CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO
MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE, LEXINGTON, OHIO
TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP
JULY 28, 2019
Three Chevrolet drivers finish in top 10 in Mid-Ohio race
Will Power leads way with fourth place; Newgarden retains points lead
LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 28, 2019) – Will Power drove the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet to a fourth-place finish in the caution-free Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio to lead three Chevrolet drivers in the top seven.
Power, who registered his 57th NTT P1 Award, has finished in the top four in the 90-lap race on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course for the fourth consecutive year.
Teammate Simon Pagenaud finished sixth in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. Spencer Pigot advanced six positions relative to his starting spot in the No. 20 Autogeek Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet to finish seventh.
Josef Newgarden, who started third in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, was headed toward a top-five finish but made contact with another car on the final lap and fell to 14th place. Newgarden, the 2017 winner at Mid-Ohio, retained his NTT IndyCar Series championship points lead through 13 of the 17 races.
Scott Dixon recorded his sixth career victory in the event.
Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, will host the 14th round of the season Aug. 18. NBCSN will telecast the ABC Supply 500 live at 2 p.m. ET.
Power won two of the past three races on the 2.5-mile tri-oval in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. In 2018, he started from the pole and finished second.
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET (finished fourth): “
“It was a tough race, honestly. It was difficult to predict the tire strategy – the (Firestone) red tires were way better when the track temps came up and unfortunately we used them at the beginning so it just didn’t play into our strategy. It was a pretty frustrating end for Team Penske, really frustrating to see Josef (Newgarden) in the tires at the end. So, overall, not a great team day but it was a solid finish for the Verizon Chevy. We’ll take it and move on.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET (finished sixth): “From a championship standpoint it was a good say. From a team standpoint I feel sorry for Team Penske. I think we were the dominating cars this weekend. We tried as hard as we could today. It was pretty difficult for us to keep up the pace at the end because our car started getting very loose but overall, it was a good race and I thought we got the best finish we could with the Menards Chevrolet. We committed to a three-stop strategy and we got caught behind traffic after pretty much every pit sequence so that cost us quite a bit. It’s unfortunate because I think that strategy could’ve worked well. The good news is we picked up some points and we’re definitely still in the hunt for the championship.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 AUTOGEEK ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET (finished seventh): “It was an interesting race. It was a tough race for sure. Coming home seventh is not a bad result. We would have liked to have started a bit higher up this afternoon, but to pass the cars that we did and have the pace we did was encouraging. The car was great, everyone at Ed Carpenter Racing did a great job with the calls and pit stops. So lot of positives throughout the race.”
ED JONES, NO. 20 ED CARPENTER RACING SCUDERIA CORSA CHEVROLET (finished 13th): “On the start, I tried to optimize as much as I could to make up as many positions as possible. I think we did a good job with that. We executed everything well, there were no mistakes on track, I never got passed on track and the guys did a good job in the pits. Ultimately, we just weren’t quite quick enough today. We’ll make some improvements to get better pace for Portland, then we’ll be up there.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET (finished 14th): “I just forced the issue probably. I was trying to get on the podium there. I got inside of (Ryan Hunter-Reay) and looped it around and lost power. We had a great car today with PPG on board. Chevy did a wonderful job. I wish we could have done a bit more there at the end. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CHEVROLET (finished 16th): “It’s always a physical race here, especially when there aren’t any yellows at all. We had solid pace for most of the race in the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet, but we really just struggled on the scrubbed reds in that third stint. It’s just so difficult to overtake at Mid-Ohio, especially without any restarts. We started out on a two-stop strategy, but ultimately switched over to a three-stop. We were able to make it work, but we just couldn’t get around the cars in front of us. We definitely had a quicker car than our results showed, but that’s just how it worked out for us unfortunately.”
RC ENERSON, NO. 31 LUCAS OIL SCHOOL CARLIN CHEVROLET (finished 17th): “It was a pretty good race for us. We finished P17, so not too bad. We struggled a little bit at the start to find pace and we weren’t 100% sure what we wanted to do on strategy, but once we got out into clean air we started to pick up some pace in the No. 31 Lucas Oil School Carlin Chevrolet. We were able to make up some spots and pick off some of the stragglers who didn’t quite have the pace, moving us up about five spots from where we started. I’d say it was a pretty good weekend and it felt really good to be back in the car and get comfortable again.”
MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET (finished 18th): “It was a very difficult race here at Mid-Ohio, and disappointing considering we had a good pace in the practices. The pace was not good, the tire degradation was not good, so I think it was a combination of factors that didn’t allow us to move forward up the grid.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABCC AUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET (finished 20th): “I honestly don’t have much to say. Starting all the way back we had to gamble on some strategy moves. Without a yellow during the race there was no gain on what we planned so we raced by ourselves the whole time.”