Category: NTT Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, April 29, 2024) – Wally Dallenbach, a respected INDYCAR SERIES race winner as a driver and longtime series official dedicated to racing safety, died April 29. He was 87.

Dallenbach, a native of East Brunswick, New Jersey, made 13 Indianapolis 500 starts between 1967-79. His best finish was fourth, in 1976 and 1977, in the No. 40 Wildcat/DGS owned by Patrick Racing. He qualified in the middle of the front row in 1974 for Patrick, his best “500” start.

Perhaps Dallenbach’s most memorable performance as a driver at Indianapolis came in 1975, again for car owner U.E. “Pat” Patrick. He led four times for a race-high 96 laps, losing the top spot only at pit stops. But Dallenbach was eliminated from the race by a burnt piston while leading on Lap 162, just 12 laps before the race was called due to rain, with Bobby Unser earning his second “500” victory. Dallenbach was credited with ninth place.

Dallenbach recorded five victories, 27 podium finishes and one pole in 180 INDYCAR SERIES starts. His best championship finish was second, behind Roger McCluskey, in 1973 despite not qualifying for the first two races of the season.

The most memorable of Dallenbach’s victories came in the 1973 California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway, the last of his three straight wins that season for Patrick Racing.

Dallenbach started his driving career in drag racing on the East Coast before switching to oval racing in midgets and sprint cars. He made his INDYCAR SERIES debut in 1965 at Langhorne Speedway, with his final start coming in 1979 at Phoenix. He then retired as a driver, but it wasn’t his last appearance in an INDYCAR SERIES car.

In 1981, rain severely curtailed the first weekend of Indianapolis 500 qualifying, and Mario Andretti didn’t get a chance to make an attempt. Andretti had a clashing commitment to race in the Belgian Grand Prix Formula One race during the second qualifying weekend, so Dallenbach briefly exited retirement to put Andretti’s No. 40 STP Oil Treatment Wildcat/Cosworth safely in the field before turning the car back to Andretti for the race.

After his initial retirement, Dallenbach became the first competition director and chief steward of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1980. He served as chief steward until 2004, easily recognized by his trademark cowboy hat and earning respect from all corners of the paddock for his even-handed officiating and humble, personable demeanor.

Dallenbach also made significant contributions to racing safety. He worked with doctors Steve Olvey and Terry Trammell and safety directors Steve Edwards and Lon Bromley to develop a trailblazing safety team including doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians that traveled to all CART races. He also worked with teams and car builders to create improvements in chassis construction, including more energy-absorbing materials.

“Wally Dallenbach made a huge contribution to our sport for five decades as a driver and official,” a joint statement from INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway said. “He was a talented competitor behind the wheel, who always raced hard but clean. That sense of fairness and decency extended to his legendary tenure as chief steward of CART, where he was respected and liked by all for his steady, sensible officiating. Wally’s many contributions to racing safety, especially a traveling medical team, will resonate long into the future. He was one of the true good guys of open-wheel racing, and our thoughts and sympathies are with his family.”

Said two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Gordon Johncock, Dallenbach’s teammate for six seasons at Patrick Racing: “Wally was as good a teammate as you could ever ask for. He took racing seriously. I’ve never met anyone at the track as helpful as Wally. He loved the sport and after he retired spent years helping as chief steward of Championship Auto Racing Teams. He helped the veterans and rookies – everyone. I’ll miss him. He did a lot for the sport over the years. A very good man.”

Motorcycles also were an object of passion for Dallenbach. He moved to a ranch in Basalt, Colorado, after his successful 1973 season – fulfilling a dream spawned during his honeymoon in 1960 in Aspen – and organized the Colorado 500 dirt-bike ride with friend Sherm Cooper in 1976.

By 1981, the invitation-only event grew so big that the Colorado 500 Charity Fund was established, with a road ride added in 1987. The ride has raised more than $1.2 million for scholarship funds, medical centers, teen services, scouting and other charities, including groups that preserve trail-riding areas.

His vast and varied accomplishments were rewarded with enshrinement in multiple Halls of Fame, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Hall of Fame and state sports halls of fame in his native New Jersey and Colorado.

Dallenbach’s wife, Peppy, passed away in 2023. He is survived by three children – two sons, former NASCAR Cup Series driver Wally Jr. and multiple Pikes Peak International Hill Climb winner Paul, and daughter, Colleen.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX
BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
LEEDS, ALABAMA
TEAM CHEVY RACE REPORT
APRIL 28, 2024

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN PUTS CHEVROLET IN VICTORY LANE AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

Chevrolet Finishes with Three in the Top-10, Including McLaughlin, Team Penske’s Will Power in Second, and AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci in Seventh

• Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Good Ranchers Chevrolet, utilized a three-stop strategy at Barber Motorsports Park to win Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
• McLaughlin’s win at Barber is a back-to-back victory for him and his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet crew.
• Leading 58 laps to win at Barber, McLaughlin raced to Chevrolet’s 113th 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected V6 era win since 2012, and Team Chevy’s ninth at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn “Augusta of Motorsports” course. Additionally, Chevrolet has now led 695 laps at Barber Motorsports Park.
• The victory is the second for Team Chevy in 2024 as the series heads next to Indianapolis for the month of May.
• Making it a Chevrolet 1-2 finish, Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and McLaughlin’s teammate, drove to a strong second place finish and his 100th career podium in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Additionally, today’s second place finish is Power’s 30th career runner-up, tying him for seventh on the all-time list.
• Santino Ferrucci, driver of the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing, ran a strong race and led 14 laps Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park to finish seventh. Ferrucci was one of three Team Chevy drivers to represent the Bowtie-brand in the top-10 after the checkered flag.
• McLaughlin and Power led the field to the green flag after qualifying first and second, respectively, to give Team Chevy an all-front row start.
• Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 12 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, paced the morning warm-up session for Team Chevy, finishing the 30-minute practice third with his fastest lap of 01:06.8787 seconds.

LEEDS, Ala. (April 28, 2024) – Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet, captured the back-to-back victory in today’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. His fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES career win and second at “The Augusta of Motorsports,” McLaughlin additionally captured Chevrolet’s ninth victory at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn track and 113th of the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected V6 era since 2012.

With a strong weekend from start to finish, in addition to starting the 90-lap, 207-mile Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix from first after capturing Chevrolet’s 133rd earned NTT P1 Pole Award in the V6 era since 2012, McLaughlin led 58 laps, to take the top step of the podium Sunday.

“The Good Ranchers Chevy was so good. A couple of yellows didn’t fall our way, but we just showed our pace,” said McLaughlin. “Super proud of everyone. Let’s just keep rolling. Just execution, that’s our word. It’s a good one (in discussing the win). It’s definitely one of our best drives in terms of executions and knocking out the laps. Really happy we advanced to the checkered flag there and bring home a W for Team Penske and Roger (Penske). I knew our pace, I knew we could control it and obviously, you’ve got to make sure you don’t make a mistake with a guy like Will (Power) behind you. He’s always going to push hard. I knew we had some pace, and we could cover him when we needed to, and I was proud of that.”

The victory at Barber was the second for Team Chevy in 2024 as the series now heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the month of May.

“Congratulations to Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet team on today’s victory at Barber Motorsports Park,” said Rob Buckner, Chevrolet Engineering Program Manager for INDYCAR. “To capture a ninth victory here at Barber in the 12 events ran since 2012 is a testament to our Chevrolet engineers, teams and drivers hard work, collaboration, and dedication. We’re looking forward to carrying the momentum into the Month of May at Indianapolis.”

