Chevy Racing–Indianapolis 500–Post Race

CHEVROLET RACING
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
97TH INDIANAPOLIS 500 MILE RACE
POST RACE CHEVY DRIVER NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 26, 2013
 
BELOW ARE TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES:
 
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH RACING CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER:  WHAT A DAY FOR YOU! CONGRATULATIONS! HOW SWEET DOES THAT MILK TASTE?
“Very good; very, very good! I can’t believe that we did it. We finally did it. And it’s been a long shot but it’s ours.
 
IS THAT MILK OR TEARS IN YOUR EYES?
“Milk. Milk. (laughs).  I’ll probably cry a lot more later, but right now it’s milk, for sure.”
 
TALK US THROUGH THAT FINAL ENTRANCE INTO TURN 1. YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO BE THE PASS FOR THE WIN, BUT WALK US THROUGH THAT RESTART:
“I’ve been there. I’ve been on the lead and I knew that’s what I had to do and it finally worked. I’m so proud. I’m so proud.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DO SECURITY-WISE TO KEEP ALL THE FANS AND PEOPLE AWAY FROM YOU?
“I want them to jump in the track and come see me, man. It’s for them! It’s for them!”
 
YOU HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE SO MANY TIMES WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE TODAY?
“I get a little bit of luck today.  Again, this is for the fans.  It’s for my Dad that is not here, but mainly for all of you guys.  I was looking at the stands and it was unbelievable.  Man, I can’t believe this.”
 
YOU GOT A GOOD LUCK MEDAL RETURNED TO YOU THAT YOU HAD GIVEN AWAY NINE YEARS AGO TO A YOUNG LADY THAT WAS ILL.  YOU GOT A VISIT FROM ALEX ZANARDI THIS WEEKEND.  IT ALL PLAYED OUT FOR YOU, BUT YOU EARNED IT IN THE CAR TODAY:
“Thank you very much.  I’m speechless.  I want to thank everybody in the booth.  I have never seen so many people even from the other teams.  This is it, I made it.  Finally I’m going to put my ugly face on that trophy.”
 
YOU TOLD ME YESTERDAY SOME DRIVERS MAKE THEIR NAME AT INDIANAPOLIS FOR WINNING.  YOU HAD MADE YOUR NAME BECAUSE YOU HADN’T WON.  TODAY YOU ARE A WINNER AND YOU WILL FOREVER BE KNOWN AT TONY KANAAN INDIANAPOLIS 500 CHAMPION:
“I guess we did both. We were known for not winning.  Now we are known for winning.  Man I don’t know what to say.”
 
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN THE YELLOW CAME OUT AND YOU KNEW YOU WERE THE WINNER?
“I couldn’t believe it.  I’m like man how many laps to go? It was two to go. I said ‘that’s it’.  I’m going to have to say that last lap was the longest lap of my life.  I wanted the pace car to hurry up so bad.  I’ve enjoyed it. Again, we did it.”
JIMMY VASSER, CAR OWNER, TONY KANAAN – INDIANAPOLIS 500 WINNER
ON THE RADIO HE SAID IT WAS WIN OR ELSE.  YOUR THOUGHTS:
“He is awesome in those situations.  He was great all day.  All credit to the team.  All the people who came on board to make this happen, Hydroxycut and all our sponsors.  Alex Zanardi brought us a little luck today.  He gave us his gold medal from London.  He said ‘rub this all over the car it has special powers’.  Tony (Kanaan) took the medal to his motorhome for an hour.  I just can’t believe it… Indy 500… awesome.”
 
CARLOS MUÑOZ, NO.26 UNISTRAW ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND:
“I really wanted to fight for the win. Maybe I could win, maybe not, but I really wanted to fight. I have nothing to be ashamed of. To be second and a rookie is a great job. At the beginning I was a little bit nervous with the pit stops, but in the end, the car was great and it’s a good second place. Hopefully in the future, I will be able to drink milk. Right now I’m thirsty, but hopefully it’s in the future for me.”

SECOND IN YOUR FIRST EVER INDYCAR RACE HOW WERE YOU GUYS SO FLAWLESS TODAY?
“I’m really feeling a bit sad right now.  I should be happy, but I think I had a shot to win this thing.  I think I did a great job I have nothing to be ashamed of.  These guys did a great job on the pit stops.  The car was so great from the first lap to the last lap.  I have to be good let’s see what my future prepared now maybe next year I can win it.”
 
