Category: NTT Indy

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HY-VEE DOUBLEHEADER AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
NEWTON, IOWA
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE ONE REPORT
JULY 21, 2023

CHEVROLET LEADS PRACTICE ONE AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

• Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet-four-time Iowa Speedway winner, and Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet ended practice session No. 1 on top of leader board with laps of 18.2420 seconds/176.428 mph, and 18.2897 seconds/175.968 mph respectively
• Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, the last NTT INDYCAR Series winner at Iowa Speedway, stood fifth in the final rundown with a lap of 18.3416 seconds/175.470 mph
• Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Bitnile.com Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, three-time winner at Iowa Speedway, posted the eighth quickest lap at 18.4749 seconds/174.204 mph
• A total of 13 Chevrolet-powered INDY cars participated in the only practice session of the Hy-Vee doubleheader INDYCAR weekend
• The qualifying procedure for the Iowa weekend is unique in that each car gets two laps on the clock; lap one secures their starting position for the Saturday Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by INSTACART. The second lap secures their starting position for Sunday’s Hy-Vee ONESTEP 250 presented by Gatorade
• Qualifying is scheduled to start Saturday morning at 9:30 am ET with live coverage on Peacock and INDYCAR Radio
• The 250-lap Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by INSTACART is set to start Saturday at 3:00 pm ET with live coverage on NBC TV, INDYCAR Radio and INDYCAR.COM live timing and scoring

POST PRACTICE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Josef Newgarden
Pato O’Ward
Ryan Hunter-Reay

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up one practice for this week’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend here at Iowa Speedway. Pato O’Ward, fifth quick, he will join us here momentarily, as will eighth place finishing driver Ryan Hunter-Reay in today’s practice. Joined now by Josef Newgarden, driving the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Four-time winner here at Iowa. Indy 500 champion obviously from this year as well and two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champ. P1 at 176.428 miles-an-hour. Joseph, any indication of what’s to come this weekend?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Good practice for sure, no doubt. It’s difficult to say what tomorrow and Sunday is going to bring.

I think everybody looks really good. There’s a lot of cars that tested here. Pretty much the whole field tested outside of us in McLaren, and I think everybody looks like they’ve raised their game.

So it’s not going to be easy whether it’s qualifying or the race. I think it will be pretty tight up and down the grid. We’ll see what happens.

THE MODERATOR: One practice and qualifying, one session at a time. Questions for Josef Newgarden?

Q. Josef, you said it was just okay, but you’re approached by a significant amount. Does that mean you feel good about qualifying, and it’s race setup where you’re wondering?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, both. I had a really clear run to start out for my Q1 in the beginning. The second two Q-sims I did were not clear. The last one I got a little bit closer to that ultimate time that I did, but yeah, I think either/or it’s going to be tough.

There’s a lot of other cars out there that probably didn’t get clear Q-sims, and we didn’t maybe see their ultimate pace. I’ll be fascinated to see the morning.

I think we should be in the mix. It just has this feeling like everyone is way closer than what they were last year. So I’m speaking more about the race, but both sessions I think it’s going to be really close.

Q. Is there anybody in particular outside of the Penske McLaren cars who caught your eye who is really strong or could be a threat?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Legitimately everyone looked like they were levelled up relative to last year. Practice is kind of difficult here just because you’ve got to be ten laps difference on tires makes a huge swing in performance. So it’s hard to assess where everybody is when you’re out there, and it’s hard to get an apples-to-apples comparison.

Any car that I was up against just felt like they were better than what they were doing last year. It was certainly not as easy to kind of come through the field.

I think Ryan will be good in that ECR car. He has been good here in the past, and he looks pretty sporty.

I thought the Ganassi cars looked better than they’ve been. It looked like they were happy at the test, so I think they’ll be difficult. I know McLaren is really strong here.

Then you have my teammates. I know Scotty is going to be good. Yeah, hopefully he is not too good, but he could be very good this weekend I could see.

Q. (Indiscernible).

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s just a compromise. We decided to go to Road America versus here, whereas other teams decided to do it the other way around; right? So it’s not that there’s a secret. We made a choice.

We almost came here. It wasn’t like a clear-cut decision or that it was easy to go to Road America versus this place, but we thought that was an area where we had more opportunity to gain than at Iowa. That’s why we did it.

We’re going to find out here in 48 hours if that was a good call or not.

Q. I think your cars are going to be impounded tomorrow after qualifying. How does the team set up the car? You just go with race setup?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah. I mean, you kind of have to. At the end of the day, qualifying, it doesn’t really matter. When it comes to choosing between that and a race, you have to have a good race car. You’re going to be stuck with it for 250 laps versus two.

So, yeah, you’re going to be putting the race car setup on. You might sneak in a little bit of an adjustment for trying to get a decent run in qualifying.

But to be honest, it’s a terrible condition setup. We’re going to be qualifying at 8:30 a.m. It’s going to be 12 degrees cooler, and then you can’t adjust the car for when it’s the middle of the day.

I don’t personally love that. I think you’re going to be bottoming a lot more when the conditions are super cool. The car is just going to be stuck.

So I kind of wish we had that setup differently where we could adjust at least ride heights or front wing or something like that. The way the rules are written in impound, you’re going to basically put your race car on, and hopefully it’s not too aggressive for qualifying.

