Team Penske admits they put Castroneves in 'bad situation'

INDIANAPOLIS - Following the changes to all cars just announced by IndyCar, Team Penske President Tim Cindric gave his reaction on IMS Radio, Their driver, Helio Castroneves, was the first driver to go airborne during practice this past week. Two more (both Chevrolets from CFHR) have since flipped.

"To still look at everything and go, 'okay, we got to go qualify these cars' is a big challenge for the drivers, a big challenge for the teams," explained Cindric. "But it's also a big challenge for the series."

It's all about the fans

"The biggest challenge - And I know because I sat in those seats for years and years - Is really the fans and what they go through."

"They're here to see us run, they're here to see us run fast, but I think most would agree that they're here to see us run safe. It's the responsibility of the series to do the best we can to deal with the ever-changing circumstances. I think we've done what we can and hopefully, we can put on a real good show at the end of the day.

Castroneves crash

"I think we put him (Castroneves) in a bad situation (Crash Video). If we had to do it over again, we're certainly smarter now than we were before and again, it comes down to lack of experience with this oval configuration. We were probably willing to do it first and that might have caught us out a bit, but it all turned out fine, aside from repairing a race car."

Honda and Chevrolet support IndyCar's concern over safety

Honda gave a one-sentence statement on the changes, “Even though we have every confidence in our design, we support IndyCar in their efforts to improve safety."

“Chevrolet met with IndyCar this morning and the decision was made to run race­-level aerodynamics and engine boost during qualifying, in an effort to reduce speeds and increase downforce," said Chevrolet's Jim Campbell. "We continue to review all available data from the crashes - Safety is our priority.”