WE SAW YOU GET OUT OF YOUR RACE CAR AND THE EMOTION WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND?
“I was more sad from dealing with a shot to overtake and to fight for the win for second-place.  I think all of Columbia was watching me.  I couldn’t do anything to win.  This all respects now I know how it feels to fight for a 500.  All respects to Juan Pablo (Montoya).  This race is really difficult.  I have to thank all my sponsors, my family, all the support all the Columbians have been here.” 
 
ON HIS RACE:
“I think I had this one.  The car was great.  It was an awesome race.  It was everything the pit stops at first I started the race I was nervous because of the pit stops they did a great job.  Was so close.  First year I have to say sorry to my guys I couldn’t do anything. To my country Columbia I’m sorry maybe next year we will have this one.”
 
YOUR FIRST TIME HERE YOU LOOKED SO COMFORTABLE HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO COMPETE LIKE THAT?
“Each time I was learning more and more each run.  The car was great.  I was thinking a lot over the car and what the car does.  I was learning a lot from the guys in front of me especially TK (Tony Kanaan).  Second the first time what can I say there is not much to say hopefully next year I will get it.”
 
DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR TONY (KANAAN) THERE ON THE LAST LAP?
“I think I could have got past him the car was just awesome, really quick.  With the yellow flag I couldn’t do anything.  I have to congratulate him he did an awesome job.  His first one.  Thank you very much to my team and everyone.”
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD: ON HIS RACE:  “That’s just the way it works out. That was bad luck. We were leading on that last restart. I knew I was a sitting duck and I wasn’t too bummed about it because I knew we had enough laps to get it going again and have a pass back and maybe I would be third on the last lap which is where I wanted to be and it didn’t work out that way. There was a crash in Turn 1 and the race ended. It’s unfortunate. Big congratulations to Tony Kanaan, though. He has been there so many times had bad luck and for whatever reason the race has alluded him. Great champion, certainly deserves it. But man am I disappointed. I think the DHL No. 1 Chevy was the car to beat today. Had we been at the right place at the right time I’m confident we would have won it and that’s just the way this place goes. This entire Andretti Autosport team did a great job all month. Thanks to all the fans for coming out, and congratulations to TK.”
 
ON BUMP DAY I ASKED YOU IF THE LEADER WOULD BE A SITTING DUCK. AND YOU PAUSED AND SAID ‘MOST DEFINITELY’. YOU HAD THE FIELD EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANTED THEM UNTIL THE CAUTION CAME OUT:
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s just the way it works out. That was bad luck. We were leading on that last restart. I knew I was a sitting duck and I wasn’t actually, too bummed about it because I knew we had enough laps to get it going again and have a pass back and maybe I would be third on the last lap, which is where I wanted to be. It didn’t work out that way, though. There was a crash in Turn 1 and the race ended. So, it’s unfortunate. A big congratulations to Tony Kanaan. He’s been there so many times and had bad luck. For whatever reason, the race has eluded him. A great champion. He certainly deserves it, but man am I disappointed. I think that DHL No. 1 Chevy was the car to beat today. Had we been in the right place at the right time, I’m confident we would have won. And that’s just
the way this place goes.”
 
AND THE RACE PACE WAS AMAZING THIS AFTERNOON?
“Yeah, it was great all day. We just worked with our teammates and worked with a bunch of guys you can trust racing around, so it was a lot of fun. But man, those last few laps when I remember Michael come on the radio saying seven to go, and I’m like this is our day. We gotta make it happen. And then the yellow came out. I couldn’t believe it. We had some lapped traffic coming up. Had I got to that lapped traffic, I think we were one of the stronger cars in a big group. Unfortunate, but it works out that way. This entire Andretti Autosport team did a great job all month. Thanks to all the fans for coming out and congratulations to TK.”
 
ON HIS RACE:
“The way the race turned out with it going yellow after that one, had we been in second-place on the restart we would have won the race.  Congratulations to Tony (Kanaan) he ran a heck of a race.  He is always competitive here.  There is no doubt he certainly deserves it. Very happy for him.  We are just disappointed because I think we had the cars to win.”
 
DID YOU GUYS WORK WITH CAROLOS MUNOZ AND MARCO (ANDRETTI) WITH YOUR TEAMMATES THERE AT THE LAST THING WAS THERE ANY PLAN?
“We worked most of the race together, but no at the end it is everybody for himself, just climbing over each other to get in the lead.”
 
