MAY 9, 2015

WILL POWER, NO. 1 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – RACE WINNER
YOU HAD GRAHAM RAHAL BEHIND YOU, AND YOU HAD TO HIT YOUR FUEL NUMBER. HOW HARD WAS THAT LAST STINT? “That was hard when (Tim Cindric, Penske Racing President and No. 1 car race strategist) told me the number I had to hit, and then that Rahal was closing. It was really hard. I was trying to save in the spots where we wouldn’t lose time and push like hell in the other areas. That’s the most physical race I think I’ve ever done. It never stopped. I was so determined to win that I didn’t want anything to go wrong. I didn’t want to get caught out by a yellow and wanted a clean race, and that’s exactly what we got. I’m really happy for the guys on the Verizon car. It’s pretty special to win here.”

YOU SAID YOU HAD FOUR SESSIONS YOU WANTED TO CONTROL FIRST AT INDIANAPOLIS. YOU HAVE TWO DOWN NOW. “I’m halfway there. I’m going for all four! I’m very determined. Now I’ve won a championship. The Indy 500 is the absolutely on my mind, and that’s the one race I want to win.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 3RD:
HOW DIFFICULT WAS THE FINAL STINT WITH SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS CLOSING? “It was hard because I was hanging on the back of (Graham) Rahal. I felt like I had as good a pace as him if not better. All of a sudden our fuel number got really big, and I knew we needed those numbers so I started backing down to make sure I would make it. You know how it was last year; we pretty much ran out of gas on the last lap and really hurt us. For me, it was more about backing off. As the stint went on, I got better fuel numbers so I could push a little harder. It was fun. The last few laps with Bourdais behind me was really hard. He was pushing really hard. But it makes it really exciting. You’re 10/10ths every lap, and that’s what it’s all about. Our Verizon Chevy was really good and it was another good result for Team Penske.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 TEAM MISTIC E-CIGS – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 4TH:
TALK ABOUT CHASING JUAN PABLO MONTOYA AT THE END. “I’m happy that we finally finished in the top-five, but for sure I am a little disappointed because we got up to third after the massacre on lap one in turn one and we finished fourth. The race was all about track position and we got unlucky with traffic. The Circle K Mistic E-Cigs car was really good today, but we just could not pass anyone. We needed clear air and we tried a lot of things to get it, but we could never make it work. The guys did a good job in the pits, but it was just not meant to be. The good thing is I think we found a little something with the red tire”

YOU’VE BEEN STRONG ALL WEEK, SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE TEAM HEADING TO THE INDY 500? “I wish I could tell you that whatever we learned on street and road courses is going to apply to super speedways but I’d be the biggest liar in the world. We will just have to do the same thing on the ovals – get better and be stronger, hopefully start at the front, run up front in the 500 and hope for a lucky break.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 NOVO NORDISK CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 5TH – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT FIRST LAP: YOU WENT FROM 14TH TO FIFTH TODAY. HOW’D YOU DO IT? ““The No. 83 NovoLog Flex Pen Chevrolet was just really fast today and I was consistently hitting the fuel numbers they were giving me. I have to give a lot of credit to the guys on pit lane – they’re just so consistently fast. They’ve been so good all season and we just ran into bad luck in those first four races. We took advantage of the fact that we had a clear pit-in and we had some really fast in and out laps. The fact that the car was so quick, all I really had to do was hit the number they were giving me. We’ll definitely take the momentum from this solid finish into the rest of the month of May. A lot of it came down to the car being that good. A lot of credit goes to the Team Chevy guys. The aero kits are competitive in the corners and we had the horsepower down the straights. A lot of it happened in pit lane, and that has to go to the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys. We had good stops and good in- and out-laps. They gave me a fuel mileage number; the car was quick and I was able to do that number.”

