What is INDYCAR’s push-to-pass rule and explaining 2024 controversy

Late in the race on Sunday in INDYCAR’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on FOX, a driver might have that little extra boost needed to make a pass.

It’s all in the rules.

The cars in the INDYCAR SERIES come with two ways to get a boost.

The first is the push-to-pass system, a system controlled by the ECU that allows for the engine power to be increased for a period of time. It is activated when the driver presses and holds a button on the steering wheel.

For St. Pete, the maximum time a driver can hold the button is 15 seconds with a maximum of 150 seconds during the event. Those will also be the maximums for races at Detroit, Laguna Seca and Thermal.

The maximum for the other seven road courses — Long Beach, Barber, Indianapolis, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Toronto and Portland — will be 20 seconds per push and 200 seconds total.

The system is only used on road and street courses, and each road course has a maximum time per push and total time for the race.

But wait, there’s more.

With the new hybrid engine system introduced in the middle of last season, drivers can activate a boost from the energy stored. They can use as much as they have in their system and whenever they want.

And that is a difference between the top option. There are times when push-to-pass can’t be used. 

The biggest rule is that for the start of the race and any restart that comes prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes left in a timed event, the push-to-pass can’t be used (the system is disabled) until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line (a line typically before pit entry that is used to time practice and qualifying so a driver can enter the pits after a timed lap rather than drive the entire course again).

Last year at St. Pete, it was determined that the Penske teams did not have their system disabled for the restarts. Josef Newgarden (who had won the race) and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified for using it during the race, while Will Power was docked 10 points for not having the legal system.

Team Penske said it was a simple mistake and that it had not replaced the software from a recent test and therefore the system was not disabled for restarts. Penske also imposed penalties on its personnel.

Newgarden said after the penalty was issued he thought the rules had changed. The rules were different for the exhibition event at Thermal that followed St. Pete, but the rules had not been changed for the points-earning events.

Calling it an “embarrassing situation,” Newgarden said he thought the rule had changed and that what happened “is too convenient to be believable.”

“There’s no doubt that we were in breach of the rules at St. Petersburg,” Newgarden said in a press conference the weekend following the penalty. “I used push-to-pass at an unauthorized time twice on two different restarts. And there’s really nothing else to it other than that.

“Those are the rules, and we did not adhere to them. … There’s only one person sitting in the car. It’s just me. And so that responsibility and the use of push-to-pass in the correct manner falls completely on me. It is my responsibility to know the rules and regulations at all points and to make sure I get that right. And with that regard, I failed my team miserably.”

Drivers that are a lap down can also have their push-to-pass disabled.

So when should a driver use push-to-pass or hybrid or both (they could use them at the same time)?

“It’s a good question,” said veteran Graham Rahal. “I feel like the hybrid is very impactful at low RPMs so if you’re out of the power range of a gear, you can feel it. Tt’s quite effective, but it really tails off.

“Push-to-pass keeps pulling you into the brake zone. They’re both effective in two very different ways. That’s a balance that we’re all still learning.”

The hybrid system wasn’t implemented for the start of the 2024 season, so this is the first time it will be used at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“In simple terms, the hybrid is something you use every lap constantly — you charge it up and deploy, you charge it up and deploy,” said Andretti driver Marcus Ericcson.

“That’s something that is always there. The push-to-pass you have a certain amount of seconds every race so you have to be a little bit more clever when to use it. … That, to me, is more of a tactical tool while the hybrid is more routine.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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