CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
103RD RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, INDIANAPOLIS
INDIANAPOLIS 500 MEDIA DAY
SELECTED QUOTES FROM DRIVERS
MAY 23, 2019

ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET DRIVERS PARTICIPATED IN INDY 500 MEDIA DAY. SELECTED QUOTES FROM EACH DRIVER:

ED CARPENTER, No.20 Preferred Freezer Services

Q. How much does strategy change, if at all, with having all your cars up front?
ED CARPENTER: I don’t know that it does. There’s so many factors. Certainly, if we can all stay there, it can be helpful to have teammates around to insulate each other a little bit. But it’s a long 500 miles. I doubt we’ll be lined up one, two, three all day long. It would be amazing if that is the case, and I won’t complain one bit, but we try to be prepared for everything.

Q. You’re going to love this. Gotten varying responses on the question about desire. Some have said that they believe that all of you who race in this race have the same innate desire. Others insist, no, no, some guys want it more than others ‑‑ Graham, Helio, Simon, they all insisted that some guys want it more than others. I don’t know, if desire mattered, you probably would have won four already by now, but how much do you think desire matters?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, I think it’s an important piece, like if you don’t truly want to be out there and truly want to win the race, I don’t think you’re going to be motivated to put in the work and put out the risk and everything that it takes to be successful. I guess for me, it’s not for me to say what another person’s desire is. We’ve all worked hard to get here. That’s the great thing about opinions, we all have them, just like ‑‑

Q. Well, Dixon said you guys all have the same amount of desire or you wouldn’t be here, and other guys disagree with that.
ED CARPENTER: That’s kind of my take. You’re never going to get a roomful of drivers to agree.

Q. What’s the number one thing you think about when you wake up on race morning?
ED CARPENTER: The first thing I do is look at the weather. If it’s wet, we can’t go out.

Q. The young guys said breakfast. A couple other veterans were worried about ‑‑ the unknown was popular or racing in a pack or traffic, how you maneuver.
ED CARPENTER: Weather is my first.

Q. Weather, always.
ED CARPENTER: Peek out the blinds and see if it’s dry. In Indianapolis, it doesn’t matter what the forecast is, it could always be wet.

Q. You never know, right?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah.
Q. And that tells you right away whether this could be an interesting day or maybe not?
ED CARPENTER: The wind is a huge factor here. Basically, all the final adjustments that we’ll make from the time Carb Day practice is over to the start of the race, you know, if you’re making any adjustments other than those that are related to the weather conditions, you’re probably not feeling very confident with your car. So that’s why I say weather because we’re making our final decisions based upon that.

Q. I guess the feeling is you’ve been here so long, you can roll with just about anything.
ED CARPENTER: This isn’t a fun place to be when you don’t have a car that you like to drive. So if that’s the case right now, I’m really happy with my car. Hopefully, that will still be the case after tomorrow.
Q. Obviously, being in the top nine is really important, but who that’s outside of the top nine do you worry about most coming to the front?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, there’s anybody that’s won the race before. You’ve got Helio back there, Dixon’s back there, Hunter‑Reay, Sato. I know Marco is always going to be in a hurry to get to the front. T.K. is going to be aggressive. That’s the hard part about assessing this field is it’s strong all the way through. Hinchcliffe’s on the last row. I won’t be surprised to see him in the front at some point. He’s got a good car. That’s what makes this race so challenging in this era is the quality of teams from top to bottom and drivers is just so tight.

Q. The split between the front and the back was very slim. How hard is it going to be to come to the front, though, with the aero package and the speed?
ED CARPENTER: It seems like it’s a little easier than last year, but it’s still going to be challenging, especially depending on how the race plays out. If it’s green flag stops or yellow flag stops, that changes things a lot. The weather is changing by the minute right now. If it’s an 85 degree day versus a 70 degree day, I do think that will influence the race. That’s a really hard question to answer right now, but it’s always a challenging race no matter.
Q. I know last year people said it was going to be hard, but Rossi did a pretty good job from the back.

