IndyCar’s New Push-to-Pass Rules Already Causing Chaos

IndyCar Drivers’ Push-to-Pass Convo a Comedy ShtickPerry Nelson - Getty Images

• Series leader Alex Palou wants a clarification on penalties.
• A couple drivers say they haven’t read the new rules, but Graham Rahal has and isn’t a fan.
• Pato O’Ward says drivers should know and obey the rules.

IndyCar Officiating, the new oversight group established during the offseason to keep racers and teams honest after a couple of glaring cheating scandals, suddenly has moved to the front burner for NTT IndyCar Series drivers who at the beginning of the year claimed not to know much about it. The independent governors worked with series executives to revise and expand rules regarding Push-to-Pass usage.

Simply put, Push-to-Pass is an in-car software-generated system that gives drivers an extra 60 horsepower for a short burst by pressing a button. It’s designed to help drivers pass another car or defend at strategically critical moments during a race.

After 12 cars used Push-to-Pass at Long Beach on the Lap 62 restart, with only one gaining position but not penalized because of a software failure, IndyCar and IndyCar Officiating collaborated to solve the problem. So, starting with this weekend’s Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and for all subsequent road and street circuit races, Push-to-Pass “will be available and allowed for use at all times once the car passes the alternate start-finish line following the start and once the green flag has been displayed.”

In effect, it places the burden for compliance with the drivers. In a prepared statement, IndyCar Officiating said it “believes the rule update better serves the point of the rule while also simplifying the interpretation for all competitors.”

Graham Rahal at the Indiapolis Grand Prix last year.Icon Sportswire - Getty Images

If those four officials were in the room at Thursday’s driver press conference, they got a jolting surprise. Nothing was simple about the drivers’ interpretations of the new Push-To-Pass regulations.

Here’s how some of the conversation went:

ALEX PALOU: So at the start, if IndyCar ‘f----’ up again, and I press the button –
MODERATOR: No, it is not on until –
PALOU: He said, if I push it and it works because someone else does a mistake, it’s my fault? Yes?
REPORTER: That’s how I read the rule.
PALOU: I didn’t read the rule. Sorry.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Did anyone read the rule? I’m sorry.

DAVID MALUKAS: Are we talking about the new rule?
PATO O’WARD: I was reading it earlier, and I didn’t read it that way.
PALOU: He’s saying it’s inactive. It’s not active at the start. We’re all on the same page. He’s saying if we press it and it works because someone else does a mistake, we get penalized.
O’WARD: That makes sense because you’re not supposed to be able to use it until the finish.
PALOU: Again, for the second time?
KIRKWOOD: We should probably move the drivers meeting up to now.
PALOU: I am very surprised that only half of the grid used it, very surprised.
KIRKWOOD: You guys must have an indicator because all your cars used it.
PALOU: Not Scott [Dixon].
KIRKWOOD: He must not have seen it in Indy.

PALOU: I pressed it three times, and I’m surprised I didn’t press it more. It’s only three straight. I don’t know. 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: Let’s set the record straight. Everybody would have used it if they’d known it was active. Every driver would have. I wish I’d known it was on. I would have used it.
O’WARD: I got told and didn’t use it.
KIRKWOOD: You didn’t use it? No or yes?
O’WARD: I didn’t use it.
KIRKWOOD: Why? You were told it was on.
O’WARD: You know the rule, man.
KIRKWOOD: What’s the rule?

Alex Palou and others are confused by the new rule, which goes into effect this weekend.Icon Sportswire - Getty Images

O’WARD: That’s the problem why they changed the rule.
PALOU: The rule said it won’t be active. It doesn’t say penalty. It’s a big difference.
O’WARD: It’s not explicit the drivers cannot use it if the software allows.
PALOU: Someone in IndyCar ‘f-----’ up and it’s my fault. They’re going to say, ‘Oh, we’re very sorry, we’re going to change the rule now.’
KIRKWOOD: I get it. I get it.
PALOU: The confusion here is very different to what happened two years ago, where somebody else changed the code. We’re talking about someone not pressing a button or pressing a button, and it’s not on us to know if it’s active or not. I press it.

Ai-yi-yi.

Graham Rahal grumbled that the driver-by-driver data showed “that I hit the button for 0.00 seconds, so explain that to me. I would say that means I didn’t use it. I don’t know what the hell that is. Anyway, I’m not a fan. I’m not a fan. It’s not available on the initial start, but it’s available on the restarts. Yeah, I’m not a fan. We’ll just leave it at that. Particularly at a track like this one [at Indianapolis] and Road America, everybody’s going to be on the button and everybody’s going to save up to make sure they’ve got button left to use, and I’m not sure that that makes the racing any better. It would be the same if you all weren’t on the button.

Push-to-Pass is not enabled for the start.Icon Sportswire - Getty Images

I think they’re trying to get away from the need to police that after what happened with [Josef] Newgarden and everything else [in 2024]. I understand that part, but to me, the rules are the rules. They’ve always been the rules. I wouldn’t change them. That’s all I got to say about that.”

In the end, Palou said, “I don’t think it’s going to change much. It’s just going to be probably everybody is going to use it in research now. So we’re going to get to the end of the race with a bit less Push-to-Pass. But it’s the same for everybody. So I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal. I’m happy that it’s not enabled for the start, because then just too many buttons to press, especially for the start of the race. Still, it would be the same for everyone.”

Kirkwood seconded that, saying, “The only thing is you might want to save it a little bit more and maybe not use it as much on in-and-out laps and trying to overtake people and know that if a restart comes at any point, you need to have it, or else you’re going to get passed. People might be hoarding it a little bit more. That’s really the only thing.”

Malukas said he supposed “maybe it could add something if, I don’t know, you’re a little bit quicker on pushing the button than somebody else, get a little wheel spin and the tires are still cold, then maybe there’s a possibility for more racing. It’s still going to be the same change for everybody, so not going to change much.”

SOPA Images - Getty Images

However, O’Ward said he thinks “it might open up a bit of an opportunity on restarts in maybe areas where you wouldn’t see cars attacking because everybody should be a bit closer. Like guys have said, everyone’s going to use it. They can use to defend.”

His teammate, Christian Lundgaard, was plainspoken about the effect of the new rule: “We’re either going to see a big difference or we’re going to see no difference. There’s going to be guys passing each other, or there’s going to be no one passing each other because everyone is still going at the same speed from a restart perspective. The big difference will be the amount of seconds you have left at the end of a race, maybe a little more fuel burn. I think that’s pretty much it.”

Everyone will find out Saturday.