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Ford Performance NASCAR: Martinsville Post-Race Cup Quotes

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series — Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
Martinsville Speedway | Sunday, April 11, 2021

Ford Finishing Results
6th – Joey Logano
9th – Kevin Harvick
11th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Matt DiBenedetto
13th – Chris Buescher
18th – Cole Custer
19th – Ryan Newman
20th – Aric Almirola
23rd – Josh Bilicki
26th – Anthony Alfredo
27th – Chase Briscoe
29th – BJ McLeod
31st – Michael McDowell
33rd – Brad Keseslowski

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “We weren’t very good. It was kind of a confusing race for us. I thought we were decent yesterday the first run and then fired off on this first run and was like, ‘Uh oh.’ I had no rear grip and started fighting loose in and off. We almost went down a lap, but a good strategy play got us up toward the front and a couple good changes got us closer to where I needed to be as well, and then it was just kind of a slugfest, a grinding race from there. There were points I thought we were decent and then the next run we were no good, then we were pretty good, and then no good. We just kept jumping the fence back and forth, and trying to understand where to be was pretty tough. We almost got a top five out of something that was a pretty challenging day. We got something out of it. I was expecting a lot more out of today, but we still got a sixth-place finish with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang which is just OK.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL WITH WHERE THIS TRACK SITS IN THE PLAYOFFS? “I still think this is a good track for us. Any way you look at it this has been a pretty solid one for Penske in general and for the 22, so we came here trying a couple different things. We don’t have practice to know if it’s better or not, so things we felt like were probably gonna be better and we’ll probably have to decide which one wasn’t better tomorrow. I’m not super concerned at the moment. We tried some things and some things didn’t work. Some things were confusing, so it gives us some questions that we all need to answer and think about. I’m not super concerned yet, just have a bunch of questions.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO START LETTING SPONSORS IN THE GARAGE IN A FEW WEEKS. DO YOU HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT THAT? “I think it’s very important for key stakeholders in our sport to be around the racetrack and particularly in the garage because it was a very exclusive experience that these race teams are able to present to sponsors, and I think that’s something that is very important. It’s a huge value that we all brought to sponsors or key customers of certain companies, so we have to do it. I have zero concerns. The first thing that comes to my mind is it’s about time.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “We had a really good Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang tonight. On the long runs we were really good. Denny was good on short runs. I was just kind of trying to hold off the guys behind me until we got 20 or so laps in and then I could kind of start creeping forward. But, we just got that pit road penalty at the end. It’s just a mistake and something that should be avoided. We’ve had an issue the last three times we’ve been here with a car to win, so that’s frustrating but I’m real proud of the effort. I just wish we could close one out.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang — “We just maintained today. I got one good restart and then went too loose at the end.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang — WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THAT PILE-UP? “It’s just unfortunate that we got caught up in it. It looked like some guys got in front of me and the track was blocked. I think I was just barely gonna get stopped in time and somebody clobbered me from behind and just tore us up. It’s a bummer. I think we were really good. We drove up into the top five and lost the power-steering. I was able to manhandle it around the racetrack, but I couldn’t get down pit road where you go to turn in your pit box. Every pit stop, it wasn’t my crew’s fault, I just couldn’t get the car stopped in the box and pointed the right way. That kind of got me in the back, and then I got dumped. We recovered from that and then we got caught up in a wreck that we just didn’t look like I could miss. Just one of those compounding, frustrating short track days, but we had decent speed. We just have to figure out why we lost the power-steering that kind of put us behind.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE WHEN THE POWER-STEERING GOES OUT? “It’s really tough. I mean, you’ve got a really tiny 8:1 steering box. You go back in the day 30-40 years ago and none of the drivers had power-steering, but they had like a 16:1 steering box. Now you’ve got 8:1, 10:1 steering boxes and you do the math real quick and they’re twice as hard to steer. It’s a really tough day.”

THE TRACK WAS BLOCKED COMING OFF TURN TWO. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU AT THAT POINT? “It’s just part of the short track deal. We got caught up in the back. We had an issue with the car and we were working through it and doing the best we could to make the most of it, and then they just kind of wrecked and blocked the track. There was nothing we could really do.”

WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU HAVE WITH NO POWER-STEERING? “It was frustrating. We were kind of hanging on on the racetrack and I was able to kind of hold serve and actually move up a little bit, but the pit road stuff I couldn’t get into the pit box for my guys and it just really screwed up our pit stops and we kept losing spots. Finally, we got back in some of the not-so-good cars and drivers and got ran over, but recovered from that and then just got caught up in something we couldn’t miss.”

Berry captures his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Martinsville

Photo by Ted Seminara for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Josh Berry held off his JR Motorsports (JRM) teammate in Sundays’ rain-delayed NASCAR Xfinity Series(NXS) Cook Out 250 race at Martinsville Speedway. Berry, who is running a partial schedule for JRM, led four times for 95 laps in his No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet en route to his first NXS career win and a grandfather clock trophy.

“Oh, gosh, I have so many people I could thank I could be here until tomorrow morning,” Berry said after the race. “Just Dale, L.W. (Miller), Kelley, everybody for believing in me, everyone on this No. 8 team.

“Man, they’ve been through a lot the last couple of years. Had a ton of different drivers. Man, I wanted to win so bad for these guys. They’re such a great group. I knew this would be a good opportunity to win. (Crew chief) Taylor (Moyer) called a perfect race. The car was good, and we just kept tweaking on it. The tires were pretty worn out there at the end. I was struggling a little bit with wheel-hop.

“This is just unbelievable.”

The race was stopped on Lap 91 of 250 laps on Friday night. The remainder of the race was postponed until Sunday at noon ET due to persistent rain.

JRM teammate Noah Gragson won stage one and finished second. With the runner-up finish, Gragson captured a $100,000 payday for being the top finisher among the four eligible drivers for the Dash 4 Cash bonus.

“One hundred thousand dollars richer,” Gragson said. “I’m pumped up. Great 1-2 finish for our team at JR Motorsports.”

Other dash participants Harrison Burton finished seventh as Justin Allgaier finished ninth and AJ Allmendinger finished 13th. Berry and Gragson will advance to the next round at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24 along with Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones.

Hemric won stage two and finished third, Ty Gibbs placed fourth and Jones rounded out the top five.

