CHEVROLET AERO KIT INDYCAR V6 2.2 LITER
BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE QUOTES
APRIL 26, 2015

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 67 HARTMAN OIL CFH RACING CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER:  WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THOSE FINAL FEW LAPS?  “I was just so nervous and I can’t tell you how nervous I was.  In racing I am normally not but it’s just been such a long time coming in trying to do this.  I can’t believe now is when it happened.  I knew that one of these days it was going to happen with this team because they are so solid.  I just can’t think everybody enough that gave me an IndyCar job.    Wink Hartman, Sarah Fisher, Libba Hartman and Andy O’Gara.   It’s unbelievable what this has turned into and now I have Ed Carpenter in the group and Stewart and everyone who is involved.  I really wouldn’t be here without all those guys because they made me into an IndyCar driver.  It’s so hard to become a professional driver these days and they made me one.  So I just want to thank them and everyone on our car.  Chevrolet was incredible.  I was just getting crazy fuel mileage with fast pace.  So Chevys are just obviously really unbelievable cars and we are spanking the Hondas right now.   Very happy to be with those guys because they took us under their wing.  We have great partners with Direct Supply and Firestone tires which stayed underneath me and kept me just fine.  I really don’t know what to say but I am just so happy that we have great partners, great owners, incredible team and group.  Just happy we won this race finally.”

AS A KID YOU DREAM OF THIS, DOES THE REALITY MATCH THE DREAM?  “Oh yeah.  I thought I would get a little more choked up, and I am choked up but I think I am just so jacked up on adrenaline right now that I can’t be.   That whole race was just go, go, go and try to get to the front.  It was just easy.  These guys just gave me such an incredible car.   All weekend we were just pounding away, were incredible on the pit stops and just never gave up.  All my guys are so awesome they made it possible and I am so happy we were able to do that.   When you become a professional driver and win an IndyCar race, that is how you want to do it.”

YOU HAD TO OVERCOME A PIT STOP ISSUE AND THEN YOU GOT AROUND HELIO AT THE END  “I am just happy the way we were able to do that.   The car was great.  That is CFH Racing right there.  They gave me the fastest car in the field and able to save fuel.  Even when we got behind, it didn’t matter because we were able to get back by Helio.  It was just a great team effort and everybody behind this team just made it a solid effort and that is the way you want to win these races and hopefully we can do more this year.”

YOU SAW YOUR GIRLFRIEND ASHLEY ON TV, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION“They just looked so happy and I think they were more happy than I am.  It’s just taken so long.  I don’t know what to say. I am just so happy for this group.   You don’t want to win just one .   I want to win more races and I hope this team can win more races.  Let’s go win the next one and see what we got.”

 

SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 COKE CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET. FINISHED 3RD:  ON THE RACE: “It was definitely a tough day. It started horribly, we kinda got pushed around there at the start and just didn’t get a clean line there. We dropped like a rock – we bled the rear tires off on the first set and I think we were the first to stop in that situation. It kind of altered the day and how we could kind of deal with tires and fuel and all that kind of stuff. We knew the alternate strategy was going to come late and it came strong. All and all congratulations to Josef – he’s a helluva driver, with a small team, and for them to get a victory is really cool to see.”

 

WAS IT SAVING FUEL OR OUT OF TIRES THAT HELPED HIM GET PAST YOU?  “Fuel was not a problem today. The Chevy was actually getting great fuel mileage. We just couldn’t hold on to the tires and in the first stint we dropped like a rock, which really hurt us and actually kind of opened us up a little bit once we caught that yellow, we didn’t start from back too far. But a lot of credit to the team today to get the car sorted. Right at the end there, it was just not enough. I couldn’t turn the car. I was trying to stay ahead of Graham (Rahal). I had an overtake and used the overtake. If it were half a lap shorter, I think we could have taken second. All in all, a huge congrats to Josef (Newgarden, race winner). He’s a hell of a talent, and it was good to see him take a victory today.”

AS FANS, WE LOVE TO SEE THE TIRES GOING AWAY BECAUSE THAT ACTUALLY MAKES THE RACING BETTER. DO YOU LIKE THAT, TOO?
“I love it. If it’s good for the fans, it’s good for us. If you can put on a good show that’s what it’s all about. I could tell just from the chaos that was going on in the car, there was going to be a fantastic race outside. To see some cars closing three or four seconds a lap, that’s what you want to see. And tire management was key today; a little bit of fuel mileage, but mostly tire management.”

WILL POWER, NO. 1 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET , FINISHED 4TH:  “I’m proud of the Verizon Chevy Team today. For me to come back from the back after the penalty and finish P4 was a great job by our team.  I feel bad for what happened with Sato. I didn’t see him, which was unfortunate. I think the race as a whole in Barber was the best all year so far.  At this point we will look to Indy for a win. The yellows kept falling our way when we were on the other strategy.   When I came out of the pits and going down pit lane the team said, ‘go, go, go, you are racing the 14’ and I looked in the mirror as I came out and I saw another one way over on the corner and I thought that maybe he has gone by or hasn’t come by yet.  So I just turned right and I never expected that bang.  That’s right.  We turned a bad day into a good day, absolutely.  We could have won, but it was a bit of a mixed up day anyway.  But I am really excited for the Verizon guys, Chevrolet and our sponsors that we finished fourth.”

