Category: NTT Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 21, 2022) – It was a very good time either to be powered by a Chevrolet engine or drive for Chip Ganassi Racing on the first day of PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Chevrolets propelled the three fastest qualifiers, led by Rinus VeeKay’s four-lap average speed of 233.655 mph in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet, while all five of Ganassi’s Honda-powered drivers ended up in the top 12 and will advance to the final two rounds of qualifying Sunday, including the Firestone Fast Six that determines the winner of the NTT P1 Award for pole.

“It’s a good start,” VeeKay said. “It shows we have a good car and confidence for tomorrow. We can definitely challenge for pole. I think Ganassi is definitely our biggest rival out there for challenging for pole.”

Positions 13 through 33 in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” were set during today’s qualifying, which was interrupted twice by rain and lightning for a total of two hours, 14 minutes and cut short by 60 minutes.

The second round of qualifying, for the 12 fastest drivers today, starts at 4 p.m. (ET) Sunday. The six fastest drivers from that round will advance to the Firestone Fast Six, which starts at 5:10 p.m., and turn another four-lap qualifying run for the NTT P1 Award and its $100,000 prize.

Live coverage of the last two rounds of qualifying starts at 4 p.m. (ET) on NBC, with the INDYCAR Radio Network also providing coverage.

Just under VeeKay on the Scoring Pylon were Arrow McLaren SP teammates Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist. O’Ward was second at 233.037 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, followed by Rosenqvist at 232.775 in the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

Reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou led a trio of Honda-powered Ganassi drivers in the next three spots. Palou ended up fourth at 232.774 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with 2013 “500” winner Tony Kanaan fifth at 232.625 in the No. 1 The American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Indy 500 rookie Jimmie Johnson was sixth at 232.398 in the No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

“It’s pretty awesome, and I’m just so thankful to be part of the group,” Johnson said about the Ganassi team performance. “Watching them prepare literally since they left here last year and continually thinking of this race, and it being a motto to win here before the championship. To be a part of it, to live it, to now be here experiencing it is really cool.”

Three-time Indy 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter was seventh with a four-lap average at 232.397 in the No. 33 Alzamend Neuro Chevrolet after topping the morning practice with a single lap of 234.410, the fastest trip around the 2.5-mile IMS oval since 1996. Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing was eighth at 232.275 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with “500” rookie Romain Grosjean leading Andretti Autosport in ninth at 232.201 in the No. 28 DHL Honda.

A trio of Indianapolis 500 winners rounded out the drivers to advance to the Round of 12 qualifying.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2008 “500” winner Scott Dixon was 10th at 232.151 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, followed by 2018 “500” winner and current NTT INDYCAR SERIES points leader Will Power in 11th at 231.842 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato ended up 12th at 231.708 in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda. Sato was forced to make a second attempt after his first run of 232.196 was disallowed after INDYCAR officials penalized Sato for qualifying interference and failure to follow instructions, affecting another competitor. While slowing on his cooldown lap after his first attempt, Sato was judged to have impeded the qualifying attempt of the next driver, Marco Andretti.

Rookie David Malukas just missed the cut to advance to Sunday, ending up 13th and just behind Dale Coyne Racing teammate Sato at 231.607 in the No. 18 HMD Honda.

While Chevy powered the first three drivers on the speed chart after qualifying, Honda struck back with a 7-5 edge among the top 12.

There was a common thread between VeeKay, O’Ward and Rosenqvist besides Bowtie engines. All three drew low numbers in the qualifying order Friday night and made their attempts in the first 15 minutes of qualifying, when the track temperature was just 85 degrees.

The air and track temperature continued to climb until the first rain arrived, dropping grip and speeds. By 12:30 p.m., 90 minutes into qualifying, the oval’s asphalt was 107 degrees.

A practice for the 12 remaining qualifiers will take place from 12:30-2 p.m. Sunday, with live coverage on Peacock Premium.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY THURSDAY PRACTICE RECAP
MAY 19, 2022

CHEVROLET-POWERED TEAMS AND DRIVERS MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME AS WEATHER CLEARS FOR TODAY’S PRACTICE FOR THE 106TH INDIANAPOLIS 500

• ALL 33 CARS INCLUDING THE 16 CHEVROLET-POWERED CARS POSTED A TOTAL OF 3,114 LAPS
• AS WINDS BEGAN TO PICKUP, DRIVERS NAVIGATED THE FAMED 2.5-MILE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY OVAL IN PREPARATION OF FAST FRIDAY
• BOOST LEVEL IS ADVANCED FROM 1.3 BAR TO 1.5 BAR FRIDAY FOR MORE HORSEPOWER AS THEY READY THEIR CARS FOR QUALIFYING ON SATURDAY

INDIANAPOLIS (May 19, 2022) – After torrential rain shut-down all on-track activities on Wednesday, Team Chevy drivers were greeted with sunshine and a slight breeze as they took to the track at noon TODAY. Today teams maximized the time in preparation of the boost increase tomorrow. Moving the boost from 1.3 bar to 1.5 bar will give drivers’ the extra horsepower needed to make a strong run for the pole of the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The six-hour session was without contact incidents. Of great interest throughout the afternoon was the NO-TOW laps. NO-TOW laps are critical as they simulate the single-car four-lap runs drivers make in qualifying to grab the best possible starting position.

The Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is scheduled to take the green flag Sunday, May 29th at 12:45 pm EDT.

