CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA
BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE QUOTES
APRIL 23, 2018
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Race Winner
HOW EVENTFUL DID THAT RAIN MAKE IT AT THE END?
“More eventful than I would have liked. But, everyone did a great job. How about Team Chevy today? They gave us a great engine, good fuel mileage, and good reliability; that’s what we needed to win this race. It’s great having Hitachi. We had Verizon and we got them a victory, and now we got Hitachi a victory. So, thank you guys. Everyone at Team Penske did a great job. But like you said, that was more eventful than I would have wanted it. It seemed like smooth sailing for the most part. We weren’t having any yellows, which we were hoping no yellows today. But then that rain crept in and I couldn’t believe how long everyone stayed out. It was really risky what they were doing, but I understand why they were doing it, and I’m glad we made the call to come in so soon.”
HOW AWARE WERE YOU OF WHAT SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS WAS TRYING TO DO OUT THERE ON THOSE SLICKS, BECAUSE HE HAD A FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT LEAD ON YOU?
“Yeah, I knew what he was doing. It was the same thing with (Ryan) Hunter-Reay when he came up on me, and I asked if he was still on slick tires. At that point you could still probably manage them, but man it just kept getting worse and worse every lap; so, more and more risky. The problem is we put the rains on a little bit earlier to protect and I kind of fried the fronts because you know, these things aren’t designed to work in the dry. So, in the dry I kind of over-cooked the front end. And then I had to deal with that when the rain actually came. Fortunately we had a big gap. That’s really what I think helped us win the race was just building that gap over the beginning part.
THIS IS YOUR THIRD WIN IN THE LAST FOUR BARBER RACES. WOULD YOU BE COOL IF THEY ADDED FOUR OR FIVE RACES HERE A YEAR?
“Yeah, I like it here. We could do the whole series here. That would be great! Thanks to some of the fans who came back. I understand most people can’t make it. But they stuck it out yesterday. They were dealing with the wind and all the rain yesterday. They’re just great fans, so thanks for coming out everybody, and some of the people who came to watch this. It’s a good day for us at Team Penske.”