Race Report: Verizon IndyCar Series

With nine races complete on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, the Andretti Autosport team leaves Texas Motor Speedway after 248 laps under the lights. The team heads back to Indianapolis where preparation begins for the next event held at Road America in two weeks time.

No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS HONDA
  • STARTED 8th // FINISHED 3rd
  • CHAMPIONSHIP: 2nd (334 pts.)
  • OF NOTE: Led seven laps, and now has led laps at seven of nine races so far this season  // Recorded his fifth top-five finish of the season
“Simon did a good job defending. We tried to go up high, and I would have taken it if it was an easy one, but I couldn’t force the issue.  We came home third. The NAPA AUTO PARTS car was awesome from the get-go. We were able to pass some cars and go long on fuel. The tire life was great, so all-in-all a great effort from the 27 team.”

 

No. 28 DHL HONDA
  • STARTED 10th // FINISHED 5th
  • CHAMPIONSHIP: 4th (308 pts.)
  • OF NOTE: Made a strong charge on the start, working the 28 car to fourth before the first pit window // Met aggressive fuel numbers in the closing stages of the race, yet maintained position in the top five and narrowed the points gap 
“The day was solid, but that’s kind of all it was. We just really couldn’t get the car up in the mix at the end – just too much understeer. I couldn’t get close to those guys to join the party. It looked like they were having fun, I just couldn’t get in there. We’ll take the top five for the DHL team. We gained a little in points and that’s what we’re really keeping our eyes on.”

 

No. 98 U.S. CONCRETE / CURB HONDA
  • STARTED 11th // FINISHED 14th
  • CHAMPIONSHIP: 10th (213 pts)
  • OF NOTE: Ran as high as fourth // Car stalled in pit lane due to a clutch failure costing the 26 valuable laps and track position while the issue was resolved
“We were running a legitimate fourth and the clutch failed during our stop. From them on we had no clutch the whole race. I had the clutch in, grabbed first and then it just stalled and wouldn’t restart for five laps. We had just gotten by Ryan and the car was coming into its own. The U.S. Concrete car had the pace to win the race and we just had to cruise the rest of the way.”

 

No. 26 RELAY / GROUP 1001 HONDA
  • STARTED: 16th // FINISHED 16th
  • CHAMPIONSHIP: 15th (147 pts.)
  • OF NOTE: Finished the day the highest rookie // Shown as high as third before coming into the pits for his first stop // Tapped the wall coming out of Turn 2 damaging the rear toe-link, losing 10 laps during the repair
“Things started off really well. We drove from 16th to third on the first stint – which just showed what kind of car we had. It was the best car I’ve had in my career, the best car I’ve had in IndyCar so hats off to my engineer and the entire Relay / Group 1001 team. Then the rookie side of me came in during the second stint. I just got too high running through Turn 2 trying to get air. I got the right rear into the wall and bent a toe-link and went 10 laps down. From that point on we were just fighting as hard as we could. I honestly think we had a car for the top five, possibly the top three, we passed everyone up to Dixon basically – even though we were laps down. That just shows the strength we had. My crew gave me something special and I just didn’t get the job done with it. But, you know, that’s learning. I’m excited to go on to Road America and then get back on the ovals at Iowa. For me, tonight it felt like a switch finally flipped. I felt like I can run with these guys and push them into the corners and not be afraid to take the way they drive on track. I put myself forward and stood up for myself, and that’s a big key in IndyCar. I finally feel confident enough to do that.”