In a special press conference held at Barber Motorsports Park on Friday morning, an emotional Newgarden – who had to regain his composure several times after his voice broke down – says he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong.
He claimed that he misguidedly believed the restart rules had been changed, as per the exhibition race at The Thermal Club that followed the St. Pete season opener. He also admits it’s created a “not very believable story” amid a “crazy set of circumstances”.
“It’s really important to look at the facts of what happened,” said Newgarden. “There’s no doubt that we were in breach of the rules at St. Petersburg.
“I used push-to-pass twice at an unauthorised time at two different restarts. Those are the rules and we did not adhere to them.
“There’s only one person sitting in the car, so the responsibility and use of the push-to-pass falls directly on me. It is my responsibility to know the rules and regulations. With that regard I failed my team miserably, a complete failure from my side to get that right.
“It's demoralising in a lot of ways and there's nothing that I can say that changes the fact of what happened.”
Source: Autosport