Additionally capping off Team Chevy’s strong weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, McLaughlin’s Team Penske teammate Will Power, driver of the No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet, started and finished second Sunday to capture his 100th career podium in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and 30th career runner-up finish.

Rounding out representation in the top-10 was Santino Ferrucci, driver of the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing, led 14 laps during Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix to finish a strong seventh place.

In an eventful race from green flag to checkers, Chevrolet now holds 695 laps at Barber Motorsports Park in the V6 era since 2012, 10 NTT P1 Pole Awards, and nine victories. Overall, Team Chevy has achieved 113 victories in the V6 era, or 202 races since 2012, and holds 133 earned NTT P1 Pole Awards.

Shifting sights to the prestigious month of May in Indianapolis, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES next heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the Sonsio Grand Prix. The green flag flies for the 85-lap, 207.32-mile event live on NBC at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, May 11, 2024.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:

1st Scott McLaughlin

2nd Will Power

7th Santino Ferrucci

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes);

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“Solid day for us at AJ Foyt Racing. Man, we had a fast Sexton Properties Chevrolet. Got all the way up to the lead, strategy was phenomenal. It feels really good to come off of Long Beach where we had missed everything on the strat side, and then nail it today. If it weren’t for the late caution at the end, we would’ve had a nice top-five. That’s racing for us and looking forward to going into the (Sonsio) GP with momentum.”

Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“I’m all good. I think the steering wheel just kind of came off in my hands in Turn 1 as I hit the wall. I hit the marshmallows, and it didn’t do a very good job of slowing me down a little bit, but it was a weird, weird thing. It just went sideways, and I was holding onto the wheel and the wheel didn’t do anything. After I was getting ready to jump out of the car, I could see it was just the wires holding the wheel on so the hub was still attached, but the steering wheel itself wasn’t attached to the hub. I don’t know if that was contact from earlier that caused that, but it’s been a rough weekend. I feel bad for the Pray.com Chevy team, and we’re going to regroup, come back, and hopefully the Indy road course is a lot better. I like the team around me, so I have good faith in them.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“At the start of the race, I got really tight with Lundgaard and tried to avoid hitting him. I didn’t really have much room and then hit the curb, spun and went all the way to the back. Then, apparently, I have some sort of magnet to my teammates the past couple of weeks. It absolutely sucks and at this point we need to re-focus and make sure it never happens again.”

Théo Pourchaire, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“We tried a very aggressive strategy with the fuel saving. It was probably going to pay off, but unfortunately, there was an incident with about five laps to go. I thought I was pretty good while fuel saving to keep the same pace as Ericsson and Palou. Things were going well, but it was not the best day for the team. It’s part of the game. I know the team will bounce back and it’s just about putting a good weekend together and staying focused on the task at-hand.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“It was a struggle throughout the weekend to get some balance in the car. We switched to a three-stop strategy, and I think that was looking pretty good. It was a top-10 day based on where the cars finished but had an issue in pit lane and the tire came off. We can’t dwell on it because this team has been the best in pit lane all year. These things happen. They’re still the best in pit lane, and we just have to move forward going into the most important month of the year.”

Christian Rasmussen, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“It was a day of missed opportunities. We were running pretty good and fighting our way through, we had some good passes on track and were moving forward. Then I was shoved into the grass for the first time, which cost me a lot of positions. We had a good-timed yellow which helped us for sure and we again moved forward. Until I was shoved off track again. From there, it was just reset and try to fight our way back as much as we could. Then I made my own mistake at the end with just a few laps to go. Just an unfortunate day.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“That was a tough race. I did pass a lot of cars on track! But it was unfortunate in the end, I think we did not maximize our potential today. We will take a look at everything together as a team and make sure we stick what we learn in our back pocket. We will come back better from this and hopefully get a bit more luck in a few weeks.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“A good weekend. Some very strong pace. Qualified a bit further than we wanted to. We tried to make the two-stop strategy work. Today seemed like the three-stop did a little bit better but I think we did a very good job as a team. The first on the two-stop for the Chevy camp, so we can be proud of that. We’ll keep working hard and get back stronger. We do have a strong road course package.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“We had a good car this race. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the pit box and after that I receive a penalty. I want to say thank you to the team. They did a really god job in the pits and strategy. The car on red tires was really fast, so thank you to the whole team. It was a shame, but I’m still learning. Hopefully, we will get some points. We will see what happens in the next race.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“Just super proud of the Good Ranchers Chevy team. Just unbelievable. Our word now is execution, and we just executed to the highest we could. I’m super proud of them. Look, I just love Barber, I love Alabama. I love the vibe everyone brings, and I’m just super lucky to drive such an amazing race car these guys and girls prepare for me. I’ll just keep enjoying it, keep having fun, and see if we can get a few more wins along the way.”

Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“I got by (McLaughlin), and then he got a run on me and got back by. I didn’t want to have two Penske cars out of the race with everything that has been going on. I was kind of easy on him in Turn 1. It is a hard-fought one-two for Penske. We were certainly fast, but a lot of strategy plays into that. We were able to use our speed to come back out in front again. I made a little mistake. I was kicking myself. I just dropped a wheel off – I had been taking the outside line of turn five, but still we got back to where we needed to be. There was not one risky move I was willing to make. Stoked to have the Verizon Chevy on the podium again. Man, we are knocking on the door of a win. It’s going to come. Just have to keep pushing for it.”

Ben Bretzman, Race Engineer for the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“(McLaughlin) did an amazing job with his speed when he needed it. We got that first yellow, we were okay, and then the way it started to kind of transpire with the yellow, the (Alexander) Rossi yellow, that really put us behind. We were in a situation where he was going to pass a lot of cars. The Sting Ray Robb caution kind of brought us back into play. It was going to be “how fast can he go?” He got clear for six or seven laps there and put laps that were faster than anyone. About a second a lap for anybody. He pulled out and we were able to pit and get ahead of the No. 10 car before he came around. This is raw pace when we needed it.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Post-Race Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Will Power, the second podium of the season, second runner-up finish as well. 30th career runner-up finish, which ties him for seventh all time with the greats A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Unser. It’s also his 100th career podium, which ties him with Michael Andretti for fourth all time.

Will, tell us about the afternoon. How pleased are you with the podium here at Barber?

WILL POWER: Yeah, very pleased with the podium. Actually made a little mistake there in the race, went off. It’s very rare for me. I was very disappointed in myself.

We had such a gap that I came back on. I couldn’t believe it. I only lost one. I thought I can get back past Lundgaard. Lundgaard was quick, but I knew I had a bit more fuel than him. Just get close to him, go a lap longer.

But it was a tough race, man. Like, the car is so hot now, you don’t get any air. No air comes in these vents, no air comes in the helmets. They got to do something there.

Yeah, it was full wide open for us the whole race. Serious pace there.

Q. Will, the engine change, what was the reason for it?

WILL POWER: Yeah, we had an issue in warm-up. They tried a few different things back at the truck. Yeah, the decision was made to change it.

Have to take that back and see what the issue was. It was tight getting it done, so yeah, all credit to the whole team to get that put in and get out there with no issues, nothing. Ran fine.

Q. Do you feel, based on statistics, you’re in your championship form from a couple years ago?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I do. Yep, I know I’m going to be quick everywhere. Just like ’22, I feel like we got very good cars, good engines. I’m in very good form. So yeah, we’re there knocking on the door each week.

Just got to win a couple. That’s the thing. I just want to win a couple bloody races, you know?

Q. Will, a pretty redemptive day for you and Scott. How important is that?

WILL POWER: You say ‘redemptive’?

