CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
RAINGUARD WATER SEALERS 600
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP
JUNE 10, 2017
FT. WORTH – (June 10, 2017) – Will Power posted a convincing victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series (VICS) Rainguard Water Sealers 600K at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) leading 180 of the 248 laps. It is the 31st career victory for the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and ties him for ninth on the all-time win list with Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy.
It is the second victory at the 1.5-mile oval for Power. The victory, his second victory of 2017, moved Power to fifth in the standings, 40 points out of the lead as the second half of the season began.
“It was very intense, said the 2014 VICS Champion. “I could see (Scott) Dixon was able to pass me at the start/finish line. So, I was starting to think about what I was going to do there at the end. Phenomenal job by the guys in the pits. I am so stoked, so happy for Verizon. Shows you how good that Chevy engine is, man, it was super-fast tonight.”
It is the fourth victory of the season for Chevrolet, and the 61st win in 93 races since Chevy returned to the VICS in 2012.
Power’s teammate, Simon Pagenaud, finished third in the No. 1 DXC Technology Chevrolet. The defending VICS champion now stands second in points with eight races remaining in the year.
Gabby Chaves brought the No. 88 Harding Racing Chevrolet to the checkered flag in fifth position. Conor Daly finished seventh in the No. 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet to give Chevrolet four of the top seven finishers.
In a race that saw nine cautions for a total of 66 laps and one red flag period due to a multi-car accident on lap 151, the race saw 23 lead changes with Power in the thick of the battle from the 50 lap mark through the end of the race. Only eight cars remained on track to take the checkered flag.
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 AAA Team Penske Chevrolet, was the victim of a tire issue and retired from the race on lap 91 after making hard contact with the wall. Teammate Josef Newgarden, No. 2 hum by Verizon Chevrolet, also suffered accident damage and went to the garage on lap 201. Castroneves was scored with the 20th finishing position and Newgarden finished 13th.
Ed Carpenter and JR Hildebrand both had fast Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolets but both the No. 20 and No. 21 were caught up in the lap 151 multi-car accident and sent to the garage. The crews were able to make repairs and they were able to rejoin the field many laps down to the leader, but finished 11th and 12th respectively.
Carlos Munoz, No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, was having an outstanding run from his 22nd starting position to solidly in the top-10 of the running order when he was also a victim of the lap 151 accident. Munoz finished in 18th position.
Next on the schedule is Road American in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on June 25, 2017.
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
WILL POWER
SIMON PAGENAUD
WILL POWER
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Will Power, who ties Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy for ninth on the all-time win list with his win here at Texas Motor Speedway. Will, congratulations. It was definitely a hectic I guess you could say race out there. Take us through your win and eventually how you ultimately survived.
WILL POWER: Yeah, it was beginning it was a matter of getting to the front. We talked about that in our pre-race strategy meeting, that track position is going to be everything because I know whoever would have the lead and the bottom of the track would be very difficult to pass. And the guys did phenomenal stops all night. Obviously that was the key, to keep getting out first. But a really good restart on Dixon that one lap, that one restart where he got out ahead of me, and it was a pretty intense battle there at the end with Scott. I was kind of working out in my head how I was going to get him over the line because he was kind of able to side draft me and be ahead on some laps, so it was really going to be an interesting finish.
And yeah, just over the moon. Over the moon to win here, my second home, and my wife is from here, so we spend a lot of time down here, so just an amazing feeling.
THE MODERATOR: This is the first time that the Verizon IndyCar Series has raced on the new track surface here at Texas Motor Speedway. What fact did that play in the race tonight?
WILL POWER: Just meant that there was zero degradation with the tires. It didn’t matter what lap you were on, it was like you had new tires on, so it made for a very tight, close racing.
THE MODERATOR: Coming into the race weekend throughout the practice sessions and qualifying, obviously a little bit of a rain delay when we started the weekend. Did you have a feeling when we came into the race weekend that you might have a shot to win this?
WILL POWER: It was hard to say based on the Indy — the speed that the Honda had at Indy. But those Chevys definitely got a good package. You know, especially on the top end of the engine. They were very high up on the revs all night, which really helped us. Where we qualified, I was like, hmm, this could be tough, but as soon as it went green, I was like, yeah, we have a shot. We definitely have a shot to win this.
