CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES: TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY DOUBLEHEADER RACE TWO-PATO O’WARD PUTS CHEVROLET IN VICTORY LANE AS 20 YEAR-OLD CLAIMS CAREER FIRST WIN

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
XPEL 375
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, FORT WORTH, TEXAS
RACE RECAP – PATO O’WARD WINS FOR CHEVY
MAY 2, 2021

Chevrolet finishes 1-2 in second race of Texas doubleheader
Pato O’Ward earns first victory; Josef Newgarden is runner-up

FORT WORTH, Texas (May 2, 2021) – Pato O’Ward, four days shy of his 22nd birthday, claimed his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway.

O’Ward, driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, overtook two-time Series champion Josef Newgarden with 24 laps left in the 248-lap race on the 1.455-mile asymmetrical oval and went on to a 1.2443-second victory. Newgarden, driving the No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, was runner-up for the second time in four races this season.

The victory was the 90th for Chevrolet in 153 races since returning to NTT INDYCAR SERIES manufacturer competition in 2012.

Simon Pagenaud placed sixth in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet, while teammate Scott McLaughlin finished eighth and Rinus VeeKay placed ninth in the No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing. An on-track incident early on involving three Chevrolet drivers sliced the running field by six cars. No one was injured.

A day earlier in the 212-lap Genesys 300, McLaughlin registered a second-place finish in the No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES oval racing debut. O’Ward finished third.

O’Ward moved to second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship standings, while Newgarden gained two positions to fourth heading into two events this month at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. First up is the GMR Grand Prix on May 15 on the road course. NBC will telecast the race at 2:30 p.m. ET. On May 30 is the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

TEAM CHEVY RACE 2 FINISHERS:

  1. Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP
  2. Josef Newgarden, No. 2 XPEL Team Penske
  3. Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske
  4. Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 PPG Team Penske
  5. Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek
  6. Ed Carpenter, No. 20 U.S. Air Force
  7. Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske
  8. Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP
  9. Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT/AJ Foyt Racing
  10. Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators/AJ Foyt Racing
  11. Conor Daly, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin

DRIVER QUOTES:
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, WINNER:

WHAT WERE YOUR EMOTIONS AS YOU CROSSED THE FINISH LINE FOR YOUR FIRST INDYCAR CHECKERED FLAG?
“Finally man! That was a long race, but we had so much pace in this Arrow McLaren No. 5. I have to thank Vuse, Team Chevy, Mission Foods and everybody on this team who have been doing such a good job. And we bounced back from last weekend and we got a podium yesterday, we had pace and we got the job done today. I couldn’t be happier for another group of guys.”

DID YOU THINK YOUR FIRST INDYCAR WIN WOULD COME AT AN OVAL?
“Honestly no, but hey, I will take it. Its Texas, it’s very close to my heart and I have lived here for many years. Many Mexicans are out there in the grandstands, so thank you very much. So happy, finally!”

YOU SAID WHEN THE SEASON STARTED YOU WANTED TO CAUSE HEADACHES FOR THE GUYS THAT WIN ALL THE TIME. IS THIS WHAT YOU MEANT PATO?
“This is exactly what I meant, yes. All emotions in one. A little big of relief. We got the first win out of the way. This lets us focus on the rest of the championship. I get my formula one test at the end of the year. We feel like we have a good shot a championship. I love INDYCAR racing.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: WHAT WERE YOU LACKING AT THE END?

“You know, I don’t know what it was. It just seemed like his Chevy was a little better than my Chevy for some reason. But at the end of the day a Chevy won the race, so I am pretty happy about that. Always have great support from Chevy, and fuel mileage. Fuel mileage was very important and reliability, and Chevrolet is always top notch for those qualities. Happy with that and to get Xpel a good second place finish, and I don’t know that we can be disappointed but we were in the catbird seat for sure. Just did not have the speed at the end, I don’t know what it was. At the middle of the race I made a comment to the guys that we were lacking speed for some reason. I don’t know what it is, but we will figure it out. We did a great job and I was really proud of the team and they stuck to it. We learned some stuff from Scott (McLaughlin) on his car, did a great job in the pits and second place is a good day for us.”

SCOTT MMCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH:
“It was an up and down day, we started P7 and got boxed around at the start. Just getting used to everything again and these veterans are very good at getting their car pace very quickly. For me it just took me a little time to get comfortable with the track conditions, but the PPG Chevy was really strong. I felt like we probably weren’t as strong as yesterday as far as car pace and looking after my tires. We were really good with fuel saving and being able to keep the pace up when fuel saving. Very hard to pass and a very one line track where you had to make your time up when there was traffic or lap traffic on restarts. Unfortunately my two restarts were terrible and I lost some positions, but its all learning. On the last one I finally got it together and passed a couple of people. Overall if you told me this weekend I would finish second and eighth, I would have laughed at you. So its nice to come away with two top 10s and finish every lap so far in the INDYCAR season to get a really strong leap forward as we head to the month of May at Indianapolis which is going to be one of the best weeks and months of my life.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13TH:“Man, a tough two days at Texas. We got caught out by the yellow there and before that we had a pretty good shot at the top five. Then unfortunately I went three wide and got pushed onto the marbles and its just seriously a one groove track……yeah. It started on the restart where I should have gone to the inside and not the outside, just a bad decision. Still in the game and it’s not as big of a points deficit as we have had before, so yep, just motor on. Its becoming the year I thought it would be with a lot of different winners, pretty mixed up. If we can just keep hammering away here, we can have a big chance.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: “Got a P6 in Texas. Good race. Had a car good enough to win. The Menards Chevy was behaving well today. We had some great restarts and awesome pit stops. My crew was on fire on pit lane. So happy with P6 today. We are building toward the championship and races like today will help that. Congratulations to Pato and the who McLaren Schmidt team for their win today.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: “Pretty good race. Quite happy with a P9. A lot happened. Quite a flawless race. It was haWrd to get from P12 to the front. But we capitalized, got all the points and came home with another top-10. So we are happy. Now on to Indy GP.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, DNS -ACCIDENT BEFORE GREEN:
WHAT HAPPEND: “I’m not really sure. I think in general in IndyCar we have too many start crashes. It’ looked fine… everyone accelerated. I had the best view; I was last. Then everyone is nose to tail. Can’t throw blame. I’ve never been upside down in an IndyCar before. On our bingo card of terrible things to have happen to us, I don’t know what’s coming next. Hinch found a hole, then the 4 car caught whoever else was crashing. Then two giant cars came. It turns out you can be upside down quite easily. We will hope to be on to better things in our hometown of Indianapolis soon.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 14 ROKIT AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, DNS-ACCIDENT BEFORE GREEN:
WHAT DID YOU SEE? “Obviously I didn’t see anything. Clearly someone was checking up at the front of me, we should be going. It’s not an excuse. When someone checks up in front. It’s a real shame two days in a row we get drilled and taken out of the race. It’s a very expensive day for A.J. Foyt Racing and the No. 14 ROKIT Chevrolet. It’s a shame when you get wrecked, right? Even more when you have something to fight with. The guys worked til midnight to repair the car after Josef took us out, then we can’t even run now. I’m not very impressed right now. “

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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