De Silvestro Penalty at Texas

[Mechanic Z]

I haven't watched a lot of Indycar racing, and had a question about this weekend's race.
During the race, Simona De Silvestro was given a penalty for passing the pace car. As far as I could tell, she did nothing different than Andretti and about half the rest of the field getting waved by, who did not receive penalties
So, my question is; what did she do to get the penalty? Were the commentators just wrong about what the penalty was for, or is there something I missed?

[JHamilton]

I wasn't sure either and am still a bit confused but I did find this quote:

"Steve Moore, team manager, was proud of the job both of his drivers did. "Simona drove a heck of a race," he said, "but unfortunately she had a blend-line infringement that cost her a stop and go penalty. We feel it was a very harsh penalty, but she came back and drove back through the field finishing 16th. What a great drive by Tony; starting 13th and finishing third. He had a strong car all day and had an excellent drive. Both drivers were outstanding."

[JimW]

And for those of us over here: what's a "blend line"?

Jim

[Yannick]

Might that be the line which a driver is not supposed to cross when exiting the pits to keep slower cars away from break-testing oncoming traffic?

[rwintle]

Yannick is correct - line separating pit out from race track. I didn't see this incident at all though, and it was described on the IndyCar site as "passing the pace car", so I'm not at all sure what the actual infraction was.

[NaBUru38]

The blend line is the transversal line at the pitstop exit that determines which drivers recover the lap, I think.

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

The blend line is the transversal line at the pitstop exit that determines which drivers recover the lap, I think.

Ah, that would make more sense (i.e. is consistent with the "passing the pace car" statement). My apologies, I've heard "blend line" used in the other sense, but that may have been for ALMS and/or F1, not IndyCar.

[NaBUru38]

It seems so, according to this IndyCar Nation article:

Gordon Smiley’s crash on lap 146 set in motion one of the most controversial races in the history of the sport. When Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti exited the pits after their stops, Unser sped up on the apron, passing 14 cars before blending in at the exit of turn two. Andretti passed a couple cars in his own right before blending in at turn one, where he believed the blend line to be.

[JHamilton]

Typically in American motorsport, you are held in pit lane and there is no "blending" under safety car conditions. The blend line has always been the line separating the exit of pit lane from the track and you cannot cross this line without penalty. I've never known it to mean anything else.