CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
MADISON, ILLINOIS
TEAM CHEVY RACE REPORT
AUGUST 17, 2024
JOSEF NEWGARDEN AND TEAM PENSKE CAPTURE CHEVROLET’S EIGHTH WIN OF 2024 IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES AND SIXTH AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
- Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, captured his second win of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season and 31st of his career after taking the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 checkered flag at World Wide Technology Raceway.
- Newgarden’s win Saturday evening was Chevrolet’s 119th since 2012 in the 2.2-liter twin turbo V6 engine, the fourth in the hybrid era in five races, and eighth of season.
- Newgarden was joined on the podium with his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, helping the Bowtie brand earn their eighth podium of 13 races with two drivers finishing in the top three.
- Newgarden led 17 of the 225 laps by Team Chevy in the 260-lap Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on his way to victory Saturday evening.
- This is also the two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner’s fifth win at World Wide Technology Raceway, his fourth in five years.
- Chevrolet leaves World Wide Technology Raceway heading to Portland ahead of the competition in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers Championship standings, leading with 1,073 points to 1,015.
MADISON, Ill. (August 17, 2024) – Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 PPG Team Penske team captured Chevrolet’s eighth win of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, as well as the Bowtie brand’s sixth at World Wide Technology Raceway. Continuing the strong performance by Team Chevy on ovals this year, Newgarden also solidified the continuation of a sweep of oval tracks so far this year with a fourth win in four events.
“The team needed this”, said Newgarden. “They’ve done a great job on the No. 2 PPG Chevy specifically, they’ve done a really good job. They’ve given me race-winning cars throughout the year, even past Indy, but they haven’t materialized. It’s nice to get another one on the board. But this team did an amazing job. We’ve had fast cars right from the start. I’m just proud to have the PPG car back in Victory Lane with Team Chevy.”
“Congratulations to Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet crew on winning at World Wide Technology Raceway today,” said Rob Buckner, Chevrolet INDYCAR Program Manager. “Executing their strategy and showcasing the collaboration, teamwork and performance by our drivers, teams and engineers, Chevrolet continues to demonstrate the proven high-speed oval engine package with (driver’s) win in St. Louis.”
Capturing Chevrolet’s sixth victory on the 1.25-mile egg-shaped World Wide Technology Raceway since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned to the track in 2017, and Team Chevy’s eighth of the season so far, Newgarden led 17 of the 225 laps by Chevrolet in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on his way to victory to bring Chevrolet’s total to 1,401 laps led at the track.
Overall, Chevrolet now holds a win on each oval faced so far this season. Team Chevy next heads to Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon for the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland Sunday, August 25. Broadcast of the 110-lap, 216.04-mile event at the 1.964-mile natural terrain road course airs live on USA Network at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Josef Newgarden
2nd Scott McLaughlin
7th Nolan Siegel
9th Sting Ray Robb
10th Rinus VeeKay
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“I think it was a solid recovery day. It’s a bummer to throw away a top-five due to a technical issue, but hey, that’s racing. I’ve thrown away mine already once before this year with the team so, you know, can’t always be perfect every day we show up at the track. But the good thing is, we found a race car that was balanced incredibly well, and really looking forward to the rest of these ovals.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“I think next to the Indy 500, this was the highlight of the year – P9! By the end, I thought we were gonna be a little bit higher than that, but we were struggling on restarts just a little bit compared to the guys around us. I don’t know what the deal was there, but the car was great in the long run. I mean, we made up a lot of spots on the overcut, and the balance got better and better all the way through the night. So, I’m really, really happy with that. It was a lot of fun, and we had a great group here. I think that we had over 50 people that came out to watch this weekend so, great support. It’s fun to put on a show for them, driving from the back of the pack to the front, and leading some laps, is always a highlight.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“It seems like there was a leak and then that caused the engine to ultimately fail. We’re not quite sure if it was that or if it was a plain out engine failure. We’ll just have to see. We don’t quite know exactly what it was but pretty sure our day was done.”
Where does this put your head going forward?