TEAM CHEVY QUOTES

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 SHELL CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE:

“Hey, everyone. So we’re day three here at Speedway you get lost track of time. It was a good day as a qualifying day for us. We were working on a lot of different things to see how we can be faster this weekend. Keep working on everything with Team Chevy that keeps me positive for qualifying. Our Shell Rewards car is really fast. We need tp have a good weekend, we got to be fast. We need to get it up front for some points and start the race well. Make sure you tune in and cheer us on.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE:

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE INSULATORS CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING:

alright so we just missed the rain here’s we’ve got our full session and today was great because it’s, you know, with the week of practice you still need to get as much time on track as you can to get the car ready for the race. We really only did one trim run today. We wanted to kind of focus on our race car we started the day I think after the rain yesterday, we started the day a bit unsure of the rear end I think some of the rubber got washed away. And it was a bit a bit sketchy but we made some changes made it better and had a good race run at the end so everything’s looking good.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 McLAREN CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN SP:

“A really solid day for us today. We did a lot of race running and gathered a lot of data. Tomorrow is going to consist of all qualifying running on Fast Friday. I’m really happy with the car, so I’m excited to see what speeds we can achieve tomorrow and during qualifying. Once we’ve got qualifying done, we’ll be back to working on the race car to see if we can make it go even better before next Sunday’s race.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 6 McLAREN CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN SP:

“That was good! We tried a lot of things today. We made a lot of improvements in the car but there’s still a little way to go to be really good. I would definitely say it’s been a positive day. Tuesday was a bit more difficult as we thought we’d be stronger after the test, so we were a little bit disappointed, but now I feel like we have a decent race car. Now, we’ll focus on qualifying as we head into the weekend and see what it brings. The forecast doesn’t look great for Saturday, and it’s going to be windy, so that could make it difficult.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 VUSE McLAREN CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP:

“A pretty solid day for Arrow McLaren SP, we learned a lot. It was a bit up and down with how the car felt, on one run we were superstars, then the next we were scratching our heads a bit. This place is always tricky, so we just have to be calm, look at what we’ve learned as a team across the three cars, and nail it for race day.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 11 HOME FOR OUR TROOPS CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING:

“We got through a lot today, conditions were hot for most of the day cooled off towards the end. You know, I think the positives for sure, just all the cars, including stuff we’ll send in the Dragon Speed cars, you know, everybody’s contributing and, we’re all kind of dealing with the same stuff out there. So, I think as long as everybody’s converging, if we’ve all got the same problem, that at least gives us some confidence that we can address what we need to address. We ended up kind of figuring a few things out towards the end of the day. And going into tomorrow, the game plan definitely changes. You will still be working on the handling characteristics of the car, carrying over, we have some the expectation that some of the things that we’re working on today will still remain to be things that we’ll work on as we head towards qualifying but get the extra boost, you know, it’ll be eight or 10 miles an hour or something once we once we really trim out and get with it. So excited to see what the majority of Chevy has in it when we roll out tomorrow and always fun to start working on qualifying at Speedway.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE:

“Yeah pretty, pretty good day. Just doing qualifying simulations obviously at the lower power level. Everything’s going to be more difficult tomorrow. When the boost gets turned up. Quite a bit more horsepower so we will be heading into the corner 10 mph faster. It’s going to be more windy and hotter. So definitely going to be tough, but I think we found a good place to start.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING:

“So it seems that everything’s going quite well at the moment. It seems like it’s a pretty even match right now between Honda and Chevy. Which looking I guess from the outside view, it seems like Chevy’s made a pretty big step. Not only this weekend but the entire year. And I’m curious to see what’s going to happen tomorrow. We think there’s kind of a confidence and a good aura around everyone that has Chevy power, and we’re expecting big things from them.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING:

“Track conditions seemed to make it quite difficult, but overall I don’t think it was a bad day for us! We really started to focus on getting ready for qualifying. We were doing a lot of single car running and no-tow speeds seemed to be quite good. That’s what we’re focused on, qualifying is of maximum importance and I really want to qualify well this year. We focused a lot on that this afternoon, which is good.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN RACING TEAM WITH BITNILE CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING:

“Today was a good day. It was dry! The car felt really good in qualifying trim, and then in race trim we felt very good too. Overall a solid day! We made improvements and I have a good feeling heading into Fast Friday!”

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 23 PALERMO’S CHEVROLET, DRYER & REINBOLD RACING:

“It was a little bit of any up and down day for us,” said Ferrucci, whose team announced an additional partner Thursday with the famed Barrett-Jackson organization joining the No. 23 car. “We got some qualifying running early in the session and we got an idea for the direction for the car. The race car setup felt pretty good, and we are happy there. We’ll see what happens on ‘Fast Friday’ and it’s supposed to be windy. So, we’ll see how things go throughout the day.”

SAGE KAREM, NO. 24 AES INDIANA CHEVROLET, DRYER & REINBOLD RACING:

“Day 3 in the books at IMS and we did a mostly qualifying stuff throughout the day,” said Karam, who won the “Hard Charger Award” in the 2021 Indy 500 by passing 24 cars for a seventh-place finish. “We worked through many different trim levels, and I think we were pretty decent on the ‘no-tow’ speeds. The car felt pretty good. Santino also worked more on the race trim settings, and I worked on more qualifying trim. We plan to do a little more setups, but the forecast is pretty gusty with the winds. We’ll have to wait and see what the weather brings.”