Q. Yes, redemption.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I would say after this week I think Roger would be pretty happy. I feel like if we’ll be like this every weekend, I think we’ll have a shot if we get it right. Obviously an unbelievably fierce field of very fast drivers.

It’s very difficult to win multiple races in a season. If you keep knocking on the door and getting podiums week in, week out, you’ll certainly be in the hunt for the championship.

Q. With the fuel strategy, you both wound up back in the field, back in the pack, had to make some moves. How combative was it?

WILL POWER: It was aggressive. It was combative, actually.

The thing is, when you’ve been running at the front in very clean air and hard, you get back there with all that dirty air, how much the car moves around, yeah, you kind of are not ready for it when it first restarts. You got to get used to the car being very much on top of the road again.

You’re also thinking in your head, like, Scott and I kind of racing potentially for the win, but we’re in the pack. The risk versus reward, you’re kind of trying to decide.

I think I wasn’t aggressive enough. I should have worked harder to keep Scott behind. I didn’t block him. With everything that’s happened this week, I just didn’t want to bloody have two Penske cars off in turn one. I just kind of let it go.

Yeah, I was happy for the team to get that, though. I was. I’ve been around long enough where you actually are happy for the team. You’re not so selfish. When you’re young like him, you just got to go. Understandably, because you want to have a long time in this series.

But I am excited to see him on the podium because I know how that feels for the first time. It’s been a long time since my first, but I think that’s cool. That’s a big deal in this field.

Q. Will, how much of a relief is it for you going into the month of May having had your good start to the season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it kind of feels like business as normal. But the one thing that I’m missing is a win. That’s really starting to add weight to me. I want to get a bloody win.

I was a little disappointed not to win when I have the chance like that. On the other hand you look at the championship points, and it’s a smart day, another smart day.

Yeah, we’re in a good spot going into the month of May. It would be nice to sweep it. That would be big (smiling).

Q. Will, the racing was aggressive. Do you think that’s how the racing should be in INDYCAR?

WILL POWER: Yeah, absolutely. Everyone fights hard for every position in this series because it’s just so tough. I don’t expect anything else. Like, yeah, I mean, that’s the beauty of INDYCAR racing. I think it’s what fans like it. Anyone can win any week. Obviously can get so mixed up with yellows, which is exciting for the fans as well, as much as if you’re leading you don’t like that.

It’s great fun. Like no joke. I don’t think there’s a series in the world you get more satisfaction out of than this series.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 GOOD RANCHERS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Winner’s Post-Race Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: For the second straight year, joined by the champion of the Alabama Indy Grand Prix, Scott McLaughlin. Led 58 of the 90 laps today. First win of the season. Fifth of his career. Jumping 20 spots into ninth now in the points standings.

Your thoughts on a huge day for Team Penske, yourself getting the first win of the season.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We did what we thought we could do. It was execution. Like, probably one of the most I guess you could say so proud of the execution, the way that the team, particularly on the three cars, stuck together. We just kind of kept executing. That’s our word for the rest of the year. Keep knocking ’em out. Points are points. Points are imaginary things. You just, like, get them. It’s a reward at the end of the race.

It’s about executing. The higher you finish, the more points you get. Ultimately it’s a bonus at the end of the season. We’re here to just take it race by race and see what happens towards the end.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. The redemptive feeling that the team has to feel after the week they’ve had. How much do you feel it? How important is that to restore that to the team?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, there was never a lack of belief there. I’m more proud of just the people aspect of it, the way we just stuck together. We took the penalty, as we said at the start of the week. It was black and white. You move on.

We move forward together as a team race by race. We’ll just keep working hard to make sure that we win as much as we can to put ourselves in the fight come September. That’s what I’m super proud of, just the execution.

Yeah, we knew we had a fast car. We knew we were going to be there. There was a bit of confidence walking into the racetrack this weekend, even with myself. Just love this place. Probably my favorite road course in America. Just really loved it.

Q. How physically demanding is the track here?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: That’s very hard. Can’t wait to see my WHOOP score. It was pretty crazy.

Just that was an intense mental battle. The start of the race was going pretty smoothly. I was like, This is good. We got back into the lead after our first pit stop. I had a seven-second lead. The caution comes out. I knew that was probably going to help the two-stoppers.

It’s a matter of keeping your nose clean. Will passed me in that sequence. I got him back next lap. I knew if there was a caution that fell our way later down the track, I had to stay in front of Will. He was the guy I was racing.

Physically, mentally that’s so hard. Got a couple blisters, whatever. They turn into callouses by now. You’re building through the year. Thankfully this is not the first race of the year. It’s nice to have a bit of match fitness. You could say I deserve a beer (smiling).

Q. Going through the race, different strategies. How much in your helmet are you wanting to know? How do you stay calm during that? How much of that information are you looking for what everybody else is doing on strategy?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Probably changed my approach a little bit this year, knowing INDYCAR is a wildcard, the way the yellows fall sometimes, the way the strategies fall. You can’t get yourself in a box to think are we good here, good there. You have to make the most of every opportunity you have.

I knew that we were probably on the back foot, then got a somewhat lucky yellow. Stingray I think put it in the fence. That was a way of us getting back to the point where these other guys had to take the fuel and hope they made the fuel.

I knew I had the pace. If I got out in front, nailed some laps, we might be able to come out in third and fourth. We come out in the lead. I was like, This is good.

You just know. By now I know the way the race falls. It’s just experience, man. I feel like in my fourth year I really understand it.

Q. What makes this track so grueling besides the 17 turns, the heat?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: There’s not much room for error. It’s high speed, risk versus reward. You got to commit in areas that don’t have much runoff. You make a mistake, you’re in the fence.

Us race drivers, we’re pretty sick. We kind of like that sort of stuff (smiling). We like the more risky stuff. I certainly do. The undulation, too. I think there’s so many corners here that you can take different lines, come out in a similar speed to someone that takes it another way. That just lends to good racing. I really enjoy it. I think it’s a beautiful place, as well.

Q. In your experience in Australia, New Zealand in Supercars, is there a track that this reminds you of?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Probably like Bathurst. It’s like a mini Bathurst that you have to commit over blind crests, big G loads. Probably like Bathurst without the walls. Their walls are like right on the racetrack like a street circuit.

You could even say honestly Phillip Island. Scratch that quote, can you? Phillip Island is probably the one. Up and down, very high speed, flowing. Wind is a factor. A lot of fun. I always went pretty good there as well. That was probably why.

Q. Last year we watched Alex Palou win the championship. The situation happens with you guys in St. Pete. You talked to us on Thursday or Friday. You said that we can still win this championship. When you endured what you did last year, go through this process, how do you remain so confident through this?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s the third race of the year. So much time is left to go. We know how much of a wildcard INDYCAR racing is. I just know how good our team is, how fast my car can be. I feel like we just haven’t reached… We’re still building, as everyone is.

It’s just hard to get into the cadence of the season. I feel like we always hit our stride around Detroit or just after. Just trust my guys, trust my team, trust my speed. Hopefully be okay.

Q. How important is it that you didn’t slowly creep into rebounding; this was an instant rebound after the circumstances?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s important. It’s important that we knew we came here with a fast car. We knew we came here with a car that we could win the race. Like I said, I love this track. It’s important that we used all that to put it to good use, get a nice little springboard back.

Yeah, it’s like I said before, it’s execution. I always said it before, if you have a car that can win the race, you have to win the race. If you have a car that can finish fifth, you finish second, that’s a bonus.

That’s exactly what we did today. It’s a bonus. Glad for the team.

