Harvey finishes sixth while Castroneves finishes 21st

Indianapolis, Ind. (14 August 2021) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) made its return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since taking home the coveted Indianapolis 500 victory in May.

With two yellows late in the 85-lap Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix to spice up the pace of the race, Jack Harvey brought home a sixth place finish while Helio Castroneves finished 21st on Saturday.

As a part of NASCAR’s Brickyard weekend, MSR took to the two-day race weekend back at the yard of bricks. With Harvey starting seventh and Castroneves 23rd, the MSR drivers diced through though the initial laps, each advancing from their starting positions.

Harvey showed pace early on in the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda, never dropping outside of the top ten. Starting on Firestone primary tires, it was the team’s strategy call to run the rest of the race on alternates.

Castroneves opted for a similar strategy in the No. 06 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda and made his first pit stop to swap tire compounds on lap 11. Once on alternate tires, Castroneves tried to manage rear grip throughout his stint as he made several moves to race up the field. The four-time Indy 500 winning brought the No. 06 Honda up to P11 by lap 62.

It was a fast race to the finish with 68 laps of green flag running until the first of two yellow flags was deployed with 18 laps to go. Harvey and Castroneves restarted from P6 and P20, respectively.

It was a quick restart before the field went back to yellow with just nine laps to go. Unfortunately while running 18th Castroneves was caught out by a car that spun ahead which left the Brazilian to take a detour in the grass and lose five positions.

It was a six lap sprint to the finish for the field following the second restart. Harvey fought off oncoming competition to finish sixth – his second best finish at the IMS road course (third in 2019). Castroneves made up two additional position in the closing laps to finish 21st.

Meyer Shank Racing will return to INDYCAR action next weekend as the series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway for its first oval race since the Indianapolis 500. Harvey will lead the charge for MSR at WWRT and Castroneves will return to action at Portland International Raceway.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Jack Harvey, No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda: “It was a pretty exciting race. We had a good pace from the start and really carried that on throughout the race. It was just a weird sequence a couple of times when we were trying to get around (Alex) Rossi. It might have been that Rossi’s tires were burning off quicker than ours were and we ended up having to spend a lot of overtake just to try and get by him – and in the end weren’t able to. So then we were light on overtake for the rest of the race. The team did really well today. These kinds of performances are what I knew we were capable of all year. There’s a lot of performance and a lot of potential in this team, we all know that, and it’s nice to have a day where you realize that.”

Helio Castroneves, No. 06 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda: “We started conservative and kept it going. The MSR team did a great job, our SiriusXM / AutoNation Honda was improving, but unfortunately we were in 20th position most of the time. We probably would have made up a lot of positions, but we got caught up in the 21 car getting spun in front of me and I had to avoid it and lost some positions. But again, another learning process and we just got to keep it going and I’m looking forward to Portland.”

CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES
THE BIG MACHINE SPIKED COOLERS GRAND PRIX
THE ROAD COURSE AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP
AUGUST 14, 2021

WILL POWER TAKES CHEVY TO VICTORY LANE AT IMS ROAD COURSE.

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 14, 2021) – Will Power turned a front row starting position into a win. The former NTT INDYCAR Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner led 56 of the 85-laps of The Big Machine Coolers Grand Prix on the Road Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is the fifth win of the season for Team Chevy in INDYCAR.

It is Power’s 5th win on the technical 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course that incorporates Turns 1 and 2 and the front stretch of the famed oval. It is his 40th career win and the ninth victory for Chevrolet on the IMS Road Course.

Pole Winner Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP, finished fifth and vaulted himself back to second in points, just 21 points out of the lead with four races to go.

Two-time champion Josef Newgarden finished eighth to give Chevrolet drivers three of top-eight. He was the biggest mover of the race, starting 20th and driving forward to eighth. He remains fourth in the standings, just 55 points out of the lead.

The Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix is part of an historic triple-header weekend on the Road Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition to the NTT INDYCAR Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Cup Series will each take a turn on the track.

Romain Grojean and Colton Herta completed the podium for the race that was slowed twice by caution for five laps.

TEAM CHEVY FINISHING RESULTS:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Race Winner
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 5th
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 8th
CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE CHEVROLET – Finished 11th
FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 VUSE ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 13th
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 14 ROKiT AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 15th
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 16th
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET – Finished 20th
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 CARSHOP TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 23rd
RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX/AUTOGEEK CHEVROLET – Finished 24th
DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE INSULATORS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 26th
RC ENERSON, NO. 75 TOP GUN RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 28th

Next on the schedule is Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway just east of St. Louis, Missouri on August 21, 2021

Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Year-By-Year Results since 2012
2021 ­– 4 wins, 5 poles in 11 races
Wins – Pato O’Ward (Texas2, Detroit2); Rinus VeeKay (Indy RC1); Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio). Pole – Pato O’Ward (Barber Motorsports Park, Detroit1); Josef Newgarden (Detroit2, Road America, Mid-Ohio).
2020 – 7 wins, 11 poles in 14 races
Wins – Simon Pagenaud (Iowa1); Josef Newgarden (Iowa2, St. Louis2, Indy RC2, St. Petersburg); Will Power (Mid-Ohio1, Indy RC3, St. Petersburg). Poles – Josef Newgarden (Texas, Road America1, Iowa2), Will Power (Indianapolis road course, St. Louis1, Mid-Ohio1, Indy RC3; St. Petersburg), Pato O’Ward (Road America2), Conor Daly (Iowa1), Rinus VeeKay (Indy road course October)
2019 – 9 wins, 9 poles in 17 races
Driver/owner championship (Josef Newgarden/Roger Penske); Indianapolis 500 win (Simon Pagenaud)
2018 – 6 wins, 9 poles in 17 races
Indianapolis 500 win (Will Power)
2017 – 10 wins, 11 poles in 17 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Josef Newgarden/Roger Penske)
2016 – 14 wins, 13 poles in 16 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Simon Pagenaud/Roger Penske)
2015 – 10 wins, 16 poles in 16 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Scott Dixon/Chip Ganassi);
Indianapolis 500 win (Juan Pablo Montoya). First manufacturer to capture all titles since Chevrolet returned to INDYCAR in 2012
2014 – 12 wins, 14 poles in 18 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Will Power/Roger Penske)
2013 – 10 wins, 11 poles in 19 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; Indianapolis 500 win (Tony Kanaan)
2012 – 11 wins, 10 poles in 15 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Ryan Hunter-Reay/Michael Andretti)
Total – 94 wins, 105 earned poles in 161 races

DRIVER QUOTES:

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER:

ON WINNING AT IMS ROAD COURSE: “ I can’t begin to tell you what it means to win these days. When you are in your 40s and still kicking butt-it’s awesome. You can’t doubt yourself, you just have to keep digging. I wan’t feeing safe until there was literally one to go. The misfortunes we’ve had at times have been a struggle it’s a tough series. There are many many components that have to right. Everyone has to do their job perfectly and that’s what we did today. Winning is important for Roger Penske, especially here. Very very happy.”