STEFAN WILSON, NO. 25 DRAGONSPEED/CUSICK CHEVROLET, DRAGONSPEED/CUSICK MOTORSPORTS:

“ Trying day for the #25 crew, we worked through a lot of changes, some positive and some negative, and we have a lot of information now to come up with a strategy and plan for the next time we go on track for traffic running. Now we’ll switch our focus to Qualifying running and Fast Friday!”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 33 ALZAMEND NEURO CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING:

“We started out race running and we weren’t as good as the other day at the start, but we just didn’t kind of have the balance quite dialed in yet. We made good improvements in race running from where we were a couple days ago. Then we started prepping for qual sims to make sure we have a good balance in the configurations that we plan on running tomorrow once Chevrolet really turns loose all that horsepower! I’m looking forward to that.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 DYNAMIC EDGE CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING:

“It was a pretty long day. We hoped for quite a lot of single-car running and focused on our qualifying stuff. Toward the end of the day we did some pack-running. So we tried to get the best of both worlds. There are a few things to improve on and we’re slowly getting there and increasing the speed every run. We’re just chipping away. It does seem like a long week but it does close up pretty quickly, especially with the rain yesterday. Overall it was a good day. We’re getting there. I’m happy and looking forward to tomorrow. It’s going to be a bit windy and everything gets turned up a bit tomorrow. Hopefully we can do a good job in this Juncos Hollinger car.”

Kyle Kirkwood
Ed Carpenter
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Wrapping up what is technically practice for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 coming up a week from Sunday. We’ll be joined by Kyle Kirkwood and Jimmie Johnson momentarily, but leading us off, the driver of the No. 33 Alzamend Neuro, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. Ed Carpenter, who was tenth quick, third quick on the no-tow right behind Will Power and his teammate Rinus VeeKay also first and second on the no-tow.

So five and a half hours of green flag time, over 3,100 laps turned today. Did you get what you wanted to get done today?

ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I think we did a little bit of everything, so yeah, we started the day off doing some race running with the change from where we were the other day, first day I guess it was.

So it took us a little bit to kind of rebalance that change. In the end I think it was better, but we weren’t super happy in the first part of the day, then we wanted to shift gears and start getting some of our configurations and balances ready for tomorrow when we start going fast.

It’s one of those weird ones like I kind of would have liked to have done what Ganassi did and just do race running all day long, but we also have gone into Fast Friday not in a great head space for qualifying before, and kind of gotten confused once the boost is turned up. We wanted to go into tomorrow feeling pretty good about our balance at different trim configurations.

I think we accomplished all that, and then finished off race running again at the end of the day, and felt right nice.

THE MODERATOR: Did you go out and do any qual sims at all? We saw some of that.

ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I did two complete ones. Feel like we’re in a decent spot. But again, a lot of people haven’t shown their hand just yet. I don’t think Ganassi has really shown anything — there’s someone else, McLaren I don’t think did any Q sims either today. So there’s some big hitters that still are concealing what they can do.

THE MODERATOR: Also joined by the driver of the No. 14 Rocket AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Kyle Kirkwood. Kyle, welcome. Tell us about your day today.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, it was pretty good. I think we just got done in the nick of time. It’s starting to downpour out there coming back over here. I’m happy with the way the day went. AJ Foyt Racing seems to be doing pretty decent the past couple days, so I’m happy with the performance so far.

THE MODERATOR: 19th quick today for Kyle Kirkwood, the rookie again, driving the No. 14 for AJ Foyt.

Q. Ed, why the shift in philosophy? I know you’ve been 19 straight years here. Was it too good to balance or was it monkey see, monkey do?

ED CARPENTER: No, it was our plan coming into the day. I think anytime you lose a whole day to rain you’ve got to modify the plan a little bit. I didn’t do — all we do on opening day was race running. Didn’t even think about any trimming.

The car changes a fair amount of times when they give us all the qualifying power that we’ll have tomorrow, so I think it’s important to at least have an established kind of qualifying baseline balance going into that just so then the only thing we’re dealing with tomorrow is a whole lot more horsepower.

Q. How does the car feel in qual sims? Do you feel like the cars are more even this year?

ED CARPENTER: Who knows. We haven’t seen the boost up yet, so it’s hard to know what we’re going to have. These guys haven’t shown anything yet. Things will become more clear tomorrow night.

Q. Probably for Ed since he’s a team owner and the veteran up there.

ED CARPENTER: Veteran at what? (Laughter.)

Q. Driving at Indianapolis. Ed, how much of a track position race has this become, and how much does that beat what you did on qualifying setups today?

ED CARPENTER: I mean, it can be. At the same time, I was at the front last year and stalled it on the first pit stop and went back and we found our way back to the front.

A lot of it just depends on the day that you have. If we have a 90-degree type of weather day it makes the track position probably more important than a racetrack like we had last year that I don’t even know if it got to 70 degrees.

It can be, but it’s a 500-mile race. A lot can happen. You can do a lot with strategy. There’s a lot of ways to find your way to the front.

From experience, it definitely can set you up for an easier 500 miles if you can get the track position and keep it. There’s no doubt about that.

Q. How is the Chevrolet package playing out so far? Have you seen a big improvement on the road courses? How will that translate to Indy?

ED CARPENTER: So far, so good. I think Chevrolet has been a great partner for us, and all the years I’ve been here with them, I never felt like we didn’t have a chance to win this race. It’s always been a good fight with Chevrolet and Honda.

I think they’ve worked really hard this past off-season and came into this season prepared.

Like I said earlier, I think it’s kind of a toss-up in race trim. It’s hard to really tell if anyone really has an advantage one way or the other, and by tomorrow night I think we’ll maybe have a little bit of an idea if one manufacturer has the upper hand for qualifying or not, but it seems tight.

Q. Kyle, you’re used to much shorter races in both of your careers, and obviously this one is a lot longer. How are you approaching the mental aspect, making sure that you’re ready?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, for me, like you said, it’s a really long two weeks. It feels like we’ve been here forever already, and it’s only been three days, and we missed one day. It’s just not trying to get ahead of yourself. I’m trying to take things as slow as possible.

Usually you go into a race week and you get two practice sessions and then you’re straight into the race and you’ve got to attack right off the bat, and this year has been tracks that I haven’t been to and I’ve had to attack early on.

This one I’ve had to take a massive step back and kind of just rethink the entire philosophy of the two weeks going into a weekend.