THE MODERATOR: Joined obviously now by Pato O’Ward, fifth quick today, driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. First winner in last year’s race number two at the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend. Pato, another nice start to the weekend here at Iowa Speedway?

PATO O’WARD: I have no idea where we’re at, to be honest. It’s just tough. Around here five laps difference on your tires versus somebody else’s tires, it’s really a world of difference. It’s super easy to kind of spook yourself and feel like you’re not as strong as what you actually are, or you can get a misread and think, I’m a hero, and then you’re not.

I think tomorrow will be obviously an opportunity to learn more of what everybody has got to work for race two. Yeah, we don’t have more time to really work on the car, so it’s just kind of qualifying and then race that qualifying car.

I think it will be a dead game just like it always is in 60-something laps per set. Really pretty tall order.

THE MODERATOR: Hanging on there at the end maybe.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Follow-ups for Josef before we go ahead and cut him loose?

Q. I was going to ask about Scott. You mentioned how good he looked at the practice there. Do you feel like every year you come here, you know, he can see your data, and it’s a little bit of giving away some of your secrets, or do you still feel like you can keep some things to yourself, and it’s not as simple as him kind of going through your data and saying, okay, Josef is doing this on this lap and this on this corner or whatever?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, there’s no hiding when he is your teammate. I’ve gone a step further than that and just opened up my playbook for him.

He is smart. He is probably going to utilize that pretty well. He already looks like he is. So let’s see if I still have enough for him.

Q. To come up with a compromise that’s going to be fast in qualifying and be able to handle the race, at least a Saturday race, how much does that really show the expertise and the brilliance of an engineering staff to find out what that compromise really is?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I want to make it sound more impressive than it is, but you are basically just putting your race car on and trying to not bottom too much. So you’re not — there’s not anything too tricky that we can do.

I think mostly, at least on our team, it would be much more preferred if we could just make a few adjustments because I think everybody going to fight that.

At the end of the day you’re putting your race car on, and you’re going to try to set your ride heights, and that’s about it. It’s nothing too crazy.

THE MODERATOR: Josef, we’ll cut you loose. Thanks for being in here. Appreciate and see you tomorrow bright and early for qualifying. More questions for Pato O’Ward?

Q. To follow up on that a little bit, it’s two laps, but it’s warmup laps. Can you try and time it a little bit to get peaky on lap two that counts, or you just have to — you give up too much on lap one, then you are in trouble on two.

PATO O’WARD: You don’t want to give up on lap one. You want to obviously get the best run out of your warmup lap into lap one and then that will obviously feed into lap two.

We didn’t really get a read on that either because it’s just such a small track with so many cars. Our Q runs weren’t really Q runs. By the time you actually get maybe a decent turn one and two clear, your pressures are already skyrocketing. It’s so hard to get a read.

So tomorrow in qualifying I think we’re going to go into it knowing a little bit of what we’ve got, but a little bit of not what we’ve got. Just like Josef said, everybody just races their — sorry — qualifies their race car because, you know, in reality this track is probably the least qualifying-sensitive track. You can qualify last, but if you have a frickin’ rocket in the race, you’re chilling.

THE MODERATOR: Simon Pagenaud a couple of years ago. He started last.

PATO O’WARD: He got helped by the strategy.

Q. You said you definitely are not the strongest, and I think the last year certainly was Penske and McLaren and then everybody else. Josef was saying that Hunter-Reay looked good, the Ganassi cars looked good. Who outside of your teammates, the Penske cars, looks strong to you?

PATO O’WARD: Particularly I think we obviously were not here for the test, so they’ve obviously gotten stronger because they had a full day that we didn’t.

Well, vice versa. We had a full road in Road America that they didn’t, so you just have to pick your fights and really go to where you think you’re lacking.

But it’s just — it’s an odd place from day-to-day because, like I said, you can feel like you’re not very strong, and then tomorrow everybody is on the exact same laps on the exact same tires, and then you’re just cruising.

Like, that happened to me last year. I was kind of, like, eh, and then as soon as everybody is on the same playing field, it was just, like, bye.

It’s so hard to read. You really don’t know until you get that race one under your belt, and then you are, okay, I need this for race two.

I think today was a little bit of that. You know, we got some long runs in, but I mean, 40 laps, we still need to go 20 more to finish this stint, and those last 20 laps are usually pretty sketch.

Q. (Off microphone).

PATO O’WARD: Exactly. Josef can also be the strongest and not care. I feel like it can be anybody’s just because you get false reads. I think everybody gets false reads on other people because you feel that you’re weak, but you’re also maybe on 15 older tires or 10 lap older tires. And here, different to other tracks, five laps here, like 35 to 40, huge difference.

You can get a false read. You know, they’ve been behind us pretty much all stint. Well, but all stint? Or really how much pressure do they have, or are theirs older and you feel so much stronger than them? It’s just pretty much a guessing game kind of thing for the race.

Q. What can you do to make your tires stay a little better a little longer? Is it line? I know it’s setup, of course, but what can you personally, the driver, do?

PATO O’WARD: You ultimately just don’t — you don’t want to over-abuse it. The problem is if you don’t — if you’re just not really using it, then you’re just going to get freight-trained by everybody.