HOW BADLY DID THIS RACE TEAM NEED THIS MOMENT?
“We needed it as a group. I can’t tell you how good these (crew) guys have been this year; flawless on pits stops. They’ve given me the car and we’ve just had some bad luck and obviously I’ve made some mistakes as well. I’m stoked to get the Verizon 5G car in Victory Lane because we’ve haven’t done that ever. I’d been thinking about that coming into this weekend. Can’t thank Chevy enough for the engine and all the work those guys have done. What a relief. When the yellow came and another one … but we had a really good car. It was tough to get by lapped traffic but the car was solid up front.”

WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE TODAY?
“I was very focused coming in here today. I did a lot of homework for this race. We weren’t quite strong in the May race and just put it all together. I was aggressive at the start to hold that position and held off Pato (O’Ward) on the blacks, so a very good day.”

YOU BRING ROGER PENSKE HIS FIERST WIN AT INDIANAPOLIS SINCE HE HAS OWNED THIS FACILITY. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
“That’s awesome. Roger has had a rough year as far as the team goes. I’m really happy for the whole group. Because it’s not for lack of effort. They worked really hard during the Month of May and we were all scratching our heads at the end. I’ve been here six times now (five for road course wins, one Indy 500 win) in this Victory Lane; pretty special place for me. This win goes to the whole group; they deserve it more than me.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH:
“I think this is the start of a momentum that we wanted. I think Gateway next week is going to be great for us. And today, we didn’t have it. I’m glad we didn’t finish on the podium because I don’t think we deserve it.”

REALLY? WHY IS THAT?
“Because we just didn’t have the pace. Everyone in front of us was better than us. And, it’s tough to drive your nuts off for a 5th, especially when you start up front. You want to stay there when you start there.”

HOW COOL WAS IT TO HANG OUT WITH DANIEL SUAREZ, YOUR MATE FROM BACK HOME. HE WAS HERE AND WATCHING YOU. HOW COOL WAS IT TO HANG OUT WITH HIM TODAY?
“It’s so great. I haven’t seen him in so long and it was really, really nice to see him. And I hope I can have him at like more races or something because Daniel and I started at the same go-Kart track in Monterrey, Mexico. He was always running older than me because he was quite a bit older. Not much, but I’m assuming he’s probably got five or six years on me. But a great guy. Great family. I’ve always really enjoyed having him around.”

WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO FIND YOUR SPOT TO WATCH THE XFINITY RACE?
“Probably on TV because I’m tired.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: “Not the result we were dreaming of starting 20th, but ended up a good points day. I had to avoid some chaos at the beginning. I got sideswiped by two or three cars so just worked to save our car. That put us further back a little just trying to avoid people. Then got cleared so we could march forward and finally got in the top-10, and ended up eighth. It was a good day for points, Xpel and Team Chevy. If we had started a little farther forward, we had a better car. But was pretty good for us. Pretty happy. See you next week.”

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5g TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET
THE MODERATOR: Will Power has joined us, the champion of the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix. First win of the season, fifth now on the IMS road course, 40th career win as the NTT INDYCAR Series has now picked up their ninth different winner this season. 11 different winners is the modern day record. One other stat I’ll throw your way: This is your sixth total win here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway between the oval and the road course, and that means now you tie Kyle Busch for most wins ever.
WILL POWER: Let’s hope he doesn’t win this weekend. (Laughter.)
THE MODERATOR: Obviously the difference for you, having clean air. That was big for you today, wasn’t it?
WILL POWER: It was, yeah. Once we got out in clean air, we were going. I don’t think anyone had a better car than us.
So back markers certainly make it tough in this series, and it’s a simple fix. You simply give those guys their lap back when it goes yellow and they won’t fight you. You don’t even have to mandate a blue. Jay? Jay Frye? Is he here?

THE MODERATOR: He’s not here.
WILL POWER: I’ve mentioned that to him from time to time.

THE MODERATOR: It was almost a 10-second advantage there, but whittled away as you had —
WILL POWER: Hinchcliffe.

THE MODERATOR: Hinch in front of you, and Herta —
WILL POWER: Yeah, I think he needed some coverage for his sponsor, so he was like, I need to be last but leading.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously getting off the schneid, as they call it, getting a win this season, how big is this for you?
WILL POWER: Oh, man, it’s a big relief. I think it’s great for the team, especially the guys on my car. They’ve been working hard. They’ve been flawless this year. They’ve really done the job, and I haven’t — if we’d had that sort of performance in the pits and just prep and all that last year, we probably would have won a lot more races.
Yeah, very happy for those guys, and just happy to be in Victory Lane, man. You always start to wonder when is the next one coming. It always comes down to doing your homework, working hard and putting it together, staying focused.
THE MODERATOR: This 40th win, by the way, breaks a tie with Al Unser Sr. for fifth on the all-time NTT INDYCAR Series list.

Q. What is it like, obviously you said relieved to win, but to have that car on a day like day and just basically be in control, those are rare moments. What’s it like in the cockpit, et cetera?
WILL POWER: It’s just great when you get in that zone where you’re just seeing the tenths grow behind you because you have it on your dash, you can see, and you just start getting a little nitpicking, like little tiny details and slowly pulling away. It’s a great feeling. It’s right in my zone, right in my wheelhouse when I’m like that. That was another day like that for me.
Yeah, love it. It’s my life. Like I just love competing, but it’s just winning is absolutely what makes me happy. I’m very moody when I haven’t won for a while; just ask my wife.

Q. Seems like every time you do something really good, you carve a deeper niche into INDYCAR racing history. What does that mean to you?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, you look at the stats for sure when you’re up there, and you’re aware. I’m aware how far I am off Mario for all-time poles and I’m aware where I sit now in the all-time win list. I know that Michael Andretti is on 42, and that’s a pretty — Mario Andretti I think I can catch on poles, which can be very tough these days, but man, I was very close to getting another one yesterday, and Michael is 42 on wins. Two heroes of mine and two absolute legends of the sport, and just blows my mind that I have a name close to them in the record books. Crazy. That was some serious name dropping, but my name is there. It’s crazy. Who would have thought?