Yeah, it’s quite a bit different, but I think everything is going pretty well at the moment. We’ve got a lot of race running in. We did a couple qually sims early on this afternoon. Yeah, I think it’s going well so far.

Q. How did the day yesterday change and affect the program in terms of what becomes more important for the rest of the week?

ED CARPENTER: I mean, it just condenses the plan. We still have to get the same amount of work done. You can see that everyone kind of has a different approach to how they’re managing the work.

I think like our team and Andretti probably had more philosophy today than what the Ganassi cars had, a little bit different philosophy. But it’s the same for everybody. It would be worse if you lost today and other people were on track, but the fact that nobody ran, I think it just condenses all the work we need to do.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, I tend to agree with what you just said there. We’re just keeping it simple. We kind of planned for the weather to ruin one day, so we got through all our big test items the first day, which was really good.

There is no hiccups there, so glad that happened. Today we got through the test items we needed to, so we’ve actually kind of made up for the lost time.

Q. Ed, you and both your teammates were pretty high up on a non-tow stint. Just wondering, is there a reason for that? What goes into being good at that?

ED CARPENTER: Well, I mean, we all three did qualifying simulations, so not everyone did that today. It seems like we have some decent speed. But again, there’s a lot of good cars that didn’t do any qualifying simulations today.

It doesn’t quite mean anything until tomorrow. That’s what I was talking about earlier. We just wanted to do it and get a good baseline and balance for the configurations we plan on running tomorrow with the boost.

Q. You and Connor have obviously been doing this a little longer than Rinus. What kind of advice have you had for him?

ED CARPENTER: Rinus doesn’t need much advice anymore. He figured this place out quick. I think more so than anyplace we go, I think he got comfortable in the way he drives and the feel that he has.

It really suits him well here. He pulls his weight for sure, and I’ll still give him some things, like going into Turn 1 today on a cool-down lap or Turn 3 and send it like four wide around the top, and I’m like, hey, dude, they’ve got warm-up lanes, let’s use them. No big deal.

So stuff like that. But the hard part he has figured out.

Q. Changes in qualifying procedures this year, to get full you guys have to make three runs at it instead of two. I think probably back when you started, might have only had to do one. I can’t quite remember. But any thoughts on having to make like three runs just right there on the ragged edge of things to try and go for full? Do you enjoy being able to do that one more time or do you wish it was back at two?

ED CARPENTER: Yeah, it’s a good question. I do love qualifying here, but I don’t know that I love doing two runs within 30 minutes. It’s kind of nice to do one and then recharge the batteries a little bit because it is stressful and draining even though it’s four laps.

But it’s the same for everyone. It’ll be interesting for sure. The only times that I’ve had to kind of do multiple runs is usually when we’re having a bit of a struggle and you’ve got to go try to find some more time.

Yeah, it’s going to be interesting. I’ve thought about it a lot trying to figure out exactly what it’s going to be like, but it’ll really, I guess, largely depend on, one, getting into the Fast 12, and then from there what the conditions are and what the balance of the car is will determine how stressful the second run is.

Q. Do you feel like the procedure that INDYCAR has put in place with — I think there’s a couple laps, I don’t know if you recall them, maybe a warm-up lap that —

ED CARPENTER: The gladiator laps you’re talking about.

Q. Yeah, exactly. You feel like that will do enough to even things out for the guy that finished 12th on Saturday that’s able to get into the Fast Six a half hour or so ahead of the guys —

ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I think that’s going to work out pretty well. I simulated that today, too, just to kind of see what it was going to be like. Yeah, I think that’ll be a good procedure.

Q. For the rookies, you now are going to have the boost go up and you’re going to go a lot faster going into Turn 1 tomorrow. What are the thoughts going into tomorrow knowing you’re going to probably be pushing 240 going into Turn 1?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: For me it’s a little bit intimidating going from qually sim and pulling out the downforce out and feeling how light the car is there. It’s kind of like you don’t really want to turn the wheel because you’re just unsure what the car is going to do, and adding another 10 or 15 miles per hour to it is going to be less than comfortable, I would have to say.

From the people that I’ve talked to they all say it’s not that big of a step. It actually feels better because you get the runs out of the corners and it’s not like you lose tons of grip due to the speed. I guess I’ll let you know after I go through Turn 1 the first time with more power.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, the number one thing he said to me just trust instincts when you go out there. If something doesn’t feel right just stop, because there was a moment where we missed it on aero and ended up with a wrong rear wing and I went out and did one lap at 185. I was like something doesn’t feel right. I remember he said that. Came in and we realized we were two degrees off on the rear wing, so was one thing.

Q. We had the rain yesterday that washed the entire track clean. How similar did the track today feel compared to Tuesday?

ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I agree. I thought it was different. I don’t know if I would say there was less grip, but I thought there was a bit of a balance shift, which happens around here, whether track temps, wind, whatever it may be. Just something you learn to not freak out about and adapt to.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, for me it was — I didn’t really notice much because we went with a completely different car, but talking to J.R. who was running the same car I switched to, he said, yeah, it seemed a bit freer to start off the morning.

Q. We have a bit of drizzle coming on right now. Does that give you all any apprehension that some of the rubber laid down today might get washed off and it might be a bit more greener than you were hoping?

ED CARPENTER: I don’t think so. For me I think back to the open test, the track came in really quick, and it had been sitting for a long, long time. Having 33 cars here, it’ll come back to life pretty quickly. It’s more just adapting to what the day brings.

It’s going to be — I think the big topic tomorrow is going to be wind. Looks like the wind is going to be pretty strong, so I think that’ll be the dominant difference for tomorrow.