“It’s been a year of ups and downs, and at this point, we just want to be winning races. There’s four to go, so there’s plenty of points on the table. In terms of championship, we’ll just see where we stack up at the end of the year. To this point, all I care about is winning races.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“Overall, it was a strong day for the No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. It was my best result in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES so far with a top-ten. The car was awesome all day, but unfortunately, I made a mistake speeding on pit lane and that cost us a podium or even more. I’m a bit disappointed, but it’s good to be disappointed with a seventh-place result. We added new members to the team, we’re making a lot of progress and we’re all working quite well together. Thank you all for the support, and we will see you next weekend in Portland.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“I’m so very disappointed with this result. I don’t know what anyone can do in that situation when the leader is brake checking the field. It’s heartbreaking for the team as we had a great race going and should have easily finished in the top five or better.”
Gavin Ward, Team Principal at Arrow McLaren:
“Felt like we had three cars capable of finishing in the top five today, but it didn’t go our way. We’ll need to look into the cause of a loss of coolant pressure on Pato’s car, which ended his day. Nolan’s strong restarts and a brilliant strategy had us set up for a fight for the win until he had a speeding penalty after locking up the rears heading into the pits. A strong recovery brought us back to seventh for the No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Alexander was on for a solid top-five until being collected in a late race restart through no fault of his own.”
Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“That was a long night. I thought it was going to be over early, but we caught a break and were able to carry on after changing the rear wing. It did put us in a hole to start with but we soldiered on. We were able to pick up some spots, it still wasn’t a great day with points but we salvaged something better than what it could have been with the start of the race. We’ve got four left and we’ll do our best!”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“It was a crazy night! There was a time that I did not expect we would get a top 10. It was tough at times. I was really struggling with the handling of the car. We trimmed a little bit of downforce off, which was the same thing that Josef (Newgarden, race winner) did. He trimmed a little more than us, but their cars can probably handle it bit better. I was missing some grip, and it was sketchy to keep the car on track at times. The red flag situation was very unfortunate, my rain light was broken so the officials demanded that we fix it, which caused us to be penalized and sent to the back. We had a good strategy. We did the right thing, so good job by the guys there! It kind of felt like a day where the car was driving me instead of me driving the car, but we got another top 10 out of it! On to the next one!”
Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“We had a good race plan and had a good car but got very unlucky. There was a big check up in front of us and we lost a couple of laps. Came back into the race and on the last restart a car flew from the sky in front of me so trouble again. But finishing P16 for the team is a good result, but I can tell you we had a P5 car at least.”
Conor Daly, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“Tonight was a night of what could have been. Difficult start, but the next restart we passed a ton of cars. Unfortunately the 21 car half-wrecked in front of me and then I got hit by every car behind me. We must have spun three or four times, had no front wing, loss a bunch of rear downforce from some of the pieces that fell off the car. Honestly, for us to do what we did is really good considering we finished 13th. After all of that and dealing with a car that was maimed, we did as much as we could with the car we had, but definitely deserved much better.”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“The team needed this. They’ve done a great job on the No. 2 PPG Chevy specifically, they’ve done a really good job. They’ve given me race-winning cars throughout the year, even past Indy, but they haven’t materialized. It’s nice to get another one on the board. The worst part about that is obviously the No. 12 car not making it home. I hate that happened at the very end. I watched it on the TV, and it kind of looked like the green came out before I went just momentarily. It caused an accordion. I hate that happened. That is the last thing you want to have happen with 10 to go is to create a mess. I wasn’t trying to do that. But this team did an amazing job. We’ve had fast cars right from the start. I’m just proud to have the PPG car back in Victory Lane with Team Chevy.
“I was trying to go at the end of the zone, I’ve done that a lot, so no, I would not have done anything different. This is the best crew right here. They’ve laid it on the line pretty often, and we’ve had some winning cars this year, so to see it come together here tonight is nice. It’s just nice. It’s really nice when it works out. This team made it happen.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“That was a one-on-one with the teams on the pit stops, and we lost track position. On that last restart, my hybrid didn’t work so I couldn’t deploy, so I couldn’t get close. But still, a good night for the DEX Imaging Chevy. We stuck it out, obviously chaotic. It was pretty crazy. We led a lot of laps, and we can be proud of the night.
