by mistake, and 12 drivers took advantage of it, which was not exactly a surprise; several drivers admitted after the 2024 scandal that they either push it out of habit on restarts, push it to make sure they aren't at a disadvantage in case there is a glitch, or both. In Long Beach, there was indeed a glitch.
Eventual race winner Alex Palou, who led the field to green on that restart after passing Felix Rosenqvist in the pits, was one of those who took advantage of it (three times for 15.1 seconds), although it's probably good that he did, because eventual runner-up Rosenqvist used it more than anybody else (three times for 18.5 seconds).
IndyCar changes the rule, and it's long overdue
Ironically, the only Team Penske driver who did not use it in California was Newgarden, who maintains to this day that the 2024 scandal came about because he had thought there was an offseason rule change.
Perhaps that notion was somewhat justified. Skip ahead more than two years later, and now there has indeed been a rule change. And it's a rule change that's been long overdue.
Moving forward, to keep things simple and to lessen then likelihood of any more potentially race-altering system glitches or unfair advantages, IndyCar has decided to open up the use of the push-to-pass buttons on all road and street course restarts.
The only caveat is that drivers must not use it until the alternate start/finish line is crossed on the race's opening lap.
The rule previously just said the system would be disabled. pic.twitter.com/uiHyMqOHAi
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 6, 2026
Lack of push-to-pass on ovals is unchanged.
This, of course, doesn't justify what happened in 2024, when one team had an unfair advantage under the rules as they were written at the time. But it's a change that probably should have been made immediately after that happened.
After what happened in 2024, this change should have been implemented across the board to minimize the risk of anybody ever gaining an unfair advantage again. Thankfully, now it has, and now the button is effectively available from start to finish during all road and street course races.
And thankfully, the change was made after a series error, rather than after another true scandal could unfold.
Seeing as how giving everybody access to the boost for the same amount of time during each road or street course race creates a level playing field to begin with, extending that access to restarts does absolutely nothing to change that. It's still the same for everybody, provided it is properly implemented.
Let's hope no further glitches – or underhanded tactics – can affect that reality again.
This rule change is set to go into effect ahead of Saturday afternoon's 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. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!
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