Q. Romain said this morning, I’m not quoting him directly, but he said something about when you have a moment out there, butt puckering and things like that; have you been guys experienced any of that as first timers here? How does it feel?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, I had a couple out there. There was one that I got loose right in the middle of 1. Did like one solid tank slap, and after that it took me a few laps to have the confidence to hold it flat again, and then multiple situations where you get a little bit high in someone’s aero wash and you just end up right in the middle of their wake and you can’t get out it. You just out of the throttle and you feel like the car is never going to turn.

It’s like the onboard videos do not give it any justice because you start turning the wheel, and then all of a sudden us just don’t turn anymore. You get to about 25 degrees of steering input. After that you’re just past the slip angle. The car is just not going to turn anymore. It’s a very scary moment when you get past that moment and you’re just understeering looking at the wall and that’s coming at you at 220 miles per hour.

Q. Does it take your breath away?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: A little bit, yeah. It makes your heart drop for a moment but you get back on the horse and keep digging.

Q. Ed, do you remember any in your first moments?

ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I mean, it still happens. If you’re pushing and going hard here and pushing the limits of it, you’re always going to have that. I think having more experience and having different things happen, yeah.

But for sure you learn quickly, like Kyle said earlier, to trust your instincts. This isn’t the type of place that you push through for very long until it comes race time. But yeah, too many to count.

Q. Can you explain to us what butt puckering is to English dudes because that’s a new one.

ED CARPENTER: It keeps you from shitting your pants.

Q. Ed, just based on your experience here at the speedway, how much of a problem is the wind likely to be, and is it likely to reduce your run tomorrow or what kind of impact will it have?

ED CARPENTER: No, we’ll run in it. I’ve always been of the mind that you need to run in whatever conditions you get because we don’t know what exactly we’ll have next Sunday, so you need to be prepared for it. I think the direction of the wind makes a big difference here, and gustiness can change things and make you feel different things than you feel on a calm day. It’s just something you have to be cognizant of and aware of as you’re preparing your car.

Q. Ed, what do you think about Connor’s hot tub prank?

ED CARPENTER: I thought whoever did it, it was a brilliant idea. Exactly parents that has kids, it’s not — first off, you get a cereal bowl of those things and they end up all over your house.

Q. You know a lot about this.

ED CARPENTER: I do, but it wasn’t me. He knows it wasn’t me.

ABOUT CHEVROLET

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. 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 (Thursday, May 19, 2022) – Jordan Fisher, whose accomplishments and accolades span from television to music, Broadway and film, will perform the national anthem before the start of the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Fisher is an actor, producer and musician. He was the first African American to portray the title character of Evan in Broadway’s “Dear Evan Hansen” and Mark in Fox’s Emmy-nominated “Rent Live.” Named a breakout star in Fox’s Emmy-winning broadcast “Grease Live!”, Fisher also starred in Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and “Work It,” and the CW’s “The Flash.”

In addition to a duet collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda on Disney’s “Moana” soundtrack, Fisher joined the cast of the Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton.” He also won ABC’s 25th season of “Dancing with the Stars” with his partner Lindsay Arnold in 2017. He subsequently hosted “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors” in 2018.

“The national anthem is a signature pre-race moment, and Jordan is ready to welcome fans back to Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a memorable and emotional performance at the Racing Capital of the World,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “This year’s pre-race show will be fantastic, and I know our fans at the track and everyone watching on NBC will be thrilled with the excitement, tradition and pageantry on display as we await the green flag.”

Beyond his accomplishments as a performer, Fisher is an advocate for youth in foster care, continually partnering with nonprofits. He started “Be My Friend” to support dependable communities that build up those in need. Fisher is also an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch (@jordanfisher).

Follow Fisher on Facebook @JordanFisherOfficial, on Twitter @jordanfisher, on Instagram @jordanfisher and on youtube.com/jordanfisher. For more information, visit www.jordanfisherofficial.com.

NBC’s live coverage of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge starts at 11 a.m. (ET) Sunday, May 29.

Visit ims.com to purchase tickets for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 29 and for more information on the complete Month of May schedule at IMS.

Racing Legend Johnson Third in First Day of Practice for Indy 500 Debut

INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, May 17, 2022) – Takuma Sato ripped off a lap of 228.939 mph in the final five minutes Tuesday to lead the opening day of practice for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Sato used the benefit of an aerodynamic tow on the 2.5-mile oval to lead the speed charts by more than 1 mph in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon was second at 227.768 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, leading four Chip Ganassi Racing drivers in the top six.

“We had a big tow,” Sato said. “In Happy Hour, if you have new tires, I think you can do that. I’m pretty happy today.

“To be honest, this morning wasn’t as smooth as we wished. We had to go back to the garage and check up on lots of things because there was something we were not very happy with. But in the end, in the afternoon we quickly turned on good speed. I’m very happy with the 51 car. Dale Coyne Racing did a good job.”

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson opened preparations for his first start in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” by ending up third at 227.722 in the No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Johnson was an NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie last season but only competed on road and street courses. He made his INDYCAR oval debut March 20 at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We have a really good race car,” Johnson said. “It’s just trying to work through extremes for me. What is a low trim setting? What’s a high trim setting? What’s mechanically tight? What’s mechanically free? Just trying to work through some of those big-picture things.

“All in all, a really good day. I feel like where we ended in this session gives me a lot of confidence for working forward.”

Marcus Ericsson was fourth at 227.094 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing, with Rinus VeeKay rounding out the top five at 226.995 in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet.

Reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou completed the Chip Ganassi Racing domination of the top of the speed chart, ending up sixth at 226.973 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Veteran practice was divided into two sessions, with two hours of running in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. Dixon was fastest this morning at 227.119.

