CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY 200 OF MID-OHIO
MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES QUOTES
JULY 30, 2017
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG AUTOMOTIVE REFINISHTEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: WE ARE USED TO SEEING PEOPLE STRUGGLE IN THEIR SEASON WITH TEAM PENSKE, BUT NOT YOU: “Well, I’ve got a great crew. When they give me a car like this, I don’t want to say it’s easy, but it’s easier at least. I think we’ve been hitting on all four cylinders, no pun intended, but these guys were awesome this weekend. We had good stops. It was just a really fast car. Reds or blacks, it didn’t matter. The car was fast. So, I just tried to do my job. I think everyone is going to want to drive this PPG car. I’m pretty sure it was lucky for (Simon) Pagenaud last year and I think it’s lucky for us. So, we’re going to probably be fighting over this car.”
YOU SAID HOW GOOD YOUR CAR WAS ON BOTH REDS AND BLACKS, BUT YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE IN THE TOP 5 ON BLACKS IN THAT LAST STINT. WAS THAT THE DIFFERENCE? “I was a little bit worried, actually, to be honest. I think we could have been faster on reds, but we made that decision with the gap we had. I think we had about 10 seconds. But I said we still have this gap, let’s keep blacks. I think that’s probably going to be the better option for us, better durability. The reds are quicker out of the gate, but I just thought the blacks would be better at the end. I was worried because on the restart they were terrible. I had so much pick-up on the tire I could barely get going. But, as soon as the tires cleaned up, I was just fine. So, I’m really proud of this No. 2 car crew. We’re getting after it, I’ll tell you that.”
YOU ARE NOW THE POINTS LEADER OVER HELIO CASTRONEVES BY 7 POINTS: “Oh, that’s great. Yeah, I figured; I was wondering where (Scott) Dixon was. I was looking at all the cars around me and I go, this has got to be a good points day for us. So, we’ve just got to keep it up. No mistakes. If we don’t have any mistakes, we’ve got plenty enough to win this championship. So, we’re going to keep at it and see what we’ve got for the last four races.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERION TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: “On the alternate tires, we just had a lot of push, couldn’t really do much about it. So, yeah, Josef did a really good move, kind of faked to the left and then went right going around to the inside. Nothing I could really do. Then he was, yeah, very strong, very fast from there on. Kind of was pretty good on blacks. Felt our pace was pretty good on blacks, but we just weren’t good enough on reds today to have a shot. Still happy with second.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 1 MENARD’S TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: “The Menards Chevy was good all weekend. I do wish that we could have qualified a little better just to decrease the number of cars to get around. It was kind of a neutral day in the championship but that’s alright. We’re right there and it will come down to Sonoma. Congratulations to Josef (Newgarden). They’re really on a roll right now.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: “That was a tough race. These cars are so physical to drive. We only had the one caution that didn’t really affect anyone, I don’t think. On that restart, I had some sort of glitch that took away a bunch of power for a couple of seconds and two cars went around me like I was standing still. That’s unfortunate. But it was a decent day in points for the Hitachi Chevrolet team. A super day for Josef (Newgarden). Congratulations to that group. He leapfrogged us, but we’re still in second. We head to a couple of ovals now which could really mix things up. It’s going to be a battle. That’s for sure.”
CONOR DALY, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: “You know obviously it’s great to come away in the top 10 – a huge step for us – and just to be able to fight with those guys all day and be catching Dixon. Really, challenging the 9 car any time is good, so it’s fun to be able to fight with those guys, especially James too, because Hinch has had a really good year and he’s been really fast, so I think we made great steps forward. My guys gave me solid pit stops and we came through with a solid race today. No issues, didn’t get hit, didn’t get knocked off or anything, nothing broke, so that’s nice”
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 21 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH: “I’m just super frustrated and bummed for my Fuzzy’s Vodka guys! We started on blacks and were able to run long, then when we got on our first set of reds we were still running long and able to save fuel. I felt like I could have saved even more than I needed to! Everything was looking pretty good, then we sort of got hosed by our own success in a way. We had been saving fuel and were going longer than the cars around us; we basically got caught out by staying out too long. A yellow came out and we had to stop under a closed pit. Even just not making it in before that yellow would have put us all the way to the back of the lead lap anyway, but then, to add insult to injury, we had some sort of mechanical malfunction with the fuel probe and didn’t get all of the fuel in. We had to pit again under green and just cruised around on our own until the end. We can feel good about putting ourselves in a good spot and bouncing back from what was a pretty tough weekend all around. We’ve got a little bit of a break now, then we’ll see what we have in Pocono.”
CARLOS MUNOZ, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH: : “Another long race. We went aggressive strategy to go up front. There were several yellows in the race to help us but when we take a chance it doesn’t work. This year it seems taking a chance doesn’t work for us in any of the races.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH: “First of all, it was great to even make the start of the race. All of guys did an amazing job building up a spare car for me in just a few hours, so a huge thanks to them. As far as the race, we had some damage to the rear of the car at the start that really didn’t make it easy. Either way, I don’t think it was going to be our day. I’m frustrated with how it all went, but hopefully the 20 car guys can rebound in Pocono with Ed (Carpenter) and I’ll jump back in at Watkins Glen.”