ED CARPENTER: He took a lot of risks on restarts and passed a lot of cars, which has made for some great highlights. Last year the way the race was, that’s what you had to do if you were in a position like he was coming from the back. He knew his opportunities were going to be on starts and restarts, and he made the most of it for sure.
Q. In reality, though, when you’re that far back, are you trying to get ahead on pit stops and hoping people make little mistakes that you can jump on?
ED CARPENTER: I think it takes all of it. Your margin for error is much smaller back there, but, yeah, you’ve got to have good starts. You’ve got to have good pit stops. You’ve got to have great strategy. And you’ve got to pass cars on the track. It takes everything.
Q. When you’re starting in the front, are you worried more about in front of you rather than behind?
ED CARPENTER: I think you’re worried about staying where you are. All the things I just said Alex had to do to get to the front, you have to do all those things to stay where you are and hold your track position. If we’re able to do that, then the next biggest worry is just catching a yellow wrong and getting off sequence and getting shuffled back that way. The race is a lot different than it needs to be with how reliable the equipment is now and the depth of the field. I feel like the intensity is ratcheted up much earlier in the race than what it did earlier in my career.
Q. Speaking of pit stops, just piggy‑backing off of that, you talked about how difficult this race is and how successful you need to be. How instrumental has your crew been in terms of the successes that you’ve had?
ED CARPENTER: Extremely important. They build the cars. They put in all the hours to do all the things that make the cars fast in the race. It doesn’t ‑‑ it’s one driver wins. The driver’s face gets put on the board, but it’s a team effort from top to bottom, from the pit stops and strategy to the car being built and the guys transporting the car to the track. We’re only as good as our weakest link, and I feel pretty good about our team.
Q. A lot of kids around the world, like Jackson Lucas, like Elliot Cox, race go‑karts while dreaming of finding the road to Indy. An IndyCar driver is not an easy job to get and secure. What’s something you can tell kids like them, something you learned later in your career that would help them?
ED CARPENTER: I think just understanding the amount of effort and persistence that it takes to not only be here, but to stay here. It’s hard for a kid to fully grasp that level of commitment. So I think you have to get used to being told no, whether it’s by your parents or people you’re approaching to try to help you find your career. You can’t give up on what you want to do. Just refuse to be told no.
Q. (Inaudible)?
ED CARPENTER: Night racing is something we’ve talked about for a long time. For me, I don’t want to see the Indy 500 go to a night race. Sunday afternoon, how temperamental this weather is just adds another dynamic to the difficulty. Whether or not they put lights in for other events, I think it would be great.
Q. What is your secret to qualifying so well?
ED CARPENTER: I can’t tell you that. I’m still driving. But really it’s a team effort. Our whole team does a great job building the cars, and beyond building one fast car, they built three fast cars this year. All of us are in second, third, and fourth. It’s a team effort, a lot of hours working on the cars and developing the car build. It’s something we work at all the time, and it’s nice we’re being able to show some consistency.
Q. As always, you’re up front on a super speedway. I don’t care (inaudible). But this year we’ve got a real lottery, a real lottery with the weather. I work a lot with America’s Cup teams, and starting in ’95 with Black Magic, they started bringing in their own meteorologist, and this guy just had an uncanny knack for telling everything about wind direction changes and everything else. His predictions were phenomenal. Do you do that in IndyCar, where you each have a guru?
ED CARPENTER: I don’t know if everyone has a guru. We certainly have some tools that we use for predictability, as best you can. It’s never a perfect science. We do have resources that we use that we have a certain level of trust in. But do we have a full‑time meteorologist on staff? No.
Q. So if I see you all of a sudden ‑‑ I was thinking if you guys had something that the other teams didn’t, and I saw all of a sudden you started pedaling really hard in the race, that maybe you knew something that nobody else did.
ED CARPENTER: I don’t know. Hopefully, we have a nice sunny day regardless of what the forecast says, and we don’t have to worry about it.
Q. Last year how big of a disappointment was it finishing second?
ED CARPENTER: It’s disappointing for sure to be that close to winning the race and accomplishing a lifelong dream, but at the end of the day, you finish second, Will Power won, and it was a great victory for him, and just try to take the positives and negatives for the day and move forward with it and try to come back better and more prepared for this year.
Q. One thing I noticed about you, in comparison to Helio when he finished second after that big battle with Ryan Hunter‑Reay back in ‑‑ was it 2016, ’14? 2014. It was 2014. He came in the pits, pulled up the car, and I turned around and looked at him, and he started to climb out and he sunk back in and put his head in his hands, and I got this picture that wound up everywhere. I thought, well, here we are again. I was down in turn one, and you came coasting in, and you just got out of the car completely composed.
ED CARPENTER: He’s Brazilian, so he’s much more emotional than I am, but it’s why we run the race. At that point, it’s over, and you can ‑‑ you have to accept it and move forward.
Q. When you get in the car, do you take those emotions and put them in a box and lock the lid or something?
ED CARPENTER: It’s just part of who I am, I guess.
Q. Do you think that there’s less distraction this year compared to last year? You had Danica on your team. Do you feel that you’re able to prepare a little bit more, or is it the same?
ED CARPENTER: No, I really ‑‑ I didn’t feel like we had any issues last year with Danica being a part of the team. It was actually quite a lot of fun to be a part of her last race and help her prepare for that and have her as part of the team. When we get in our engineering office or in meetings, it’s no different. The focus is the same. There’s a lot of people around no matter what. So I don’t feel like it’s any different, just a different year.
Q. How do you feel about this year? You’ve been in the top five, top nine on the pole. How do you feel about your chances this year? Do you feel like every year it kind of, almost like Marco a little bit, it’s slipping less and less, or do you feel really confident about this year?
ED CARPENTER: No, I feel really good. I’m very happy with the car. I feel we’ve had a very productive month of information, and I feel pretty comfortable with whatever conditions are on race day. I think we’ve been pretty consistent over sunny days, cloudy days, windy days, calm days. The temp’s been up and down through the month. I feel confident with our car and feel like we have everything that we need to go out and put together a winning effort.
Q. What’s the focus tomorrow, running in traffic?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, everything now is about running in traffic. We have a couple more things that we want to validate going into the race and get a balance on a couple things as we make our final decisions for Sunday, but, yeah, a couple traffic runs, some pit stop practice, and put it to bed.

