INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar Officiating has announced its next phase in governance separation and process transparency with the launch of official post-event reports, which will include the use of technical penalty guidelines to provide a framework toward consistency across events.
As necessary, post-event reports also will include summaries of technical and procedural distinction to increase clarity.
The reporting update is scheduled to begin with this weekend’s NTT IndyCar Series event at World Wide Technology Raceway.
This next step comes after the establishment of INDYCAR Officiating in December 2025. The not-for-profit organization is governed by the three-person Independent Officiating Board (IOB) of chairman Raj Nair, secretary/treasurer Ray Evernham and FIA appointee Ronan Morgan.
In April 2026, veteran motorsports officiating and competition executive Scot Elkins was named managing director of officiating to oversee race control, race stewards and technical inspection. Elkins reports directly to the IOB – with no oversight from IndyCar or Penske Entertainment officials – to provide officiating governance and management.
“One of the takeaways from the initial months of IndyCar Officiating was a need for thorough infraction communication and, in some cases, comparison to prior rulings to continue our goal of transparency and consistency in rule implementation,” Nair said. “This post-event report will be clear in structure, process, and findings.
“The board would like to thank the entire IndyCar Officiating team for implementing this important step as we continue our mission. Working across the paddock with key stakeholders, we believe this structure will lead to a very positive result for the sport.”
Post-Event Reports
IndyCar Officiating post-event reports will summarize the officiating activity from each race event and will include penalties imposed under the NTT IndyCar Series rulebook and findings from technical inspections before and after qualifying and races. Post-event reports will be posted and made public during the week following an event.
Examples of content that will be summarized in the post-event report:
Race Recaps
In-race penalties imposed – for example, passing under yellow, emergency service in a closed pit or pit lane speed violations
Incident reviews referred to the stewards and concluded with no further action
Practice Recaps
In-practice penalties imposed – for example, pit lane speed violations, causing a yellow or red flag or entering the wrong pit box
Technical inspection findings from qualifying and races
What was inspected and the extent and subject matter
Explanation of any infraction and its resulting penalty-level classification
Summary of technical or procedural distinction, where relevant
Technical Penalty Guidelines
To ensure consistency across events, post-event reports will include the classification of technical penalties based on the nature of the infraction via three levels:
Infraction Level 1
A single-dimensional non-compliance, such as a height or size measurement outside tolerance, typically arising from wear, damage or assembly failure with no finding of altered component location or improper conduct.
Infraction Level 2
A more significant compliance failure, such as an out-of-tolerance aerodynamic angle, driver or car weight, fuel-system or safety equipment matter, where the configuration is outside specification but does not involve modification of a spec part.
Infraction Level 3
Modification of a spec part, regardless of which assembly or subsystem it belongs to, or the installation of unapproved or altered components – a departure from the car’s approved specification.
Associated penalties begin with point assessments and fines at Level 1 and rise to disqualification and suspensions at Level 3. Specific monetary fines, point assessments and other consequences imposed within a given infraction level remain at the sole discretion of IndyCar Officiating.
“We have moved quickly but meticulously in applying this next step in greater officiating transparency,” Elkins said. “Our goals include increased consistency and clarity as these reports look to provide an additional resource toward structure and process. We look forward to implementing this next phase beginning at WWT Raceway.”