Q. With your off-track performance, you may be a duo with your brother in stand-up.
WILL POWER: No, stand-up is way harder than it looks. I may give it a go, but much harder than it looks.

Q. Race drivers have superstitions; when you see a late-race caution this year, did you have any superstitions today like what happened earlier, like Detroit and things?
WILL POWER: Oh, no, you just — you certainly have those thoughts because it just blows my mind some of the things that can go wrong at such a critical time, but all I was thinking about is I’m getting this bloody restart; there’s no way I’m giving this win up. So you know, I just focus hard on where I’m going to go and play a bit of a game to make sure I get a bit of a jump.

Q. After you won this race last year you were talking about how you want to drive well into your 40s, you feel like you’re at your peak. You signed the contract extension right before the season starts and then things just kind of tailed off –.
WILL POWER: I know.

Q. You said you don’t ever know when that next one is going to come, but did thoughts creep into your mind a little bit this year?
WILL POWER: It was such a weird slump for me because normally when I’m not winning it’s not because of lack of pace, but there have been times this year where it’s been a struggle to get the pace, the car right. I start digging a lot deeper and trying to understand like what is going on, why am I not fast? I couldn’t just lose it all in a year.
So yeah, you just start going back to your old ways of doing stuff when you were super quick, and yeah, you can’t leave anything on the table. Yep, weird slump. I have to say it’s the first sort of slump I’ve had as far as performance has gone in my career, where — I wouldn’t say it’s exactly a lack of pace. It was doing mistakes in qualifying, which is very unusual for me. I’d usually really put it together.
Last year I put it together the best I ever had putting laps together, like zero mistakes and was so good at just getting it done, and this year I’ve been on laps that will get me through each round and then I’ll make a little mistake or something will go wrong, I’ll get traffic. All that is so important to control, and I wasn’t.
Q. So when you dug into it, what did you find? Was it just technique? Was it mental prep?
WILL POWER: Well, it’s things — it’s a bit of mental prep and it’s also last week when you have three laps to do your lap, and on a street course it can go yellow pretty easy, and that’s exactly what happened. I was on a lap and I aborted it, and next lap I started which would have got me through, Josef went in the wall and went yellow. I should know that. I should know that you cannot ever be out of that top six. Every lap you’ve got to update yourself into the top six, and it’s just not being on the game, on the ball. You should know that. It cost me a potential chance to be in the Fast Six.
It’s little details. I came in here and it’s like, I am not — every lap counts, simply, until I feel comfortable again, and that’s what I did.
Q. Speaking of last week, you had a couple of incidents in the race with teammates. Was it a difficult week from that perspective?
WILL POWER: Well, it was, yeah. Certainly the incident with McLaughlin was not good, and yeah, I didn’t see Roger after the race a good hour there and said, I need to win a race before I speak to him again, so fortunately I came here and did that.

Q. Speculation was there was a chat with Roger after last week’s race.
WILL POWER: I didn’t see him, no. I kind of saw Tim and it was like, yeah, I’ve got to go.

Q. Will you go see Roger now?
WILL POWER: I explained myself the best I could to Tim what happened and then went to my bus and didn’t come back. I wasn’t avoiding him, I just didn’t go see him.

Q. Obviously there’s some frustration being behind Hinchcliffe during that time. How were you able to keep in check and under wraps and be able to focus on running?
WILL POWER: Well, I actually thought, the way I caught him, I thought, we could probably get past him no problem. When I got to him and I saw he was using Push-to-Pass to keep me behind, I’m like, it’s just insane that we have this in INDYCAR. Even the second-place guy doesn’t like it, and the third-place guy because if I get past him then they’ve got to work to get past him. It just ruins races. I don’t even think the guys that are trying to stay on the lead lap like it because they don’t want to be a pain in the ass. They would like to get out of the way, and it’s such a simple fix. Just bloody give them their lap back if it goes yellow. Give anyone who’s a lap down their lap back. Give them one simple fix. It just blows my mind that we are at such a competitive series, you have nine different winners already, and no one consistently gets on pole, and it’s just a different pole sitter every week, and yet you’ve got to come around and fight someone who’s the last guy? I mean, there’s no series in the world that does that.
And we’ve asked for this. They’ve got to do something. They need to change it. They should change it. There’s a simple fix. It’s just — it pisses me off, man. Like just crazy that you’re racing someone who’s a lap down, it’s insane, or going a lap down. It’s too competitive to do that. Everyone works too hard, spends way too much money to be racing some guy that’s a lap down that’s having a bad day.
Anyway, it was a good day to win, though. (Laughter.) I just thought I’d get that point across when I can.

Q. When you came in the pit at the end, it also happened to be when James pitted, and for a moment it looked like you had a little bit of a —
WILL POWER: It was in second gear. I stalled and then I re-clutched and let go and fortunately it started.

Q. And I think we heard you over the radio say something like, oh, Christ, when you realized you were behind Hinch.
WILL POWER: Yeah, when he was pitting, that’s when I’m like, we are going to be behind this dude. I was kind of relieved when the yellow came, like thank God he’s gone, but yeah, I don’t reckon he wants to do that. I don’t reckon he’d like to do it, it’s just the rule and he can fight to stay on the lead lap. It’s just a bad rule.Q. We tried this format last year, only no fans were allowed. This year fans are here and everybody is here. What do you think of it so far?
WILL POWER: Oh, I think it’s cool to really the top-level motorsports in the U.S. to bring them together as a double-header. But the fans see both — you see a lot of fans with NASCAR shirts on, a lot of fans of INDYCAR, and they’re all mixed in. I think it’s really — only Roger would come up with that. What a great idea.

Q. We’ve seen drivers, too, hang out in the garages, so they’re as curious as maybe the fans are.
WILL POWER: Yeah, actually I saw — that’s the first time I’ve ever seen the NASCAR Penske Cup drivers in our transporter, and they were like, wow, this is amazing, all joined together, because their trucks all join together. We’re like, we’ve got to upgrade. It’s going to cost Roger money, this.

Q. An expensive weekend perhaps?
WILL POWER: It’s like, yeah, we need what these guys have. They’ll say, well, we can have what we have as long as you give us the paycheck you get.