TAKE US THROUGH THAT LAST RESTART:
“Just the wrong place at the wrong time.  The way the yellow fell at the end it was the wrong place.  I figured we were leading that would be okay we would get past and have a chance to go back at it for the white flag.  I was fine with that, but you know with the yellow coming out we were just a sitting duck, just the wrong place at the wrong time.  Very happy for Tony Kanaan winning this one.  He has certainly had many that fell through the cracks.  I’m happy Chevy won it.  The most disappointing part about the day though is that I think the DHL No. 1 car was the one to beat.  Unfortunate, but that’s racing.”
 
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: FROM FOURTH, IF IT HAD GONE GREEN, COULD YOU HAVE GOTTEN THERE?
“I think we would have had a darn good shot. But that’s the way the cards fell today. Hopefully one of these times it will work in our favor. But I had a lot of fun the majority of the race; just there at the end, it slipped away. But, my nightmare has always been that last 10 laps. I think we were in prime position, but Dario’s yellow kind of hurt us.”
 
WATCHING THAT FINAL RESTART WHAT A RACE TAKE US THROUGH THOSE FINAL COUPLE OF LAPS FROM YOUR SEAT:
“Yeah I mean it was kind frustrating getting shuffled back.  As we trimmed, which from our stand point was a little frustrating.  Also, frustrated because fourth is about as far back as we were all day.  Having said that I think TK (Tony Kanaan) if there is anybody that deserves to win it’s him so congratulations.  I think we are frustrated, but we are leading the point’s now so even though it’s early it still feels good.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL V-P0WER PENNZOIL ULTRA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH:  ON HIS RACE:  “It was a great day for the Shell Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet. Hugo congratulations to Tony on the win today, it’s shows that the good old boys still know how to get it done. The Shell Pennzoil guys had great pit stops and luckily great weather for the race. The laps seemed to go by so quickly and lucky for us they were uneventful. Of course we wanted to win the race but finishing sixth and getting a top 10 finish was huge for us in terms of the championship. Now we turn our attention to Detroit and the double header.”
 
WE TOLD EVERYONE WATCHING THAT YOU AND TK (TONY KANAAN) SHARE A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP.  A BROTHERLY LOVE THAT YOU GUYS SHARE SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN RACING TOGETHER SINCE YOU WERE YOUNG.  SINCE YOU CAN’T WIN A FOURTH HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIM GETTING HIS FIRST?
“Well deserved for him.  Well deserved for his team.  Tony (Kanaan), hell of a job man.  Certainly, this is a tough one.  I can see that you fought as hard as you could.  Well deserved.  I’m happy for him.  We talk about it.  I will be very happy.  Now I can have the championship so now we balance out.  To your Mom, your sister, I know they are so happy.  Good job.  It’s going to be a busy week buddy, get ready!”
 
A LOT OF EMOTIONS AFTER A RACE LIKE THAT, WHAT ARE YOURS?
 
“Certainly the Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Chevrolet was running smooth like a Swiss watch.  It was very nice but it’s tough because you just finished the recap about the race and a lot of the people behaved a little bit which is great and the race actually went really fast.  But first, congrats to Tony (Kanaan) he finally got his win and it’s well-deserved for the team as well.    I hope now I can get my championship.  But he did a great job and certainly it was a very safe race and I was just having a lot of issues with the limiter.  I was trying to pass a lot of people but unfortunately it was hitting the limiter, but it was just one of those things.   It was awesome.   Great job, awesome weather, awesome crowd.”
 
YOU DIDN’T HAVE A WINNING CAR BUT YOU STILL GOT A TOP-10
 
“Absolutely. We finished top-six which is great, and championship-wise, that is a lot of points that we were looking for as well.  When you don’t win you have to look at the positive side and that is the championship.   So hopefully we got better on the championship.”
 
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO EVER PASS THAT MANY CARS BEFORE AT A PLACE LIKE THIS?
“That was so fun.  Like I’ve said to be leading at Indy my body went numb for about five laps and it was just so special.  I won’t forget that.  Unfortunately, I had the belts come loose. That costs us the win.”
 
TAKE US THROUGH THAT FINAL RESTART:
“I wasn’t really involved in it.  I kind of took off and was seventh and was trying to let them go so I could get a big run and get the guys on the back straightaway.  I thought I had a chance, but the yellow came out and it was over.”
 
ON HIS RACE:
“I wasn’t as aggressive as I needed to be on the start and unfortunately that got us back to mid-pack. That first stint was pretty tough because I’d hit the limiter since we had the gearing a little off and I couldn’t pass. Once the yellow came out I was able to calm myself down and figure out what I needed to do to start passing people. From that point on the car was phenomenal and I felt like I could drive by guys at will. What an unbelievable feeling to lead laps at the Indianapolis 500 that was incredible. Unfortunately we had a belt that popped, the IZOD guys did a great job fixing it when I came in but that really hurt our chances to win since it threw our pit windows off. I still thought we had a chance with eight to go, especially if we could get around fifth but we just ran out of laps at the end.”
 