“We had a car to win the race, but track position is key, especially at the end when we are turning really, really quick times. The DEX Imaging Chevy has been fast all week and we could have easily won the race, but we didn’t. We got second and we got great points.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“I think the leader went real late and then checked up, and then someone checked up in front of me and I just got pounded. Man, a tough points night for us. He’s supposed to go in between (turns) three and four, but he just waited, then he stopped. Then he waited and then he stopped. I knew that was going to happen. I knew when he checked up again and I checked up, I was going to get pounded and that is exactly what happened. So disappointing. We had such a good car. We have had really bad luck in the last two races. We will keep fighting and see if we can get the Verizon Chevy up there. That will be pretty tough from here, but I don’t know why. I do not know why they would keep backing it up. It’s just tough.”
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 DEX IMAGING TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Post-Race Press Conference:
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Scott McLaughlin, fourth podium finish in his last five races. Sixth podium of 2024, 18th of his career.
Scott, congratulations on the podium. I know you wanted a ‘W’ here.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, isn’t it crazy? Two years ago I would have been ecstatic. Today I feel like we just missed one.
It is what’s. I’m very proud of how we ran. DEX Imaging Chevy has been great all weekend. We led a lot of laps, and the car just came on as the temps went down on the track.
I felt like we felt that last night. We stuck with our guns at the setup. It was a little difficult at the start. I didn’t think I was the best car by any means. Once the race started coming to us, I felt we had a really good chance there.
The last yellow was good for us. Then all the kerfuffle at the end. Ultimately it was I think just nice to bring home really good points. Yeah, we’ll just keep this momentum rolling. All we can do. Keep knocking out results.
I know I can just keep knocking away. We got some big races coming up. It’s going to be tough, but we’ll never stop believing. Bon Jovi said it the best. ‘Don’t stop believing.’
THE MODERATOR: That your theme song?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: That’s our theme song (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Hate to ask this, but the one restart, it looked like Josef may have checked up, slowed down. You backed off. Will gets rear-ended by Alexander Rossi. What was your viewpoint? Did you think it was too slow?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Firstly, the rules have changed a lot this year. They were probably a bit lenient on jump-starts, whatnot, people getting runs before green flag.
I guess my strategy all year in some ways has been to be as close as I can to the car in front. Most people are like that because you’re limiting the concertina effect that you have. I was right up Josef’s gearbox.
It’s not up to me to review. It’s an INDYCAR thing. Personally I think he restarted very late. That was probably more the problem. I just wish we did a restart like we did on the last restart ’cause I think we potentially could have had a first, second, third for the team, or first, second, fourth.
It’s not up to me to judge that. From my perspective, it didn’t need to happen. But I’m also not driving the 2 car, and no one else is but him.
Ultimately we all make decisions. He thought that was the right restart to make. It sucks for everyone behind us. He got the win. Doesn’t really matter for him. Will is crashed out, and a few others.
Yeah, it sucks I guess for the spectacle at the end.
Q. Prior to the next-to-last restart, you and Josef were the only two cars on the lead lap. Were you going to have to pit again?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah. I think the yellow actually helped us. Sorry, we would have pitted. I think Malukas and (indiscernible) would have got us. I would have been third and he would have been fourth. It kind of would have been the same. The yellow definitely saved us at the end.
But yeah, I thought the racing was really good. First time in probably two years the outside lane was actually working a ton. I was up there like 60 laps, 80 laps into a stint and ripping it. Kudos to INDYCAR. I think they brought a better package.
It’s just when those speeds go up at the end it’s very hard to stay really tight to a car in front of you. But I think we’ve made some really good changes. That’s a huge compliment to the series, yeah.
Q. After what we saw at Iowa, there were a lot of people saying it was single line. How much truly did the high line practice help you yesterday, also having the INDY NXT cars race today?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We had INDY NXT race at Iowa, too.
I think it was more a package thing. What we brought here with more downforce, ’cause you’re that confident, especially as the tires get older, to get up there. The tires aren’t completely screwed at the end of it.
Yeah, I think INDYCAR has been working really hard to try to find a package. It’s early days with the hybrid. You’re going to have the races where we might not have the spectacle that we probably had tonight. I mean, I had a blast out there tonight. Hopefully it looked good on TV.