Q. When you’re coming through the bridge, all of a sudden you see what looked like a body laying on the side of the track, Georgina the mannequin, what did you think?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I was a little mad. Then I realized that someone else had hit the fence. That wasn’t what the yellow was for.

I love the artistic stuff, but it probably doesn’t need to be above the track to cause a yellow like that. It’s probably what will change next year maybe. I don’t know.

I do love that part of this. It’s unique. It’s just a fun track. Yeah, if I lost to that, to a lady that fell off… I won’t say anymore. It was a mannequin. It wasn’t a real person.

Q. (No microphone.)

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I’ve seen it before. I thought it was a matter of time.

Q. Last week you said even through last year, dealing with visas, taxes, your businesses, it took a toll on you mentally. You were starting to feel comfortable, especially after the finish at St. Pete. Everything that happened last week. Do you feel like this kind of resets things and puts things back on the path where it was as you head into the month of May?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, yeah, it’s just a nice little momentum shift, right? We did it last year. We probably didn’t use the momentum the way we wanted to heading into the month of May. We’ve got an opportunity to change that. I feel like we have a team and a car to do that.

We’ll just keep working. It sounds pretty boring, just me keep rolling back to execution. That’s all it is. We don’t have to try and be 3 or 4/10ths faster than everyone. We just have to be better in areas that they’re not, execute to the highest level. That’s all we can do, and the rest will play itself out. That’s how we’re looking at it right now.

Q. I know once you get behind the wheel, that’s all you’re focused on. When you’re celebrating, see how happy your team is, was there a little extra emotion because of the way the rest of the week went?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, for sure. Certainly it was a little emotional, for sure. It’s just nice, yeah. It was just a nice cap. Obviously it was a pretty tough week.

Q. When Will was in, he was lamenting when you were cycling through traffic he didn’t fight harder to stay in front of you. Can you give your perspective on that? You definitely had the faster car. Did you feel like Will gave you a little bit of slack?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think we raced each other as hard as we normally do. We were smart about it. I think we had big picture.

At the end of the day, like I said before, I knew the pass with Will, that battle with Will when we were 20th or something, that was important for being positioned right if it all came our way like it did in the end. It was effectively for the race win, could you say.

We always race fairly. It’s hard. He probably cut me a little bit of slack. He still tried pretty hard. Yeah, I always enjoy racing Will. A lot of transparency there between the two of us, even the start of the race, for us to get through 1-2. Ultimately him being in second was great for me. It’s just working together, which is really nice.

Q. On Friday Tim Cindric said he expected you to be behind the eight ball because everybody else had tested besides Penske. Were you surprised how good Penske was all the way through the weekend?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No. I don’t want to sound cocky, but I certainly felt like we had a really fast race car. It was hopefully we dropped it off at the track and be okay.

You just have to roll in with the confidence that you know what you’ve got as a race package. I hardly touched it from the start of practice one to the end of the weekend.

Thankfully, hopefully we come back in year three with the same car. I doubt it because of the hybrid system and different weights. But it would be fun.

Q. Will said when you got caught back in traffic, how the balance of the car changes because of the dirty air. How off-putting is that psychologically when you’ve been running in the clean air for so long?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it certainly is a bit of a shock to the system just thinking about where we positioned the cars and whatnot. You just got to build up to it nicely, not overstep the mark too quickly, figure out what you got, then attack.

Sometimes you don’t have as much time as you want, but it’s a bit of the seat-of-the-pants stuff. That’s where Will is amazing. He’s an amazing driver with feel and instinct. He’s a good teacher with that, someone I can analyze to be better with.

It’s a lot of fun trying to figure out any (indiscernible) positions your car should be in. It’s really cool.

Q. Coming out of all the stuff that came out last week, seeing the fans react the way they did, sort of business as normal, is that the reaction you were expecting from the fan base?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, the fans are passionate. We love them. If you’re getting booed, that’s a good thing. They’re passionate. They love the sport. If you’re getting cheered, it’s the same thing. I’ve always looked at it sort of two ways.

You don’t want to be a guy they don’t like. It doesn’t affect the way I’m racing. I just hope that hopefully I race with a lot of integrity, honesty. What happened and transpired last week was just a mistake. It’s a human game, as well.

I’ve always had a tremendous amount of support here in America. I’ve always been grateful for that. Hopefully we can win a few people back. But certainly a lot of the people that say a lot of crap online, on social media, they’re probably the people that will come shake your hand and say, Good job. It’s tit for tat. It’s part of it. That’s part of being in the spotlight as well.

Q. Has there been a shift in the dynamic and camaraderie with the competitors on other teams?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I had a number of people text me last night congratulations, great lap. I feel like it’s been pretty nice overall. We’re all competitors. Obviously, everyone had their emotions at the time. It was pretty raw initially.

I think it’s been pretty nice and everyone has been really, really cool. Just press on, business as usual. I can’t control their emotions. It’s up to them.

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.

Birmingham, Ala. (28 April 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) has put together the best start of its eight years of NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition and isn’t showing any signs of slowing after Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) finished a strong fourth in Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.

Teammate Tom Blomqvist (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) continued to make strides as he started the race a career-best 12th and came home with a 19th place finish.

The fourth place finish was the best of the young season for Rosenqvist and moved him up to fifth in the provisional INDYCAR SERIES point standings, just 13 points behind the series leader. Rosenqvist is currently the only driver in the series to finish in the top five in all of the 2024 season races thus far.

The top-10 finish also marked the first time since joining the series that MSR has started the season with three consecutive top-10 finishes and is the first time since 2021 that the team has carded three straight top-10 results.

The 90-lap race saw the field split into a pair of strategies from the drop of the green flag, with some committing to a three-stop plan that allowed them to run at full speed while others – including the two MSR cars – went with a two-stop strategy that would force drivers to conserve fuel to complete the full race distance.

Starting fifth, Rosenqvist ran with the top group of two-stoppers all day, keeping a podium finish in sight as the strategies played out. He led a lap for the second time in the year’s three races during the first cycle of stops while teammate Blomqvist, who started a career-best 12th, was able to maintain his strategy despite losing positions in the first stint.

Things appeared to be playing out in MSR’s favor in the second half of the race, but a caution flag with 35 laps to go provided an opportunity for the three-stop cars to stay out and run harder as the two-stop cars had to pit for fuel, dropping Rosenqvist back to 12th on the restart.

Rosenqvist got back into the top-five as pit stops cycled through and appeared destined for that fifth spot when the fourth and final caution of the day came out with five laps to go. The team’s tire choices throughout the day left the Swedish driver on the softer Firestone tires on the restart while fourth-placed Alex Palou – who was on the same strategy as Rosenqvist – was on the harder black-walled shoes.

Rosenqvist made that decision pay off on the Lap 89 restart as he got a good run on the No. 10 car and moved into fourth, where he would stay for the final two trips around the Barber circuit.

Blomqvist continued to tick another INDCAR event off in his Rookie season in the series. Despite dealing with balance issues during the 90-lap race, he finished on the lead lap in 19th.

MSR will have a week to the plan before heading to Indianapolis for the Month of May, which starts with the May 11 Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The Saturday race will be followed by the May 26 Indianapolis 500, which will see the team expanded to three cars as MSR minority owner Helio Castroneves attempts to win his record fifth Memorial Day Classic.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “P4, I’d say we’d take that any day. We didn’t feel quick initially and we had some challenges early on in the weekend, but after that we kept improving and improving. I think our strongest part of the weekend was the race. We were on a massive fuel save and pretty much everyone around us tried to do a three-stopper, so it was hard to keep everyone behind. I’m happy we stuck to that strategy because it gave us a couple of spots in the end, even if we were not on the winning strategy. We made the most out of it and a lot of points on a weekend where we weren’t the favorite.”