 

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: NO. 11 TEAM MISTIC E-CIGS – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH:  “We had a great day. The Mistic machine was awesome. It’s just Race Control ruined it for us. You can’t leave two drivers stranded out there because they did a great job. Simon (Pagenaud) and I were managing our tires better than most people, we were first and second, and we were going to come into the pits a few laps later and they called a caution for debris. They should have let us know they were going to call a caution and given us a chance to pit. They didn’t do that and it ruined our day. After that it was recovery mode. Thankfully, we had a great car and we beat all the guys we were competing against…some guys in front of us and the guys who were on the same strategy. But, you can’t overcome being dropped to the back of the pack like that.That was a shame because it should have been a very different day. The Mistic crew did a great job and we will keep trying, but for sure it is very frustrating.”

 

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 PENSKE TRUCK RENTAL CHEVROLET,  FINISHED 9^TH:  “We had plenty of pace in the Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet. Plenty. Plenty.  We would have challenged for the win. In the first stint when we got by Will (Power) we were looking really strong coming up on Helio (Castroneves) and (Josef) Newgarden. It was a little bit of a shame. We just got unlucky with the yellow there. From then on we had to be really aggressive and attack and pass people which we did. That was fun from that part; I’m happy with my driving. But, I feel like we had we had a much better car than the result we actually had, but there are always some outside factors you can’t control. Congratulations to Newgarden on his first win. He deserves it. He has been knocking on the door for a long time. I’m really happy for him.”

 

LUCA FILIPPI, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA  CFH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11^TH:  “Today it’s a great day for the whole CFH . Everybody made a superb job to give Josef Newgarden his first win! The first one of many! From our side the No. 20 Chevrolet was extremely fast but that untimely yellow ruined our day, it was looking very good and our pace was strong. P11 is not a fair result for our performance but I’m sure at the Indy GPb we will have our chance.”

 

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 NOVOLOG FLEXPEN CHIP GANASSI RACING  CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12^TH: It was kind of a frustrating race with some of the calls that were made and I think they’re worth investigating further. Overall the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew just never stopped fighting. We had really good pit stops. We did got caught out with that first yellow and had to go with an alternate strategy but we were quick when we needed to be. I mean to be knocking on the door of a top-10 finish after our strategy went completely wrong is a pretty good result for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet. I’m looking forward to the Indy road course and the entire month of May. I feel like we made a big step as a team this weekend and hopefully we can keep that up in a few weekends GP of Indianapolis.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13^TH:  “It was a tough day for NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing. We really had a roller coaster of a race weekend with a bad practice to start and then a solid qualifying effort. It just kind of went downhill even from the first lap when I got caught between some cars and dropped a few spots. It was just a hard day for the No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet with struggling to maintain tires and get back to the front of the pack. I’m happy for Scott for scoring another podium, but the 10 car definitely needs to get back up to the front.”

 

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 HAWK PERFORMANCETEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14^TH:  “We had a long day with the No. 2 Hawk Performance Chevy. We started with a bad qualifying effort, but we seemed to be in an okay position to dig ourselves out of the hole at one point. We were racing with (Ryan) Hunter-Reay and he finished fifth. It’s hard to race with some of the guys in the back of the pack. They are young and sometimes make moves like you aren’t even there when you are right beside them. So we ended up with two broken wings and a 14^th-place finish.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AAA INSURANCE TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15^TH:  “Not the finish we hoped for the AAA Insurance Chevrolet. There was just a bit of miscommunication on our fuel number that, unfortunately, caused us to have to pit with one lap left. You never want to see the white flag on pit road. We were on the same strategy with (Josef) Newgarden and (Scott) Dixon, but we were needing to meet a different fuel number than they were and I didn’t understand that. So I was trying to balance making the number we had to meet with not giving up a position to Dixon, who was behind me. Unfortunately that caused us to come up short. I hate it because the AAA guys gave me another car that could’ve easily won the race, but it was a crazy race out there today.”

SAGE KARAM, NO. 8 COMFORT REVOLUTION/BIG MACHINE RECORDS CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18^TH: “Another rough day for the No. 8 COMFORT REVOLUTION/Big Machine Records Chevrolet. We started out well on that first lap and actually moved up a position fighting for a spot in the top 10, but then the setup just went kind of loose. We came in and looked at what was going in and it looks like one of my rear springs actually broke. There’s nothing we can do about that, but it’s still a shame because I think we had a good car all weekend.”

 

STEFANO COLETTI, NO. 4 KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19^TH: “We were off to a great start with a great strategy. We pitted and then after that we were running 10th and the car felt great and we were up there. However when we pitted an accident just happened and race control apparently thought that I came in when the yellow was out, which I really don’t think is the case.  We need to get that clarified because they sent me to the back of the field and my race went downhill from there. I tried to pass Jakes and we both made contact and spun and then I got a drive through penalty for avoidable contact and after that it was really over for me. I feel bad for my team because they have been working so hard to give me such a fast race car, but we seem to be getting the worst luck and hopefully that changes soon.”