Q. I wanted to ask about whether there was any difference in the Chevrolet and Honda performance today or whether the speed down the straight was more governed by which tires you were on and how much momentum you could take off that great kind of sweeping last corner.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I think — well, the tires made the biggest difference. I think the manufacturers are so close right now. You only see a difference when you’ve got some really slow corners where I think Honda has a little bit more torque, but as far as just power level, they’re very close, very close. Yeah, you don’t really see a performance difference in engines at all.

Q. And also, I don’t want to say it was easy. Obviously it wasn’t easy. But how easy was it for you to keep like 75 —
WILL POWER: (Answers phone.) It’s Alex Rossi, sorry. Thanks, man.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: I’m happy for you. I’m also glad I’m going home, so have fun with that.
WILL POWER: Please tell me you didn’t have another bad race.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: No, I finished fourth.
WILL POWER: I was like, man, if you had another bad race, I was going to be like — I broke the spell, though, dude. I spoke the spell. You’ve got to win now. Hey, I’ve got to get back to press conference. Thanks, man.
Sorry, David. I had to answer. Rossi and I have been just having the most horrible time, so I’m glad I broke the spell.
THE MODERATOR: Whatever you brought to the table you should take to Rossi next weekend.
WILL POWER: No, I want to win, so screw him.
THE MODERATOR: This is like the 800-pound gorilla off your shoulder; you finally got a win this year.
WILL POWER: Man, I am absolutely going hard when I go to sleep tonight, like just going to sleep. That’s what I do. That’s a big night for me. Definitely going back, good food, green tea with the peppermint in it, just go to sleep. It’s an awesome night. How people do it differently, they go out and absolutely get slaughtered, but yeah. Conor Daly, Scott McLaughlin — no.

Q. I think you should bring back the ice bath, Will.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I’ve got it there. I’ve got to get my bus driver to get it ready, man.

Q. To go back to the Hinch thing, I wanted to ask you sort of a post-race interpretation about that again because I know when you were on the radio and just after the race things can be quite heated and you get caught up in the moment, there’s a lot of adrenaline going on. But do you think there was a predetermined move from Andretti to slow you down? Do you think it was all planned and that’s what they were trying to do, or do you feel like it was happenstance, circumstance that that’s just how the race played out?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, obviously Andretti wouldn’t be telling him to get out of the way. I think if it was a Chevy engine, whoever — if it was someone at Chevy, probably would. Hinch was just fast enough for me not to get close enough to kind of have a run when I did. He’d use Push-to-Pass.
You know, you can’t blame the driver. It’s the team that would be telling him stay on the lead lap in case it goes yellow, which it did, and it’s just a really bad rule. I wish I could come on the radio and say, look, if Hinch lets me go, I will let him go when it goes yellow. He can have that position back. That’s literally what you’d be doing is all they’d have to do is just give him the lap back. It would just stop it completely.
You have a gentlemen’s agreement amongst drivers, hey, if the leader comes up on you, you let him go; you’re getting your lap back anyway. And second place and third place.

Q. Will, looking forward to next week, how excited are you now to get this off your back and head to the next track? And two, does this win smooth over things between you and Roger?
WILL POWER: Smooth? I don’t even know if there needs to be any smoothing. Like I said, I never spoke to him. Roger loves when you win, let me tell you. He loves when you win. It would hopefully — yeah, Roger has been around so long, he’s had teammates take each other out, he’s had everything thrown at him over his 50-plus years in motorsports. I don’t think it was a huge surprise to him. Yeah, just bad call from me to do that in that situation.
But yeah, teammates, we’re all good. We have no problem. No problem. Scott — we all talked, and yep, all good. I’ll go see Roger after this, now I feel confident that I’ll be okay. I’m just making a bit of a joke of it because it kind of is funny.

Q. I’m glad you can laugh about it.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I laugh about everything now. Once you’re 40 you don’t care. It’s like, you’re going to be dead soon anyway.

Q. Names like Mario and Michael, I think you’re probably okay.
WILL POWER: Yeah, this 40 years to get to here went really fast, so I’m sure the next 20 to 40 is going to go even faster. Going to be dead soon, so it doesn’t matter. Say what you want, do what you want. That’s the best way.

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INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021) – Will Power finally got his first victory of the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season on a track he has mastered like no other.

Power drove the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet to victory in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, his fifth career win on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile layout that debuted in 2014.

It was the 40th career INDYCAR SERIES victory for Power, who broke a tie with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser to climb into fifth on the all-time list. The win also was the sixth of Power’s career at IMS, as he also won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Only NASCAR star Kyle Busch, with two Brickyard 400 wins and four Xfinity Series wins on the oval, has as many major race victories at the Racing Capital of the World.
“We needed that as a group,” Power said. “I can’t tell you how good these guys have been all year. Flawless on pit stops. They’ve given me the car, and we’ve had some bad luck. I’ve made some mistakes, as well.

“So stoked to get the Verizon 5G car in Victory Lane. Oh, what a relief, man!”

Rookie Romain Grosjean equaled his season-best finish – on this same circuit in the GMR Grand Prix in May – by placing second in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda, 1.1142 seconds behind Power. Colton Herta rebounded from his disappointing late-race crash last Sunday in Nashville to finish third in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi earned his season-best finish by placing fourth in the No. 27 AutoNation/NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda. NTT P1 Award winner Pato O’Ward finished fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, but he still ended up a winner because of a dramatic shift in the championship standings.

O’Ward pulled to within 21 points of series leader Alex Palou with four races remaining in the season, as Palou retired from the race on Lap 68 with a mechanical problem while running fourth in his No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Palou led six-time and reigning series champion Scott Dixon by 42 points entering this event. Dixon fell to third but still trimmed the margin to the top, 34 points behind Palou, after placing 17th – tying his season low – in the No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda.

A tense, strategic duel erupted into a mad dash for the checkered flag when Palou retired from the race.

Palou was running fourth and closing on Grosjean on Lap 68 when smoke began to flow from the rear of his No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in Turn 4. He pulled off track and hopped from his car, out of the race with a 27th-place result, his lowest of the season.

There were warning signs from the opening lap about possible troubles for Palou, who told his team on the radio after Lap 1 that he felt down on power.

“We started having some issues with the mapping, and we weren’t sure what was going on,” Palou said. “We managed like 60 laps, and it was fine. We were losing a bit of power, but it wasn’t too bad. We were trying to fight for a podium, and we had to stop.