WHAT COULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD A BETTER QUALIFYING EFFORT? “That’s always going to be comment, right? I’d like to keep racing like I am and qualify a lot better, for sure. That’s our goal heading into the month. We’ll focus on that a little bit, get a good starting spot for the Indy 500 and go have a race like this one.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT FIRST LAP: “I was just trying to make sure I didn’t hit anyone – and that I didn’t get his – in that first corner. Just wanted to put the No. 3 Verizon Chevy in a good position there. Unfortunately I clipped (Scott) Dixon in the right rear when he turned into the corner. Obviously him spinning out put me into the grass and we lost many spots. From there it was a great comeback for the team. The Verizon Chevy was really fast, but that first lap hurt us quite a bit. We were able to recover by having a fast car and by getting great fuel mileage. We learned a lot about our fuel mileage at Barber two weeks ago. Today that paid off big time.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: “NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing gave me a great car for today’s race and we worked really hard to get into the Firestone Fast 6, so it’s unfortunate that the incident on the first lap in the first turn put us so far back. We were just never able to get back to where we started after losing so many positions there. A top-10 finish is always good for the points race with how competitive the field is, but we’re just still not finishing where we need to. After five road and street races, I’m definitely ready to get back out there on an oval, especially here at IMS.”

STEFANO COLETTI, NO. 4 KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: I am very happy with my first top-10 finish of the year. We had a difficult start to the race when there was an accident in turn one and I had to go through the shortcut but luckily didn’t lose any positions. We had a good strategy and I was able to move up a few more places. I had a great battle with Tony Kanaan, passing and re-passing two or three times a lap and managed to hold him off until four laps to go when he unfortunately passed me. We are very happy with the top-10 finish today and I am sure we have more coming our way.
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH – INVOLVED IN A FIRST LAP MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP ONE: Well we had a great Target car today and I was looking forward to gaining some ground in the points after starting on the front row. There’s not much you can say about the start. We got turned around from behind and then had damage to both front and rear wings, and had to change both. Tough day for the Target Chevy.”
LUCA FILIPPI, NO. 20 FUZZY’S AWARD WINNING VODKA CFH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH: I am very happy with my first top-10 finish of the year. We had a difficult start to the race when there was an accident in turn one and I had to go through the shortcut but luckily didn’t lose any positions. We had a good strategy and I was able to move up a few more places. I had a great battle with Tony Kanaan, passing and re-passing two or three times a lap and managed to hold him off until four laps to go when he unfortunately passed me. We are very happy with the top-10 finish today and I am sure we have more coming our way.

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 8 AFS CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT FIRST LAP: “I was optimistic about the race this weekend and the work we’ve done on the AFS car. The start was tough and we had some damage and had no choice but to come in and change the front wing. It was a shame we didn’t get a chance to get after it more than we were able to. We just need to put this behind us and turn our focus to Monday and start preparing the No. 17 car for the 500. I guess that’s all you can do.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 CENTURY 21 CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT FIRST LAP: “It was just a tough day for the whole team. It doesn’t look like we had any luck anywhere in the field for any of our guys. For us, it was a day of attrition. I’m sure a lot of people weren’t happy with us trying to get our lap back, but we were still racing the best that we could. If a yellow, fell we could’ve gotten that so that’s the reason we were pushing so hard for two-thirds of the race. It’s a shame we couldn’t get the opportunity to race today. That’s racing, sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad ones.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 6 PREFERRED FREEZER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST: “We got a good start and I was on the inside. I just dove for the inside and missed all of it so I passed a lot of cars. That worked to our strategy because we were actually running with the leaders. We got a good restart and just pulled away from a bunch of guys at the beginning of the race. We were just holding steady. We were basically running in the Top 5 when we came in for the pit stop. It felt like I had a wheel loose, but as it turned out there was something mechanically wrong with the car. I came back which ended up being an extra pit stop that took us out of contention. It was a really good job by all of the guys, we ran really strong for a long time today. We struggled a little bit earlier in the week so it’s nice to have such a good strong run and run with the boys up front.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DEVIBLISS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 25TH – SUFFERED MECHANICAL FAILURE: – “It seemed like it was an electronic problem. The lines were burnt. It’s disappointing, for sure, but it was a mechanical problem. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do about it. I just haven’t had much luck this year so far. We’re going to keep fighting. I’m going to keep pushing. I contrast the two (winning the 2014 race and having mechanical issues in 2015) as when you win it is fun. When you don’t win it is not fun. We were second behind Will (Power) at the start. We had the pace to keep up with him. It just didn’t go our way today. With mechanical issues, you just can’t really control it. It is what it is. The car went very sudden. The car wouldn’t shift anymore. So, it is what it is.”