Simona de Silvestro Gets Best Career Finish of Fourth at St. Petersburg
At the end of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Simona de Silvestro finished fourth behind Dario Franchitti, Will Power and Tony Kanaan.
In the final laps, she tried to make the move on Kanaan for third, though could not complete the pass.
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[/media-credit]”We kind of battled like the last 15 laps to get in,” she said. “You know, it was kind of a high risk to try to pass him because it was so dirty on the inside of [turn] one. I had one shot that I think I could have made it, but I almost overshot it. So I think I’m really happy with fourth because we started 17th. And, with how we started the weekend, it wasn’t how I would thought we would end the race here. You know, I’m just really happy with my new engineer. We started working together on Friday, and to be running fourth today is something pretty special.”
Silvestro started the race with a new engineer after her previous engineer left the team, so there was extra grastification in getting a top five finish.
“It’s huge. Like I said, I never thought on Friday that we would be running so well during the race,” she said. “We were keeping up with the leaders, and my new engineer….. communication in the beginning was pretty tough because I never worked with him. But this morning it seemed like it really clicked and we really tried to figure it out. It was a tough moment for the team last weekend. We were scrambling to try to find a new engineer, and I think we made the right choice. Brent Harvey is pretty awesome. When he talks to me on the radio, he’s really calming me down, so I think we’ll make a good team.”
Part of getting that communication with Brett Harvey involved having to make some final changes to the car following the morning warm-up.
“We struggled with the new tires with our car,” she said. “We couldn’t quite figure it out, and then this morning we pretty much changed a couple of things on the car and suddenly it was there. I finally had the feel for the car.
“And I think it was mostly the communication between my engineer and me that started to click this morning. Before, he was trying to understand me, I was trying to understand him. And for me, it always has been a big part of it – for my engineer and I to have really great communication. And, this morning, I thought, “okay, that’s what we are going to do,” and it just kind of went in the right direction.”
If given a couple more laps, Silvestro says she may have been able to get by Kanaan.
“I definitely had a couple of boosts left,” she said. “Maybe I should have used one a little bit earlier, but I got close to TK a couple of times because he was making a couple of mistakes. But, like I said, it was really risky to try to make the move. I was running fourth and I never really quite got the shot that I was next to him. I didn’t take any crazy chances to ruin our race because the [race to the] championship is really long.”
Right off the bat, she had to work hard for her position as with starting back in the pack in 17th, she had to avoid the first lap wreck that involved Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon.
“I started way back, so I couldn’t see anything really because there was so much dust,” she continued. “But, I kind of made it through. And, I think I saw Marco – I saw a car kind of going up in the air. I tried to find a hole and I did. I came out in ninth position, so I think I made the right move. Maybe I was a little bit lucky, also, through turn one at the start of the race.”
IndyCar put forth a new rule this year to start each race with double-file restarts, which made the race interesting for Silvestro near the end.
“I got the inside and pretty much everybody kind of came down on me and I had nowhere to go,” she said. “I kind of made a little bit of contact with Will because I was pretty much on the rumble strip. But I thought the double‑file restarts were pretty fun because it actually gave us a chance to actually make positions. Last year, we would start single file every time, it would be hard. You would be just following the leader. I think it [the restarts] made it exciting and I really enjoyed it.”
With this being her best career finish, she includes this race in her career highlights, along with making the Indy 500 last year.
“Today is definitely going to go right up there, because I think it was one of the best races I’ve done,” she said. “I didn’t really make many mistakes and I really liked that. Being a female driver, I really get along with Danica, but it’s not like we compare notes or anything. I think she’s doing a great job. At the end I think we are just here to try to beat every other driver.”
This also marks a big moment for the entire team as they are considered one of the smaller IndyCar teams.
“I think even last year when I was racing there, we struggled towards the end to get the sponsorship together,” she said. “But he worked hard and he has a great group of people on the team. They are like a big family. It’s a pretty small team but we really get along really well. And my manager, Imran Safiulla, put the whole Nuclear Clean Energy deal together. Those folks are going to be with me for the next couple of years.
“I’m really lucky; not many drivers have this opportunity. And, with an industry like this supporting and choosing you as a spokesperson, it’s something pretty special.”
Austin Dillon To Make Sprint Cup Debut Later This Season
Austin Dillon has already made a name for himself in the Camping World Truck Series, though is now looking to make his move up the ranks. Dillon announced yesterday at Auto Club Speedway that he would make his debut later this year in the No. 98 car owned by Mike Curb.
Dillon will have sponsorship support from The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation’s Centennial Celebration and the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be part of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration as a Co-Chair of the National Youth Leadership Committee,” said Dillon. “President Reagan was always one of my grandfather’s, Richard Childress, heroes, so I grew up hearing about the President’s strong leadership abilities and family values. Those are two qualities I carry with me in my career as a NASCAR driver by being a strong leader for my team and making my family proud of my accomplishments on and off the track.”
The Ronald Reagan Centennial is a year long celebration of the 100th birthday of the 40th President of the United States of America. A series of events, partnerships and initiatives sponsored by the Foundation are planned to happen throughout this year. Regan was the first president to attend a race as in 1984, he gave the command to start motors for the Firecracker 400 at Daytona and on that day, Richard Petty won his 200th race.