There’s a compromise there, but a lot of things are in the moment. You can feel out how much you’re oversaturating the front or how much you’re beating it. It really depends on what balance you have.

Then once you get the first stint done, then you know where your balance is kind of going to. Then for the next one you can kind of prepare it or at least start it a little bit better and hopefully make it last a little bit better rather than going either super under-steery or super over-steery. It’s a tough game.

What’s up, bro? You look good. Jinx.

THE MODERATOR: We were just talking about that difference. Ryan Hunter-Reay joins us, driver of the No. 20 Bitnile.com Chevrolet. Three-team winner here at Iowa. What did you learn in that session today?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It was quite a bit different than the test, that’s for sure. Just started the session pretty loose and then just had to work on kind of getting that in check.

I kind of made the decision let’s just bail on focusing on anything qualifying. Let’s just focus on the race car the whole time.

Yeah, like Pato was saying, it’s different phases of the tire through the life of the tire, and you kind of figure out what you can get away with and what you can’t. It’s tough.

It’s amazing how much different this place is than it was back in my first run in 2012. Totally different race car, but it’s challenging.

It’s tough to keep the tire under you. You have to be smart about it. It will be a tough one, but I think we made the right changes towards the end of the session in practice. We had a good direction at the end, which is important.

Q. Pato, 28 cars on the shortest track of the season. Are there going to be three lanes, and how much time in the race do you spend not only looking ahead, but behind you paying attention to what the cars behind you are doing maybe to position yourself? Not to block, but just to kind of keep them from getting around you.

PATO O’WARD: It is to block. If you are looking behind you, it’s because you’re in defense mode (laughing).

Three racing lanes? I think for restarts maybe or for race start, but for racing I just don’t see us hanging it out like all the way up there, especially in three and four. Three and four, for me it was pretty slippery.

THE MODERATOR: See you tomorrow morning.

PATO O’WARD: Thanks.

THE MODERATOR: More questions for Ryan Hunter-Reay?

Q. Ryan, since you’ve taken over the No. 20, is this the track where you feel most like Ryan Hunter-Reay?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It’s different every track we go to. I felt good at Mid-Ohio. Just didn’t really have the balance that I wanted or needed or what I kind of was striving for.

Toronto, timing just never really went right. Not getting the tires in before it rained in qualifying type of thing. It was just one of those deals.

Yeah, here this is the first place I’ve come back to that I’ve been on the track with the team, and we had a test day. This place, it either seems like, bar a few cars here or there, it seems like maybe Newgarden and Pato, I’m not sure, but it seems like you’re either under-steer or over-steer. There’s kind of no happy medium.

It is difficult. I’m not sure what we’ll have tomorrow, but like I said, I think we went in the right direction.

Yeah, this place I have a certain affinity for short track racing, and it’s been a big part of my career. Yeah, we’re back here at Iowa, which has been a place that has been really good to me. So hopefully that trend will continue.

Q. As you enter traffic, how is the car behaving in traffic? Much different than the other prerun?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, big difference. You could be on your own for a straightaway or two and thinking you’re Superman, and then all of a sudden you come up on three or four cars, and the whole thing changes.

That really makes it difficult on car placement because of the lack of grip and where you drive into the corner and how you place your car. Let’s say I want to be on that lane, and I want my right sides to be there. It’s really difficult to place the car at times, especially on older tires.

Once you get to about lap 40 on tires, you want to pick up the phone and call 9-1-1 and tell them you’re coming in. Then they tell you, well, you have another 30 laps to go.

Then you tell them, Wow, it’s really bad.

They tell you, Well, everybody else is dealing with it too.

THE MODERATOR: That’s universal. It doesn’t matter what team you’re on.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I think they pull a cheat sheet, a card out, like a laminated card that says, Nope, everybody else is dealing with that; you can’t come in.

Q. What about the heat?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: The heat? Yeah, absolutely. I miss this place being a night race, but it is really incredible what Hy-Vee has been able to do with this place. It’s absolutely insane. Having last raced here in 2020, it looks like a completely different racetrack.

Not on the surface. Everywhere around it obviously. But, yeah, the heat is going to be an issue.

The good news is everybody else is dealing with that same circumstance. It’s a matter of being smart on how you deal with traffic and how aggressive you are.

The line is so, so thin on making the right move or the wrong move in traffic and putting yourself up in the marble, so two lanes for sure.

Q. Ryan, on the flip side of the 9-1-1 call, somebody was telling me about I don’t know which one of your Iowa victories it was, but there was one where you pitted and just darted past everybody because you were on fresh tires, and everybody else was —

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: That was pure talent. That was not tires (laughing). It was so much fun, though. That was one of the most fun races I’ve had.

Q. What is that like when you can dominate the field at will like that here?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, that race was 2014. We hadn’t had the best night. Tony was leading the whole time, and we knew tires were going to be the way to go.

We didn’t know if we had enough time to do. At the time Michael Andretti made the call. I wasn’t sure about it because we had to give up 10, 11 spots to do it, something like that. I don’t remember what it was.

The great thing was that all the guys that were on used had to use the higher lane because they were just forced there. They couldn’t run the lower lane.

So Josef Newgarden and I both had new tires, and we just ran around the bottom just passing everybody like it was a video game. It was really incredible. I would like to do that again actually.