Yeah, it’s just all about bringing the right package. I think they did that today. We’ll continue to keep learning with the weight of the car, the hybrid, whatnot.
Q. Do you think a similar package like this should be brought to Milwaukee to make the racing look like this too different of a track?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it’s very different pitch and whatnot. I’m just a space between the steering wheel and the seat. Just drive the thing as fast as I can.
I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know, man.
THE MODERATOR: Something tells me there’s more to it than that.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I don’t get into the scientific stuff. That’s up to other people.
THE MODERATOR: 650 on-track passes.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think as well, starting the race later at night. I think it’s always fun starting the race like a night transition race. Cooler temps always provide better track passing. Last year was close to a hundred degrees. Hard, hard.
Q. What was the transition like once the sun started going down in terms of visibility?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I went against what my helmet preparer guy said. He said I should run a clear visor with a tinted tear-off. I said, We’ll be all right, let’s go full tint. By the end of the race, it was dark and I had a full tint visor. It wasn’t ideal.
The vision was fantastic. The lights here are awesome. I think finishing under the lights is always a spectacle, as well.
Q. Does it make that much of a difference when you go to the clear visor? What’s the experience like?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s like running 195 miles an hour with your sunglasses on in the dark. Then you go to your glasses and you’re fine. It’s exactly that (smiling).
Q. Be nice to see some more night races in the season, wouldn’t it?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think the twilight race is awesome. I think it’s great temps for the fans as well. Think of the people in the stands.
Ultimately it’s all governed by TV and whatnot. Ultimately I think with a new deal next year, there’s a lot of things open on the table, which we’re all very excited about, about different starts times, whatnot.
I think we’re really excited to work with them in the future.
THE MODERATOR: Safe travels.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Thank you.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Winner Press Conference:
THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up tonight’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 with the five-time winner here at World Wide Technology Raceway, Josef Newgarden.
How did you do it?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We had fast cars. I got to believe that was pretty obvious. It was obvious to me that our cars were fast.
The race had a lot of different variations to it. We started the race sort of biding our time. We were trying to hit a fuel number. For whatever reason, that wasn’t working for us. I don’t know why. I mean, I thought we were really doing a good job. We weren’t very good in that strategy for whatever reason. We’ll look into that.
When the race picked up pace, I think it really favored the 2 car. We were able to use the second lane, which was the biggest thing. Once I realized it was usable, I started going, and then I think I taught my teammates too quickly that you could use it. They started using it. Then it got really tough to compete with them because they’re just as quick.
It was just a hard fight to the end. It was really tough trying to get it right with traffic, time the pit stop sequences. Then at the end, if you ask how we got it done, we had a fast car. We were really good in traffic which is a difference maker. You can’t ignore the final pit stop was a big deal for us. It is hard to say if it works out that we don’t get that done. It certainly was a key ingredient to us winning the race.
Our guys in the pit lane, it’s a big credit to them. They’ve been really good this year. They’ve had some good cars outside of Indy this year that haven’t translated. It was good to get tonight to translate.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up to questions.
Q. Take us through the second-to-last restart. A lot of complaints it was slow or late. What is your opinion?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was definitely late. I was trying to go as late as I could, which is not — sometimes people go really early, sometimes they go in the middle, sometimes they go kind of late, and sometimes they go really late.
It’s not that different of a restart I’ve done before. I’ve done a lot of restarts from the front. It’s not that different from other restarts that have gone late.
I don’t know that I’d change much. If anyone especially on our team wants to look at the data, you’re going to see a very consistent speed.
What it looked like to me, when he stopped on the red, I saw the replay, what looked like happened is it went green momentarily before I went, just momentarily. I’m talking like half a second or a second.
If it’s just that slight difference in timing, if race control goes green and I haven’t gone yet for just a second, I think people were trying to jump, which we’ve had a problem with, to be honest. We’ve had a problem with jump-starts the last two years. It’s a constant topic in the driver meeting.
If there’s just a slight miscue there, I think people are very on edge on these restarts trying to get the run. It looked like it miss-timed in the back, at least with one individual, and that’s what caused a problem.
From my side it’s the last thing you want to happen at the end. I don’t want to create a wreck. I was not trying to do that. That was not my intention. I don’t know that I’d do much different because it’s how I would do a restart.