VeeKay was the fastest driver without an aerodynamic tow, with a top solo lap of 221.551 mph. Ed Carpenter was second on the no-tow list at 220.869 in the No. 33 Alzamend Neuro Chevrolet, with Johnson third at 220.724.

Thirty-three drivers combined to turn 3,229 incident-free laps under sunny skies during the two veteran practice sessions today. Veteran Stefan Wilson completed his refresher test during a midday session in the No. 25 DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet and then participated briefly in the afternoon open practice session.

Dalton Kellett turned 149 laps in the No. 4 K-LINE AJ FOYT RACING Chevrolet, more than any other driver.

Practice resumes from noon-6 p.m. (ET) Wednesday (live on Peacock Premium), with PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying this Saturday and Sunday. The 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is scheduled for Sunday, May 29.

Indianapolis, Ind. (17 May 2022) – Opening day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Indy 500 Practice was greeted with crystal clear blue skies and warm temperatures. Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) completed the two-session practice day with Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves finishing out the day 13th and 22nd fastest.

Helio Castroneves, No. 06 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda:

Top Speed: 224.928 mph

No Tow Speed: –

Total Laps: 131

It’s been nearly 365 days since Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) and Helio Castroneves clinched the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500. In record-tying fashion, Castroneves claimed his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory last year. Today, the hunt for his fifth win officially began with opening day of Indy 500 practice getting under way.

The focus of the first session of the day, set aside for Indy 500 veterans only, was to check all of the boxes early on after putting the No. 06 back on the 2.5-mile speedway after an unfortunate incident during testing last month. Castroneves completed 33 laps to set up the No. 06 Indy Car ahead of the afternoon session.

Immediately, group running began as Castroneves utilized pack running to test out the No. 06 Honda in traffic. Castroneves finished out the day with the most laps completed – 131 – as he heads into the second day of practice on Wednesday.

“Today was a good start to the week,” said Castroneves. “We focused on eliminating the issues that we had during the test. We had a little accident during the test, so we wanted to make sure that all of the new pieces were working just fine, which they were. And then we went on to our normal program – running in a pack and in traffic, we tried a bunch of things today. We just keep checking all of the boxes so that we can keep moving forward tomorrow.”

Simon Pagenaud, No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda:

Top Speed: 225.897 mph

No Tow Speed: 215.066 mph

Total Laps: 110

Coming off of a thrilling second place finish at the GMR Grand Prix just three days ago, Pagenaud was eager to turn the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda over to its speedway set up and begin testing for the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The 2019 Indy 500 winner headed into the month fully set on clinching his second 500 mile victory.

Similarly to Castroneves, Pagenaud focused on setting up a baseline during the two-hour morning session, completing just 15 laps ahead of the afternoon session. The final three hours saw Pagenaud run several long runs in traffic. With rain anticipated for Wednesday, Pagenaud was pleased with the early progress following his 110 laps on track on Tuesday.

“I think it was a super satisfying day today,” said Pagenaud. “I feel very comfortable in the car. We got some good ones in at the end, managed to get in full stints already on day one. I’m overall really happy with the car. We obviously still have some more tuning to do for race day, but it’s an extremely good first day, so I’m excited. We obviously have some weather coming this week, so this work today was very important going forward. I’m super excited and the team’s doing great. Magnificent vibe here, and we’ll see what we can do in the next few days.”

Eight ‘500’ Winners To Compete in ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ May 29

INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, May 16, 2022) – Eight winners are among the field of 33 drivers assigned to cars for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Helio Castroneves’ quest to become the first five-time winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” taking center stage during the Month of May.

Four-time winner Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021), two-time winners Juan Pablo Montoya (2000, 2015) and Takuma Sato (2017, 2020), plus single winners Scott Dixon (2008), Tony Kanaan (2013), Alexander Rossi (2016), Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019) are the past winners aiming for another victory this year. The record for winners in one field is 10, set in 1992.

Castroneves joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears in the most prestigious club in motorsports – four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 – with his emotional victory May 30, 2021 in the No. 06 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing. Castroneves, 47, remains with Meyer Shank this season for his drive for five and would become the third-oldest winner in Indianapolis 500 history – behind Al Unser and Bobby Unser – with a victory this year.

Brazilian native Castroneves also is trying to become the first repeat winner since he achieved the feat with his first two victories, in 2001 and 2002. BorgWarner is offering a $400,000 bonus this year to Castroneves if he can achieve back-to-back victories.

The field includes seven past INDYCAR SERIES champions: Dixon, Kanaan, Montoya, Josef Newgarden, reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou, Pagenaud and Power.

Seven drivers also will compete for Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge Rookie of the Year honors, the biggest rookie crop since 2014, when there also were seven first-time starters. This year’s group includes the high-profile debuts of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Formula One veteran Romain Grosjean and also includes Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas.

Andretti Autosport and Chip Ganassi Racing each have entered five cars, the most of any team.

Practice opens Tuesday, May 17 and runs through Friday, May 20. PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22, followed by a two-hour practice Monday, May 23. The traditional final practice, two hours again this year on Miller Lite Carb Day, will be held Friday, May 27.

Live Race Day coverage begins on NBC, Telemundo Deportes on Universo and the INDYCAR Radio Network at 11 a.m. (ET), with the green flag set for 12:45 p.m.

2022 ENTRY BREAKDOWN:

Winners (8): Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato

Rookies (7): Devlin DeFrancesco, Romain Grosjean, Callum Ilott, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, David Malukas

U.S. drivers (13): Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, Conor Daly, Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta, JR Hildebrand, Jimmie Johnson, Sage Karam, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi

International drivers (20, from 14 countries): Helio Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Jack Harvey, Callum Ilott, Tony Kanaan, Dalton Kellett, Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay, Stefan Wilson

Engines (33): Honda 17, Chevrolet 16 (all cars use Dallara chassis and Firestone tires)

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GMR GRAND PRIX
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE RECAP
MAY 14, 2022

Power Grabs Points Lead After Crazy Day at Indianapolis
Team Penske driver leads Team Chevy with third at GMR Grand Prix

INDIANAPOLIS (May 14, 2022) – Team Penske’s Will Power may not have turned his Friday pole position into a victory, but his third-place finish in Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix moved the driver of the No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet into the championship lead of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES heading into the Indianapolis 500.

