CHEVY NTT INDYCAR SERIES ROAD AMERICA: Team Chevy Rev Group Doubleheader Race One Recap and Quotes

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
REV GROUP GRAND PRIX DOUBLEHEADER
PRESENTED BY AMR – ROUND #1
ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES

TOP CHEVROLET UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET
8th PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET
11th CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET
12th SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET
13th RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET
14th JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET

TOP SIX UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Scott Dixon (Honda)
2nd Will Power (Chevrolet)
3rd Alex Palou (Honda)
4th Ryan Hunter-Reay (Honda)
5th Colton Herta (Honda)
6th Santino Ferrucci (Honda)

Will Power took advantage of strong restarts from late race caution flags to bring home the second-place finishing position in Race One of the REV Group Grand Prix Doubleheader. Starting fifth, the driver of the familiar No, 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet battled to get off pit lane from last pit stop under yellow, but, eventual race winner Scott Dixon beat Power off pit lane, and the pair raced hard to the checkered before the 2018 Indinapolis 500 winner had to settle for the runner-up position on the podium.

Pato O’Ward brought the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to the finish in the eighth position.

NTT P1 Award winner Josef Newgarden looked to have the race under control with a lead of more than eight second at different points of the race. But a stall on pit lane trying to leave after a late-race pit stop ended what had looked to be a very promising finish. The defending Series’ champion drove his No, 1 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet to finish in the 14th position.

NBC will telecast Race 2 of the REV Group Grand Prix Doubleheader live at 12 Noon ET on Sunday, July 12. Live coverage can also be found on the INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 211, XM 205, IndyCar.com and on the INDYCAR MOBILE APP powered by NTT DATA.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 2nd
LOOKS LIKE A PIT STOP PROBLEM COST YOU THE LEAD AND THE WIN. HOW DO YOU FEEL?
“Unfortunately, we had to pit under yellow and that lost us the lead in the pits. We just had a slow pit stop. And then we had the wrong gears in the car, so it kind of hurt those restarts. Other than that, it was a good day. We moved up and got up to second. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’ll sit there as a team and will figure out how to execute a bit better. Especially frustrating when we just let wins like that go. I think we had a good Verizon Chevrolet and I don’t think Dixon would have gotten by us if we came out of the pit ahead of him. It wasn’t the end of the day, but we still could have won. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE GEAR SITUATION? WAS THE LAP TIME ON THE RACE TRACK DURING THE RACE PACE A LITTLE BIT LOWER THAN YOU WERE THINKING?
“No, it was the wrong gear in one spot because obviously everything is quick this weekend, so the guys get different gears for the races. And I think they just missed one that was wrong. It made it a bit awkward, it wasn’t the end of the day. I mean, we still could have won.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 8th
“I truly feel like I gave it my all out there today. We need to work on our black tire pace but our red tire pace is strong. Locking up in the last stint really put us back into the guys behind but we had the pace to catch the guys in front and try to challenge. I had to make some really late breaking moves to get by some people. I think it’s something good that we can work on tomorrow, just seeing what the tires did over the course of a stint. I want to qualify up front tomorrow. We have the car and I know the Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolets can run up front.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 11th
“Great day for the No. 4 Tresiba Chevrolet here in Race 1 at Road America. The guys did an awesome job in pit lane. All three stops were really quick, on the money all day long. The car got better and better as the race developed and we got close to that top 10 but didn’t quite get there, but learned a lot about the car, learned a lot about what we need to do for tomorrow for Race number two.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 12th
“It was a really disappointing day. The Menards Chevy had a few struggles in qualifying, but we were able to get ourselves in a decent spot a few times during the race with some speed on the track and taking advantage of some of the other drivers’ problems. I think we were going to have a top-10 finish and limit the points we might have lost, then we got pushed off the track late in the race. That costs us some spots and points, which is frustrating with Dixon winning again. But it’s alright – we learned a lot today and we’re still second in points, so that’s great. There is still a lot of season left to go and we’ve got another shot at this tomorrow. I have full confidence we will have the Menards Chevrolet ready to go tomorrow.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 13th
“This was a very hectic race! I had a good start and passed some guys. In Turn 13, many guys went off and I also tried to see how the grip in the grass was. I picked up a plastic bag on my left wishbone which really slowed me down on the straights. I got it off after a few laps and then started to push the car. We went for a long run on reds and I struggled a lot with understeer. Once we got sticker blacks on, it got better. I was happy with that first yellow that really packed up the field. I could just take positions restart by restart. That went pretty well, I had some cool passes and a nice fight with Simon. In those last laps, I had to drive my butt off to keep Josef behind me, but I did it! I think P13 is a good ‘bad’ result!”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 14th
“That was a tough one. We had such a strong PPG Chevy and the guys did such a great job putting together such a fast car. We started on the pole and at the beginning of the race, we were just trying to hold track position. I think at one point, we had about a eight second lead. Unfortunately, we had a problem in the pits and stalled the car. It took us a while to get it restarted and that lost all the gap we had built and from there and we were fighting from behind. We had gotten back into the top 10 and I just locked up the tires going into turn one on one of those late restarts. So our day went from a great to pretty bad pretty quickly. But hey, that’s racing – we just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities today. I’m thankful we have another shot tomorrow, since I really love racing at this place. We’re going to take a look at a few things tonight to make sure we have a solid plan going into tomorrow’s qualifying session with the PPG Chevrolet. I’m confident our guys will put together another fast car tomorrow.”