I did the same speed. The next time through I just went a little sooner. It looked like the green going slightly early was the big miscue. That’s my take seeing it from the car, just going off live. Yeah, that’s how I saw it.
Q. Help me with the procedure. You were late in the zone, but you were still in the restart zone.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: That’s not the rule I don’t believe. The procedure for race control is they’re watching your throttle. When you commit to going, that’s when they throw the green or they initiate the green.
There is a zone. They put a zone out every race. I was trying to go at the end of the zone, as late as you possibly could. It looked like there was just a miss-time there, so…
It’s also possible, it looks like only one car really kind of ran into one other pretty aggressively, at least from what I saw. Maybe I’m wrong. It’s also possible that was just totally fine. If that one car didn’t have that problem, then we would have been all right. I don’t know.
I didn’t see the whole thing. That’s what I saw with the clips.
Q. When you jumped him in the pit stop, tell us about your team.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, it’s critical. It’s just a critical ingredient. These guys, they’re so good. We’ve had some miscues, too. I think we were all pretty sad about Toronto. Toronto, I felt like we were in a position to challenge for the win. Came into that final pit stop, we just had a bobble and it kind of derailed our race for the last stint.
You come one race later and it may make a difference. It’s a difference maker in tonight. The odds are probably we don’t win the race if they don’t get me out in front. I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. It’s impossible to say. We still would have had a shot. It’s a big difference maker.
When they’re that good, it helps you win races. I’ve won a lot of races because of my pit crew. I guess I’m just lucky in that regard that I got such a good team behind me.
THE MODERATOR: The green, you accelerating almost simultaneous, which is really standard restart procedure. The leader, you in this case, should not accelerate within the designated zone to allow the race to resume. That’s exactly what’s procedure is.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah. Maybe it was just perfectly timed. They have might have gone green. That’s why I emphasized jump-starts have been a really hot topic for this series the last two years, internally at least. We’re discussing it every driver meeting. We’re trying to curb it so it doesn’t happen.
I think that’s part of what you saw tonight. I’ve been around doing this for a long time. I mean, last thing I’m trying to do is cause a wreck. I don’t think I’d change my procedure that much. I wasn’t unhappy with what I did.
THE MODERATOR: The pace was constant, by the way. Never deviated from 80 miles an hour.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: If you look at the data, that’s what it’s going to show, is a constant speed. I wouldn’t change it.
Q. Entering the race, pretty much 90% of the opinion was because of the extra weight of the hybrid, it’s going to be a single-file race, it’s not going to be exciting, follow the leader. It ended up being a record breaker for passes, lead changes. Drivers were using the outside. How surprised were you and how encouraged are you that the series can make this thing very good this season?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, we just did. We just did. I think you said it. This was a great race. To get two lanes working, it changes the game. It just completely changes the game.
I was shocked. I mean, in the middle when I started using it, this is a bit of a risk, but I have to if I want to win. If we’re going to win this race, I have to get up here.
Our situation, doesn’t really matter. If I wreck the car, so be it. We’ve had so many bumps this year, it’s like it doesn’t really matter for us as far as getting it wrong or right driving the car. I was willing to risk it.
When I got up there, it was just very friendly. Like I said, I think we taught some people in the middle of the race that was usable, then more people started using it. That makes it better. It feeds on itself.
I think the second half of the race was really entertaining because of that. Yeah, the package was good tonight. If we’re going to come back next year, same car, it’s what we need to run.
We can get other places right. Iowa was obviously tough. Think about the variables we had going into that. It’s not just the car was different, the track was totally different. It was kind of a hodgepodge situation, right? I think that’s fair to say when you look at it.
It’s just a lot of variables for everybody to work through. I think we can get it right next year and have a better race there. I think we can have a good race in Milwaukee. I’m certainly encouraged it’s possible. Same thing with Nashville. I’m not worried we can’t figure it out.
Q. What combination of skill and good fortune when you went sideways coming out of turn two, you didn’t get it into the wall?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Just good fortune. I got sideways ’cause I think I pushed just a little high in the gray. Man, I’m going to wreck this car. I was like, What an idiot.