Q. Did you have to compromise your setup at all because I thought in the opening laps you dropped to 12th. Did you have to compromise your setup at all to have it able to run well in traffic before you got to the front?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I made some in-cockpit adjustments, but my car was pretty good from the beginning. I was able to drive forward after that.
Q. We know how you are.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I was able to — is that what it is? Yeah, I was able to drive forward pretty quickly and get into P3. I was kind of trying to think about how I was going to set Josef up, but then it went yellow, obviously a good pit stop, then he got drive through, and then we really never lost the lead after that.
Q. A lot of people suffered blisters tonight, particularly Josef and Helio. Did those two do anything different from you and Simon on setup?
WILL POWER: No, not really. We’re all pretty similar, I guess it just depended on where you ran and how aggressive you were with the wheel. I mean, you could stop blisters by not punishing the front. You kind of know when you are, but yeah.
Q. Will, did you feel going into this race that it was going to be pack racing —
WILL POWER: Yeah.
Q. And do you feel that maybe this was a little bit too much?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, I sold the series, next to Jay Frye, this will be an absolute pack race. I didn’t say whether it was good or bad, I absolutely knew it would be a pack race. There was no doubt in my mind. Anyone who didn’t — I mean, the first time we ran here, I said, yeah, this will be a pack race. Yeah.
Q. You said you knew it would be a pack race, but yesterday talking to drivers after even the warmup, 80 percent of them said that there won’t be a second lane in Turn 1 and 2.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I knew there would be.
Q. Were they just not reading it right?
WILL POWER: They didn’t go up there. Some did, but it’s just so obvious that once the rubber goes down, there’s just a lot of grip. It just gets better and better and better. It was so obvious to me, and anyone who said it wasn’t going to be, I can’t see how you could not see that.
Q. (No microphone.)
WILL POWER: I like tire degradation so at least you can work on the car. It’s fine to do that for the first half of the stint, you know, 10 laps, but I think there needs to be a bit of falloff to create some separation because it gets — you know, when we’re doing it every week, people got good at it, and need to give some respect and understood it. When you just do it once, as I know it all happened behind me, but it gets pretty intense. So yeah. I don’t know what to say. I won the race, though.
I mean, when you’re leading, it’s the easiest night. Until you’re leading, the last 10 laps or six, you’re driving around wide open. The tire never fell off. And I always said that, like the easiest day of your life if you lead a pack race. The easiest day of your life.
Q. Much of the second group came in. You were pretty happy where you were?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, that’s what happens is distance matters. You actually don’t take a racing line, you take the shortest line around and that’s the quickest way because there’s no limit, at least we hugged the white line. Yeah, that’s how it was when I first turned up in 2008.
Q. Those final laps there when I think Sato tried to make it three wide there through 1 and 2, could you see that, hear about it? What did you think of that?
WILL POWER: Yeah, my spotter is always keeping me — when it becomes three wide, I’m on the white line on the bottom. There’s nothing more I can do. It’s up to the other two guys to make the right decision on that. The three wide, it wasn’t three wide for long if it was. I heard three wide maybe once or twice in the race, and yeah, there wasn’t a third groove.
SIMON PAGENAUD
Simon Pagenaud
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We’d like to welcome our third-place finisher tonight and the reigning series champion, from Team Penske, Simon Pagenaud. Simon, a pretty wild night; how was it from your perspective?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to get any sleep any time soon really. It was pretty nerve-racking out there. But the NTT Technology car was phenomenal. Just we did a lot of teamwork, really, to get that win for Penske. Was really awesome to work with Will that way. It was really hooked up, and we decided to try to break away from the pack by NASCAR style a little bit to try to draft each other and forget about the others. But it was more difficult than we thought. Cars create such a big hole in the air that it’s actually difficult to break away, even with a great car.
Overall I felt like — I feel pretty happy we finished third because so much could have happened. Obviously Sato was pretty excited out there, and I’m glad I didn’t get into that mess. But yeah, getting some good points here was very important for the championship. I guess we’ll get back to second. So very happy night. I wish I got two guns and a cowboy hat, but maybe next year. I’ll pick up one at the airport actually. I don’t know, I’ve got to get my face on those pictures.
