Inside INDYCAR Race Control

INDYCAR race control is where all facets of race organization come together to provide a safe, competitive and timely event. The race control staff utilizes a variety of video and audio monitoring, electronic data and direct communication with teams and race officials to oversee all aspects of the competition. The race director and the race stewards decide whether to review an on-track incident and whether to levy penalties against a driver or team.

Race Incident Review

The INDYCAR race director and two race stewards, located in race control, monitor all NTT INDYCAR SERIES on-track sessions for potential violations of the INDYCAR rulebook. Upon suspecting a violation has occurred, the race director or any of the stewards may call for a stewards’ review. The race director will announce that the incident is under review, with that information relayed immediately through race control communications systems to officials, teams and broadcast partners.

At that time, the two stewards will review all information available, including video replays, radio communications and time line data, to promptly reach a decision whether a rules violation was committed. A vote of the stewards determines if a rules violation did occur (voting results are not released) with the president of competition and operations or race director serving as the tiebreaker.

If a violation was determined to occur, the stewards will refer to the penalty guidelines to determine its severity. Available penalties for consideration include: a warning; pit lane drive-through; pit lane “stop and hold” for a determined amount of time; loss of position; taking a restart from the back of the field; loss of driver or entrant points; monetary fine; suspension or disqualification, and more.

Announcement of the infraction and penalty will be relayed through race control communications systems to officials, teams and broadcast partners. The race stewards will remain available following an event to explain decisions to competitors. The INDYCAR president has final say on all post-race penalties.