Q. How I guess important is it to you to have a result like that in practice in the role that you’re in right now? Can you take any momentum from that, or is it kind of like just a result of so many cars on a short racetrack?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: The practice results that you see are not indicative at all of who is fast in race trim because the practice results are based on a solo lap by themselves with no interference, no dirty air, and all that stuff.

What’s really going to pay this weekend is a car that is consistent over the long run that uses the Firestone tire in a balanced manner through the stint. We have no idea who that is yet.

We do have a good idea based on history and based on who I ran around tonight. I think Josef and Pato were probably some of the best out there. That’s what’s most important.

Really the practice session really doesn’t matter. Folks that know really what to look for, we’ll go back and look at average pace or average lap times over a stint of 20, 30 laps, and that will kind of tell a story.

But, yeah, it wasn’t a bad day. I think we made some good changes. I’m cautiously optimistic on hopefully we can just make a consistent run to the first two stints. If we do that, I think we’ll be good.

THE MODERATOR: Get a good night’s sleep, young man.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Thank you. You’re here at 6:30 or something like that?

THE MODERATOR: Bring some donuts with you. That be would great. Hy-Vee, of course. Next session comes up qualifying for tomorrow’s race one here at Iowa Speedway. Qualifying begins at 8:30 a.m. Central Time. Thanks, everyone.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, July 22, 2023) – INDYCAR has announced a nine-position starting grid penalty for the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry for avoidable contact involving driver Jack Harvey during the Sunday, July 16 race on the Streets of Toronto.

Harvey was in violation of:

Rule 9.3.3. Avoidable Contact – The primary responsibility for avoiding contact with a Competitor resides with the overtaking Competitor and the secondary responsibility resides with the Competitor(s) being overtaken. A Competitor who fails to demonstrate their responsibility and initiates a maneuver that results in contact with another Competitor may be penalized.

According to the rulebook, a penalty can be applied at the next INDYCAR race if the penalty cannot be served at the event where the infraction took place.

Consistent with an Unapproved Engine Change-Out penalty in the INDYCAR rulebook, the Avoidable Contact grid penalty is six-positions on road and street course events and nine-positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart on Saturday, July 22 at Iowa Speedway.

NEWTON, Iowa (Friday, July 21, 2023) – The waiting was the hardest part for Jacob Abel, but his patience was rewarded with his first career INDY NXT by Firestone pole Friday for the series’ race at Iowa Speedway.

Abel turned a two-lap average speed of 162.244 mph in the No. 51 Abel Motorsports car on the .894-mile oval. His previous best start was second in the series opener in March on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

“Qualifying has definitely been a little bit of our Achilles heel this year,” Abel said. “So, to pull this out is unbelievable, especially on an oval. That’s like the most stressful thing you can do as a driver ever. Especially going fifth to last (in the order).

“I had a lot of people to watch, so when I got out of the car, I wasn’t necessarily done. Huge shoutout to the Abel Motorsports guys. This is a huge step for us. We’re right there in the championship. We just need a good couple of weekends, and we’ll be right there.”

Up next is the 75-lap race Saturday, with live coverage starting at 11 a.m. ET on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Abel will try to convert his first pole into a first career victory. He is fifth in the series standings in this breakthrough season for the small, family-owned team, 48 points behind leader Nolan Siegel of HMD Motorsports and nine points behind third-place Hunter McElrea of Andretti Autosport.

Christian Rasmussen, fastest in practice earlier Friday and in the Open Test last month, will join Abel on the front row after qualifying second at 161.532 in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. Rasmussen in second in the standings, 16 points behind Siegel.

Siegel qualified third at 161.175 in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with DCR machine. James Roe will start a career-best fourth at 161.168 in the No. 29 Topcon car fielded by Andretti Autosport. Roe’s previous best start was eighth.

2022 Iowa winner McElrea qualified fifth at 160.612 in the No. 27 Smart Motors car fielded by Andretti Autosport, while teammate and rookie Louis Foster fills out row three after qualifying sixth at 160.408 in the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship machine.

NEWTON, Iowa (Friday, July 21, 2023) – Iowa Speedway continued to be the Track of Dreams for Josef Newgarden, as he led the opening practice for the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend on Friday.

Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden was fastest with a top lap of 176.428 mph in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. The result came as no surprise considering Newgarden’s track record at the .894-mile oval. He has four career victories at Iowa, including one of the doubleheader races last July.

Newgarden also has dominated oval racing recently in North America’s premier open-wheel racing series. He has won four of the last five races on circle tracks in the last 12 months, including the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge in May. Newgarden’s only slip during that time was the second race last July at Iowa, when he was eliminated in a crash caused by a mechanical failure while leading.

“As you can see, we’ve got a pretty good package,” Newgarden said. “We ran a good couple of first laps, and it was just OK in race trim. I think we need to be a little bit better. This place is tricky. I feel like everyone is going to be really good this weekend. No one stands still here in the INDYCAR SERIES.”

This event is the only doubleheader of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. Live coverage of the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart starts at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network, with the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on the same outlets.

Up next is NTT P1 Award qualifying at 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday (live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network). Each driver will turn two flying laps, with Lap 1 setting the grid for Saturday’s race and Lap 2 determining the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.