“This Poppy Bank Toyota Supra was so fast and it was cool to get that second stage win. Dave Rogers (crew chief) and the guys are bringing incredible cars to the race track,” said Hemric.

Burton started on the pole and led 53 laps before the race was halted.

“I thought we were going to win the race, and it just got away from everybody.” said Burton. “Tough day. You have high expectations any time you go back somewhere you’ve won in the past.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway on April 24 at 4 p.m. ET with coverage by FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 7
Race Results for the Cook Out 250 – Friday, April 9, 2021
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA – 0.526 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 250 Laps – 131.5 Miles

FinStrNoDriverTeamLapsS1PosS2PosS3PosPtsStatus
1298Josh Berry #Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet250010041Running
289Noah GragsonBass Pro Shops/True Timber/BRCC Chevrolet25012054Running
3418Daniel HemricPoppy Bank Toyota25001044Running
41654Ty Gibbs #AutoByNelson.com Toyota25040040Running
52419Brandon JonesToyota Toyota25000032Running
6622Austin CindricMenards/Richmond Ford25020040Running
7120Harrison BurtonDEX Imaging Toyota25000030Running
8511Justin HaleyLeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet25030037Running
927Justin AllgaierWalmart Fight Hunger Chevrolet25000028Running
10101Michael AnnettPilot Flying J Chevrolet25004034Running
111310Jeb BurtonPurYear Tank Lines Chevrolet25003034Running
12272Brett Moffitt(i)Destiny Homes Chevrolet2500000Running
13316AJ AllmendingerEllsworth Advisors/Hyperice Chevrolet25000024Running
141151Jeremy ClementsFirst Pacific Funding Chevrolet25075033Running
1592Myatt SniderTaxSlayer Chevrolet25060027Running
161592Josh WilliamsDGM Racing Chevrolet25000021Running
172526Brandon GdovicSnapMobile.Shop Toyota25000020Running
183790George Gorham Jr.Blackburns BBQ/Franciscos Chevrolet25009021Running
193048Jade BufordBig Machine Spike Coolers Chevrolet25000018Running
203899Stefan ParsonsSOKAL Digital Toyota24907021Running
213952Gray GauldingPanini America Chevrolet24900016Running
223461David StarrMBM Motorsports Toyota24900015Running
231239Ryan SiegCMR Construction & Roofing Ford24900014Running
243317JJ YeleyAlcova/DBAutomotive.com Chevrolet24988019Running
253147Kyle WeathermanLOF Defence Systems LTD Chevrolet24900012Running
262674Bayley CurreyJM Steel Chevrolet249100012Running
271968Brandon BrownOriginal Larry’s Hard Lemonade Chevrolet24850016Running
284013Matt JaskolAuto Parts 4 Less Toyota2480009Running
29798Riley HerbstMonster Energy Ford2480008Running
302066Timmy HillLiftKits4Less Toyota2480007Running
312236Alex LabbeLarue Industrial Snowblowers Chevrolet2480006Running
322178Jesse LittleTufco Flooring Chevrolet2450005Running
33365Matt MillsJ.F. Electric Chevrolet2410004Running
341744Tommy Joe MartinsDiamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet2310608Running
353223Blaine PerkinsRaceline Chevrolet2260002Running
36180Jeffrey EarnhardtKSDT CPA Chevrolet2139003Suspension
37144Landon Cassill511 Auction Chevrolet1970001Engine
38287Joe Graf Jr.Responsible Gold Chevrolet1790001Accident
392315Colby HowardProject Hope Foundation Chevrolet1530001Suspension
40356Ryan Vargas #SEM Products Chevrolet970001Accident

RCR Post Race Report – Cook Out 250

Myatt Snider And The TaxSlayer Chevrolet Team Fight Hard For 15th-Place Finish at Martinsville Speedway

Finish: 15th
Start: 9th
Points: 7th

“Today was one of those days where you had to fight for every spot on the track. We had high hopes coming into this weekend and I definitely thought we had a chance at the win with my experience at Martinsville. Our TaxSlayer Chevrolet Camaro fired off pretty neutral at the start this afternoon and we steadily made our way back to the front, running consistently inside the top-10. We had ourselves in a solid position for the end. Unfortunately on our last stop of the day, we had to pit twice to tighten some loose lug nuts which forced us to restart in 33rd. I worked my way forward as much as possible, but the center wouldn’t rotate as well and we ran out of laps. My RCR team is one of the best and I wouldn’t want to be doing this every week with anyone else. We will regroup during the off week and go get it in Talladega.” -Myatt Snider

Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report – Martinsville


Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report
Track: Martinsville Speedway
Race: Cook Out 250
Date: April 11, 2021

No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 6th
Stage 1: 2nd
Stage 2: 16th
Finish: 6th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 250/250
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (ahead of second): 1st (+42)

Notes:

  • Austin Cindric and the No. 22 Menards/Richmond team finished the rain-delayed Cook Out 250 in the sixth position Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway. With yet another top-10 finish on the year, the driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang continues to lead the driver point standings, 42 markers ahead of second place.
  • Friday night’s starting lineup was once again set per the NASCAR rule book, which gave Cindric the sixth starting position. During the first 60-lap stage, the defending Xfinity Series Champion ran inside the top five in the caution-filled segment, but as the run progressed, Cindric’s Mustang built tight. Despite the tight conditions, Cindric was able to race his way to the second position at the conclusion of the initial stage. Crew chief Brian Wilson called his driver to pit road at the stage caution for four tires, fuel, and adjustments.
  • With a mixture of pit strategy throughout the field, Cindric restarted the second stage 16th. The Mooresville N.C., native was running in the top 10 by lap 78 and had some of the fastest laps on track. The sixth caution of the race was displayed shortly after for weather, but the persistent rain forced NASCAR to postpone the Cook Out 250 until Sunday afternoon, with Cindric scored eighth.
  • Once the race resumed on under sunny skies, Cindric quickly raced his way to the fourth position and finished the second stage 16th. Wilson elected to stay out during the stage caution which allowed his driver to restart seventh. Over a series of cautions, Cindric eventually made it back to the runner up position.
  • The 11th caution was shown with 75 laps remaining allowing Wilson to call his driver to pit road for the final set of tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Cindric restarted eighth but got trapped on the outside lane losing track position. He was able to battle back to the sixth position where he took the checkered flag.

