INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar officials hope this week’s rule change on the push-to-pass button creates more intrigue in Saturday’s Indianapolis Grand Prix.Whether it works will depend on how fast three-time defending race winner Alex Palou and the other starters adapt — and, naturally, how much risk they’re willing to take on the first lap of the race.The move comes in the wake of last month’s software failure at Long Beach when a dozen drivers “illegally” used extra turbo boost during a midrace restart. That prompted series officials to make the modification that allows drivers to use their push-to-pass on all restarts — once the race has started and they’ve reached the alternate start-finish line in Turn 11 on the first lap. An early push will result in a penalty — even if there is another malfunction.And that’s caused confusion in Gasoline Alley.“If I push it and it works because someone else does a mistake, it’s my fault? Yes?” Palou asked, jump starting a several-minute long debate between the top five drivers in the standings. “I didn’t read the rule, sorry.”Drivers will still get 200 total seconds of green-flag racing to give their cars a boost of about 60 horsepower throughout the race though the button is not supposed to be operable until they pass the alternate start-finish line, potentially making the race into Turn 11 as harrowing as the first turn of the race. Then drivers can allocate their turbo boost however they choose around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.The change essentially eliminates a possible repeat of the 2024 controversy that cost two-time series champ Josef Newgarden a season-opening victory at St. Petersburg when officials determined he used push-to-pass on a restart.At Long Beach, nearly half the field took advantage of the software error. Others insis …