YOU LOOKED REALLY COMFORTABLE UP FRONT:
“I will be honest it was a pretty special moment to be leading at Indy.  Once I came down the front straightaway and led that first lap I almost forgot about the race.  It just took over.  It was just like my body went numb.  My mind was racing and I could feel my heart beating really fast.  That is a special moment I won’t forget.” 
 
 
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH; ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET
 
“We just didn’t have enough downtown later in the race. 
Our strategy was good as we wanted to save fuel and not lead the race as much.  I think we still led over 35 laps today but, later in the race, we couldn’t run in traffic.  The car wanted to push and I just couldn’t keep the front end down low.  I’m a little depressed now because I thought we had a really good chance to win entering the race.  The start was good and we could run right up front with the leaders.  I got a vibration with one of the tires around lap 170 or and we made a pit stop a little early.  The crew was quick on the last lap and we beat Tony (Kanaan) out of the pits.  But his car was very good today.  I am very happy for TK.  He has had some bad luck here over the years, so his win is popular and he’ll be a great Indy 500 champion.  Overall, we had a good month with the pole and we finished in the top-ten.  It just wasn’t the finish we were hoping for today.  I know we’ll be back here and be ready again next year.” 
 
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 MECUM AUCTIONS PANTHER DREYER AND REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH: ON THE RACE: I’m proud of the job we did.  The Mecum car was as good as anyone else’s.  It was just really hard to get to the front.  There were not many yellows at all so there was no magic to be done on restarts.  They didn’t have time to sweep the before the restart at the end so it was basically impossible to try any moves. It is what it is.  It was just hard to pass. The moment we started taking the downforce off the car it was really fast.  Honestly, I could pass some cars, but it was not enough to go to the front. I thought we were going to have a shot at the end!
 
ON WINNER TONY KANAAN: I’m happy for Tony and KV.  I drove for KV three different times and I’ve been a great friend of Tony’s for ten years.  He’s been so close to winning it. I’m not only happy for him, but it also proves that when you try hard enough the door opens. It gives me hope to keep trying!
 
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH: ON HER RACE:
I’m pretty happy about the day; super excited that Tony finally won his first Indy 500 and that I was his teammate when he did it. I think we had a pretty strong car too. It’s just unfortunate that we made a little bit of a mistake by running over that hose and got a drive-through. We had a pretty could car on that one stint; but that hurt us a little bit. I think overall the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car was really good and we can build momentum off this.
 
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT/HVM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH: “I’m extremely happy for the team. This is an amazing improvement for everyone, especially for me and my career. Being with this team…means a lot. Being able to be in the top five for pretty much the first three-quarters of the race was amazing running with those guys is where I should be running all the time. A little mistake here in the pits – I selected neutral too fast and I stalled the engine and that pretty much ruined our race. We were hoping for a yellow the last part of the race, maybe not that late, but maybe 23 laps to go, and we were going to be able to maybe shoot for the top 10. I’m happy for the team – very happy for them. We have a strong car and this year is going to be a good year for us.”
 
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH:   ON HIS RACE: “Man that was a tough race. Our Verizon Chevrolet was really strong when we were towards the front of the pack but when we got back in traffic it wasn’t as good. We had some good laps when we were out front but just couldn’t fight back up there afterwards. We also needed to be better on the out laps. Congrats to TK though, I’m really happy for him. Thanks to my Verizon crew too, they’ve been great over the duration.”
 
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST: ON HIS RACE: “We just didn’t have the speed today; it’s unfortunate because it wasn’t the handling, the car was just a bit off. When the pack is running 25 cars all on the same straightaway and you’re just a little bit off on speed than you’re just a sitting duck. It’s so tough to move up and keep guys behind you, but we had an eventful race trying to stay in the lead pack. The engineers did a good job, the car was handling well and the guys were unbelievable in the pit stops. I feel bad that the GoDaddy Chevy didn’t finish a bit higher and they deserved a lot better than what we got. It’s a tough pill to swallow, you hate something like that on any race day, but certainly not this one. I’m happy for the team. I’m gutted that the last yellow flag came out when it did and potentially cost the team a win because this whole organization has done an incredibly great job. Two, three and four speaks volumes of our crew. Congrats to Tony (Kanaan) and the KV racing guys, we’ll regroup and go into Detroit.”
 