Quote: “We picked right up where we left off Friday night. We had a great Menards Richmond Ford Mustang. I can’t help but think today was a missed opportunity with the way things shook out. There were some slower cars that took up the first few rows on one of the final restarts after we got a set of tires and I chose the wrong lane, got caught behind the wrong guys and lost a lot of spots. That pretty much buried us and we were able to drive back up through but not enough. I thought we were good enough to contend for a win today and I think we showed that but you have to have the track position here. I am a little disappointed but it was good to have a fast race car at an important track in the playoffs.”

Ford Performance NASCAR: Cindric Finishes 6th to Lead Ford in Xfinity Series Race at Martinsville

Ford Performance Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series – Cook Out 250
Martinsville Speedway | Sunday, April 11, 2021

FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
6th – Austin Cindric
23rd – Ryan Sieg
29th – Riley Herbst

FORD PERFORMANCE QUOTES

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang — Finished 6th

“We picked right up where we left off Friday night. We had a great Menards Richmond Ford Mustang. I can’t help but think today was a missed opportunity with the way things shook out. There were some slower cars that took up the first few rows on one of the final restarts after we got a set of tires and I chose the wrong lane, got caught behind the wrong guys and lost a lot of spots. That pretty much buried us and we were able to drive back up through but not enough. I thought we were good enough to contend for a win today and I think we showed that but you have to have the track position here. I am a little disappointed but it was good to have a fast race car at an important track in the playoffs.”

Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Martinsville 4.10.21

FOUR JOE GIBBS RACING TOYOTAS IN THE TOP-10 AT MARTINSVILLE
Hemric leads the Toyota charge with a third-place finish

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 11, 2021) – All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supras scored top-10 finishes in the Cook Out 250 at Martinsville Speeedway on Sunday afternoon.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Martinsville Speedway
Race 7 of 33 – 250 miles, 131.5 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Josh Berry*
2nd, Noah Gragson*
3rd, DANIEL HEMRIC
4th, TY GIBBS
5th, BRANDON JONES
7th, HARRISON BURTON
17th, BRANDON GDOVIC
20th, STEFAN PARSONS
22nd, DAVID STARR
28th, MATT JASKOL
30th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DANIEL HEMRIC, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

What are your thoughts about your third-place finish?

“It’s kind of bittersweet to be honest with you. This Poppy Bank Toyota Supra was so fast and it was cool to get that second stage win. Dave Rogers (crew chief) and the guys are bringing incredible cars to the race track. We got back there after stage two and trying to take advantage of the full day and somebody checked up in the middle of one and two – knocked the hood up and I couldn’t see once I got within a half-a-car of somebody. It took me probably too long to get used to that and we finally started making progress and got up there with better cars. Kind of caught me off guard as to how much better our speed was compared to other cars at the end. Had to use my stuff up to get there. Once we got to third, we were better than the 8 (Josh Berry) and the 9 (Noah Gragson), just had to use our stuff up to get there.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 AutosByNelson.com Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th

How was your race overall?

“We were just a little tight. I messed up there at one point, it was my fault. Then I hit the 9 (Noah Gragson), we were dorking around there for a little bit. After I hit him and got kind of loose, it killed my momentum and kind of made me a little tighter. My fault. But overall, decent day, led laps. I feel like if I hadn’t hit him and knocked the nose in, we probably could have maybe got a third or a second or maybe even a first. Can’t complain. Had a good day and learned a lot today. It was a good time and Martinsville is fun. It tested my patience out.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Toyota Racing Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th

Can you describe how the race played out for you?

“We were all just talking about what it would have taken to win the race. It was difficult, especially when you would lose a little bit of track position. Our car definitely changed a bunch going from night to day. A little bit on the freer side, more of what I expected and the track seemed greasy. There at the end, we got that long green flag run and it seemed like the track was taking a decent amount of rubber and it seemed like that was causing some of that feel that we were getting. All in all, really good effort and I think we learned a bunch. We’ve got one more race here this year so let’s take this and try to make that one better and close the deal out.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th

You looked great in the night portion, but it looked like you struggled a bit today. How would you rate your race overall?

“We were really good on Friday night in our DEX Imaging Supra. I thought we were going to win the race, and it just got away from everybody. We just didn’t have that same lap time today. We really struggled with tight late in the race, just plowing through the right front tire and having to park the car in the center of the corner. Tough day. You have high expectations any time you go back somewhere you’ve won in the past. For it to not work out is a tough one, but at the end of the day, it’s a part of the game and we will have to rebound and be better.”

About Toyota

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CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES: TWO-DAY PRE-SEASON IMS TEST RECAP-JOSEF NEWGARDEN SETS BLISTERING PACE

JOSEF NEWGARDEN TOPS CHARTS AFTER TWO-DAY NTT INDYCAR SERIES TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Two-time Series’ Champion led the field of 32 cars testing with scorching lap of 226.819 m.p.h.

INDIANAPOLIS (April 9, 2021) – Josef Newgardern, in the cockpit of the No. 2 Shell Fuel Awards Team Penske Chevy, ran 130 laps of the two-day open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for theAT 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. Despite losing over five hours on Thursday to rain, Newgarden and his team maximized the time wisely to leave with the No. 2 burning brightly at the top of the scoring pilon.

Five of the top-nine drivers on the speed chart were Chevy powered.

The only incident came 11 minutes into testing on Thursday when 2020 Rookie-of-the-Year Rinus Veekay met the Turn One wall He suffered a broken finger on his left hand, but after being fitted with the appropriate brace, the driver of the No.21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet has been cleared to drive at the season opener on April 18, 2021 at Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds Alabama.