SPENCER PIGOT, No. 21 AutoGeek

Q. I think about Saturday, and I think about you sitting P1 and you were oozing this confidence that I hadn’t seen maybe since the Road to Indy days, and it carried over into Sunday, like even though you didn’t get pole, you were still very quick. I’ve got to think this is the most confident I’ve ever seen you maybe since you’ve been in the IndyCar Series; is that a fair estimate?
SPENCER PIGOT: I certainly feel good, yeah. I feel like we’re really strong, like we could have some of the cars to beat on Sunday. So that’s a really nice feeling heading into the Indy 500. And yeah, you know, things the past few weeks have gone well. We kind of have had pace throughout the season, but it’s nice to have had a few smooth trouble‑free weekends and kind of show what we can do, and hopefully we can do that again on Sunday. But yeah, I’m feeling good, feeling confident and ready to go.
Q. When you look at last year, similar aero package, a few tweaks, different right‑side tires, we know that stuff, but this race could play out a little similarly. You started up front last year, towards the front last year. You start front this year. How do you manage it maybe a little bit differently since you’re sitting on the front row?
SPENCER PIGOT: I think the goal will be to stay in the top three, four, five positions throughout the race. It does become, I think, more challenging the deeper in the train of cars that you get. Sitting behind 10, 12 cars in practice, it’s definitely harder. The air is not very clean. It’s hard to kind of get runs. So it’ll be important to stay up front, and obviously no mistakes, no penalties in pit lane, nothing like that. Last year we had a really kind of solid opening few stints and then we had the penalty and then we were just kind of waiting for the right yellow from there that never came. Hopefully this year we have a smoother day, just kind of trouble free, and see what we can do.
Q. Because that track position is so valuable, do you kind of feel like it’s going to take something massive for the people behind to overtake just because the air is so turbulent, or can you still get there with a good race car?
SPENCER PIGOT: I think you can still get there with a good car. I think you can also get there if you’re kind of smart and patient, and if you do fall back, waiting for the right moment to kind of pounce on the car in front, if they have to do a big lift, if they get understeer or whatever and attack that way. And I think the best cars in the field will be able to kind of come through no matter what.
Q. How much has getting Ed Jones been an asset to the team for this year?
SPENCER PIGOT: Yeah, Jones has been a great help. You know, he comes with a lot of experience from two really good teams in Dale Coyne Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing the past few years, so lots of experience. He’s obviously run well here in the past and at other races, as well. So it’s been nice to have him on board. I’ve raced with him for a few years now going back to Indy Lights. I’ve never been teammates with him before, though, so yeah, I think we’ve worked well together, and hopefully we can continue to do that.
Q. Ed said he doesn’t feel like that third car of this group. It’s really that tight‑knit group from Ed Carpenter Racing, and Ed brings that to it I assume, right?
SPENCER PIGOT: Yeah, it certainly doesn’t feel like there’s any extra or ‑‑ we all have the same amount of attention and we all debrief and talk together as a full three‑car team. You know, it’s kind of been a seamless transition adding a third car.
Q. I was just going to ask, this is kind of your second full season. I mean, how does that feel in comparison to what you experienced all those years before? How have you become a better, well‑rounded driver because of it?
SPENCER PIGOT: I think it’s one of those things where just the more you’re in the car, the better you become. It’s like other sports, you’re practicing constantly. Tiger Woods plays golf every day of the week. If we’re race car drivers, obviously we can’t do that, but the more often you’re in the car, I think it can only help and make you better. You stay sharp and you’re kind of ready for more experiences and kind of ready for whatever the next race or conditions might bring.
Q. Speaking about next race, you have the GP, this race, biggest one, but then you’ve got to turn and and go do a double‑header right away, which is a whole different scenario. Just your thoughts about this very hectic May.
SPENCER PIGOT: Yeah, it’s a real busy stretch of the season. You know, hard to get a good night’s sleep. Just kind of always stuff going on. But I think that at the same time we’re fortunate to be in this position where we’re getting to live our dream and do what we love. But going to Detroit definitely is cool. I like the city, I like the race. It’s neat to have two races, but it comes after a very long two, three weeks here at Indy, and it’s not an easy weekend. It’s tough. The track is hard. It’s bumpy, it’s physical, and you have to do it two days in a row. It’s just kind of this seemingly never‑ending stretch of long difficult days. But at the same time, it’s a lot of fun, and that’s what we enjoy.
Q. When you go out ‑‑ I know Kyle was saying that he’s still amped up, but he and everyone has to put that all aside like at driver intros or when you get buckled in that car on Sunday. You can’t think about anything else but your job at hand.
SPENCER PIGOT: Yeah, absolutely, and I think it’s not really an issue to do that. I think that it’s just kind of natural as soon as you get in the car. I don’t want to say it’s like any other race, but you have to almost think of it that way. It’s the job at hand, whether you’re up front trying to stay in the lead or whether you’re trying to pass a car in front, that kind of consumes you, and you don’t really think about the amazing spectacle and event that this race is, you just think of what you have to do at that time.