I got sideways. Then it’s like happening. I’m trying to correct it. It didn’t really hit anything. Then I got the clutch in, engine is still going, no one hits me, we got going again.
I think it was just pure luck that we stayed off the wall. I got away with one is what I would say. I made a mistake and I got away with one. Really cool.
Q. Did you flash back to last year at all?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Similar situation. Like last year, it was kind of do or die. I knew we were going to lose the race to Scott. They were able to run a different strategy that we couldn’t. The only way for me to catch him was going through the field. You couldn’t run the second lane last year, and I tried to force it. I wrecked the car because of it.
Tonight I was playing catch-up more than anything. Sitting fourth or fifth place, we were trying to play the fuel game. Wasn’t working for us. In the attacking position, I have to go pretty aggressive if I want to get us a win. I pushed a little hard in that moment, made a mistake.
I was so thankful that we didn’t wreck because I knew we could gather back. We had such a good car. We can gather this up and still win this race. That’s kind of how it worked out.
Q. 1985 was my first Indy race. It was Danny Sullivan. I saw that spin and win. Never in my life I thought will I ever see this again. I was happy you were safe and didn’t hurt your car or anything, you were able to win the race. After you did that, did you have to get the tires redone? Did you go in the pits immediately and change your tires?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, great reference. Certainly not as beautiful as Danny’s. Man, he pirouetted. That was a really pretty victory, right? Mine was probably a little more clumsy looking. But the same. I never thought I’d have one of those, too. Very cool.
The fortunate part, why I got lucky with it, when I went sideways, went yellow immediately, right? I think I lost one position to Will at that time. I went back to third. We were all about pit. We needed to pit potentially. I was able to pit, get fresh tires. No harm, no foul basically.
Got really, really lucky with it. Was able to basically mess up, push too hard, then say, That’s where the line is. I can just go back and know where it’s at.
Q. How do you collect yourself mentally after a moment like that spin and reset to go again?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: For me it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t hard because nothing was broken. I’m getting brand-new tires. I have the same great race car. Now, if anything, I’m more savvy ’cause I know where the limit is and I know what I can’t do.
I wasn’t worried to just get back on it. My we could win this race. I think we had the fastest car in the field, maybe a little bit quicker than our teammates, and they were quite good.
I felt confident to get going right again.
Q. I might be wrong, but did you change your helmet under the red flag period? Was that because of the visor situation?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes, I did. It’s funny, we talked about this before the race. I’m surprised if Scott didn’t because Scott and I were talking about this. We both prepped two helmets. We’re basically running this thing in the sun. I ran a full tint visor, as much blocking as you could basically. Then it got really dark because we had cautions and the red flag. We said if that happens, we should have a clear visor on a helmet ready to go and swap helmets. Yeah, that’s what I ended up doing.
Q. Fundamentally that’s an okay thing to do?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It is. What they classify that as now, because we’ve had a lot of red flags now, it’s a safety issue. It’s the same reason they allow us to have fans immediately or liquid immediately. They allow us to take tear-offs off the car. Anything that’s related to safety, they immediately allow under those conditions.
Q. Did you just make that decision based on how dark it was getting with the amount of distance there was to still go?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, pretty much. We probably could have stayed. You can still run the race with a dark visor because of the lights, but you just have a little better clarity with what’s going on with a clear in those conditions.
I thought we have the time, we might as well do it. We talked about we would do it. We were basically going according to plan.
Q. After this one, five wins here at St. Louis, back-to-back wins at the Indy 500, being claimed the King of Corn Country in Iowa, do you think you’re the King of Gateway now?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: If I’m a King, King gets knocked off their perch pretty often in this world. I would never title myself that. This is the truth.
The secret to our success on the ovals has been our cars. You really can’t will everything on an oval. I mean, you certainly make a difference as a driver. You have to drive the car, get the most out of it. When you have the best cars in the field, it makes your job a lot easier, a lot easier.
I think that’s been the case for us. We’ve had incredible oval cars consistently over the last five, six years. We’ve just had great, great oval cars. Our road and street course package has been bumpier, just been up and down as far as consistency.
It just starts with having the best cars in the field. I think that’s the difference maker. We’ve made the most of that throughout the time line recently.
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. 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.