DRIVER QUOTES:
JOSEF NEWGARDEN . NO.2 SHELL FUEL REWARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET — POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “It’s just nice to be back…its nice to have a couple of days to work even though the first day was as completed as we would have liked. It’s just nice to be back here with four cars and having Scott join the program, we are going to be able to make a lot of headway quick with the amount of resources we have. I think the Shell Fuel Rwards Chevy is beautiful and I’m loving driving it so far. We need to learn as much as we can and then carry that momentum into May when the real work begins.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Once we get laps, I think we…when you roll up to the gate for the first time it’s amazing. But not now because of the rain. Rolled out for the first time we had a good lap but massive help with the tow. Then we focused on doing some stuff with what I learned from that tow. We’ve been good, the tires have been really strong and we’ve been consistent. Rick Mears has been great. Just been there for me to lean on. He simplifies the more technical stuff for me Tells me great stories on preparing for it. Yeah, its been great so far.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO.22 MENARDS TEM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Yeah great great to studious day for us. We just went through different aero configuration on the racecar but overall it’s always such a it’s good to be back could be back in the Speedway. Obviously it is place a phenomenal place for racing and for our team. It is our number one priority to win here so Chevy power seem strong and I was very very excited you to finish the day in the Menards No; 22 today so we could shape. So far program is a is on time for what we wanted to do.”

MAX CHILTON, NO.59 CARLIN CHEVROLET – POST TW0-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: “A really positive day at IMS. The Carlin team has worked harder than ever this past winter. I can definitely see the change in the car, especially if you look at the no-tows, so that’s a really good sign of speed. I could sense we’d be quick right away. We still have to work on running in traffic, but we’ve got plenty of time in May to work on that. My new engineer Luke [Mason] and I are working together really well, and I think the whole Carlin team is coming together. So overall, a positive day at the Speedway.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA – NO. 86 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “Today was a good day and we learned a lot. It was great to be back in the car with Arrow McLaren SP and very useful for me to start getting back into traffic before the actual Month of May. I still have a lot to do personally to get better, but the test was a great opportunity to bond with the engineers and team. We have good speed in the car but still a lot to learn.”

PATO O’WARD – NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I think we had a solid test. We tested a lot of different things that should help us when we come back for the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet feels good and I think we’ve made improvements over where we were last year in the race. It was good to get :500 weekend is normally like. I think we should have a good starting point to be competitive this May.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST – NO. 7 VUSE ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I thought today was good, we got a lot of laps done and had a pretty good car for most of the day. We fell off a little bit at the end, running in traffic with a little too much understeer, but we got to try a lot of good things with the team. These test days really let the team get into gear a little bit better. We are going to be back here pretty soon and it was nice to get on track in :Indianapolis again.”

POST TEST TRANSCRIPTS:

Juan Pablo Montoya
Arrow McLaren SP
Josef Newgarden
Penske Racing
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. We have Juan Pablo Montoya standing by and we expect to have Josef Newgarden, as well. Juan Pablo finished third on the speed chart, pretty successful day with Arrow McLaren SP.
How was your day today, Juan Pablo?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It was good. I think yesterday was a little shocking getting back in the car. Today was good. We worked through a lot of things. We found a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, like you always do.
It was nice to get back a little bit in the draft. A lot to catch up again, learn, understand again what you need to do, the timing. But everything just starts coming back.
It’s funny, getting up to speed yesterday was, Ooh. Today you don’t even think about it. This afternoon even better. The first few runs with traffic is like, Ooh. Then you start relaxing, getting in the flow of things. We did some pit stops at the end.
Everyone at Arrow McLaren SP has been doing a very good job. It was fun so far. I think this test was very, very useful.

THE MODERATOR: Yesterday you never really had to do a rookie orientation, refresher program. You had to go through that yesterday, didn’t you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yes. I was joking to the engineers, said I’m going to run 214.9, 215.1. My second lap was 215.1, then 214.9, 215.2. I’m going, We need to be below 215 (laughter).
THE MODERATOR: You have to go slow before you can go fast.
If you have a question for the two-time Indy 500 champion, go ahead.

Q. I wanted to ask, appeared to be that your car could go pretty much anywhere on the track. When you dropped back, you were able to slice back through the field. Is that because the aerodynamics, the aero changes, are so good, or because your particular car, the 86, is so strong at the moment?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I felt okay. I didn’t feel as good as you said. It’s great that it looks like that. I did pass few cars and everything, I could move, I could change, I felt pretty decent at parts.
The thing is, remember, every run you do, you change something. You don’t keep the same car, keep doing things. You always trying to improve the feeling, improve the car to maybe be more consistent in clean air, more consistent in the draft, things like that.
As you go through those things, there’s some runs that you go out there, you’re just in the way, and you hate it. I said like three times today, Hell, I’m not doing this. Actually the word wasn’t ‘hell’ but I’m using the polite word. I said, I’m not doing this and I bailed.
One of them actually bailed and really scared the hell out of me in three and four. I lifted and I didn’t even do turn one. I went in the deceleration lane. I’m not doing this (laughter).

Q. Do you feel as well as being fast that your car was actually handling quite well in traffic? Could you kind of like run directly behind someone or do you still need quite a lot of clean air?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: You always need a lot of clean air. Even before this, even the old cars, you need a lot of clean air. With these cars, I think for me personally you still notice the difference.
It’s a shame, yeah, I mean, that we didn’t — some people tried the ‘push to pass’, they did the other test. But it would make racing quite more wild, I think. I know some people don’t want wild.

THE MODERATOR: Also joining us here in the Zoom room, we welcome in the two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion, Josef Newgarden, as well.
Josef, tell us about your day. Quickest in that session, 226.819 miles per hour.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was a pretty good day.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Are you driving?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, not yet. I’m still in the parking lot. Where are you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I’m in the garage working. We got meetings and things. We love meetings.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Are you trying a new approach this year?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, I’m trying to avoid the meetings, but they still make me go.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was a pretty good day. I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure.
But just to get an initial read on where we’re at, obviously there’s a lot of new parts, differences to the last couple years. So we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on now these last couple weeks before we get back here in May.
Pretty happy. I felt the Shell Fuel Rewards car looked good. Had some decent speed, which is always nice to see, but doesn’t mean much when it comes to race day. We’ll see how we shake out as we get to the meat of things in the month of May.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll continue with questions.

Q. Juan, wondering how this year’s car compares to 2015 and 2000?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: How does it compare? How does the car compare? This is engineer right here (laughter).
They’re a little harder to drive, I think. I think the difference between clear air and dirty air is a little bigger. I think the changes from what INDYCAR did, from what everybody says, it’s a little harder as before, but not that bad. Put it that way.
Q. What about an extra hundred horsepower?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: After running today, I would be a big fan of that ‘push to pass’, to be honest.

