Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing did an internal review of the opening-lap crash at Pocono Raceway and absolved driver Takuma Sato of causing the accident.
The team said it took the rare step Tuesday of publicly defending Sato, who has been widely blamed for triggering a five-car accident that altered the championship race, because its review of the onboard data and camera showed he was not at fault for triggering the five-car accident.
Sato was racing three-wide with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi when they crashed headed into the second turn.
Rossi is second in the championship standings, but now trails leader Josef Newgarden by 35 points with three races remaining.