Scott McLaughlin helped Team Penske take the top two spots on the practice speed chart Friday, as he was second overall at 175.968 in the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet. Marcus Ericsson was third – and the fastest Honda-powered driver – at 175.877 in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Colton Herta was fourth at 175.521 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Autosport, with Pato O’Ward rounding out the top five at 175.470 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

2021 series champion Alex Palou, who leads the championship by an impressive 117 points, was 15th at 173.007 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.

This is a big weekend for Palou, as he will claim a $1 million PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge with a victory in either race. The bonus, split between the team and a charity, is awarded to the first driver who wins on all three types of track in the championship – street circuits, road courses and ovals – in a season. Palou already has a victory this season on a street circuit and a road course.

The 28-driver field wasted no time getting busy in the 90-minute session, combining to turn 2,766 laps (2,472 miles). Ericsson was the busiest driver, completing slightly over a half-race distance with 126 laps.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HY-VEE HOMEFRONT 250 & HY-VEE ONE STEP 250 DOUBLEHEADER
NEWTON, IOWA
TEAM CHEVY RACE ADVANCE
JULY 21-23, 2023

CHEVROLET LOOKS TO SHIFT MOMENTUM AT IOWA DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND WITH REPEAT VICTORY
With a Strong History at Iowa Speedway, Team Chevy Aims to Sweep the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 and Hy-Vee One Step 250

DETROIT (July 19, 2023) – Shifting sights to the third oval of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season, Chevrolet has eyes on not only shifting momentum, but racing to Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway where the Bowtie brand has excelled in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo injected era.

Since 2012, Team Chevy boasts nine wins and 11 earned pole awards since 2012. Additionally, Chevrolet holds 26 podiums that include five sweeps since 2012, and an astounding 3,144 laps led. With both races seeing 250 laps, or 223.5 miles, on Saturday and Sunday of the doubleheader, the Bowtie brand brings a strong history to the 0.894-mile tri-oval.

Winning at Iowa Speedway in 2013, Ryan Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing, looks to return to his winning ways in the series. “Iowa Speedway has always been one of my favorite races on the schedule, I just love short track racing,” said Hunter-Reay. “We had a very productive test here a few weeks ago. With that said, this track is very challenging and can be extremely difficult to nail a balanced setup over a long run on tires. It seems its always changing year to year.”

Joining Arrow McLaren INDYCAR this season, Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet, noted of the short oval program the team has built, while the success it has seen in past at Iowa Speedway saying, “Iowa is one of the most challenging tracks that we go to, but the team has some amazing pedigree there and I can’t wait to drive our short oval package for the first time. On top of that, the support of Hy-Vee is incredible and the energy of the fans fuels us. We’ll be pushing hard to put on a great show for them.”

Climbing in and back behind the wheel this weekend in Iowa, Ed Carpenter, Team Owner and driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing noted excitement heading to the track this weekend for the event. “I always get excited to race at Iowa Speedway. I actually enjoy the doubleheader format and Hy-Vee has done a great job with the whole event. We have been strong at Iowa in the past and had a good test there recently. It is an important event for us as a team to create strong results for all three BITNILE.COM Chevrolets.”

“The NTT INDYCAR Series doubleheader at Iowa Speedway is a favorite for our Chevy teams and drivers,” said General Motors’ IndyCar Program Manager Rob Buckner. “Things happen very quickly on this traditional short oval. With the mix of traditional road courses and street circuits the last few weeks, Iowa offers new and unique challenges for our engineers working with the teams and drivers. But our past success gives us a toolbox to work from, and we are looking forward to good results as the push for the championship continues.”

The Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway kicks off with practice Friday, July 21 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Qualifications start Saturday’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250 race day at 9:30 a.m. ET, with the first 250 lap event starting at 3 p.m. ET, live on NBC. The Hy-Vee One Step 250 wraps up the weekend on Sunday, July 23, with green flag live at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. All practice and qualifying will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

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

“We’re going back to the cornfields. It’s a track with some of the best racing you’ll ever see. More than that, it’s a very unique place we race at and very different than any other track on the calendar. I always look forward to going to Iowa.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”Iowa is becoming a highlight of the season. As a team, we have many reasons to look forward to it after having a very successful weekend here last year. It will be one of the most important weekends of the year as it’s a doubleheader, so we are very focused on maximizing our performance.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”As we gear up for the doubleheader at Iowa, I feel both excited and focused. It’s always great to get back to the track immediately after a rough weekend. Iowa is one of the most challenging tracks that we go to, but the team has some amazing pedigree there and I can’t wait to drive our short oval package for the first time. On top of that, the support of Hy-Vee is incredible and the energy of the fans fuels us. We’ll be pushing hard to put on a great show for them. I can’t wait to get there and get started and maybe see some cool concerts along the way.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Iowa has been a successful stomping ground for our team in recent years, and our oval package has been strong all year. So this weekend is about doing the basics right, not overthinking it, and enjoying being a part of the best short oval racing in the world.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Two races this weekend! That’s going to be very exciting. I’ve done well at Iowa Speedway in the past and had a pretty nice race there last year, 4th place. We can do very well, this is one of those tracks that will provide a lot of opportunities for us. The Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend is always so fun with the concerts and everything else going on in addition to our races, it’s going to be a nice couple of days!”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Really looking for to Iowa. I think it’s one of the best dynamic racing tracks we go to. Most passes, most strategy, multiple lines, you can really run wherever you want however you’d like to. It just kind of depends on your car and your balance and your strategy. It’s very fun. We did learn a lot from our test earlier there this year – we know where we’re struggling and we know why we’re struggling. So assuming we’ve done our homework correctly we should be okay.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“I am really looking forward to Iowa Speedway, I love the track and I am a big fan of ovals in general. We have had some great success on ovals so far this season, so I am ready to get back to them and see what we can do. It’s a very bumpy track, so getting the car in the right window and getting the dampers to work well is extremely important to being successful there. It’s a double-header event, so there is a lot to offer within the weekend in terms of results, so I am looking forward to what we can accomplish in the No. 55 Sexton Properties Chevrolet.”