Q. Josef, how was the Chevy today?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Good. I think Chevy has done a great job, as evidenced with Juan as well. I think the McLaren boys are quick. I think we feel pretty good about things.
I think they’ve definitely made improvements, and we needed to in the off-season. We all did. Us as a team, I think Chevrolet, we all got together and looked where we were weakest. I think there was a little bit to go around on all sides. They’ve really stepped up.
We put in a lot of effort. I think we found some good stuff. It’s getting hard nowadays. These gains you’re looking to find are so small. I think they’ve managed to find a decent chunk, which is impressive with how far along we are. Very encouraged with Chevrolet.

Q. With the aero changes they were working on in the off-season, bringing them in for the 500 to increase passing, did you notice a difference between last year’s aero package compared to this year’s?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes, definitely. It’s easier to follow. It’s still tough. You’ll still get a big front wash in traffic. 10 cars back, it’s always going to be difficult. But I think they’ve made the ability to follow better. That balance separation between clean air and dirty air is definitely reduced.
Some of them are tricky to drive, some of these parts. I think you’re seeing some split camps here along pit lane. Not everybody is running the same stuff. That’s been interesting to watch. There’s more downforce on the car. I think the balance shift in traffic is less.
Yeah, the ability that we’re going to have to race compared to last year will be better.

Q. Any restaurant recommendations for Nashville?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Man, there’s plenty. If you’re into coffee, Barista Parlor. Hot chicken, Hattie Bs. The Southern is very good. There’s a lot of good spots. Those are a few.

Q. Juan, this is your first time with the Aeroscreen now. How long did it take you to get used to it? Your thoughts on it so far?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It wasn’t too bad to get used to it. I thought it would be a little more intrusive. It’s definitely a pain in the butt to get in and out of the car, and it’s a lot hotter. I know like here it hasn’t been that bad in the oval. I did a test in Laguna. In a road course, you don’t get a lot of air. That was kind of shocking.
Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of weird because, like, you’re really in a little bubble. It feels a little bit once you’re driving like a sports car.
But you’re with a closed visor, I still don’t get why you have to run — I don’t think you have to. I think you probably do, but I’m used to sports cars. Same thing you’re with the visor open so you get a little more air.
It’s good. It’s fine. I think from the safety point of view, it’s a great thing. It’s a matter of getting used to it more than anything else.

Q. Some of the guys last year talked about it was harder to find a limit with the open cockpit. Did you find it harder to find a limit in your car today?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, because I come from a sports car and a closed cockpit car. For me, it’s the same thing. It doesn’t really change that much. I think for the guys that are used to the open cockpit, might be a little harder.
I’ve driven a lot of closed cars. Last four years, I’ve mainly been driving sports cars, P2 cars. Feels about the same.

Q. Josef, how much did you notice any differences in the car today from the test last October?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: When were we here? I thought it was the beginning of November.

Q. When you tested these configurations.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s identical to the final config that we ran in November. From then it’s the same. Literally the last that config that we ran is what you can put on the car, at least the maximum amount. It’s pretty similar to what we tested, I mean, the same.

Q. The weather conditions play a role today with traffic?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think it was a pretty easy day. It was pretty ideal conditions. Not too hot. Certainly not too cold. A little bit windy. That was probably the most difficult part about the day, was the wind, the movement of the car. Pretty standard for this place. You’re always kind of fighting that depending where it’s coming from. It’s always playing a factor.
Weather wasn’t an issue. It was a pretty easy day, for the most part, to be honest.

Q. I noticed the turn two trap speed chart, seems like the guys at the top of the speed chart were good there. Is that one of the more important corners to get right at this track?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think that was probably the most difficult corner as far as wind today. For most of the day you had a tailwind going into two, you had the side wind on the track. It could catch you out. It was difficult in traffic to get it right. Someone was having a big tow, it was one of the tougher corners to get right. That’s probably why you saw the cars that were quick and good, they were typically pretty good through two, as well.

Q. I know yesterday probably had to be a little bit of a frustrating day. What kind of energy and excitement do you get from a day like this where you have eight, nine cars running in packs? Does a day like this on the track really invigorate you to get this season started here?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: For me personally, I think it’s definitely a huge thing. I know yesterday we didn’t run as much as we could. In a way, I’m pretty happy it worked out that way. We did the refresher. We did installation up in the morning. I had a look at everything the other guys were doing, just to relax with the guys and everything. It wasn’t too bad.
At the end of the day we managed to get the refresher done. It was good. It was good because it still feels like this place is fast. When you do it often, you lose the appreciation of how fast you go. It was nice to get a night’s sleep on it. Yesterday when I was done, I was like, This place is quick. Today it was like, Aah, it’s normal. So it was nice.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, obviously for someone like Juan, this test is great. Even for all of us that have been regulars here, this is a great test to have, to give a warmup for the month of May. It felt like the month of May, to be honest with you, typical day to start out.
Yeah, pretty happy we got this peek into the future.
THE MODERATOR: We want to say thank you to Juan Pablo Montoya for stopping by. Appreciate you doing so after a couple busy days. The month of May will be here before we know it.
We’ll continue with Josef Newgarden.

Q. A couple of the engineers and a few of the other drivers were conjecturing that with the package the way it is, it’s going to be two cars, the second-place car will kind of have an advantage. They think anything further back than two cars you might have five cars running in a pack, but the fifth-place car and fourth-place car don’t have much of a shot. Does it feel that way to you?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, certainly last year that was the case. I think you have a better opportunity this year looking at the amount of downforce we have, the balance shift in and out of traffic. I think you have a better opportunity to fight for the win in the third or fourth car in line.
I think more than that, you are a quick car during the race, you somehow find yourself in the back, I think you have a better opportunity of making your way forward. Those two elements will automatically help the show. But you don’t want to have it so easy where we’re packed up the entire field the entire time. I think that’s something that you would want to avoid.
It’s a balancing act. I think it will be a lot better than last year as far as the ability to race up front. Time will tell. But I think you’ll have a better show.

