Today’s Verizon IndyCar Series and Mazda Road to Indy headlines:
1. If You Missed It: INDYCAR Conference Call with Will Power
2. Did You Know? 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series championship
1. If You Missed It: INDYCAR Conference Call with Will Power: Earlier today, Verizon IndyCar Series points leader Will Power participated in an INDYCAR Conference Call to preview ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest. Selected quotes from the availability are below.
Q. Will, you’ve said all year that you’re not worried about points. You just want to win races. There are three races remaining in the season. Is it time to start thinking about points?
WILL POWER: It’s probably time to start thinking about winning. At the end of the day, if you win two of the last three races or we win all three, obviously, we’ll win the championship. But it always depends on your situation at the time. You know where you qualify, how you’re running at certain times of the race, you know. It’s really how you drive and what chances you may take. So you just got to adapt to those situations throughout the weekends that you’re competing, and that’s how you’re going to get the best results.
Q. You said before that Milwaukee has become one of your favorite, if not your favorite oval on the schedule. What is it about Milwaukee that makes you like it so much?
WILL POWER: It’s the only flat oval that we race with pretty much no banking. It creates a situation where the car set ups really matter. So you see a lot of people strong at the beginning and seeing them struggle at the end and vice versa, which creates good racing in the end. Then sometimes you’re off-strategy and you’re on new tires and people aren’t, so it makes it a fun race from that point of view.
It’s just another unique part of the IndyCar Series where you’re racing on something different from everything else in the series. I enjoy it. I mean, pretty much enjoyed all the ovals this year. It’s been a lot of fun.
Q. Looking past this weekend into the next two races this season, the season ends at two places where you’ve had some highs and also some lows in Sonoma and Fontana. Do you see ending the season at those two tracks as being an advantage to you as you’ve won races at both places?
WILL POWER: I think the way the series is now I’m not sure anyone has an advantage anywhere. It seems to change every year. But in particular definitely Sonoma is a track that I really enjoy. It’s very technical, and I definitely look forward to racing there. Fontana last year was one of the highlights of my whole career, I feel. Man, I just had so much fun and just enjoyed winning that race more than pretty much more than any race I’ve ever won. So it’s definitely two good tracks with great memories for me.
Q. I know you’ve been in this position a couple times before leading the series with three points to go and ending up finishing second. Is there anything you can learn from 2010 or 2012 that you can bring here or is it just all about focusing one race at a time type deal?
WILL POWER: Obviously it is truly about focusing at one race at a time, almost one lap at a time, one session at a time type thing trying to get the most out of it. You’re constantly learning every year. I think that’s why some of those older drivers are doing so well just because of the amount of knowledge that they have about understanding how to deal with certain situations and always putting themselves in good position. So experience counts. I feel like now this is the first year I’ve gone through the season to now feeling like, yeah, of all the tracks we’re going to, there is no weakness there. So I definitely feel confident.
Q. Will, does a four point lead give you any room to be confident at this point?
WILL POWER: No, I’m not considering the amount of points that are on the table. Maybe those four points will count in the end, but it’s a full season of racing and points. And the guy that scores the most at the end just kind of ebbs and flows as far as who is leading at the time. But in particular, it’s definitely a pretty tight year with three races to go, or as you said, really four races worth of points to go. So, it’s still in a funny way it’s still kind of early considering how many points are on the table.
2. Did You Know? 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series championship: A look at the Verizon IndyCar Series championship with three races remaining.
• Will Power leads the Verizon IndyCar Series championship with three races remaining for the third time in his career. He also led in 2010 and 2012.
• Power leads Helio Castroneves by four points. It’s the third time he’s led the championship this season.
• With 54 maximum points available at Milwaukee, the points lead could change as it did at Mid-Ohio. The championship lead has exchanged hands four times in 2014.
Will Power: St. Petersburg-Grand Prix of Indianapolis
Ryan Hunter-Reay: Indianapolis 500-Detroit 1
Will Power: Detroit 2-Pocono
Helio Castroneves: Iowa-Toronto 2
Will Power: Mid-Ohio
• There are 11 drivers still mathematically eligible for the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series championship: Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, Carlos Munoz, Sebastien Bourdais, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Ryan Briscoe.
• Three drivers were eliminated from championship contention at Mid-Ohio.
• Since the first Indy car race at Milwaukee in 1939, 18 drivers have won at Milwaukee in their Indy car championship-winning seasons: Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Dario Franchitti (2011), Sebastien Bourdais (2006), Al Unser Jr. (1994 and 1990), Nigel Mansell (1993), Michael Andretti (1991), Johnny Rutherford (1980), A.J. Foyt (1975 and 1964), Joe Leonard (1972), Al Unser (1970), Mario Andretti (1966), Rodger Ward (1962 and 1959), Jimmy Bryan (1956), Chuck Stevenson (1952), Tony Bettenhausen (1951), Johnnie Parsons (1949), Ted Horn (1947), Rex Mays (1941).
Drivers still eligible for championship: 11
Key championship points statistic: The driver who has led the championship with three races to go has failed to win the championship in four of the last five seasons. Only Dario Franchitti in 2011 won the title when he led with three to go.
Smallest 1-2 points differential since: 2009. With three races to go, the points battle (four points separate first and second) is the smallest that it’s been since the 2009 season when first and second place were also four points apart. The average deficit with three to go since 2006 is 25.13 points.
Championship-eligible drivers with strong results at Milwaukee: Ryan Hunter-Reay is a three-time Milwaukee winner and has won the last two races at the track…Juan Pablo Montoya won the race in 2000…Will Power has top-10 finishes in two of his last three starts at Milwaukee…Helio Castroneves’ second place finish in 2013 was his best finish at the track since his first start in 1998.
Championship chases with three races left:
2013
Leader: Helio Castroneves (501) Second: Scott Dixon (-49). Third: Simon Pagenaud (-70)
Final Margin and Champion: 27 points. Scott Dixon
2012
Leader: Will Power (379) Second: Ryan Hunter-Reay (-5). Third: Helio Castroneves (-26)
Final Margin and Champion: 3 points. Ryan Hunter-Reay
2011
Leader: Dario Franchitti (475) Second: Will Power (-26). Third: Scott Dixon (-75)
Final Margin and Champion: 18 points. Dario Franchitti
2010
Leader: Will Power (528). Second: Dario Franchitti (-23). Third: Scott Dixon (-85)
Final Margin and Champion: 5 points. Dario Franchitti
2009
Leader: Ryan Briscoe (497). Second: Dario Franchitti (-4). Third: Scott Dixon (-20)
Final margin and champion: 11 points. Dario Franchitti
2008
Leader: Scott Dixon (558). Second: Helio Castroneves (-78). Third: Dan Wheldon (-138)
Final margin and champion: 17 points. Scott Dixon
2007
Leader: Dario Franchitti (518). Second: Scott Dixon (-8). Third: Tony Kanaan (-52)
Final margin and champion: 13 points. Dario Franchitti
2006
Leader: Helio Castroneves (376). Second: Sam Hornish Jr. (-8). Third: Dan Wheldon (-17)
Final margin and champion: Tie between Hornish and Wheldon. Hornish won by virtue of most victories
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The next Verizon IndyCar Series event is the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest on Aug. 17 at the Milwaukee Mile. The race will be televised live at 3 p.m. (ET) by the NBCSN (local cable providers, Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640/1640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network (local affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213), the INDYCAR 14 app and www.indycar.com.