Tom Blomqvist: “This was a really tough race for us. I was struggling to get grip the whole race so it was difficult to handle. It’s another race under my belt and we’ll just continue to keep learning each weekend.”

Jacob Abel shares the championship lead as teammates Josh Mason and Yuven Sundaramoorthy battle hard on a difficult day

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (28 April 2024) – “Finally” was the word of the day for ABEL Motorsports, as driver Jacob Abel scored his first INDY NXT by Firestone victory Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, in the second race of his third season in the series.

“Finally is right,” said Abel. “I had a few close calls last year so it was nice to finally get it done – and getting it done this early is really important for the championship.”

Abel dominated the weekend, leading every session – two practice sessions and qualifying. The wire-to-wire victory ties the Louisville, Ky. native with Nolan Siegel for the championship lead.

But for teammates Josh Mason (Maresfield, UK) and Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Oconomowoc, Wis.), the day was a bit less straightforward. Mason battled traffic and balance issues as Sundaramoorthy dealt with an early shifting issue that required several resets. Mason finished 16th and Sundaramoorthy 21st.

Abel started the race from pole position, with Mason 13th and Sundaramoorthy 16th. The first of 35 laps ran under caution to get the field into better alignment but when the green flag flew, Abel put the power down and posted a solid lead over Siegel into turn one. Mason and Sundaramoorthy took advantage of the lap one shuffling, each moving up two positions.

But on lap five, Sundaramoorthy reported a shifting issue, stopping on course to reset systems before resuming the fight. On the restart after the resulting caution, Abel got a solid jump on Siegel, but Siegel tried to make a move on lap nine, pulling alongside Abel in turn 5. Abel not only held him off, he broke away to increase his lead to nearly a second. Mason, however, made a small mistake in that same turn and fell to 17th, while Sundaramoorthy headed to pit lane for another reset and a new steering wheel, as the team explored every possible avenue to fix the issue.

By mid-race, Abel’s runway to his first win was all about laying down the laps and staying consistent, as he kept Siegel at least a half second behind as he managed the race pace as well as his push-to-pass on his way to taking took his first checkered flag in the top spot.

“That was super, super special,” said Abel. “I’m so proud of the entire ABEL Motorsports team, they’ve worked really, really hard for this – for the past three years but really, for my entire career. The core team has been with me the whole time and I’m so thankful to get them this first INDY NXT win.

“It was a good battle with Nolan. I’ve had a lot of battles with him the past couple of years – there are a bunch of drivers in the field that I trust racing that close with, though of course, you can’t say that about everyone in the field. We gave each other room, so it was fun. I’d been running a bit of an alternate line through turn 5 so when he tried the over/under, I was pretty happy because I could just go back to my regular line. After that, I just kept my head down and worked on building that gap to the end, and that’s what I did.”

For team principal Bill Abel, the pride was obviously two-fold: as a team principal knowing the validity that comes with race wins, and as a proud father, who saw all the years of work come to fruition – for his son, and his eponymous team.

“I’m super proud of the job the entire team did – not just today, but this entire season so far,” said Abel. “We tested here in November, with good results (note: Abel set the quick time in the test), and we just hoped we didn’t lose that in these four months. We haven’t been great here in the past but Jacob was confident, and the team was confident. We did it in qualifying and we did it in the race, and that lets everyone know that we’re serious about what we’re doing – we’re a race winning team and we hope to be a championship winning team.”

For teammates Mason and Sundaramoorthy, post-race meant the chance to look back on the positive takeaways, and ahead to the upcoming Mid-Ohio test – and an important doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“The aborted start was a bit of an issue, with all the packing up in the back,” said Mason. “It was quite messy in the back. We made up a few places on the start but I made that mistake that cost me a few positions. I struggled with balance from there, and I tried everything I could in the car to make it better, but nothing was really going my way. But at the end of the day, we finished the race and got some more valuable seat time. Looking forward to next week’s Mid-Ohio test and the race at Indy.”

“The shifting issue was unfortunate for the team,” said Sundaramoorthy. “But I still needed to find some pace, I have some more work to do on my end. I think we could have moved up a few spots but we need more pace to match Jacob – though I know the car is capable of that. We have a test at Mid-Ohio next week and we’ll come back stronger at Indy.”

ABEL Motorsports thanks partners ABEL Construction Company, Advance Ready Mix, Boyd Cat®, S Team Motorsports and OMP for their continued support.

Next up for ABEL Motorsports and the INDY NXT by Firestone will be the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,May 10 and 11. The races will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock, while international viewers can watch via INDYCARLIVE, with INDYCAR Radio available at indycar.com and on Sirius XM.

About ABEL Motorsports: Team principal Bill Abel began racing motocross in 1972, earning numerous championship titles as he continued the family racing tradition. In 2015, ABEL Motorsports was launched, starting in the USF2000 series and building up the junior open wheel ladder. The team captured the inaugural Formula Regional Americas Championship with driver Kyle Kirkwood in 2018.

ABEL Motorsports currently competes in the INDY NXT by Firestone series, the official development series for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, led by third-generation driver Jacob Abel. The team made its INDYCAR debut in 2023 with driver RC Enerson in the Indianapolis 500. For more information visit the official team website at abelmotorsports.com.

About Abel Construction Company: ABEL Construction is one of the largest general contractors in Kentucky. They hold licenses in thirteen states and have offices in Lexington, Kentucky, Indianapolis, Indiana, with their corporate office in Louisville. Their expertise spans various areas, including general contracting, construction management, design-build, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), and facilities maintenance.

Abel Construction has contributed to building some of the region’s most recognizable landmarks. Their projects cover diverse sectors, including automotive, healthcare, post-secondary education, commercial, food/beverage, tech, and industrial/manufacturing. They prioritize client satisfaction, focusing on efficient project delivery regardless of size or cost. Their skilled professionals utilize cutting-edge technology and software to ensure successful outcomes. abelconstruct.com/.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX
BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
LEEDS, ALABAMA
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
APRIL 27, 2024

CHEVROLET LOCKS OUT THE FRONT ROW FOR SUNDAY’S CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK WITH TEAM PENSKE’S SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND WILL POWER

• Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet, captured his sixth career NTT P1 Pole Award in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and his first at Barber Motorsports Park, with his fastest lap of 1:05.9490 seconds during Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six.
• McLaughlin’s pole award is Team Chevy’s 129th earned pole in the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era since 2012, and 10th on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course of Barber Motorsports Park.
• The NTT P1 Pole Award for the driver of the No. 3 is the 300th pole for Team Penske in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition.
• McLaughlin’s Team Penske teammate Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, will start from second, giving the Bowtie-brand an all-Chevy front row as the Penske pair leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field to the green flag Sunday.
• Four Chevrolet drivers and teams qualified in the top-10, with McLaughlin in first, Power in second, Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, in fourth, and Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, in eighth.
• Chevrolet was represented by McLaughlin, O’Ward, and Power in the Firestone Fast Six at Barber Motorsports Park.
• McLaughlin finished first in Group 2, followed by his teammates Power (second) and Newgarden (third), to transfer and represent Chevrolet in the Fast 12.
• Of the four Chevrolet teams in Group 1 of qualifying, O’Ward and Romain Grosjean, driver of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, transferred to the second round to battle for the Firestone Fast Six amongst the fastest 12.
• Chevrolet finished second practice Saturday morning represented by six drivers in the top-10, including Rinus VeeKay, driver of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet in first, Grosjean in second, McLaughlin in third, O’Ward in sixth, Power in seventh, and Newgarden in ninth.
• The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix race day Sunday from Barber Motorsports Park sees Team Chevy take to the track for warm-up at 10:15 a.m. ET. The 90-lap, 207-mile main event takes the green flag at 1 p.m. ET live on NBC.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1st Scott McLaughlin
2nd Will Power
4th Pato O’ward
8th Josef Newgarden

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“We have a really great car. The team’s done a done a great job this weekend getting things going. It’s hard when you come off the back foot from another weekend and you’re the last pit stall as you have less time in qualifying because you’re the last car out. So, you normally lose about a minute. And we just ended up making it back [to the pit box] and by the time we were fueled and had a set strategy, we were on our fast laps when other people were coming out of the pits. We didn’t have enough fuel to cool down, re-gap and push one more lap. But we have a good car, so we’ll move forward. We’ll definitely move forward.”

Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“I think we did a good job. We made a good step forward. We found something in the car that was not what we expected after practice 2, but after we made that change, it kind of woke the car up a little bit and I feel like it put us in a better window. I underdrove a little bit. So there’s still more on the table with my driving, but at least I know where it’s at now and I can feel what’s going on. So I’m proud of the team. I think that we figured out a lot of issues and we know what direction to go for tomorrow for the race. I think we’ll roll off in the warmup with a pretty good setup and hopefully that correlates to a good race.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“We definitely squeezed out a lot of what the car had in it today. We’ll be starting second row, P4, so I think we’ll be looking good for a strong race tomorrow. We’ll have to get creative on the strategy. Team Penske will be really strong, so we’ll see if we can make our way forward and get ourselves on the podium.”

Théo Pourchaire, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“Everything I learned from Long Beach is out of the window in a way and we’re starting from zero. It’s not easy jumping into new tracks that I am unfamiliar with, especially one of the toughest ones on the calendar here in Barber. It’s a high-commitment track and I enjoyed it. Our qualifying was not too bad until I made a mistake into Turn 12 and 13. I lost most of my time there and thought I could have been much closer to my teammate Alexander. I continue to learn every single day, and tomorrow with the race we will give our best to overtake a lot of cars for a great race. I am a lot better in the races and enjoy managing the tires and saving fuel. Last weekend we were able to push forward, and I think we can do the same, perhaps even better, here tomorrow.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“We missed a lot of lap time, so I think there’s nothing you can do other than try to figure it out. We’re quite a ways off, and in previous qualifying sessions this season, we missed the execution side with a pretty good car. Today the execution was there, but there was no lap time. We’ll look into why we didn’t feel much quicker on Firestone reds. There are a lot of questions. It’s been a pretty tough weekend so far.”

“There’s been several qualifying sessions earlier in the year where there was missed execution and there were things we didn’t do right which prevented us from transferring, but this one seemed pretty good. It’s frustrating when you don’t really have an answer.”

The sun was coming in and out behind the clouds, and when it does that, Group 2 was slower than Group 1. Does the track temperature change and impact things, slow them down?

“Oh, yeah. 100%. But that’s not an excuse. Certainly, you know these cars and tires are very track sensitive, and that’s why I imagine Group 2 was slower than Group 1.”

Gavin Ward, Team Principal at Arrow McLaren:

“Another NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying session and another reminder that it is quite competitive out here. Pato (O’Ward) and the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team did a great job to squeeze everything out of it today, but we didn’t have the performance to fight for pole. Alexander (Rossi) just missed out on pushing through Q1; a lot of people were in that boat today. Théo (Pourchaire) continues to learn with a steep learning curve in INDYCAR without test time. I’ve been really happy with him, and I know he is still building up to it. We’ll look forward to have a strong race tomorrow.”

Christian Rasmussen, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“I think I got a little greedy there in Turn 12, 13. I was on a good lap, and I just wanted to finish it off strong. I think at this point, I just wanted to finish it off a little too strong. I lost a little bit of time in Turn 12, 13 which I think without that, we would have been transferring and in my first top-12. It’s not awesome when you’re that close. But again, it’s my third (time) qualifying. I’m pretty happy with the progression we’re making. We’re getting closer and closer and closer. We’ve had a strong weekend so far, so we’ll finish it off in the race.”

Both of these cars have been good so far this weekend. What’s working well?

“I think we’re starting to build a little more rear security in the car, which is coming in handy, I think. Again, it’s also me getting used to the car. We’re getting better and better, both me and Rinus (VeeKay). Obviously, Rinus had a super strong Practice 2. We rolled off the truck well. Made good changes, and kind of figured out what’s working for us. I think we’re in a good spot.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“The car felt good to be honest. It just lost power on the straightaways. We didn’t have the right fix here for it in pit lane. The best thing to do is to fix it overnight and save a set of tires for the race.”

You talk about how much you love it here due to commitment. How much commitment will you have to be tomorrow to pass all these cars?

“We will be. We have to be. That guy right there, “Woody,” he knows strategies. Nothing’s lost. We’ll go for a great comeback, but it just really sucks being the fastest in the practice. Liking this track. I know we were going to be fast in qualifying. We would have definitely made it through here. I would have just loved it so much for the guys to make it through, to give them something back for their hard work. We’ll have to do that tomorrow. I’m so proud of them. It’s nothing they did wrong. It’s racecars. They break sometimes.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“I think the whole weekend has really positive for us. We’ve been very fast for Practice 1, very fast for Practice 2, very fast doing some segments of qualifying. For some reason in Q2 on red tires, I couldn’t improve and couldn’t find a pace as much as some. We’re not very happy in P11 on the grid, but I still think it’s not far from the top-10, which is great. We are steadily improving and getting better. I think today we had a shot of doing more, but out of our control, we just couldn’t do it.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“The second practice was much better. I was 13th and it felt good.I was discussing it with Romain (Grosjean) after qualifying and the No 78 car has some work to do with the car tomorrow. Things can happen in racing. The good thing is, we have a long race tomorrow. We are going to try our best and get some points.”

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:

What would have helped you advance?

“Just a better lap. I didn’t do a very good job, so we’re going to roll of eighth. Team did a good job though. Had a good PPG Chevy this weekend. Wish we could have got a little bit more out of there. PPG and Chevrolet’s support has been great as always, and just excited to race.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“It’s been tough. The Good Ranchers Chevy was so good today, I just want to give these guys and girls on the team an opportunity to be back on the front row and be back on pole. It’s been tough the last couple of races, we just haven’t hit it in qualifying. I’m so proud of that. Super proud of the execution today. Obviously, this means a lot, but we just have to keep focusing like this for the rest of the season and keep working hard.”

How did you find that extra tenth to get by Will Power?

“I don’t know. I sent it pretty hard the last couple of corners. Anytime you get the chance to get a Team Penske front row, that’s the main thing and a great objective for the team. I’m really proud of everyone.”

Talk about getting pole position…

“We wanted an opportunity to be back on the pole, and the Good Ranchers Chevy was great. We’re just proud to get back in this fight, be back in the qualifying and hopefully we can start our championship run this weekend.”

Take us through that flier of a lap in the Fast Six…

“I knew I had to find something because I stuffed it on the first run, but the car was very good the whole session. We hardly changed it. Just a matter of putting it together. Thankfully, the space between the steering wheel and the seat did his job.”

What’s it going to take for the “Meat Wagon” (Good Ranchers Chevy) to bring home the bacon this weekend?