CHEVROLET AT IOWA (since 2012):

Wins at Iowa: 9

2012: Ryan Hunter-Reay

2013: James Hinchcliff

2016: Josef Newgarden

2017: Helio Castroneves

2019: Josef Newgarden

2020: Simon Pagenaud (Race 1)

2020: Josef Newgarden (Race 2)

2022: Josef Newgarden (Race 1)

2022: Pato O’Ward (Race 2)

Pole Awards at Iowa: 11

2013: Helio Castroneves

2014: Scott Dixon

2015 Helio Castroneves

2016: Simon Pagenaud

2017: Will Power

2018: Will Power

2019 Simon Pagenaud

2020: Conor Daly (Race 1)

2020: Josef Newgarden (Race 2)

2022: Will Power (Race 1)

2022: Will Power (Race 2)

Podiums at Iowa by Team Chevy since 2012: 26*

*Chevrolet has swept the podium five times in the 2012 V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era at Iowa, including in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2022’s Race 1 and Race 2.

Laps Led at Iowa by Team Chevy since 2012: 3,144

2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:

192: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.

109: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012.

121: Earned poles since 2012.

7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012.

7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012.

12: Indianapolis 500 victories by Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

5: Indianapolis 500 wins by Chevrolet since 2012 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era.

26: Wins by Will Power since 2012 – all with Chevrolet power – most of any driver with the same manufacturer.

14: Consecutive seasons with at least one win by Will Power, including the past 11 with Chevrolet power.

9: Wins from the pole by Will Power with Chevrolet power since 2012, most by any driver.

44: Pole starts by Will Power since 2012 in a Chevrolet-powered car, most of any driver.

*Will Power’s career total of 68 poles makes him the all-time pole winner in INDYCAR.

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.

INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, July 19, 2023) – INDYCAR, along with longtime partner Dallara, is providing an update to improve the overall strength and retention of wheel hubs on NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars.

The updated rear-wheel bearing retaining nut is being distributed to all entries in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and will be mandated for use beginning at this weekend’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway. The strength of the rear-wheel bearing retaining nut has increased by 60 percent over the previous design.

Revisions to the existing component came after a meticulous review of the incident at the 2023 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge involving the No. 27 car of Andretti Autosport and the No. 6 car of Arrow McLaren, which resulted in the loss of the left rear wheel assembly on the No. 27.

“Dallara continues to be a tremendous partner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES,” INDYCAR President Jay Frye said. “Their thorough review process of the incident between the No. 6 and the No. 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway began immediately and included an extensive recreation at their headquarters in Italy.

“INDYCAR takes safety very seriously. This update is an important step in making sure an incident like this does not happen again.”

Previously, it was determined that the wheel tether system, using high-performance Zylon material, did not fail in the May 28 incident. INDYCAR was the first sanctioning body in the United States to require its use.

“It is Dallara’s mission, along with INDYCAR and all of the racing series we work with, to maintain and continuously improve safety based upon the highest standards,” Dallara CEO Stefano dePonti said. “After completing a detailed analysis of the accident during this year’s Indy 500, together with INDYCAR we have reached the conclusion that the outcome was the consequence of an unusual and never experienced set of circumstances.

“Nevertheless, we have developed and produced new components that will increase the strength of the corner in case the unlikely sequence of events repeats itself.”

The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart Saturday, July 22 at Iowa Speedway. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on NBC with a simulstream available on Peacock. The doubleheader at “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet” continues Sunday, July 23 with the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade. Coverage on Sunday begins at 2 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. The INDYCAR Radio Network will also provide coverage throughout the weekend.

Conor Daly will sub for Pagenaud in the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda

Pataskala, Ohio (18 July 2023) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) is prepared for the only double-header INDYCAR SERIES event of the season at Iowa Speedway this weekend after a quick turnaround following a tough team weekend on the streets of Toronto on Sunday.

Following further evaluation, MSR full-season driver Simon Pagenaud has not been cleared by the INDYCAR Medical Team to compete in the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway.

The decision comes three weeks after Pagenaud experienced a massive shunt at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course following a manufacturer brake failure. Having done so on short notice at Mid-Ohio, Conor Daly will once again step into the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda and substitute for Pagenaud. The No. 60 Honda will also feature a new logo on its side pod starting this weekend. Eight-time GRAMMY winner, Carrie Underwood launched her new SiriusXM Channel, “Carrie’s Country” – SXM Ch. 60 – with the logo being displayed on the side of the No. 60 Honda at Iowa Motor Speedway and Nashville.