“It’s a shame when we were running so good, but it’s just a bump in the road. We’ll continue, and we’ll get those points back.”

The ensuing full-course caution, the first of the 85-lap race, erased Power’s 1.9-second lead over Herta. Grosjean, who had closed to within a car length of Herta’s gearbox before the caution, passed Herta for second on Lap 72 on the restart.

Power maintained a 1.1-second lead over Grosjean when the field was bunched again by a full-course caution on Lap 77 when Rinus VeeKay’s No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Chevrolet stalled in Turn 7 after contact from behind by the No. 3 CarShop Team Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin.

“When the yellow came and then another one, you’ve got to survive those yellows,” Power said. “We had a really good car. It’s tough to get by lapped traffic, but the car was solid out front.”

2014 series champion Power kept the lead on the restart on Lap 79, helped by Grosjean using all 200 seconds of his push-to-pass by Lap 65. He maintained a gap of about one second to Grosjean over the final six laps, with both drivers running on the Firestone alternate “red” tires.

“We had a good car all day long, and we fought at the front,” Grosjean said. “We ran out of push-to-pass early today. I had to use quite a bit early in the race to make sure we were going through the lapped cars. Through the end, Will had more than I did. I just had to go flat out and try not to make any mistakes.”

Various tire and fuel strategies unfolded during the first 67 laps of the race, which ran caution-free. That helped breed 11 lead changes among six drivers as teams tried to undercut and overcut rivals with well-timed pit stops.

Herta appeared to be the biggest threat to Power, as he trimmed a deficit of nearly nine seconds to just 1.9 seconds before Palou’s problem triggered the first caution.

The next race is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on Saturday evening, Aug. 21 at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. It’s the final oval race of the season.

Results Saturday of the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
2. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 85, Running
3. (5) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running
4. (10) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 85, Running
5. (1) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running
6. (7) Jack Harvey, Honda, 85, Running
7. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
8. (20) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
9. (11) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 85, Running
10. (15) Takuma Sato, Honda, 85, Running
11. (8) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 85, Running
12. (4) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running
13. (19) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (17) Ed Jones, Honda, 85, Running
15. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 85, Running
16. (12) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 85, Running
17. (26) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
18. (13) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 85, Running
19. (22) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 85, Running
20. (18) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 85, Running
21. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 85, Running
22. (24) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 85, Running
23. (21) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running
24. (9) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
25. (27) Cody Ware, Honda, 83, Running
26. (28) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 81, Running
27. (6) Alex Palou, Honda, 67, Mechanical
28. (25) RC Enerson, Chevrolet, 12, Mechanical

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 113.458 mph
Time of Race: 1:49:38.0811
Margin of victory: 1.1142 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 5 laps
Lead changes: 11 among six drivers

Lap Leaders:
O’Ward, Pato 1 – 15
Lundgaard, Christian 16 – 17
Pagenaud, Simon 18 – 20
Power, Will 21 – 36
Herta, Colton 37
O’Ward, Pato 38
Pagenaud, Simon 39 – 41
Power, Will 42 – 60
Herta, Colton 61
Pagenaud, Simon 62
Newgarden, Josef 63 – 64
Power, Will 65 – 85

NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings:
Palou 415, O’Ward 394, Dixon 381, Newgarden 360, Ericsson 353, Rahal 312, Herta 311, Pagenaud 295, Power 278, VeeKay 269.

CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES
THE BIG MACHINE SPIKED COOLERS GRAND PRIX
THE ROAD COURSE AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
WILL POWER WINS – QUICK QUOTE
AUGUST 14, 2021

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, picks up the first win of the season, the fifth at the Road Course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 40th of his career.

ON WINNING AT IMS ROAD COURSE: “ I can’t begin to tell you what it means to win these days. When you are in your 40s and still kicking butt-it’s awesome. You can’t doubt yourself, you just have to keep digging. I wan’t feeing safe until there was literally one to go. The misfortunes we’ve had at times have been a struggle it’s a tough series. There are many many components that have to right. Everyone has to do their job perfectly and that’s what we did today. Winning is important for Roger Penske, especially here. Very very happy.”

HOW BADLY DID THIS RACE TEAM NEED THIS MOMENT?
“We needed it as a group. I can’t tell you how good these (crew) guys have been this year; flawless on pits stops. They’ve given me the car and we’ve just had some bad luck and obviously I’ve made some mistakes as well. I’m stoked to get the Verizon 5G car in Victory Lane because we’ve haven’t done that ever. I’d been thinking about that coming into this weekend. Can’t thank Chevy enough for the engine and all the work those guys have done. What a relief. When the yellow came and another one … but we had a really good car. It was tough to get by lapped traffic but the car was solid up front.”

WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE TODAY?
“I was very focused coming in here today. I did a lot of homework for this race. We weren’t quite strong in the May race and just put it all together. I was aggressive at the start to hold that position and held off Pato (O’Ward) on the blacks, so a very good day.”

YOU BRING ROGER PENSKE HIS FIERST WIN AT INDIANAPOLIS SINCE HE HAS OWNED THIS FACILITY. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
“That’s awesome. Roger has had a rough year as far as the team goes. I’m really happy for the whole group. Because it’s not for lack of effort. They worked really hard during the Month of May and we were all scratching our heads at the end. I’ve been here six times now (five for road course wins, one Indy 500 win) in this Victory Lane; pretty special place for me. This win goes to the whole group; they deserve it more than me.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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 at www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES
THE BIG MACHINE SPIKED COOLERS GRAND PRIX
THE ROAD COURSE AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
AUGUST 13, 2021

PATO O’WARD PUTS CHEVY ON POLE AT IMS ROAD COURSE
THIRD NTT P1 AWARD OF SEASON AND FOURTH CAREER FOR ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET DRIVER
WILL POWER MAKES IT AN ALL-CHEVY FRONT ROW FOR THE BIG MACHINE SPIKED COOLERS GRAND PRIX

INDIANAPOLIS-(AUGUST 13, 2021) – Pato O’Ward was a very determined driver today as he set out to claim his third NTT P1 Award of the season and fourth of his in his career. He put his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet on pole with a lap of 01:10.7147 seconds/124.167 MPH.

Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, made it an all-Chevy front row with a lap of 01:10.7214 seconds/124.155 MPH.