TOWNSEND BELL, NO. 60 SUNOCO ‘TURBO’ PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 27TH: ON HIS RACE:  “It was a pretty tough day for us. I knew it was going to be super competitive and itwas. I got a few guys on the start, lost a little bit on the first pit stop, and then kind of battled back through. I think we were as high as 10th at one point and kind of worked our way up there and then the engine cover came loose. It started messing with the balance and I looked in the mirror and saw the engine cover cracking way open. So there was some confusion as to whether or not we had to pit and I was really lucky that we didn’t crash with (Ryan) Briscoe coming into the pits because I was indecisive. Then we got the engine cover back on and went back out and I guess we were still on the lead lap. I couldn’t believe it. I thought we were done for the day, but we kept pushing hard and still with the leaders. Then I just flat lost it in Turn 2, following Simona (De Silvestro). I just got loose and saved it all the way up to the fence, ran out of room, clipped the right rear tire on the wall, and broke the rear toe link. It about got away from me in a big way coming down the back straight away. So I had to slow way down. Then I lost a bunch of laps and my race was pretty much done at that point. The guys fixed the car, I was really proud of them, and pit stops were solid all day. It was a tough race which means you can’t have any mistakes and we did, so we’re just lucky to finish that one in one piece.”
 
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED  29TH: RETIRED FROM THE RACE ON LAP 178 AFTER CONTACT: “It was a strange day, the start couldn’t have been any worse as I got bottled up really badly and nearly lost the car,” said Bourdais. “We made some adjustments to the car because the cars were not separating from each other and we couldn’t pass. I started to do some things differently and took some chances and we were able to pass quite a few cars and made it up to the Top-10. When I rejoined the pack and other guys started to pit, and merge in front of us, they were able to get back up to speed, we just got totally off. When we finally decided to make our final pit, the damage had already been done and tried to hard coming into the pits, I jumped on the brakes and locked the rears up, which caused me to lose the rear end and hit the wall inside of the pits. It’s a shame because we have worked real hard to put this #7 McAfee/Variety car up front and were not able to get the results we wanted today.”

 
BUDDY LAZIER, NO. 91 LAZIER PARTNERS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 31ST: RETIRED FROM THE RACE ON LAP 44 WITH A MECHANICAL ISSUE: “On that first fuel stint, we got low on fuel and lost fuel pressure and we could never get it back. It was something electronic or mechanical, we can’t tell for sure. It was missing bad enough that you can’t run the speed to stay out there. And, it was only getting worse and we wanted to keep it from getting expensive. My frustration
came when the field came by the second time when I was sitting in the pits. You know what that means. I’ve been around long enough to know you’re just not going to make up four laps. The car was actually very good in the first stint. We had a little miscommunication on the first pit in, but that didn’t hurt. It’s easy to say now, but I really think we would have had a good car around the fifth stint of the seven to 12 stints you can do. I think the car would have been really good at the end. I was actually very pleased with the way it was coming to me. It’s incredibly frustrating, but I can’t blame anyone. The crew has worked incredibly hard after getting a late start. Whatever went wrong, we’re going to learn from it and make sure it never happens again. I hope like hell to come back and race here again, and to come back with a full effort. It was great to be back, but I tell you, I’m here to race, the juices were flowing, I had a decent race car and I felt like by the end of the event, we would really be able to get with it. ”
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 32ND: RETIRED FROM RACE ON LAP 34 AFTER CONTRACT:  “It’s sad the way the month had to finish. I have had amazing support from all of my sponsors, TrueCar, and the #6 crew. We had an amazing car that was drilling its way from the back to the front. Unfortunately circumstances happen that come out of your hands and destroyed our chances of showing our true potential today. Something needs to be done to help prevent these kinds of situations from happening. I want to thank my team again for all of their hard work they put into giving me a fast car.”
 
 JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 33RD: RETIRED FROM RACE AFTER CONTACT ON LAP THREE OF THE RACE:  “I just got loose and I was trying to stay on the outside while giving (James Hinchcliffe) enough room to pull out. I just got loose and saved it once. But couldn’t save it twice and at that point it just went around. I feel terrible for the guys. We worked really hard on having a race car that we thought we could run up to the front with. We needed to get through the first stint to see that happen. I’m not sure, given the situation, there was much I was going be able to do at that point.  It’s so unfortunate, obviously here on Memorial Day weekend with the National Guard. We were set up for a good day. Just really disappointed.