CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
KOHLER GRAND PRIX
ROAD AMERICA – ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 25, 2017
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 DEVILBISS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: POST RACE TV INTERVIEW: YOU HAD THE FASTEST LAP OF THE RACE AND DROVE A GREAT RACE. IT SEEMS YOU JUST GOT UNLUCKY WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT WHEN YOU WERE ON BLACKS
“Yeah, you can’t predict that stuff and I think our strategy was spot on. We were doing what we needed to do to stay out front there all day. But you just can’t predict those yellows and some days they fall your way and some days they don’t. Today they didn’t fall our way. Dixon and the whole Ganassi team did a great job and they deserved to win with the job they did. I felt good about what we had and we had four strong Chevrolets all weekend with Team Penske. It stings a bit that we didn’t get the win because of how good this car was all weekend. We looked good and you couldn’t miss us. We had the fastest lap which was pretty cool and I am just proud of all our guys. Just disappointed we couldn’t get it done.”
AT THE END YOU HAD MORE PUSH TO PASS BUT YOU COULDN’T REALLY GAIN ON HIM. DO YOU THINK HE WAS KEEPING AND EYE ON YOU?
“It got so difficult when you were up to temperature. He did a great job on the restart as he had a little more temp. When we got up to temperature a little bit quicker but it’s so difficult to pass when you are up to full temperature and he is as quick as he is. I think we were quicker than him, but not enough to where we could get a big run. It was just wrong place at the wrong time on that restart. We needed to be in the lead.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 REV GROUP TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD: POST RACE TV INTERVIEW: THIS IS A TOUGHER ONE TO SWALLOW BECAUSE YOU WERE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE LEAD AND IN THE LEAD FOR A WHILE. YOU PROBABLY TASTED THAT WIN DIDN’T YOU?
“Yes, definitely. Team Penske did a phenomenal job. The Rev Group Chevy was good, especially in the beginning. I was taking it easy and saving fuel, a lot of fuel actually. When we put the blacks on, I knew it was going to be rough and Josef (Newgarden) ended up getting the best of ours. But in the end we exchanged pits and we passed him again. At the end of the race Scott (Dixon) did a good job saving fuel and going a lap farther. They were fast for sure and it’s a shame because the car was really good without question. But when you battle this close with everyone it’s the difference of one small detail. At the end of the day it was a good day for the points championship.”
WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT LAST STOP? THERE SEEMED TO BE A BIT OF MISCOMMUNICATION
“We mentioned in the debrief that if in turn 14, the blue lights come on, you are to come right away. So I came in. I am sure they had a little buffer, and they knew what exactly was going on. He said keep going but I couldn’t quite understand him. See Roger, that is what happens. I need you back. (laughs). But at the end of the day it didn’t cost us anything in terms of a win or second place.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 1 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: POST RACE TV INTERVIEW: YOU WERE FAST TODAY, JUST NOT FAST ENOUGH
“Yeah, we flew under the radar. You didn’t see my off course but we recovered well. It was an interesting day with all the strategy on tires. We started on blacks which I thought went really well and fuel had a big part in every stint. If you could go a lap longer it was gaining you a lot of time. We didn’t have as much fuel efficiency as (Scott) Dixon but Josef did an amazing job in the first stint. I think that is what helped him a lot. The car was great and one of these days all four guys are going to be at the front. We were really fast and we raced each other hard but we didn’t have enough push to pass at the end unfortunately. Great to have the Menards Chevrolet here, its Wisconsin, the home state.”
IF I HAD TOLD YOU BEFORE THE RACE THAT ONE OF THE PENSKE CARS WASN’T GOING TO WIN, YOU WOULD HAVE TOLD ME…..?
“It’s a shame. We missed that one. Our cars were dominant this weekend and it’s really a shame that we didn’t bring a win home for the team.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH: POST RACE TV INTERVIEW:
ON DISAPPOINTMENT THAT TEAM PENSKE CHEVY DRIVER MISSED WIN:
“Yes, obviously it was disappointing for one of our cars not to win. Dixon was obviously fast and getting good fuel mileage, so he was going to be tough to beat.”
THERE WERE A TON OF BATTLES GOING ON OUT THERE, IT WAS AN EVENTFUL DAY WASN’T IT?
“It really was. Very eventful. I kept coming out of the pits on cold tires and battling people with warm tires, so yes, it was a job in just trying to keep position all the time. We didn’t quite have the car, but fifth place is still good points.”
HOW FRUSTRATING WAS IT IN TRYING TO MAKE TIME BUT SAVING FUEL AT THE SAME TIME?
“It’s definitely hard, especially when you have someone breathing down your neck. Dixon was all over me in the first stint, and he went a lap longer. I think we had the fuel to do it, but we weren’t confident we would make the lap. I like it when you can push hard, but that is IndyCar and you know you have to do every kind of discipline including saving fuel.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH: “There was a lot of hard racing out there today. We had gotten pretty far up into the field before we had some issues with the front suspension that prevented us from continuing our move forward. We had to make a few extra stop that took a long time, but the Fuzzy’s Vodka guys did a really good job at diagnosing the problem and fixing it as quick as they could. Our pace was really good and I’m slightly satisfied to come back to 12th. It was unfortunately another race where we should have finished much higher up!”
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 21 DIRECT SUPPLY ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH: “We felt pretty good about how the race was going for a while, we were running with some normally racy guys. Then that last yellow came out and we were stuck on blacks without much overtake left. I’d burned up a lot of overtake just trying to get up to where we were at. We may have ended up 12th or 13th, something like that. It wasn’t going to be anything to write home about, but at least we had worked our way up through the field a little bit. When it went back to green, we just got eaten up by those guys that were on red and still had a bit of overtake left. Then we had a mechanical issue within the last three laps of the race that really took us out of the running altogether. We just kind of have to take this result on the chin and move on to Iowa.”