Q. In Happy Hour we saw some pretty good passing and some dicing around out there. Some of the drivers said the dicing was a little bit by design. When you have these test sessions, do you go in with the mindset of trying different things to see how they work so when you’re back here when it matters you’ll know what it’s going to do?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, definitely. We’re constantly trying to assess everything. Today we were spot checking some qualifying stuff early on. We got into race running, just tried to focus on how our cars were in race traffic.
At the end of the day that’s going to be probably the most important thing. Yeah, when we’re out there running, it’s for real. There’s people that drop back every now and then. That’s not real passes. As far as the way we’re running in line, we’re trying to simulate it as much as the race.
It’s very much the real deal what people are seeing.

Q. Considering you’re one of the more we’ll say older statesmen now at Penske Racing. These days you’ve just had at Indy, how valuable are they for someone like Scott McLaughlin?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Tremendously. Scott has been so much fun to be around because he’s truly a rookie in INDYCAR. Everything that he does is like the coolest thing ever. So to see that perspective again after having been here myself for 10 years, it’s just really fun. It’s really fun to see that through his eyes.
But it’s a very valuable day. He’s soaking everything up. Every moment he’s getting better. He’s doing a really good job trying to take time, ask a lot of questions, pay attention to every detail. He’s really switched on. He’s a smart race car driver. He’s doing all the right things to figure out how to be good in this category.
I think you can come to expect that. I think he will be very competitive this year. So, yeah, valuable day for him, for sure.

Q. For Roger, what do you think this means to him, building up to what could be a great month of May this year by comparison to what we had last year?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Certainly, Roger has a lot of pride in this place, and he should. This is an amazing facility. He is a very deserving captain to lead this ship. I think we’re all pretty happy that he’s at the helm of it.
He’s beaming to be out here every day. He’s always excited, excited for what we’re doing as a team, but more excited for what the Speedway is doing. There’s no one that wants fans here more than Roger, I can tell you that. I think if we get a semi-filled up crowd, he’s going to be a very happy man. We’re all going to be very happy.
This place was built for fans. That’s what this track is all about. We get to the month of May, have some people in the stands, it’s going to be good for everybody.

Q. To Barber, how important is it to get points on the board early on and kick-start the season in the most positive way?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s always important. I always tell people, I tell the team, Let’s get on the board today. We don’t need to win the race, but we need to score some points, have a good showing, set ourselves up for a good year.
That’s what we try to do. That’s what we’re going to try to do next weekend.

Q. Did you get a feel for how the Chevy and Honda balance power is at the moment? I realize it’s difficult in these conditions to judge. We all know what happened last year. You guys were powerful but didn’t have the fuel economy.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s hard to say. It looks a lot more even this year, is what I would say at the moment. Someone could obviously be miles ahead by the time we get to the month of May. It’s possible. But I would say it looks a lot more even right now than where we were at last year.
We’re all excited about that. I think Chevrolet has done a great job. It’s going to provide an interesting show for everybody.

Q. Did you check out how far you could go on a tank of fuel, turbo boost level, fuel rich level?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, we didn’t do a lot of economy stuff today. We just did it — I didn’t run through any mixtures. I think there’s still some questions to be answered in the month of May. We were trying to check off some bigger team item stuff.
Chevy has more manpower than just us at Team Penske. Not sure what they’re up to. We’re going to debrief with them after a test like this. We’re pushing. I think we’re going to be in a good spot looking at the initial information.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Josef Newgarden.

Ed Carpenter
Ed Carpenter Racing
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks, everybody, for tuning in, Zooming in, if you will, after the first half of the day, day one of the Indy 500 open test. Certainly an interesting day for Ed Carpenter Racing, Conor Daly, P1 in the 47 car, top speed of 222.714 miles an hour. Ed second quick in the 20 machine. His Rookie of the Year from last year, Rinus VeeKay, with an interesting day as well.
We’ll begin things with Ed. How would you describe day one today for the IMS Indy 500 open test?
ED CARPENTER: Not the way we had exactly hoped it would go. You never want to lose one of your three cars kind of in the first 10 minutes of the session. That was a bit of a bumpy way to start the test.
We do have three cars, so Conor and I carried on. We were able to get a little bit of work done. By the time Rinus’ yellow and cleanup was done, we had about 90 minutes of track activity, but probably only 45, 50 minutes of that by the time you get installs done.
We were able to get a couple changes in really just to establish a baseline. There’s a lot to do now tomorrow, a lot of new parts to test. We were able to test some of them last fall. There’s a lot to work through to be ready for when we come back for Indy 500 prep.

THE MODERATOR: How is Rinus doing?
ED CARPENTER: I think he’s okay. Disappointed. Obviously not the way he wanted to start either. It’s easy to be upset about things like that. The conditions were a little tricky with the wind. It’s an inexperience thing still. He’s got a year under his belt, but it was a truncated year.
He did so well at Indy last year, but got a little bit ahead of himself today. Didn’t quite have a feel for his balance, got a little bit too aggressive in one.
I know he’ll bounce back. He’s shown that he can bounce back from unfortunate circumstances in the past. I know he’ll be ready when he gets back out there.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open for questions.
Q. Is there anything you could really take away from today, given it was kind of a truncated day for you guys? If you can get the car back on the road for Rinus tomorrow, do you expect him to run, given that he’s injured his finger?
ED CARPENTER: It’s my understanding that he’s cleared. I know the guys took that car back to the shop. If we can get that car together, it’s possible he runs tomorrow.
I don’t know that we would pull out his backup, just because it will be the race car for Barber, St. Pete and Texas. It’s all a little tight to going racing, the risk, potentially another excursion.
If the guys can get that other car back together, possibly. I don’t really know. I was focusing on what I was doing with my car, debriefing with Conor. A lot of guys had gone back to the shop to evaluate all that, see where they were.
I’m waiting to hear from Tim Broyles, our team manager, on that. One of the good things about being a driver today, I don’t have to worry about everything, I can focus on what we have going on track and what we have to accomplish tomorrow yet with my run plan.

THE MODERATOR: How much did the weather play a factor in what you had planned today?
ED CARPENTER: The day was definitely short. Felt like May watching the radar already. Yeah, I mean, we certainly had a lot more we wanted to do. We really just did a baseline, made one small adjustment to kind of adapt for conditions. Have a lot to do yet.
Essentially we each just got a baseline run in. I only did nine laps. Happy the car has had some pace, we were able to get a good draft. At the same time it doesn’t really mean anything after just a brief period of running, and not everybody out there yet.