“President Reagan was the first sitting U.S. President to attend a NASCAR race,” said Stewart McLaurin, Executive Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Centennial Celebration. “As many Americans take a moment this year to remember the life, lessons, and legacy of President Reagan in their own way, we are grateful for this partnership and we are honored by the leadership Austin will bring to the national youth leadership council.”
Last year, Dillon earned seven poles in the Camping World Truck Series, breaking a 12-year-old rookie record. He also captured his first career victory at Iowa, followed by a win at Las Vegas, on his way to winning Rookie of the Year and finishing fifth in the standings.
The decision has yet to be made whether the first start will come at Kansas or Phoenix, but Dillon is comfortable either way.
“Those are the two races that I feel like I have some experience [at the tracks], and we can go race with these guys and we can run up there and compete with them,” Austin Dillon said. “We want to go to a place where we want to be on a level playing field.
“Phoenix, they’re doing the new pavement, might be the place or Kansas, where I have some laps at. It is going to be a learning experience.”
When Dillon makes his Cup start for Mike Curb, it’ll mark the 100th start for Curb. Curb has a connection with Dillon’s grandfather Richard Childress, as he reunited Childress back with Earnhardt in the mid-1980s.
“I am proud to be associated with Richard Childress and Austin Dillon as he makes his first Sprint Cup start,” said Curb. “I am proud that my company Curb Records is also involved in this wonderful tribute to President Reagan’s 100th Centennial Celebration. I had the opportunity to serve President Ronald Reagan in several capacities including Co-Chairman of his successful 1980 Presidential campaign. I also want to thank our partners at FullCircle Ventures for putting this program together.”
The car is set to be Richard Childress Racing prepared with an Earnhardt-Childress Racing motor and pitted by Dillon’s truck team.
“This is such an opportunity with the Reagan opportunity, we couldn’t turn it down,” Childress said. “You never know if you’re ready until you do it. He’s got some good experience at some of the tracks, and we’re going to just try him a race and see how it goes.”
Childress says longterm plans have Dillon running full-time in Nationwide next year with younger brother Ty Dillon running the truck.
NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: KEVIN HARVICK STUNS THE COMPETITION AT FONTANA
On late Saturday afternoon Kevin Harvick was being interviewed on the Auto Club Speedway’s pit road. He had just driven his self owned Chevrolet to a third place finish in the Royal Purple 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. After leading a race high 64 laps, Harvick said “I hate to give one away. We just can’t seem to get going here, (at the Auto Club Speedway), but I am pleased that we were competitive.”
24 hours later Harvick’s “get going” problem was resolved and he found himself standing in the speedway’s Gatorade victory lane after scoring a stunning last ditch effort win in the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Through out much of the Auto Club 400 it appeared that Kyle Busch was going to use his giant broom to sweep a NASCAR weekend for the second time in as many races. Busch led a race high 151 laps and was pretty much formidable all through this event.
But the fourth and final caution flag came, when Bobby Labonte hit the fourth turn wall, with only 13 laps left. That set up a double file, shoot out style, restart between Busch and Jimmie Johnson. The race returned to green flag status with only nine laps left. Busch again jumped into the lead and again appeared to be on the way to the sweep. But Johnson ran him down and, with a low line pass on the front stretch, took the lead with only four laps remaining.
But once again the completely obvious assumption was not meant to be and the Fontana finish wasn’t quite complete yet. While Busch and Johnson were racing each hard, Havick was in third reeling them in. On the white flag lap he moved around Busch to take command of second. Now the battle between the “California kids”, Johnson from El Cajon versus Bakerfield’s Harvick, was on.
Going into turn four, with the checkers ready to wave in the air, Harvick gave Johnson’s rear bumper a light tap. It created just enough racing room for Harvick to pass his race rival on the high side and then slide in front of him coming off of turn four. Harvick literally stole the show in the final 100 yards of the race while an crowd of 88,000 were on their feet cheering the two combatants on.
Harvick scored his first win of the 2011 season, his 15th career win, and his first at the Auto Club Speedway. Of equal importance is the way the win elevated his status in NASCAR’s recently reconfigured championship points system. He got off to a terrible start following the season opener at Daytona. In the last four races since then Harvick has moved from 37th to 9th in the standings and is back on track to again make the Chase For The Championship line up.
Following Harvick, Johnson and Busch under the checkers to complete the top five were Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman. Carl Edwards, who left California as the new series’ points leader, brought his Ford home in sixth while Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne and Coors Light pole winner Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top ten.
After collecting his trophy, and a winner’s check worth $331,961, “Happy” Harvick said Those guys got to racing side by side and it allowed us to get to them. The more laps we ran on our tires, (to build up air pressure), the better we were. It’s pretty cool to win here at home.”
Harvick also admitted that he was a little nervous about crew chief Gil Martin’s call not to come in for tires during the final yellow flag pit stop opportunity. When asked who makes the final call on those situations, Harvick smiled and said “it depends on what day of the week it is.”
Jimmie Johnson called the Auto Club 400 “a great race” and added “If I could have gotten around Kyle Busch one lap sooner that would have made the difference and I would have had the room to hold off the 29, (Harvick). I did everything I could even though I was sometimes sideways. I think I actually scraped the wall while chasing Kyle but, overall, it was a great day for the Lowes team.”
After what could only be deemed a disappointing third place finish, Kyle Busch said “sometimes you lose some but it’s frustrating to lose one like that. We simply lost some of our rubber grip on the track. But from where we started, (8th on the grid), it’s a good outcome.”