THE MODERATOR: It seemed like for quite a while you were kind of content working with the team to ride behind Will and try to pull away.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, there was one moment I asked the team, can I pass him, and he said, it’s no team order, it’s just us working the strategy, but they said, no, it’s better you stay behind because for the long run it’s going to help you. And ultimately the rules about the tires happened, which really didn’t help us because we had a tremendous car on the long runs. But yeah, it was — wow, there’s so much going through my head right now, it was pretty exciting. There’s so much going on up here. But yeah, it was all right. I don’t know what else to say. I lost my train of thought. Choo-choo.
THE MODERATOR: Are you remembering any particular events or anything that happened tonight?
SIMON PAGENAUD: There were a thousand events, so no, it’s all a blur.
Q. Simon, I guess a two-part question. Do you think that this style of racing was maybe a little bit too crazy for this track, and I guess the next question, obviously as a side note, your countryman and former teammate Tristan Vautier was having a really good run. Do you have any thoughts about that?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yes, after qually I actually talked to Brant James and we talked about how the race was going to play and exactly what I thought was going to happen. We were able to run second lane on a dusty track already, so I thought it was good fun. I thought it was good racing. Yes, it was some pack racing. You didn’t have to pedal the car all that much. You still had to chase it with the setup, but you couldn’t get away with a good car. That’s the only disappointing part, but I thought for the fans it was a great show.
Now it’s our responsibility as drivers to respect the others and not unplug the brain completely at times. It’s our responsibility to know that someone on your side — not to crash into them. To me that’s where I would leave it at. That’s the bottom line.
Q. And about Tristan?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Oh Tristan. Tristan did a great job. I was very happy for him. Man, it’s incredible, he came back three years later and got back in the car, qualified fifth. He was running up front all day. I think he got caught up in that crash; I don’t think it was his fault. I saw on the big screen. But he was doing very well. I hope he gets more outings because he’s definitely showing how much he’s grown as a driver and that he has the intellect to be a frontrunner. So I’m very happy for him. He’s a good, good friend, and yeah, he just showed a lot of talent this weekend, I think.
Q. At what point did you realize that whatever we’re seeing in qualifying in terms of Honda being, whatever, occupying first four rows, when did you realize that Chevy could match Honda tonight?
SIMON PAGENAUD: I thought after practice, practice last night, I thought, we’ll have a good car. We passed the pack twice. I didn’t get to see Dixon unfortunately. I wanted to run with him and see how good he was, but I didn’t have a chance. But I ran with TK, I ran with Hunter-Reay, and I realized we were strong. I think we picked up the right amount of downforce.
I also think it’s a testament to our team, how much development they’re doing on the contact patch and how good the chassis was I think is really what happened tonight, so thanks to them and thanks for the hard work. I think all that research and development they’re doing really helped us tonight.
Q. With four to go, did you want to see them red flag it so you’d have another shot at it?
SIMON PAGENAUD: No, no, especially on restarts, I had such a good car, I wanted to go again. The road was clear without Sato and Dixon, so I thought maybe I have a shot. I could run the high side, I could run the low side, so I knew — that was a bit more trim than Will, so I thought maybe I could do it, but it would have been pretty intense, but I thought I had a shot, but you never know. But yeah, it was a shame, but the rules are the rules. 248 laps, that’s it, that’s the end.
Q. You may have already mentioned this, but at the end, what was your view of everything that kind of happened in front of you on that last crash?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Last crash I didn’t see. I saw sparks. I saw Sato sideways, and I thought that was going to happen. That’s all I thought about. I just saw a hole and I went for the hole on the right, kept my boot in to make sure I was going to clear the crash, and that was it. But Sato was all over the place and was going to crash someone. I don’t like to bash on people, but he was really out of control tonight. It’s unfortunate because he’s a tremendous racer, but yeah, glad it wasn’t with me.
Q. (No microphone.)
SIMON PAGENAUD: No, it was cooking, and it was a shame because what I saw when he came in the mix, he really started chopping things around and that was when I realized it was too late. I should have been leading at that point. But it’s racing.