CHEVROLET IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
ABC SUPPLY 500
POCONO RACEWAY
LONG POND, PENNSYLVANIA
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2015
Team Chevy’s Juan Pablo Montoya Takes 34 Point Lead to Verizon IndyCar Series Season Finale at Sonoma; Double Points on the Line in Final Race of 2015 Season
LONG POND, Penn (August 23, 2015) – With 15 of 16 Verizon IndyCar Series races in the record books, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, heads to the season finale with a 34-point lead following a third place finish in the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Montoya, who took Chevrolet to Victory Lane at the 2015 Indianapolis 500, has led the standings since his win in the season-opening race on the Streets of St. Petersburg.
A total of six drivers remain eligible for the championship heading into the season finale Aug. 30, 2015 on the 2.385-mile, 12-turn Sonoma Raceway road course. Five of the six are Team Chevy drivers who will contend for double points in the 85-lap race. In addition to Montoya, Gold Bowtie drivers Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, reigning series champion Will Power and Josef Newgarden remain mathematically eligible to capture the championship crown.
Newgarden, who also has two wins to his credit this season, brought his No. 67 Hartman Oil CFH Racing Chevrolet, to the finish in second place at Pocono and gave Chevrolet two podium finishes. Power brought the No.1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet to the checkered in fourth place.
The finale race will take place next Sunday, August 30, 2015 at Sonoma Raceway. It will be televised live on NBC Sports Network starting at 4:00 PM EDT. The race will also be broadcast live by the IMS Radio Network, indycarradio.com , including Sirius Channel 213 or XM Channel 209 and the INDYCAR 15 app for most smartphones and tablets. Live timing and scoring will be available at www.racecontrol.indycar.com. All practice sessions for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season will be available on the INDYCAR YouTube channel www.youtube.com/indycar and www.RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
An interview with:
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, CFH Racing Chevrolet – Finished 2nd
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, Team Penske Chevrolet – Finished 3rd
Pocono Raceway post-race podium, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015
THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and get started with our post-race press conference. We’re joined by the race runner-up, Josef Newgarden. Josef, you led a lot of laps today, came home second. Talk about your day.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was a good day for us. We had a good race car. Really happy with finishing in the top three, that was great. Just really thinking about Justin (Wilson), to be honest. I haven’t heard anything on him. He was obviously involved in that last wreck of the day. Just hoping to get some news, to be honest with you, and hopefully soon. Hopefully it’s good news and everything’s rosy. We had a good day, but like I said, just thinking about Justin.
THE MODERATOR: You’re one of six drivers still eligible for the title. Talk about your chances heading to Sonoma.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, we’re probably not a dark horse but like a super dark horse. I doubt it’s going to materialize. I think Montoya would have to not show up and we would have to win basically. It’s probably not that bad but we’re a far-out shot.
Hopefully we can get inside the top five or top three in points. I think that would be a really good goal for us. I think the title is kind of out of reach. We can show really well. We can win another race, perform well for the year, and then go on to next year and try to be a little more consistent and win the title then.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Josef Newgarden.
Q. Josef, I want to go back to the one restart where it was seven wide. What was going through your mind when you saw that?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I didn’t see the seven part. I heard it was five. If it was seven, that’s even crazier. I think that’s got to be a new record here for us.
But, you know, if you wanted a good race today, I don’t think you were going to be able to produce a better one than that. It was a pretty incredible showing.
It’s been like that all year with IndyCar. We’ve just had incredible races. It was hair-raising. Every restart was hair-raising, but I also loved every restart because I felt we were going to capitalize and go to the front every time.
We did that for the most part. We had a really good car once we dialed it in midway through the race. We got better in traffic. We were able to show that at the end. A big thank you to my team for sticking with me and trying to get me what I wanted out of the car and I think we found it there at the end.
