Will Power denies involvement in Team Penske cheating scandal - ESPN

Will Power said Thursday he was unaware of any manipulations to Team Penske's push-to-power system until after last weekend's IndyCar race at Long Beach and never illegally used the mechanism.

Team Penske is under heavy scrutiny following the March 10 season-opening race at St. Petersburg, Florida, in which Josef Newgarden was stripped of the victory and Scott McLaughlin, who finished third, was also disqualified.

Power finished fourth and while his result was not thrown out, he was docked 10 points and all three Penske drivers were fined $25,000. Power has not been accused of any wrongdoing by IndyCar but was punished because the manipulated systems were found on all three Penske cars following Sunday morning's warmup in California.

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«I was disappointed to learn about the penalty that we received this week from IndyCar,» Power wrote on social media. «There was an oversight by our team and I was unaware of the situation until it was brought to our attention following Long Beach.

»As per the rules, I did not utilize the P2P capabilities during any start or restart during the St. Petersburg race," he continued. «While I accept the penalty, I want it to be known that I did nothing wrong and followed the rules.»

Team Penske has maintained that the push-to-pass system on its three Chevrolets was utilized in a test session for upcoming hybrid engines and then mistakenly not replaced before the start of the season. It remained on the cars for three races and Newgarden onboard videos clearly show the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner illegally using push-to-pass to gain position on at least one restart.

McLaughlin in a Wednesday night statement said he used the system for less than 2 seconds and gained