“We’ll just try our best. We’ve got a great car here. I love this place and love the people here. Hopefully, we can put a good show on for the fans. May the best person win.”

Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:

Did you have anything more for your teammate Scott (McLaughlin)?

“Not much. It’s all so close these days. It’s just little bits here and there honestly That’s just the way it is these days. Anytime you are in the top-six in this series, you’ve done a bloody good job.”

On strategy for tomorrow…

“We are always bloody quick. Last week, there was a very unfortunate yellow and we’d already used our good tires up, the soft compound, so we didn’t really have any defense for (Scott) Dixon. But if we keep starting up front, man, it’s going to come. We are going to get a win here. I’m bloody determined.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, DRIVER OF THE NO. 3 GOOD RANCHERS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, and WILL POWER, DRIVER OF THE NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – NTT P1 Pole Award Winner & Front Row Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up qualifying. Joined now by the NTT P1 Award winner, Scott McLaughlin. Getting it done. First pole of the season, sixth of his career.

Scott, saving the best for last at the end. Talk us through that pole-winning run.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I lost my voice on the way in from the finish line to the pit entry (smiling).

Look, it obviously means a lot. Really proud for Good Ranchers to come back here with another fast car. Ultimately proud for Team Penske. 1-2, it’s quite tough to come by in any series, let alone INDYCAR. Obviously after the week we’ve all had, it’s a nice little reward.

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Will Power. All-Team Penske front row. Second straight front row start. Two-time winner here.

Will, I guess if you’re going to give up pole position for this race, might as well do it for a teammate. Your thoughts?

WILL POWER: Yeah, good bounceback for the team. Man, from the moment we rolled off the truck, the thing’s been great. Really haven’t changed much at all. Felt comfortable the whole time.

Just cool to be back in the Fast Six each week. Felt like we should have done it at St. Pete. Yeah, enjoying it a lot. Enjoying it a lot. Like fighting for poles. Always sucks to miss out by a little bit. At least this is like almost a 10th. The hundredths really hurt.

It’s cool to start up the front. We’re strong in racing. So determined to win a race, man. If I get a sniff of a win, it’s been so long. I’m hanging for that. So starting there gives you a great shot.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. Scott, obviously you’re on the radio with your crew. They’re telling you Will’s time. How do you balance getting that little extra while listening or reading on your steering wheel? How do you manage that?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: They don’t tell me much. I ask for no lap times. I just go out there and drive basically. I don’t have a predicted lap on the dash like Will or anything. It’s more for me a feel thing, just drive the wheels off it. For me, it’s a process that I go about. It’s an execution.

The car today was just phenomenal. Like Will said, we’ve hardly changed it. When you arrive here, you drop it out of the truck, you don’t have to change it that much, you build more confidence, more confidence, more confidence. You just find the limit, know the limit.

Thankfully the car was really good on that final set of reds. We were able to put her up the front.

Q. Why did you choose to attack twice with red tires this time?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Because we thought it was faster, so we did that. I think pole last year, they did a 2-2 type strategy. That’s exactly what we did, as well. It worked.

Q. Scott, you seemed to gain a lot of time in the 13, 14 section. Was there something there different you did or…

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I had a pretty good run through there. I just love this place. I mean, Will does, as well. I think it’s a matter of just putting it together.

I knew on my first flyer I didn’t quite nail that part of the track. I had a little bit of a time left up in me. I knew if I could just nail the first part of the lap, then get to 13, sort of send it through there. It was really just see what happens when I turned right into there. It worked. Yeah, it was all good.

Q. Will, you were kind of handicapped last weekend going with the 2-2 reds situation. In that same boat now going into the race. What’s the tire situation here?

WILL POWER: That is true. That is true. But you sort of have to take that hit to go for a pole. It’s either sit back and save…

Yeah, could have saved the first set maybe. I only put one lap on ’em. Yeah, it is what it is. We’ll start up front is what matters, man. It just does, big-time.

Q. I believe I heard a stat 114 front row starts out of 288 races.

WILL POWER: That’s not bad (smiling).

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: 300 poles for Team Penske, and he’s had ton of them.

Q. Starting up front is more important than the tires?

WILL POWER: Yeah, big-time. That was the problem last year. Even the year I won the championship, yeah, was just on the back foot from qualifying. I focused on that pretty hard this year. It makes things a lot easier.

Obviously it didn’t last week. Like if I qualified eighth or seventh, it would have been nice because you’re saving your green tires, starting on the hard compound. Literally that yellow last week fell just as bad as it could from that perspective, yeah.

Q. Scott, same thing on the tire situation. Do you feel comfortable?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Got to live for the now. That’s exactly what we did.

THE MODERATOR: Scott, all those poles means he’s been around for a while.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Still bloody good.

Q. Will, I was wondering if anything sort of clicked in qualifying this year compared to last season.

WILL POWER: Yeah, man, we worked pretty hard in the off-season on the car. Chevy has improved, for sure. Last year was tough for me. I just wasn’t all there because my wife was sick. The preparation for the start of the season wasn’t good. I was constantly in the back of my mind worried what might happen, whether I should even keep racing or not. Once you have a kid, do a dangerous sport, if my wife is sick, what if something happens to her, I’m doing this. I was sort of juggling that last year.

Just all in right now, as I usually am. Just a weird circumstances. Unfortunate circumstance last year.

Q. Scott, you ended last season with seven front rows in the last eight races. What’s clicked for you compared to your two teammates?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, the last couple races we just probably haven’t nailed qualifying. Circumstances and mistakes by me, whatnot. We’ve been through to Q2, just missed the Fast Six. It’s nice to nail and get our first Fast Six of the year and put it on pole.

Yeah, ultimately it’s so hard to just continually be up the front in the sport. You’ve got to put everything into it. As Will shows, if you had a little bit of adversity or whatever it is, it’s very hard to keep track, keep focused.

But we’ve all been working together really well. I think we’re really pushing this team forward, along with Team Chevy. It’s nice to turn up to the racetrack knowing you can have a really good shot at a win or a pole every time.

Q. With the events of the last week, is there an extra motivation to go out there and prove yourself again tomorrow?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, just take it as it comes. Ultimately, we’re always out there to win. Yeah, look, like I said before, it’s been a tough week, but it is what it is. We’ve moved forward.

We’ll just keep starting our championship I guess comeback we would like to say and do the best we can. The best thing we can do is continue getting poles and hope to get a win, but we know it’s going to be hard.

Q. Scott, a lot of people were commenting about the variation in cloud cover and temperature, track temperature. Did you feel any of that at all? Changes and variations in the track temperature.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, the sun is pretty strong here. It’s quite hot here at the moment. Certainly there were times where we had a lot of cloud cover and times where we didn’t.

I think it probably affects more for me the newer tire, track temp, how the car feels. On those two runs it felt pretty similar at the end there.

Q. I noticed how aggressive you need to be before you get to the demarcation line. That’s a tricky section to negotiate during the race, isn’t it?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it is, particularly if someone is not pitting. It’s quite a wide entry, late apex to turn 16. You sort of have to wait on people, especially if you are behind them, so you don’t hit them.

It’s a wicked track here. Someone from Australia, New Zealand needs to come and check it out because it’s really cool. A lot of camping. It is great for the fans. The fans can watch from everywhere, too. We have a blast here.

Q. Will, last week at Long Beach you said how quick these cars are, you felt you’re still on for a front row lockout at Indianapolis. Do you still feel that way?