Q. Last couple years we’ve been here at Pocono, we had quick races, pretty much caution-free. Then we had today. Do you think the placement later in the season with only one more race to go after today has added to this frenzy that we saw? It was a war of attrition.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Perhaps. I think that’s a good point. That’s probably one variable. There’s a lot of guys trying to make up for the end of the year. I don’t think people were necessarily trying to wreck. But it breeds it when you’re trying to go for points and you’re trying to win a championship and the door’s still wide open.
But I think a lot of it, too, it was a very racy race. Most of it was really good and clean. We had some stretches of the race where there were no cautions and it was good. But it got real racy at a lot of points. I think that’s probably what bred all the tight corners, people getting in the walls, messing up.
This new aero package, the way IndyCar runs, you can’t beat the competition. It’s just the most amazing competition between teams, drivers, performance, manufacturers. I think that’s what you want as fans and I think that’s what you’re getting right now.
Q. Just watching on the restart in general, it looked for me very dangerous. How did it look from the cockpit?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know. It felt pretty normal to me, to be honest. You don’t get the perspective of TV. I’m sure it looked a lot crazier on TV. I wasn’t in half of the race at Fontana, and it was gnarly looking. You were holding on to the edge of your seat every time they would go from a restart. I’m sure that’s what it looked like here, too.
Inside the car it felt like normal Indy car racing. Indy cars race close. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what it’s always been about. It felt very normal inside the car to me. I had a fun time going into each restart because I felt I could make something happen from pretty far back.
Q. Josef, you’re fairly tall. Justin is the tallest driver in the series. When you’re that tall in the seat, do you sometimes feel a little at risk from debris and things like that? What would you like to see done to prevent that?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Look, first off, this is Indy car racing. It’s the nature of motorsports. Things are going to happen. I don’t know anything about Justin’s wreck. I have no idea, so I can’t comment on it.
As far as the height, honestly to me there’s no difference. They make a regulation for how tall you can be inside the car sitting compared to the roll hoop. It’s safe for any height for any driver that gets in the car. There’s a regulation for how tall you can be in there.
I don’t feel any more exposed than any other driver in the car. This is Indy car racing. They make it as safe as they can. We’re at the forefront of technology. The height thing to me is probably a non-issue in my opinion.
Q. Josef, getting back to the question about racing today. Last couple years were processional, dominated by strategy and fuel mileage. Today with the aero kits, did that make the show? Was that a contributing factor today?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, 100 percent. People were able to, compared to last year, bunch up a little bit.
Q. A little?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, a lot. You see people snaking down the straightaways because we’re all together for the most part. So it’s 100 percent related to how the cars draft and how they race in close quarters.
You’ve seen it all year. Even on the road courses, we’ve had some of the most unbelievably close racing we’ve seen ever. At Barber Motorsports Park, for instance, we had a record number of passes. That’s a tight, twisty, difficult place to pass. You’ve seen it everywhere with the aero kits.
Here is no different. I think the nature of the kit, the way we drive around here now, it created a close, tight, really exciting battle.
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by the third-place finisher in today race, Juan Pablo Montoya of Team Penske. You maintained your record of finishing in the top 10 of every 500-mile race you’ve ever been in. Talk about today.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It was good. Our Verizon Chevy was strong all day. We ran a smart race. It’s tough, you know. Sometimes you’re racing somebody and you get all excited and you kind of forget why you’re here and what you need to be doing, that it’s a 500-mile race.
I gained places where I could gain places. Then when I couldn’t, I was like, “OK, let’s save some fuel.” I think that really helped one of the stops right before the caution. It was really good.
It’s what it is. We executed well all day. I felt we had a car to win the race. It was really, really quick. I felt I needed to be smart about it.
THE MODERATOR: You take a 34-point lead unofficially over Graham Rahal to Sonoma. Your approach to next week’s race.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Same thing as every week: Go out there and do the best we can, see what happens. It’s double points, so it’s open for anything. I feel if we run a smart day all day, we’ll be fine.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll continue with questions.
Q. For both of you, I’m sure you’ll watch this race within the next week or so. Are you aware that at one time you had seven wide coming down the front straightaway?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I was in it.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I didn’t realize it was that wide.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Four wide, five wide, then Takuma (Sato) got inside of me. My spotter didn’t even know what to say.