ED JONES, No. 63 Scuderia Corsa

Q. How does the team dynamic with ECR, how does that compare to what you had in 2017 at Dale Coyne and to what you had with Chip a year ago?
ED JONES: I think it’s more similar probably to what I had with Dale Coyne. Things are very evenly spread between the team. We’re all working on our different things, and everyone feels like they’ve got a similar right to the situation, sort of different than last year, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s been really great working with all those guys at Carpenter Racing, and hopefully we can work together in the race as well.

Q. In addition to, obviously the Ed Carpenter cars, talk about being able to bring Scuderia Corsa up front pretty quickly in just their second Indy 500.
ED JONES: It’s great to have Scuderia Corsa on board. It’s great for myself, great for the team, and also great for the series. I think in the future they’re going to be some big players for the series, and it’s great for myself to get in there and produce a good result qualifying and hopefully even better on race day.

Q. Starting fourth, do you feel it’s better to stay up front right at the green flag, or do you think settling into the pack is a better option?
ED JONES: I think staying in the pack in fourth would be ideal because you’re still close enough to the front, but still you get the advantage of fuel saving and stuff like that. I think being third or fourth is quite a good place to be. You can stay there for most of the race and then pop up at the end.

Q. Is passing pretty similar to what it was last year, or do you think it’s easier or harder?
ED JONES: It just depends on the conditions. If it’s another hot one like last year, it’s not going to be easy. As we saw on Monday, passing was great. Again, you struggled if you’re a few cars back, but first and second could do it easily. So, again, it’s just all comes down to the conditions, I think. If we can have a clear race, it will produce great racing.

Q. You’ve grown up in road racing, but ever since you came to America in Indy lights and IndyCar, you’ve adapted to ovals extremely quickly. What is it about your driving style that seems to suit you better on ovals?
ED JONES: I’ve enjoyed them since I started. The biggest thing, I’ve never had a win on an oval. I’ve had six or seven seconds, but I’ve never had a win. I missed winning at Indianapolis.

Q. By two inches.
ED JONES: Yeah, in 2016 and 2017 combined, I missed a win by less than half a second. So it’s very painful. No, I just love oval racing because it’s more than just about the driving, it’s more of a mental game as well. Being smooth on road course, I think helps me on reducing (inaudible), and that’s probably a big part of it, and just being committed.

