CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR HARVEST GP
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE
RACE 1 WINNER QUICK QUOTES
OCT. 2, 2020
Newgarden wins Race 1 of INDYCAR Harvest GP
Reigning series champion slices 32 points off title deficit
INDIANAPOLIS (Oct. 2, 2020) – Reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Josef Newgarden won Race 1 of the INDYCAR Harvest GP doubleheader to close the gap in the driver points race.
Newgarden, who started on the outside of the front row next to Chevrolet pole-winner Rinus VeeKay, took lead for good following his final pit stop in the 85-lap race and went on to win by 14.2940 seconds in the No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.
Newgarden registered his third victory of the season and first on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He sliced 32 points off the lead of front-runner Scott Dixon in the championship chase and trails by 40 points heading into Saturday’s penultimate race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
Pole-sitter Rinus VeeKay placed third in the No. 21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – RACE WINNER
TALK ABOUT THIS DRIVE AND CHASING COLTON HERTA BEFORE THE FINAL STOP.
“I don’t know if I can think about the race… I’m so excited to be up on this platform! I wish I could have been up here in August with The Captain (Roger Penske). He’s done such an amazing job with this facility. To see people back here socially distanced in the stands at least getting to watch the race, I’m sure he’s really happy today and I’m happy to be here today representing him, Team Penske, everyone at IndyCar and IMS. Thanks to everyone who came out in cool conditions.
“We had a rocket ship. I knew we did yesterday in qualifying. I was so surprised with how quick the car was. It was a great fight today. It was all about strategy, close combat and everything you want in an IndyCar race. I was happy I had the quickest car. Team Chevy did an amazing job, having Hitachi on has been good luck for us this year. I’m pumped to be up here. I’ve always wanted to get up here. I want to get up here during the 500 but this is almost just as cool.”
TALK ABOUT WHEN COLTON HERTA WENT OFF AT TURN ONE. “It was a total gift. I was being patient, to be honest. I felt like we were in the cat bird’s seat and knew what we had speed-wise on him, and it was a matter of getting to that pit cycle. I didn’t want to get into another dogfight. We had one earlier in the race and he had the advantage with red tires at that point. So I was being patient and lo and behold I didn’t have to wait for the pitstop. He just gave me the gift and all I needed.”
ON THE POINTS SITUATION. “If you would have given us a couple of those races where we caught those bad yellows, we’d really be in this fight. It’s almost a shame what kind of deficit we’ve had in the points, but this team has been unbelievable. They’ve been the quickest in pitlane all year. They’ve done a great job. They deserve to be in this championship fight. It’s still a bit of a hill but we made a little smaller today, which is really good news. But we needed three perfect races to finish. This is one of them down. Two to go.”