A total of 12Team Chevy will compete in the 85-lap/207-mile Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix on Saturday, Aug. 14. Chevrolet has won eight of the 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races on the IMS Road Course, including the past three, on the technical 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course that incorporates Turns 1 and 2 and the front stretch of the famed oval.

Spectators will have the opportunity to view some of Chevrolet’s newest production vehicles, including a Corvette convertible 3LT, Bolt EUV, Silverado 1500 Trailboss, and participate in a Q&A with NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers at the Chevrolet display near Pagoda Plaza.

The display will be open from 2-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13; 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14; and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15. Participating drivers include:
Saturday, Aug. 14
9:45-10 a.m. – Rinus VeeKay and NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron
NBCSN will telecast the 85-lap Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 14, and qualifying live at 7 p.m. ET Friday, Aug. 13. The race, qualifications and practice will also be broadcast live on INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, Indycar.com, and on the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. Practice and qualifications will stream on Peacock Premium.

A Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray will lead the field to the green flag.

Team Chevy will be represented by:
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators AJ Foyt Racing
Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT AJ Foyt Racing
Arrow McLaren SP
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP
Carlin
Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin
Ed Carpenter Racing
Conor Daly, No. 20 U.S. Air Force
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek
Team Penske
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 XPEL Team Penske
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 CarShop Team Penske
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske
Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske
Top Gun Racing
RC Enerson, No. 75 Top Gun Racing

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow Mclaren SP Chevrolet – Pole Winner
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet – Qualified 2nd
Conor Daly, No. 20 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet – Qualified 8th
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Chevrolet – Qualified 9th
Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet – Qualified 12th
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet – Qualified 14th
Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet – Qualified 15th
Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet – Qualified 19th
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet – Qualified 20th
RC Enerson, No. 75 Top Gun Racing Chevrolet – Qualified 25th
Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet – Qualified 28th

Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Year-By-Year Results since 2012
2021 ­– 4 wins, 5 poles in 11 races
Wins – Pato O’Ward (Texas2, Detroit2); Rinus VeeKay (Indy RC1); Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio). Pole – Pato O’Ward (Barber Motorsports Park, Detroit1); Josef Newgarden (Detroit2, Road America, Mid-Ohio).
2020 – 7 wins, 11 poles in 14 races
Wins – Simon Pagenaud (Iowa1); Josef Newgarden (Iowa2, St. Louis2, Indy RC2, St. Petersburg); Will Power (Mid-Ohio1, Indy RC3, St. Petersburg). Poles – Josef Newgarden (Texas, Road America1, Iowa2), Will Power (Indianapolis road course, St. Louis1, Mid-Ohio1, Indy RC3; St. Petersburg), Pato O’Ward (Road America2), Conor Daly (Iowa1), Rinus VeeKay (Indy road course October)
2019 – 9 wins, 9 poles in 17 races
Driver/owner championship (Josef Newgarden/Roger Penske); Indianapolis 500 win (Simon Pagenaud)
2018 – 6 wins, 9 poles in 17 races
Indianapolis 500 win (Will Power)
2017 – 10 wins, 11 poles in 17 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Josef Newgarden/Roger Penske)
2016 – 14 wins, 13 poles in 16 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Simon Pagenaud/Roger Penske)
2015 – 10 wins, 16 poles in 16 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Scott Dixon/Chip Ganassi);
Indianapolis 500 win (Juan Pablo Montoya). First manufacturer to capture all titles since Chevrolet returned to INDYCAR in 2012
2014 – 12 wins, 14 poles in 18 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Will Power/Roger Penske)
2013 – 10 wins, 11 poles in 19 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; Indianapolis 500 win (Tony Kanaan)
2012 – 11 wins, 10 poles in 15 races
Engine Manufacturer Championship; driver/owner titles (Ryan Hunter-Reay/Michael Andretti)
Total – 93 wins, 105 earned poles in 160 races

DRIVER QUOTES:
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER
ON THE POLE WIN:
“I wanted to make sure that this was a turning point. We’ve had a very tough last few races. And we’re ready to get back into Victory Lane. This is the first step to that. And tomorrow, we have a job to finish. Just continuing on. There’s still five races to go and a lot can happen. But this is definitely on the right track.”

YOU WANT TO TURN IT AROUND SINCE YOU GUYS WERE BASICALLY OUT TO LUNCH WHEN YOU CAME TO THE ROAD COURSE IN MAY
“Yeah, we did. Thanks to our test in Portland, we found a few things that I knew were going to help us here, and I’ve never been so excited to race here on the Indy road course. Since practice, I said we’re going to get some good points this weekend.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: “It is so close between everyone. It is amazing how tight that is. I was on a good one my first lap, but Pato started backing up for whatever reason warming his tires. But I’m there man. We are right there. You can pass a little easier here, but good track position makes it better”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14TH (WILL START 20TH AS RESULT OF SIX POSITION GRID PENALTY): “I’m just frustrated. I thought I had enough gap on (James) Hinchcliffe, but I caught him too quickly. Its probably on me, I probably should have gapped him a little more, but I had pressure from behind me so I had to go. So I probably lost about three or four tenths in that last sector of the track. We have a good car for tomorrow.”

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS-WILL POWER AND PATO O’WARD