Last weekend Meyer Shank Racing recruited its IMSA championship winning driver, Tom Blomqvist to sub in the No. 60 Honda in Toronto – marking a big INDYCAR SERIES debut for the Brit who was unfortunately collected in a first lap crash.

Daly heads into the Iowa weekend with seven race starts at the 0.875-mile tri-oval and a bundle of recent success. Iowa Speedway was the site of Daly’s first-ever INDYCAR SERIES pole position in 2020 as one of his three career top-three qualifying results, with the American racer earning his best race finish of eighth in 2020.

Helio Castroneves heads into the third oval of the season looking for a change of fortunes after getting knocked out of the Honda Indy Toronto event. The Iowa circuit could be a good spot to do that, as Castroneves has a strong record at the short oval. He qualified on the front row in his first outing in Iowa in 2007, claiming his first pole position at Iowa two years later in 2009, and then scoring a win at the Midwest bullring in 2017.

In addition to the double-header race weekend, the Hy-Vee event will put on two concerts on Saturday and Sunday.

The Hy-Vee Iowa weekend will feature the first of two races on Saturday – the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 with broadcast coverage on NBC starting at 3:00pm ET. The Hy-Vee One-Step 250 will go green on Sunday at 2:00pm ET with coverage on NBC. SiriusXM will also host live weekend IndyCar Radio coverage on XM Ch. 160.

Meyer Shank Racing Team Quotes:

Conor Daly:

“I’m thankful to Mike and Jim to calling me up to fill in for Simon again this weekend in Iowa. Obviously I’m wishing him the best and hope that he gets well soon. Iowa has definitely become one of my favorite tracks in the last couple of years. Obviously I have qualified really well there – qualified on the pole and started in the top three the last two years. Hopefully we can replicate that qualifying performance, but also deliver in the race. The team does an incredible job to prepare the car, so we’re going to do our best for Simon again. We’ll do everything we can to score some more points for the team and I’m thankful to drive this No. 60 car again for AutoNation and SiriusXm

Helio Castroneves:

“Iowa is definitely one of my favorite track to race at and its a place that I have done really well at in the past. I’m also looking forward to heading back to an oval, we haven’t raced on one since Indy, so that should be exciting. And of course, the weekend is just a huge show with the concerts and it has drawn tons of fans, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY TORONTO
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP
JULY 16, 2023

CHEVROLET PLACES FOUR IN TOP-10 AT HONDA INDY TORONTO

• Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet, led the Team Chevy teams and finished fifth in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto.
• The Bowtie brand finished with four cars in the top-10: two from Team Penske (Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin) and from two Arrow McLaren INDYCAR teammates (Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist) in the top-10.
• NTT INDYCAR Series Rookie Agustin Canapino, driver of the No. 78 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing, finished 12th to match his best career results at St. Petersburg and Texas Motor Speedway.
• The morning warm up saw Newgarden finish third and Callum Ilott finishing ninth to represent Chevrolet in the top-10 on the leaderboard. Rookie Agustin Canapino continued to show his growth, finishing the morning session 11th.

TORONTO (July 16, 2023) – In what proved to be a chaotic Honda Indy Toronto on the streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Chevrolet claimed four of the top-10 finishing positions, with Josef Newgarden, driver of the Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet, finishing fifth. Following Newgarden was his teammate Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet, in sixth with Arrow McLaren INDYCAR teammates Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet, finishing eighth, and Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet, taking the checkered flag 10th.

Eventful from the start, the Bowtie brand faced challenging, tight conditions on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile course through the streets of Toronto. After 85 laps, Newgarden reflected, saying “It was pretty big (the fuel save) at the end. Thank goodness I was trying to do a little more than we needed to in the final stint just to prepare for the end. None of us knew what was happening there or what was going to happen with two laps to go. We must have had some fuel error issue because they’re going off our calculations and normally they are always spot on. So something must have been messed up today, which we were unaware of. (…) I’m proud of my team. They did a great job. We tried to recover as best as possible. We’ll have to take our top-five but unfortunately it was a day that maybe could have been better but we just didn’t realize it.”

“(It was an) up and down for us today in the Gallagher Chevy,” said McLaughlin. “We had a really fast car and probably a winning car. But things didn’t go our way on the strategy. I’ll back my guys to the tilt. I think we chose the right strategy. It was just an awkward time and we couldn’t make up for what we lost. It is what it is. We win together and those together. We’ll push on. Another top-six finish so we’ll keep knocking them out. But it is a frustrating day when you think we sort of easily could have won that race.”

Rookie NTT INDYCAR Series racer Agustin Canapino, driver of the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, drove a strong weekend for his first event on the streets of Toronto. After qualifying 11th in highest starting position of his young IndyCar career, he matched his career-best finish from St. Petersburg and Texas in 12th.

“I’m really, really happy,” said Canapino. “It’s my first time here with the team. We did a really good race and were really strong. We maximized everything. We battled with the top teams all the time. (…) For our performance, I’m really happy and really grateful for the whole team.”