Q. I know you were planning on two full days. Do you feel like one full day, as long as we don’t get any more weather, will be enough to accomplish everything? Will you be able to squeeze everything in to tomorrow that you would have hoped for over two days?
ED CARPENTER: We’ll do the best we can. You would always take more time if you could get it. At the end of the day, for the most part, everyone is going to have the same opportunity to have the same amount of track time.
Don’t worry about it too much. Weather and changing schedules is something we’ve all gotten quite adept at over the past year. Looks like it’s going to be a better weather day tomorrow. The six hours will go quick.
Some of the things we wanted to do, it would have been nice to have our session, lunch break, go back out and do some longer changeover types of things that we may have to scrap till we come back.
If we can be efficient, we can still get through everything we wanted to, at least the big items.

Q. You had a handful of changes to the car as far as the aerodynamics are concerned. You’ve had a little bit of time to look at those things. How important is the setup two days to getting like you feel like you’re really ready to go once we get to May?
ED CARPENTER: Well, certainly if you come out of this test and have success and are able to get a good baseline, it will springboard you into a quick week of practice leading into qualifying.
In a perfect world, we would feel really happy with our cars, how they’re running in traffic. With the speed we have out of our Chevy engines, worst-case scenario, we have a good idea of what we need to improve on coming out of this test coming back.
Either way we’ll have things we want to improve on. Hopefully we come out of it with good speed and feeling good about how the cars are handling in traffic. We’ll fine-tune it for practice leading into qualifying and the race.

Q. We have an oval event before Indy this year with Texas. How relevant is that going to be in terms of what you do with your setup leading into the month of May, as well?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, setups are quite different from Texas to Indy. I think probably — I mean, I like that we have an oval before. It’s nice to be able to get two races under our belt for me.
But compared to when Indy was the first oval, especially having three in a row with Barber, St. Pete and Texas, it presents a little bit of a challenge with car rotation and spares potentially and things like that. We’ve known the schedule for a long time and have a good plan. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

Q. Were you able to do enough running in traffic to get a sense if there’s any improvement with the changes made to the cars?
ED CARPENTER: No, not yet. I got a one-car tow, but it was about seven seconds out, so not really a good enough read to start to fully establish that.
We had some of the parts on, not all of them. There are a lot of different configurations out there. Definitely need more time. There’s really no group that formed in the short amount of time we had. Still plenty to learn. But I’m sure we’ll get through that tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Ed, what is the rest of your night looking like? On dad duty?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, Ryder has a class here till 7:30. I’ll be watching that, maybe answering some emails. We’re supposed to have a team owners call at 7, but that got pushed till 8 because cars are on track later. Wait for him till 7:30, go home and get some dinner, get the boys a shower, I might take one myself, rinse and repeat.

THE MODERATOR: Nothing confirmed yet about when we’re going to start back up tomorrow morning. For those of you joining us, we’ll pass that information along as soon as we get it.

Ed, thanks so much. Have a great evening. Tell everybody we said hi.
ED CARPENTER: Will do. Thanks.

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.

Tips to Maintain Your Car that You Rarely Use

Photo by Paul Cisneros on Unsplash

People nowadays purchase a car for fun or for a season which they don’t drive more often. They drive it occasionally, like festive seasons and on weekends only. However, the way you store your car while you’re not driving plays a crucial role in how it performs when you take it out. Ensure you keep your vehicle in good shape to make it ready for use anytime. If you follow some of these tips to maintain your rarely driven vehicle, you can keep it ready for the road anytime.

Stick to the Mechanical Rule

Base your maintenance on the timing but not mileage. Check and follow the recommendation of your owner’s manual and at 110 Car Maintenance Tips to keep your car in top shape. Despite your car not accumulating the needed mileage, you still have to regularly check the oil and additives because they are still sitting and aging even when your vehicle isn’t on the road. You can also base your maintenance on the calendar and avoid the mileage.

Don’t Let Your Car Lie for too long

Ensure you turn your car every few days, even if you’re not hitting the road. This will keep everything in your engine lubricated by keeping fluids through cycling your engine. It will also ensure your battery stays fresh and prevents liquids from pulling in certain areas of your vehicle. This is the best way to keep your vehicle in good condition, especially if you normally leave your home once a week. It will enable the car to start whenever it’s needed. While you do need insurance, you can often get lower prices for cars used less than 50 miles a day.

Take Care of Your Brake Fluid

Like the engine, brakes are also an important component of your car. Brakes help you to avoid rear-end collisions which might lead to crashing. Your brakes should be among your top priority because they take care of you while driving.

You need to check your brake fluids regularly and, if need be, change the fluids. Brake fluid can attract moisture, which is not great for your car. Moisture can lead to corrosion and even rusting, which can lead to the failure of your brakes. Accidents related to brakes can be highly avoided. Ensure you visit Pedders to help you with the brake system when you notice any fault play in your brakes. Ensure you annually replace your brake fluids to keep yourself safe.

Keep Your Car Clean

The last thing you would want to deal with is the falling leaves and sticks that collect your vehicle over time. Leaves and sticks can be harmful to your car if you don’t clean them immediately. When mixed with moisture, they can turn into tannic acid that can gradually eat your paint and degrade both plastic and rubber seals.

Ensure you clean your lying car once in a while. After cleaning, you can also find suitable car covers and protect your car from any external damage. Ensure you keep your vehicle off from the scorching sun and the dropping sticks or leaves.

Finally

Maintaining your less-driven car lies within your hands. You can either make it last longer by taking care of it regularly, even if you’re not using it, or wait until you’re heading outside. Simple maintenance programs such as regular cleaning, changing fluids, and waxing your car can protect it from harsh weather conditions and make it run greatly.

Xfinity Series race at Martinsville postponed to Sunday finish

Photo by James Gilbert | Getty Images

By Staff Report  – NASCAR.com 

Nagging rain has forced NASCAR officials to postpone Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Cook Out 250 to a Sunday finish at Martinsville Speedway.

The race will resume Sunday at noon ET with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Brandon Jones is scored as the leader with 91 of a scheduled 250 laps complete.