THE MODERATOR: A man that knows his way around the road course here, Will Power. Second-place start tomorrow. Tell us about the Firestone Fast 12 for you.
WILL POWER: Yeah, it was good. The car was really good. I just missed out by 6/1000ths, but so did about four other people. That’s about the tightest session I’ve ever seen, I think.
Pretty good conditions. Car was good. I’m glad to just be back in the groove again. Had such a kind of bad qualifying run lately. Yeah, certainly right there in the running for pole, so really happy to be up front.
THE MODERATOR: It never ceases to amaze how tight this field is. Kind of a cliché, but you come to a place like this, a couple thousandths here or there, you can be up front or towards the back.
WILL POWER: Yeah. As you know, if you’re just a little bit outside the window, you’re going to be way back there. Yeah, 2/10ths moves you about eight spots in that last session. You had to be right on the game, on the ball.
But, yep, we’ve been there all weekend, all day, that’s it. That’s all we’ve his all day, so… See how the race goes. Long race. Can certainly do something from there. Yeah, see how it plays out.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll take some questions.
Q. Will, they said you were challenging Pato’s lap. Can you walk us through that. Were you expecting that to go in your favor?
WILL POWER: On the first lap, yeah, I was up actually. He started warming his tires and slowing up. Then I had to back up. Aborted the lap.
I didn’t get close enough to him. I could have driven right up to the back of him and he would have got a penalty. I had to get a gap for the next lap because I only had fuel for the next lap. Go for it.
That’s all that was. Let’s say it wasn’t a blatant block, but he starting waving and backing up. You know you only have one more lap to do it. If you finish on his gearbox, you’re not going to be quick because you lose all your air.
It is what it is. It’s fine. Top four or five cars were on the same 10th. Anyone’s go, I had a good second lap.
Q. Will, on the lap that you got second place on, is there one corner you just go back in your mind and think you could have done something a little bit different that could have got you pole?
WILL POWER: Yeah, there’s always a little bit there. I mean, I have to say made no mistakes in there, it was a neat lap. Always a little bit of something there. Yeah, no, obviously everyone was kind of at the limit of their cars. We were all on the same 10th. I don’t think anyone was going to go like 2/10ths quicker. Maybe a couple hundredths in it. Pato did a phenomenal lap to be on pole.
Q. Will, could you speak to the desire you have for a victory tomorrow. What’s burning inside you right now?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it’s been a terrible year. A lot of desire for pole position and a victory. I didn’t get pole today. Long race tomorrow. Hopefully we have a good race car. I mean, we’re going to make some changes and see if we can get it hooked up.
You never know in these races, as we saw last week. Ericsson was nowhere, and he was over the back of someone, then he won the race. So who knows. If you just stay out of trouble in these races, you always have a chance to win.
Q. Will, do you see this result today as a bit of a relief?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I do. I was very determined coming into this weekend just considering how the last few races have been for me. Yep, right on the pace, back where I need to be. Very focused. Hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow.
Q. Will, are the track conditions noticeably different than when you were at IMS in May? Does NASCAR running on the track with a different type of rubber make a difference to INDYCAR?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it is definitely a different track condition. The car was a lot different for us at the previous race. I don’t know whether because the temperature was cooler.
Yes, the NASCAR rubber does not go well with the Firestone stuff. It doesn’t take long to get it up, though. Doesn’t take long to get the rubber out of the way.
Q. Will, the whole team has been in a little bit of a funk the last couple of races. How important is it for you as pretty much the veteran of the team to pull them out of this?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, we’re all looking for a bloody win. So is about every other person in the series. Yeah, very fierce competition. To win in this series, man, you got to play everything just right otherwise you’re not going to win.
THE MODERATOR: Joined by Pato O’Ward, third pole position of the season, third NTT P1 award of the season.
How did it go?
PATO O’WARD: It’s good, man. Like I’ve been telling everybody, we’ve had a very tough last few races. I’m tired of being in the middle pack. We had a great test in Portland. What we found there I knew was going to help us here. So the goal is definitely to truly return where we belong, which is contend for podiums, for poles, ultimately for wins.
I think we have the car to do something great tomorrow. We just need to execute. The next session is warmup. Do that, get as much information as we can to help us for the race. Then when the race comes, we try and maximize what we got there.
THE MODERATOR: You lost a little bit of ground in the championship last week. How much did you think about that over the last few days?
PATO O’WARD: There’s still five races to go. I know racing. Things can spiral down very quick or they can spiral up very quick.
I just think the focus on really executing on every single session that we do from now until Long Beach checkered flag is going to be critical. But I’m not far back. I can definitely claw my way back into the fight for this championship. That is the goal. We’ve been fighting for it kind of all year.
What I truly want, I want to get to Long Beach with a proper, legit chance of winning the championship. I’m excited. I think we have some great circuits for us coming up. I’m really excited.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. You mentioned the Portland test a couple times. I know you won’t tell us the secrets. Does the car handle better? Get more speed?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, man, it just handles better. We’ve had a quick car in many places, but damn it’s a handful. It is so hard to drive. I think we have found something that just is more predictable, that just makes it a lot easier on Felix and I to actually get laps in lap after lap consistently.
Yeah, man, we’ve just been really focused on trying to make a better package for both qualifying and the race. One thing is to have a qualifying car and one thing is to have a race car. We’re trying to maximize both.
I feel like that’s where we have lacked a little bit in terms of we’ve had a very strong qualifying car and then we don’t have anything for the race, but then we’ll have a great race car but in qualifying we’re just not quite there.
Q. Felix has struggled to adapt. Seemed like he was running better today. Is he in the same boat as you, like he improved?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, definitely. I think he’s definitely felt improvements. I haven’t spoken to him obviously since qualifying, but I’m pretty sure he was pretty happy with the car.
Yeah, I mean, both cars I think had the potential to be within the first two rows. Yeah, it’s nice to have both cars there. I’m going to need his help if I’m going to win this championship.
Q. Does it feel like starting on pole, this is sort of the thrust you need for the final move toward a championship, meaning you’re starting out in front of everybody? Does it feel like a new life a little bit?
PATO O’WARD: It feels like a breath of fresh air. It just shows us what we’ve been working on in testing, in our mini break, worked. I’m very excited. Not just for tomorrow, I really want to, like I said, turn the page this weekend. I feel like we have. We’ve done a good job so far.
But tomorrow we have a big job ahead. Just keep doing it. Gateway is coming up. We had a very strong race there last year. Portland, Laguna, they’re all tracks I really enjoy. I think we’re going to have a strong package. We have to maximize every single one and I think that’s going to put us right where we want to be.
Q. You said the car is more stable. Coming to the line in nine and ten on your final lap, looked like it was still a handful.
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I shipped it, man.
Q. How close were you to losing it?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, I don’t think it’s anything that we haven’t seen before from me (smiling).
The problem is that sometimes you can get really greedy with what you’ve done before. Not always will it stick. I just wanted to transfer. I barely transferred. I should have risked a little bit more. When we went out on blacks, we got the balance a little bit unhappier on blacks, but I knew that was going to make reds happier. As soon as we went out, I knew in the snake is where I went really cautious the run before.
I said, Got to risk it to get the biscuit. Yeah, it was really cool to see the delta just go from minus 1/10th to, boom, minus 5/10ths.
Q. Looking ahead to the race, we’ll have 28 cars. Traffic should be more of an issue. Are you looking forward to see what it can do to your strategy and everybody else’s?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah. Honestly, if they’re respectful, they won’t get in the way of the leaders. At least I hope they won’t.
Yeah, it’s a big field, man. I think it’s great for INDYCAR. I think it shows that the series has a lot of appeal, not just in the U.S. but to Europe. People are enjoying it. It’s just a very, very fun atmosphere to be around. The cars are fun to drive.
Yeah, I think it’s a fantastic series. I think it doesn’t get more raw and more kind of just truly race and truly hustle a race car. I don’t think it gets better than that than INDYCAR. I think INDYCAR ticks all the boxes.
Q. Your previous three poles you didn’t actually win the race the next day.
PATO O’WARD: Don’t tell me (laughter).
Q. Did you learn anything from those?
PATO O’WARD: I would love to win from pole. How is that (smiling)? I’ll leave it there.
Q. Talk about your last lap.
PATO O’WARD: I was surprised when I heard P1. I came in and I saw the pylon, my number didn’t get bumped down. I think I nailed it. Honestly, I thought it was a very put-together, very calm lap. There’s definitely been a lot crazier laps in my life.
Q. Felix talked about some work he did at Portland that you referenced briefly there. He talked about the drivability. Is that something you felt was a big part of the role in getting pole today?
PATO O’WARD: For sure. For sure. A few months ago we were nowhere close to having a pole car. Today we nailed it. We came. As soon as practice one, we went out, I knew we were in the window. Just had to make a few tweaks to truly get the maximum time out of the car.
But, yeah, man, you have to continuously work and make the cars better because I feel like this is kind of the end of the era of this aero kit. Every single team is pretty much capable of being on pole. It just really comes down to the driver and the engineer to try and be as efficient as possible with changes and just know what you need from the car to extract the time.
Q. Could you give is a little bit of context on Christian’s performance today. Give us a bit of an idea how difficult it is to put in that performance today.
PATO O’WARD: I think it’s awesome. I think it was really cool to see him up there. He qualified third, I’m assuming? Fourth. I think it’s great.
I know he has a good, strong car under him. He’s a good driver. I don’t think anybody doesn’t agree with me. He’s strong. He has a lot of experience in Europe with Formula 2 and Formula 3 and other categories.
I think he likes this INDYCAR. I didn’t really get much out of him. He’s very quiet. From experience from driving an F2 car, I guarantee you he likes this INDYCAR.
This IMS road course is probably the closest track that we have to a Formula 1 spec racetrack with just being very flat, lots of runoff, just the type of course fits to what he’s used to.
I think he’s probably not as in a place like going to a Detroit and going out like, Man, something is broken with this car with all the bumps. I think it’s great. I think it’s great we’re having new faces up into the series.
I remember my memory from Sonoma. It’s a good one (smiling).
Q. How beneficial is it with your championship rivals so far behind you on the grid? Will you think about that going into the race?
PATO O’WARD: Where are they? I have no idea.
THE MODERATOR: Dixon is 26th, I believe.
PATO O’WARD: Really? Because he spun. I’ll have a look later.
Q. Alex is starting sixth.
PATO O’WARD: Not a bad position.
Man, it’s such a tough and competitive series. You have to execute everywhere, pit stops, strategy. I have to not make any mistakes, be very wise in what I’m doing in terms of traffic, managing tires, et cetera.
A lot can happen tomorrow, but I think we have the best view into turn one. We’re obviously going for the win. I’d be lying if I said we weren’t. Yeah, I think we’re in a better position right now than what we were a few months back here for the road course event.
All what we have found today have definitely been very positive for us.
Q. In terms of going for the championship, you’re just going all out, you’re not going for what Scott does where he’s Mr. Consistent?
PATO O’WARD: Whenever you have a chance to win, you need to take those points and win because it’s not like every weekend you go and you can win. We’re definitely going for that.
But if we can’t manage to do that, I’m not going to do something stupid and put it in the wall. We need to be smart. We’re obviously going for it. If we can’t win, then we take the second. Still a lot of points.
Yeah, man, I’m just really looking forward to turning the page to our very crappy last three races, close out this weekend very strong, and don’t look back until the checkered flag waves in Long Beach.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