Chevrolet shifts gears back to oval competition, traveling to Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa for the 11th and 12th rounds of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series Season. The doubleheader weekend first kicks off with the Hy-Vee Homefront 250, which takes the green flag live on NBC at 3 p.m. ET Saturday for Race 1 of the weekend. The Hy-Vee One Step 250 also airs live on NBC at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. Additional radio coverage is available from INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 160.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:

Pos. Driver

5th Josef Newgarden

6th Scott McLaughlin

8th Pato O’Ward

10th Felix Rosenqvist

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“It was pretty big (the fuel save) at the end. Thank goodness I was trying to do a little more than we needed to in the final stint just to prepare for the end. None of us knew what was happening there or what was going to happen with two laps to go. We must have had some fuel error issue because they’re going off our calculations and normally they are always spot on. So something must have been messed up today, which we were unaware of. I feel terrible more than anything. I gave away a ton of positions and it was completely my fault. I just slid through the pit box. I’m more disappointed in myself for just giving away an opportunity today. I thought for sure we could have raced toward the podium with those other guys if we could have made it happen. Obviously, that would have meant more fuel save but we would have known what to do. I’m proud of my team. They did a great job. We tried to recover as best as possible. We’ll have to take our top-five but unfortunately it was a day that maybe could have been better but we just didn’t realize it.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“I was (surprised). Giving me a number… I could quite easily have just gotten the number and made it. We have to review all that. I’m not sure what happened there. It was good. The car was really good. The strategy was right. I just needed a much bigger number earlier. I had no idea we were going to run out (of fuel). If I didn’t get the numbers and attacked too hard too soon, it’s my fault. I was trying to put pressure on the two guys in front to run them out of fuel and probably not watching mine close enough.”

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

“It was a tough day for us. We just keep making the same mistakes that don’t help our races go forward. We need to look into what the issues have been and fix those because they’re obviously valuable points that we’re just throwing away. But Iowa is coming next, and we’re usually pretty strong there.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”It was a bit of a tough day for us. We were fighting tire degradation quite a bit. We kind of ended up on a strategy to save a bunch of fuel, and even with the fuel-save we were degging pretty hard. We lacked a bit of straight-line speed, which we’d done all weekend, but it seemed even worse in the race. We have to take a look at that and analyze it. The car didn’t have much pace, and I feel a top 10 was still pretty decent, but I’m not super stoked with the result.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”We got a good start, and then there was a track blockage in Turn 1. I kept the engine running, but by the time the safety car got there and got everyone cleared out of the way, we went a lap down. Then we were a lap down the whole day, trying to get our lap back, but it never came. You’re always subject to that kind of thing when you start in the back. From there, it was just a day of attrition, and we couldn’t really do anything. It’s unfortunate, and it feels like a lost weekend, for sure.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director, Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Overall a pretty disappointing day. It could have been a lot worse. The fueling issue on Pato’s car that we need to dig into to understand compromised his race. In the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, you need to be bulletproof, but you can’t change the past. All you can do is go from here. We are where we are, and we know we’ve got to be better. That’s what we’re going to focus on.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20. Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Unfortunately, too short of a day. I had a good start and was up alongside (Jack) Harvey. I am not really sure what happened as I haven’t yet reviewed the video, but I believe there was a penalty issued for avoidable contact. There were just a lot of cars in a very little amount of space and now we are leaving Toronto with nothing to show for our efforts. On to the doubleheader at Iowa.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“It’s been a tough year and to be in contention for somewhere around 8th, that would have been a really good result for us. Unfortunately, we just had that long pit stop. The guys do their best and we have really good stops, but we had some bad luck we couldn’t anticipate. We lost around 10 seconds and that was a bummer. I went all out afterward and gave it my all, we didn’t have much tire left at the end. Just a huge shoutout to my BITNILE.COM crew. We had a good car and the strategy was good. It was a tough one, but we definitely have some positives to take to the next race.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“We got caught up in that first-lap incident with just nowhere to go. A car in the wall spun in front of us and our teammate piled in behind us. It’s not his fault because he was in the same boat as I. Unfortunately when he got hit, he broke his gearbox so I couldn’t back up. That trapped us a lap down. We also had a completely crushed floor. We just really kind of maintained and survived today. To come home 17th today was the best we could have done.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“We had a really good start. Made good progress on the cars in front of us headed into Turn 1. There was unfortunately a crash on the exit of Turn 1 and just had nowhere to go. I came to a stop to avoid it and then got hit from behind. That damaged our gearbox and we weren’t able to get out of the gear we were in. Unfortunate ending. It was completely out of our control. I know a lot of cars were involved in that. Bittersweet. We had very good moments throughout the weekend where when we were able to get the car in the window, we were actually very quick. Sometimes within top-six pace. But we just struggled to get the car in the window the majority of the weekend. The speed is there when the car is in the window, but the big thing for us is just trying to have it like the other teams have. Onwards to Iowa. We know we’re consistently delivering when the car is there. We’re just trying to do our best to keep the car in the good window.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“I’m really, really happy. It’s my first time here with the team. We did a really good race and were really strong. We maximized everything. We battled with the top teams all the time. Honestly, a lot of teams having fuel (problems) was really, really crazy. But I’m really happy with P12 and really close to the top-10. For our performance, I’m really happy and really grateful for the whole team.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.