I don’t watch the races, to be honest. Like this year, sometimes I’ll watch, like, I think Friday night I’ll watch this race just to see the restarts, see what happens. But that’s it. I’m too busy pedaling.
Q. Juan Pablo, the last couple years we’ve had no cautions for these races. They’ve been super quick. Then today…
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah, I had a flight today and I missed my flight. Thank you, yeah (laughter).
Q. Do you think it’s because of the placement in the schedule with it being one to go after this?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No. I think the aero kit just brings a lot closer racing. To be honest with you, a lot of these guys here are not used to oval racing. They’re not used to the give-and-take. They don’t understand the give-and-take.
Yesterday even in practice, (Tristan) Vautier nearly crashed into me. I got a run on him into Turn 3, I was next to him, half a car inside of him, he just turned down like I wasn’t there. I went and confronted him.
He said, “What am I supposed to do? If I go straight, I’ll go off, so I turned.” I said, “But if I’m there…”
“But I felt I got really loose.”
“Yeah, because you were bouncing into me.”
“Next time when somebody gets a run and gets inside of you, get off the gas and get behind.”
The young kids, they don’t understand it. They race lap five like it’s the last two laps of the race and they’re going for a win, when they’re running 18th. It’s amazing. That causes a lot of the crashes.
We’re going way too fast. Like Turn 1 is bumpy as hell. You go in there, one lap he turns, the next lap he pushes. You’re behind one car, you’re good, if you’re behind two cars, that thing doesn’t turn. It’s tough. Nobody wants to back off. But that happens.
I thought the race was pretty cool.
Q. Having said that, do you find it highly ironic that it was Tristan Vautier that ran into Graham Rahal and took him out of the race?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It’s racing. It’s ironic. They talked to him and everything.
To be honest with you, it’s what it is. Graham hadn’t really had any really big issues, maybe not great races, but he never got into trouble with anything. We had our suspension failed in Iowa and lost a lot of points. We got screwed by (Sage) Karam in Mid-Ohio. It’s what it is. We came here and did what we needed to do. Graham is young, he’s good. But, I mean, you learn.
Q. (No microphone.)
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: We put a little bit more downforce, just a tick. A lot of it was more adjusting the front wing. We made a lot of changes today to the car from what we had yesterday.
We knew we were going to have to add front wing. But it’s always better to have to add front wing than go out there and can’t drive it because it’s too fricking loose.
We ran a smart race. To be honest with you, I did everything I needed to do.
Q. You said it was a pretty exciting race. Do you want to see the series come back here next year? This was the last year of a three-year contract.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I mean, if people come here and watch the NASCAR race, that single-file parade for 400 miles, or you want to see this, you know what I mean? I think it’s a pretty easy call from the track whether they want us back or not, you know what I mean? I have no control over it.
I think it was great racing. It was a fun place. A lot of people showed up today. That is good. I’ll tell you the truth. If we come back next year after what we did today, you’re going to fill it up. You’re going to have more and more people. I keep telling people, IndyCar is in the up, in the up big-time.
I tell you, when I went to Mid-Ohio on Saturday afternoon, when my kids went around, I couldn’t believe how many people were there. It was a Saturday and Sunday and it was packed. It was like ’99 and 2000. That place was packed. That’s cool to see.
I think going to Road America is going to be great for us, Boston. We keep putting on awesome races and people get excited about it.
Q. Even though it might seem trivial in light of everything that happened with Justin…
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: What happened to Justin? I don’t know. I know he got hit, but I have no information.
Q. As far as the 34-point lead going into a double points race, what do you feel you need to do?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Do what we do: have a good race and that’s it. We know like Graham didn’t really have that stellar car in Mid-Ohio. We think we should have a strong car there. Last year there we finished fifth. Hopefully we can qualify better. We opened some more points on Dixon. I think that’s important. That’s it.
We’ll do what we can. Kind of sucks going into a doubleheader on a road course, but that’s what it is.