WILL POWER: I certainly do, yeah. Just like I said, I’d be shocked if one of our cars isn’t fighting for pole at Indy. Done a lot of work. We’ve been quick everywhere. But in particular we’ve done a lot of work for that race.

I think we’d all be a bit disappointed if one of our cars wasn’t on the front row, but I think fighting for pole.

About Chevrolet

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• First time MSR has qualified in the top five for three consecutive INDYCAR races
• Both MSR cars in top 12 for first time since last race of 2022 season
• Career-best starting spot for Tom Blomqvist

Birmingham, Ala. – (27 April 2024) – The saying goes that a rising tide raises all ships and Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) lent some credence to it on Saturday. The team built on Felix Rosenqvist’s (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) strong early season to qualifying both of its cars in the top 12 for the first time since 2022.

Rosenqvist led the way in qualifying for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, taking the fifth spot in the final session, while his rookie teammate, Tom Blomqvist had the best qualifying result of his nascent INDYCAR SERIES career, as he took his No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda to 12th on the starting grid.

Rosenqvist’s result followed a big team effort on Saturday, as the MSR squad executed a preventative engine change in short order following the second practice session. The change paid off as the team had the No. 60 entry fired up and ready to run just minutes ahead of the green flag flying to kick off the qualifying session.

Both MSR drivers raced their way into the second qualifying session as Rosenqvist ran fifth with Blomqvist taking the sixth and final transfer position. The Top 12 qualifying run was the first time that the team had both off its cars transfer since the 2022 season finale at Laguna Seca when Helio Castroneves (12th) and Simon Pagenaud (10th) turned the trick.

The results moved them into the 12-car second qualifying session, where Blomqvist sealed his career-best 12th position in Sunday’s starting lineup with a best time of 1:06.3781 (124.723 mph) around the 2.3-mile Barber layout.

Rosenqvist moved into the Firestone Fast Six for the third time in as many races this year after placing sixth in Q2. He then logged a best lap of 1:06.4524 (124.600 mph) in the final session to qualify fifth. The fifth-place spot marks the third consecutive time Rosenqvist’s MSR machine will start in the top five, marking the first time in the team’s history that it has accomplished the feat.

Sunday’s 90-lap Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will air on NBC and Peacock starting at 1:00 ET. SiriusXM will also host live INDYCAR Radio coverage on XM Ch. 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “I’d say that was a pretty good qualifying effort. We had to do an engine change so we basically missed most of practice two and we had a telemetry issue in practice one. The weekend has been really rough, so we said that if we make it into the Top 12 we would be really happy, so to make the Fast Six we didn’t really expect it. I feel like we made the most out of it and it puts us in a good position to do something in the race tomorrow.”

Tom Blomqvist: “First top-12 for me so that’s a positive. My engineer (Ron Borhorst) told me before the start of the year that as long as we keep moving up race by race, we’ll be doing well. We’re just chipping away at it. This weekend has been tough for us, the track hasn’t really suited our package as well as it did at St. Pete and Long Beach. Nonetheless it’s still my best qualifying and every event, it’s getting better and better for me. Felix has been doing fantastic and I’m excited that we keep making progress.”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Saturday, April 27, 2024) – Team Penske rallied from one of the most tumultuous weeks in its storied history by seizing both front-row starting spots for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on Saturday afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park.

Scott McLaughlin earned his first NTT P1 Award of the season and his sixth career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole with his final lap of 1 minute, 5.9490 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six session in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet. His teammate Will Power qualified second at 1:06.0460 in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet.

The strong performance came at the end of a week in which Team Penske was penalized for illegal use of the Push to Pass system at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. McLaughlin and teammate Josef Newgarden were disqualified from the race, while Power received a 10-point penalty.

“It’s been tough,” McLaughlin said. “The Good Ranchers Chevy was so good today, and I just wanted to give these guys and girls on the team an opportunity to be back on front row and back on pole. In the last couple of races, we just haven’t hit it in qualifying.

“This means a lot. We’ve just got to keep focusing like this for the rest of the season and keep working hard.”

Up next is the prerace warmup at 10:15 a.m. ET Sunday (Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network). Live coverage of the 90-lap race starts at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Reigning Barber winner McLaughlin earned the 300th INDYCAR SERIES pole position for the fabled team owned by Roger Penske. Power fell just .0097 of a second short of earning his series record-extending 71st pole as Team Penske swept the front row at an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race for the first time since last August on the oval at World Wide Technology Raceway, where McLaughlin and Newgarden took the top two spots, respectively.

“I’ve said it all year: We’re going to be quick everywhere,” Power said. “I’m not surprised. It was obviously a pretty rough week for everyone on the team. Pretty disappointing, but we moved forward quickly.”

McLaughlin stole the top spot in dramatic fashion on his final lap around the 17-turn, 2.3-mile natural road course. He hovered within tens of thousands of a second of Power’s top time, keeping the advantage by ripping through the daunting Turns 12-13 complex.

“I sent it pretty hard through the last couple of corners,” McLaughlin said. “Any time you get a chance to get a Team Penske front row, that’s the main thing. I’m very proud of everyone.”

Christian Lundgaard qualified a season-best third at 1:06:0818 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Pato O’Ward, who inherited the St. Petersburg victory after Newgarden was disqualified, also will start on the second row after qualifying fourth at 1:06.2940 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Felix Rosenqvist continued the strong start to his season in his new environs at Meyer Shank Racing, qualifying fifth at 1:06.4524 in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda. Rosenqvist has qualified in the top five for all three points-paying races in 2024.

Marcus Armstrong ended his first career appearance in the Firestone Fast Six by qualifying a career-best sixth at 1:06.9022 in the No. 11 Root Insurance Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Graham Rahal just missed joining RLL teammate Lundgaard in the Firestone Fast Six and will start seventh after a best lap of 1:06.0942 during the second qualifying round in the No. 15 Hendrickson Honda. Newgarden, who offered his reaction to the Push to Pass penalties in an emotional press conference Friday, qualified eighth at 1:06.2908 in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.

Points leader and six-time series champion Scott Dixon qualified a season-low 13th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. But Dixon is a master of strategy and reading a race from deep in the pack, as he won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach last Sunday after starting eighth.

2022 Barber pole winner Rinus VeeKay, quickest in the morning practice, qualified last in the 27-car field after being saddled with an electrical problem in his No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet during the first round of qualifying.

Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix
Qualifying Results

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Qualifying Saturday for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.3-mile Barber Motorsports Park, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time and speed in parentheses:

1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:05.9490 (125.552 mph)
2. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:06.0460 (125.367)
3. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:06.0818 (125.299)
4. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:06.2940 (124.898)
5. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 1:06.4524 (124.600)
6. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:06.9022 (123.763)
7. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:06.0942 (125.276)
8. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:06.2908 (124.904)
9. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:06.2959 (124.895)
10. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:06.3013 (124.884)
11. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 1:06.3526 (124.788)
12. (66) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 1:06.3871 (124.723)
13. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:06.1425 (125.184)
14. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 1:06.4803 (124.548)
15. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:06.1481 (125.174)
16. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:06.5054 (124.501)
17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:06.2751 (124.934)
18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:06.5846 (124.353)
19. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 1:06.2825 (124.920)
20. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:06.6706 (124.193)
21. (51) Luca Ghiotto, Honda, 1:06.4788 (124.551)
22. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:06.7969 (123.958)
23. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 1:06.5267 (124.461)
24. (6) Theo Pourchaire, Chevrolet, 1:06.9052 (123.757)
25. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 1:06.8404 (123.877)
26. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 1:07.4920 (122.681)
27. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:07.7392 (122.234)