OLIVER ASKEW, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 15th
“It was good to gain six positions today in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet and put what happened last weekend at IMS behind us. We obviously have a lot to work on for tomorrow but luckily it will be a fresh start. The whole team is going to learn as much as we can from today and have a better race tomorrow. It was awesome to see fans back at the racetrack today and look forward to putting on a show for them tomorrow.”

MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET – Finished 17th
“It was a long day at the office today with practice, qualifying and a race, but I love Road America. We were competitive this morning, but I felt like it was a bit like the Indy Grand Prix last weekend where we didn’t show our true speed in the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet during practice. I was confident going into qualifying and I felt like I drove the best lap I’ve ever driven here, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough today. We started toward the back of the field on a track which is very hard with strategy and the only way to get around strategy here is if you’re quick and actually we started the first half of the race fairly quick. We were top-five pace and we were doing fuel-saving well, but it all got messy when we kept getting all of these yellows because our car was really struggling with straight line speed on the restarts. So I was having to defend very hard and it was getting pretty scrappy out there. Then I went for a move down the inside of Rossi when he made a mistake and we clashed wheels. I don’t know if I was ahead or if he was ahead, but it was a big hit with our wheels ripping the wheel out of my hand. He got suspension damage and I got suspension damage and that was pretty much the end of the race. Obviously it was a tough day for the team that was even more frustrating knowing how quick we can be, but it does make it easier to be optimistic about another chance tomorrow to qualify and race well.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO 14 K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 20th
“It was an interesting day at Road America. Definitely taking some time to get used to the track. This place has a lot more high-speed corners than Indy GP so there’s a bit of familiarization with that. In the race today, once we got some pace, we weren’t half bad on lap times. Had a couple rookie mistakes. Made a mistake on pitlane that cost us a bunch of time. Went long on my marks and guys had to reshuffle to get the stop done. On the restart I was trying to miss a couple of guys that were checking up and I dropped a wheel in the grass and I ended up stuck in the gravel trap at the exit of Turn 14 so went a lap down there so that ended our chances to move up in the race. Feel bad for the guys, they were working great in pitlane all day but we’re going to have a look at everything tonight and come back stronger tomorrow.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Sidelined in crash on Lap 42 – FINISHED 21st
YOU WENT HARD INTO THE TIRE BARRIER. WHAT HAPPENED?
“I honestly don’t really know. Pato got out onto the curb and he was really slow exiting. So, I had enough of a run to where honestly, I thought it was going to be okay. But I don’t really race with him that much. It was tough there. That’s hard to go two-wide. That’s probably on both of us a little bit. It’s really hard to go two-wide there. But, I had enough of a run to where you’ve got to take a chance. So, I can’t throw the blame on him. But, it’s a little bit of a shame because he was on red tires so I think he could have lasted a little longer and it sucks for us. That was really painful. But the U.S. Air Force, these guys will fix it up, hopefully and hopefully we can have a better day tomorrow.”

HOW IS YOUR SHOULDER AND HOW DO YOU RECOVER FOR TOMORROW?
“It just popped out when I went around so it was really, really painful for a little bit. So, we’ll just ice it down and see what happens.”