Q. One of the things about that oval is this race is different from most of the others, just because of the length of it, and it’s the mental in addition to the physical aspect of it. You’re prepared for that, obviously, being here a number of years.
ED JONES: Yeah. I think, again, it’s funny. Both mentally and physically, how tough it is depends completely how your car is, funny enough. 2017 was probably one of my ‑‑ definitely like top three easiest races I ever had, both mentally and physically. Even though I finished third rookie year. So the car was good. Everything was like so easy. When it’s good, you’re not fighting. You’re not tense. You’re holding everything light.
I remember quite well, coming to that last restart, I think there was like 12, 15 laps to go, and I remember thinking I feel completely full of energy, like nothing’s happened. I’m so clear minded. I have the mental energy. But then you have like last year’s race with the crash, but even before that, the car is really tough, and physically it gets tougher, and everything is just a lot more difficult. Again, it’s interesting how much of a part the handle of your car plays in that. With how it’s gone so far, hopefully, it’s going to be an easier race again.

Q. Could you tell us a little bit about working with Ed Carpenter Racing. Obviously, him having three poles here and the runner‑up this year, second place so far. Just working with the team and what you’ve learned.
ED JONES: It’s a great team to be a part of. It’s very obvious how much of an effort throughout the whole year is focused on Indy. I was always excited to get here because I knew, no matter what happened the rest of the season, we’re going to have to be solid here. As a driver, this is the one race which you could win this race, and I think the rest of this year becomes irrelevant to you because it’s so important.
It’s been great working with him. It’s been great having Scuderia Corsa as well to be a partner with. I think they’re a great addition to the series. All in all, I’ve enjoyed it. I think, again, we have three cars up there, and me being a third car, you know, it’s not ‑‑ this isn’t three full‑time cars. The third time car is usually a bit below the others no matter what you do. But as you can see how strong we’ve been, it’s really paid testament to how much effort and what a great job that Carpenter Racing’s done to have me right up there as well.
You saw that last year with Danica, and I think that really says a lot. So I’m grateful for that.

Q. Makes a comfort having two of your teammates up there that you guys can work together at the beginning of the race?
ED JONES: Yeah, hopefully. Again, we’ll see the situation. This race has so many variables with what the condition is going to be like. Is it going to be a race where, of course, first two stints or so you’ve got to try to play it easy, save fuel, do things like that. But is it going to be one where it’s a threat of rain, and by lap 100 you’re doing everything you can to stay in the lead. We’ve got to see. It’s going to be exciting no matter which way it plays out, and just hoping I’ll be up there in front of that checkered flag, or if the race is stopped ‑‑

Q. Speaking of conditions, is this a tough one for you guys to figure out because you’re starting row 2, but we’ve seen clean air be so good, but if you get in a group, it might change the way your car handles and you might have to dial it the other way.
ED JONES: We’ve done both. We’ve been very conscious of that, that up front is very easy. But no matter how your race is going, where you’re at, there’s going to be a point in the race where you’re going to be back of the pack, whether you’re lapping people or just falling back. We’re going to be prepared for that, and we’ve made a lot of effort to do that as well. I think the consensus is that, yeah, it’s not too bad, but it’s just like when you’re that far back, you can’t really make passes. You can hang there, whatever. That’s what the difference is when you’re up front. You can actually overtake a lot easier.
So that’s what we’re keeping mindful of. Again, if you’re back there, I think what we saw with a lot of guys last year is that you’re trying to make something happen is when the accidents happen. So you’ve got to be relatively smart about what the capabilities of the car are.

Q. More of a mental game?
ED JONES: Yeah, what’s capable of the car at that certain point and just hang with what’s best.
Q. In tomorrow’s practice session be one of the more important one of the year because used to be car day you ran a couple laps and parked it because you don’t want to ruin the car, but it seems the conditions for Sunday, as long as the R word doesn’t come in here, Friday and Sunday seem comparable in terms of humid. Does that make tomorrow a little more ‑‑

ED JONES: Yeah, I think it’s great to run in every condition we can. We’ve had different days, and we’ve had notes on the car and what it does. Tomorrow, again, is slightly different, and we get to test it out. That’s going to be hotter than race day, it looks like. Again, be prepared to put the wets on for race day and run the oval.
Q. Finally, you did really well in GP. You qualified for it here. Not to look too far ahead, but last year you were really good at Detroit. Do you look forward to try to build this momentum and potentially ‑‑

ED JONES: Yeah, at the moment, it’s almost like Detroit doesn’t even exist because you just want ‑‑ this race is what it’s all about, and, of course, after Sunday, then you’ll be thinking on to Detroit, but we’re in a good place at the moment. It’s a really rough start to the season, and hopefully we can carry this on.