Chevy Racing–INDYCAR–Advance

CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY, MADISON, ILL
TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
AUGUST 22, 2019

Chevrolet aims for season sweep of oval races

Chevrolet looks to increase winning streak to five
Three Team Penske drivers have victories on ovals
Team Chevy drivers are first and third in championship standings
Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud seek to increase points
Chevrolet has amassed eight wins in the 14 races
Eight pole starts complement the victory total

DETROIT (August 21, 2019) – Chevrolet drivers Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power head into the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway with momentum and a desire to pile up every crucial championship point.

The Team Penske trio finished in the top five August 18 at Pocono Raceway – with Power winning for the third time in four years – and seek to continue their season-long oval success by generating a third consecutive victory on the 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval.

Chevrolet has eight wins in 14 races, including all four oval track events – Pagenaud in the Indianapolis 500 on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Power on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway tri-oval and Newgarden at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway and .894-mile Iowa Speedway.

Power and Newgarden have won the two 248-lap races at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, since the NTT IndyCar Series returned after a 13-year absence. Pagenaud has a pair of top-five finishes at the racetrack.

Newgarden leads the NTT IndyCar Series championship with three races left for the second time in his career and closed the deal in 2017. He has sat atop the driver standings after every round but the Indianapolis 500 in late May.
Newgarden, who has only three finishes out of the top five through the 14 races, placed fifth at Pocono Raceway. Pagenaud, the third-place finisher at Pocono, is third in the championship and Power is fifth.

“Although we didn’t win at Pocono, we were able to gain points and extend the gap between us and (Alexander) Rossi in the championship standings,” said Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. “(World Wide Technology Raceway is) a track we feel really comfortable at and a place where I’ve had success in the PPG Chevy. Ovals can be tricky, but they’re really fun to race.”

Power has nine career oval track wins, including five of his past six victories overall.

“The win at Pocono is what we needed to really turn our season around,” said Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. “We feel like this is great momentum headed into this weekend at (World Wide Technology Raceway) where we’ve also had some success. I’ve made it no secret that I really enjoy racing at ovals these days, so I’m hoping we can make it two in a row. We are going to keep racing hard for every possible win or championship point we can get.”

Nine drivers powered by the direct-injected 2.2-liter, twin turbocharged Chevrolet V6 engine are entered. Conor Daly and Charlie Kimball will drive Carlin Chevrolet entries for the second consecutive weekend. Kimball will have new primary sponsor ripKurrent on the side of the No. 23 entry. Additionally, team owner Ed Carpenter, who recorded a sixth-place finish at Pocono, will be behind the wheel of the No. 20 Sonax Chevrolet.

“Hopefully we can carry the momentum we have from here and have a good run at Gateway and finish on a positive,” Carpenter said.