RELATED: Race leaderboard | Martinsville schedule

Noah Gragson won Stage 1 of the race, and the second stage was near its halfway mark when a rain shower halted the event at 9:32 p.m. ET. Track-drying efforts continued until storms intensified late in Friday evening. The start of the race was also delayed roughly a half-hour due to an early evening shower at the track.

The race at the 0.526-mile track marks the seventh Xfinity race of the season and the first in the 2021 Dash 4 Cash program. Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Gragson are the four drivers competing in the race within a race. The highest finishing driver among those four takes the $100,000 prize. The winning driver also advances on to compete for the prize with the three highest finishing drivers running for Xfinity points in the next event at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24.

Burton, who won last fall in the first Xfinity race here since 2006, started on the pole with Allgaier lined up along side of him. Burton led the first 53 laps at Martinsville. Allmendinger had an issue early in the race and had to pit under green, leaving him a lap down.

Newgarden Tops 226 mph To Lead Second Day of Indy 500 Open Test

INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, April 9, 2021) – Josef Newgarden has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship twice in the last four years, so he freely admits winning the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is the biggest box left to check in his racing career.

If the speed chart from the second day of the Indy 500 Open Test on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is any indication, that dream could become reality this May.

Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, was the fastest driver today and overall from two days of testing, turning a top lap of 226.819 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet under mostly sunny skies on the 2.5-mile oval. That easily eclipsed the top speed from the rain-hampered first day Thursday, 224.427 by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.

“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said. “I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good. Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”

Indy 500 winners and INDYCAR SERIES champions dominated the top of the speed chart. Two-time and reigning Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was second at 226.369 in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, with two-time Indy winner and 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya third at 226.123 in the No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon was fourth at 225.906, while Graham Rahal rounded out the top five at 225.644 in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

RLL was the only team to power two drivers into the top five today, and Rahal was the fastest driver without the benefit of an aerodynamic tow in traffic, at 221.949. Sato won the 104th Indianapolis 500 last Aug. 23, with teammate Rahal third.

The speed limit increased today in more favorable conditions and larger, more aerodynamic packs. The top 12 drivers laid down laps faster than Bourdais’ chart-topper Thursday.

Passing raindrops and track inspections only briefly interrupted the nine-hour session. Rookie Scott McLaughlin turned 195 laps in his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, more than any driver and just five laps shy of the full 500-mile race distance.

Up next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the 2021 season opener, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst on Sunday, April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage starting at 3 p.m. (ET).

The 105th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is scheduled for Sunday, May 30 at IMS.

IMS Open Test
Results of Session
Practice 3

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 00:39.6792 226.819 –.—- –.—- 60 121
2 30 Sato, Takuma D/H/F 00:39.7534 226.396 0.0742 0.0742 47 60
3 86 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/F 00:39.8013 226.123 0.1221 0.0479 43 68
4 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 00:39.8395 225.906 0.1603 0.0382 65 126
5 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 00:39.8859 225.644 0.2067 0.0464 40 157
6 47 Daly, Conor D/C/F 00:39.8868 225.639 0.2076 0.0009 119 137
7 12 Power, Will D/C/F 00:39.9112 225.501 0.2320 0.0244 51 162
8 60 Harvey, Jack D/H/F 00:39.9527 225.266 0.2735 0.0415 139 140
9 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 00:39.9790 225.118 0.2998 0.0263 108 156
10 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 00:39.9868 225.074 0.3076 0.0078 105 128
11 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/F 00:39.9999 225.001 0.3207 0.0131 104 184
12 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 00:40.0091 224.949 0.3299 0.0092 119 134
13 26 Herta, Colton D/H/F 00:40.1422 224.203 0.4630 0.1331 42 164
14 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F 00:40.1524 224.146 0.4732 0.0102 144 146
15 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 00:40.1545 224.134 0.4753 0.0021 20 112
16 7 Rosenqvist, Felix D/C/F 00:40.1835 223.973 0.5043 0.0290 112 126
17 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F 00:40.1956 223.905 0.5164 0.0121 15 104
18 3 McLaughlin, Scott (R) D/C/F 00:40.2131 223.808 0.5339 0.0175 151 195
19 27 Rossi, Alexander D/H/F 00:40.2440 223.636 0.5648 0.0309 117 136
20 45 Ferrucci, Santino D/H/F 00:40.2650 223.519 0.5858 0.0210 85 137
21 16 De Silvestro, Simona D/C/F 00:40.2760 223.458 0.5968 0.0110 50 92
22 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F 00:40.2760 223.458 0.5968 0.0000 87 127
23 48 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 00:40.3404 223.101 0.6612 0.0644 38 99
24 24 Karam, Sage D/C/F 00:40.3415 223.095 0.6623 0.0011 71 81
25 98 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 00:40.3923 222.815 0.7131 0.0508 113 138
26 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F 00:40.4263 222.627 0.7471 0.0340 119 125
27 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F 00:40.4935 222.258 0.8143 0.0672 3 114
28 8 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 00:40.5159 222.135 0.8367 0.0224 147 188
29 51 Fittipaldi, Pietro (R) D/H/F 00:40.5509 221.943 0.8717 0.0350 135 144
30 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F 00:40.8727 220.196 1.1935 0.3218 63 97
31 52 Ware, Cody (R) D/H/F 00:41.2017 218.438 1.5225 0.3290 25 58
(R) Rookie Total Laps: 3956
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone

Day 2 Rookie Orientation/Refresher Results
Results of Session
Practice 2

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 00:40.7241 220.999 –.—- –.—- 27 29
2 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F 00:40.7376 220.926 0.0135 0.0135 28 28
3 86 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/F 00:41.1100 218.925 0.3859 0.3724 29 35
4 51 Fittipaldi, Pietro (R) D/H/F 00:41.1654 218.630 0.4413 0.0554 13 26
5 16 De Silvestro, Simona D/C/F 00:41.1686 218.613 0.4445 0.0032 19 30
6 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F 00:41.2154 218.365 0.4913 0.0468 5 21
7 24 Karam, Sage D/C/F 00:41.3675 217.562 0.6434 0.1521 7 17
8 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F 00:41.3897 217.445 0.6656 0.0222 16 23
9 52 Ware, Cody (R) D/H/F 00:41.4281 217.244 0.7040 0.0384 20 29
10 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F No Time No Speed 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
11 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F No Time No Speed 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
(R) Rookie Total Laps: 238