111453-1-1004 2021-08-14 00:42:00 GMT

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INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Aug. 13, 2021) – Pato O’Ward is looking to add fuel to his NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship challenge after winning the NTT P1 Award for the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix on Friday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

O’Ward earned his series-leading third pole of the season in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet with a best lap of 1 minute, 10.7147 seconds. He is third in the series standings, 48 points behind leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, with two victories this season. But his best finish in his last three starts is eighth, on July 4 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

“I wanted to make sure this was the turning point,” O’Ward said. “We’ve had a very tough last three races, and we’re ready to get back to Victory Lane. This is the first step toward that, and tomorrow we have a job to finish.

“It’s still five races to go. A lot can happen. But this is definitely on the right track.”

O’Ward’s pole capped a tight, tense Firestone Fast 12 final segment that ended with the top five drivers all in the 1:10.7 range. Will Power will join O’Ward on the front row for the 85-lap race Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET, live on NBCSN and the INDYCAR Radio Network) after his top lap of 1:10.7214 in the No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet.

Rookies Romain Grosjean and Christian Lundgaard will start from the second row. Grosjean was third at 1:10.7418 in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda, while FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Lundgaard qualified fourth for his first career INDYCAR start at 1:10.7433 in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda.

Colton Herta was the final driver in the 1:10.7 range, qualifying fifth at 1:10.7631 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

Palou will try to defend his championship lead from the sixth starting position after a best qualifying lap of 1:10.8290 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda. He led the opening practice Friday afternoon on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course that incorporates part of the famous IMS oval.

Six-time and reigning series championship Scott Dixon faces a tough climb toward the top of the field Saturday, as he will start a season-low 26th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda after spinning on his final lap of the first segment of qualifying. Dixon spun exiting Turn 10 and lost his quickest lap of the session for causing a local yellow that affected another competitor.

“It’s definitely going to make for an interesting race tomorrow,” Dixon said. “Definitely a tough day. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Dixon is second in the series standings, 42 points behind Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou.

Among the other championship contenders, Marcus Ericsson will start 11th after a best lap of 1:11.0342 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda. Ericsson is fifth in the standings, 79 points behind Palou.

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden will start 20th. He qualified 14th at 1:11.3623 in the No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet after failing to reach the Firestone Fast 12 final segment, but he will move back in the starting lineup after incurring a six-position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change after the race last Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee. Newgarden is fourth in the standings, 75 points behind Palou.

Track activity resumes at 8:45 a.m. Saturday with a 30-minute warmup, streamed live on Peacock Premium.