Power was the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver in a wild, wet and wacky rain-shortened race around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The event ran 75 of the scheduled 85 laps and featured eight full-course caution periods.

Power led a group of four Team Chevy drivers to finish in the top-10 Saturday:

· Fifth: Conor Daly, No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing
· Sixth: Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 McLaren Vuse Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren SP
· Eighth: Callum Ilott, No. 77 Dynamic Edge Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger Racing

Colton Herta (Honda) was the race winner.

The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 29.

TEAM CHEVY QUOTES

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE – FINISHED THIRD: “Cars were dropping like flies! It was such a hard choice on whether to get the slicks, which could have been the best strategy out there – or go for the wets. It’s so crazy, this place. When you look around, it can be completely raining on the frontstretch and you go around to the back and it’s completely dry. It was really anyone’s guess at what was going to happen. We got to the point where it was too wet, we were going to get caught out and we needed to take wets.”

MORE ON TIRE CHOICES: “This is an Indianapolis-type day! I’ve had races here where we’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to rain, and it just doesn’t rain. The cell just stops there. There must be some kind of vortex in the Speedway here that just doesn’t allow weather!”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING – FINISHED FIFTH: “I truly don’t think I’ve ever been through anything like that! It was raining, then it was sunny, then it was raining again and then you couldn’t see anything! Once we got off the wet tires at the start and onto the reds, we lost so much grip. It felt like something got on the tire, it was like they had gone off immediately. As soon as we put on the next set of reds, we were flying again. I didn’t forget how to drive in the first stint and remember in the second, it was so weird! I really wanted a trophy from here, but this is a great way to start the month. We wanted to rebound here, we knew we had a fast car, had a great qualifying, we executed all weekend, which is exactly what we wanted.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 McLAREN VUSE CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP – FINISHED SIXTH: “That race had so many swings. We had a perfect race at the beginning. We went one lap longer than Herta and Pato, so we were in the best fuel and tire situation. Everything looked really good but then on the restart, there was contract in front of me and I couldn’t avoid it. Pato was able to keep going but I stalled. Then we were a lap behind but we were able to get that back. Finally, on the last stint, we nailed the stint and we went from 18th to 6th in the course of about ten laps. That was great. Overall, a solid day and great effort by everyone at Arrow McLaren SP.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 DYNAMIC EDGE CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING – FINISHED EIGHTH: “It’s our best finish so far this year. It was a bit of an up-and-down race. We had to find our feet a little bit at the beginning. I managed to start making way through and had some good running in the mixed conditions. We were kind of a bit late on one of the calls to box for wets. We dropped a couple of places but managed to make a couple back. I couldn’t see anything at the end. It was more about survival and hanging on at that point. There was so much water and spray everywhere. For the team, for Juncos Holinger, Chevy and our single-car team, a top-eight result is a big reward in this race. What an amazing result. Let’s try and get some more.”

TATIANA CALDERON, NO. 11 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING – FINISHED 15TH:

” “It was pretty crazy with the rain. It stopped and then it stopped and then it rained at the end. The team did a great job on the pitstops. We had the right strategy and made the right decisions. I’m very thankful for that. Unfortunately on the last restart, we got hit from behind so I think we could have finished a little higher up. Nevertheless, I’m happy I’m fighting people and making some overtakes. I had a lot of fun.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 McLAREN VUSE CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP – FINISHED 19TH: “Today was probably the craziest race I have been in in IndyCar. I feel like the team deserved so much more today. I really, really do. Nobody was quicker than us with rain tires and we were really strong in the dry as well. We put ourselves in a position to challenge for the win after spinning but we made a gamble and didn’t make the right tire choice. Mother nature brought more rain and made it impossible to drive on slick tires. That’s how racing goes sometimes. It was a fun and entertaining race but the outcome was disappointing.”

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 SNAP-ON CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE – FINISHED 20TH:

“We were just on slick tires at the wrong time. Pretty gutted for everyone on the Snap-on car, we came from 11th, showed some pace and led some laps. I felt like we were in position, but its Indianapolis, it’s the month of May and have to expect everything. We’ll keep working as a team and we’ll press on.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BUILDING TOMORROW CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING – FINISHED 23RD:“Not the result we needed! The start was the first time ever in the rain with an Indy car for me, second ever car race in the rain. It started out pretty well, we got a few spots at the start. Then we had a great pit stop and got a few more people. On the slicks, it was pretty good and I was very happy. Then people got to shoving each other a lot, into the grass, which I was a victim of a few times. One time I got all the way off and got hit, which broke the undertray of my car. We basically finished the race just to finish and get what points we could. It was a bummer, I think we could have really challenged, every call we made on the radio was the right call. I think we could have really powered to the front, but, on to the next one!”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 6 ARROW McLAREN SP CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP – FINISHED 24TH: “Despite the result, it was a really good day for the No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP team. I told them we had a really good car and that I hadn’t used it well all weekend because I have just been behind the car. The extra laps during the race, I started to get more comfortable and started passing people. I was much more comfortable than last year. My engineers have done a really good job with the car. I’m really encouraged for the Indy 500. It’s a shame that at the end, I couldn’t really see anything. The aeroscreen was all fogged up and I couldn’t see. Overall, it was a good race and we should have had a good result.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE – FINISHED 25TH:

“Tough day on the No. 2. Got cleared out on the first lap and felt like we were fighting an issue pretty much the whole race. It was a very up and down day. The race went from rain to slick to back to rains. It was a long day and ended up getting in a scuffle with a couple more cars and got turned around which just made the day even longer. Really proud of our team and PPG for our they do for us.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING – FINISHED 26TH: “Unfortunately we ended the INDY GP a too early. I think we finished 53 of the 85 laps we were supposed to run. We had quite a good race up until that point. The weather went the opposite direction of what our strategy was. We were running second there and went off strategy there and then put on the wrong set of tires too early and unfortunately that didn’t work out for us. Then when it cycled back and we lost a lap or maybe two and then got hit hard by another competitor and that ended it up for us. Indy 500 is next.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE INSULATORS CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING – FINISHED 27TH: “We had contact that ended our race a little early, which is too bad. We had a good race going. We weren’t really where we wanted to be in terms of qualifying and pace, so it was good to see that we were able to race well and be up there. We could make some moves and be in a better spot than where we started out. I’m happy with that, at least. Obviously we wanted to complete the race and get a good finish. There are some good positives to take from this and bank those for the next road-course race at Road America after Detroit. Now we’re on to oval mode. I’m looking forward to being back here in a couple of days and get in our Indy 500 car.”

WILL POWER

PRESS CONFERENCE

THE MODERATOR: I asked Conor, where do you begin with a day like this? But where do you begin? It was a crazy day for everyone.For Will. Yeah, go ahead.

WILL POWER: At the end there, man, you could not see a thing. There was a spray in front of me. I don’t know how it was behind the one car, but just the two car, I couldn’t imagine being back in tenth, man.

You don’t know if someone is braking early or you are kind of looking to the fence to get a reference, you kind of lift early. You don’t want to lift too early because no one can see from behind.

Yeah, pretty crazy day. One to stay on your toes and know when to pick the right tire and definitely not overdo it. Yeah, real happy with third with a day like that. Just survival.

THE MODERATOR: Good points today. It’s not about points, but it kind of is at the end of the day.

WILL POWER: Yeah, it is, and those sort of days you’re thinking points when you see Palou out and you see Newgarden out and a couple of the main contenders that you are going to be fighting. You start thinking a little bit that way, yeah.

WILL POWER: I’m not having issues with the spark plugs and brakes, and what else went wrong? The car is not starting. They were pretty good results right there. (Laughing).

THE MODERATOR: We’ll see what happens when you leave the team.

WILL POWER: Just changed my whole mentality.

WILL POWER: It’s good because I’m kind of the lone guy. I’m the older guy, and you have the two young blokes, good mates. I’m just getting the work done. Actually, it’s been a good thing from me. I put my head down and do the work.

WILL POWER: Not screwing around with Josef in the office. It’s working out good.

THE MODERATOR: I’m glad you guys are friends. (Laughing).

Q. Elaborate a little bit on the Aeroscreen. Conor said the thing that surprised him was the water seemed to kind of pool right in the middle of the vision, and he said he thought that at speed it would have blown away, but it didn’t. What were some of the surprises you saw in the first rain test of the Aeroscreen?

WILL POWER: Actually, I didn’t have much problem with the rain. The worst part for me was when it was half wet. We’re on drys, and you have kind of that gritty just dirt on top of water. That was when I struggled to see a little bit, but in the full wet, I mean, the biggest problem for me was the spray from the cars.

There’s really nothing can you do about that with open-wheel cars. It’s just going to be a lot of spray. Honestly, it was on the edge of whether we should have been running right at the end there. It was starting to get a bit of aquaplane.

WILL POWER: Did you have any moments going around?

WILL POWER: 12, man, going around that one. It was wide open. Just like suddenly —

WILL POWER: I was lifting, and it still was doing a bit of that. I was like, oof, probably should go red here.

Q. For both of you guys real quick, did you get less wet in the cockpit because of the Aeroscreen, or do you feel as wet as you have ever been in a rain race?

WILL POWER: You have less for sure. At the end when it was really raining, you started to get some dribbles in, but not terrible. I really got nothing on my visor. A lot less wet, yeah.

Q. For both. We’re coming off the Barber race where I think it was the record or one near record podium age. Now we have two veterans on the podium here. Was the rain part of that, or is it just the track, your prowess here? What was the key to you guys on the podium?

WILL POWER: I would say experience definitely counts in these races to not get caught out or put yourself in a bad situation, so yeah, it’s no surprise to me to see Simon up there. It’s cool to have both of us on the podium together again at this track.

Q. For Will. You mentioned points, and you thought it was a good points racing day. Have you always thought points behind the wheel, or is that something you shifted over the years more long-term than short-term?

WILL POWER: Yeah, honestly it’s not that good to think about points, but sometimes you have to be smart about it if you’re — you know Palou is going to be the guy and, obviously, Newgarden as well. It’s just one of those days where if you can finish in the top six, you’re going to get a good chunk of points on those guys.

If I had the car to win and the chance to win without big risk, I would definitely have gone for it. If it had been a constant condition, it would have been a different story, but it was just too easy to get caught out by a patch of water. It’s just a day to be smart and finish.

Q. A couple of things. I’m looking at a screen right now. There’s a dozen safety vehicles down in turn one trying to clear standing water so they can run the Lights race. Was it starting to puddle up out there, or was it okay for most of the race?

WILL POWER: It actually wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t terrible at the end. Only going around when you go around out of 10 to 12. That was the only place where you were actually starting to get aquaplane.

Q. Then I guess my other question: How difficult was it, especially when you saw guys out there on slicks and you knew that you weren’t sure they were going to go. McLaughlin, O’Ward, these guys are out there on slicks. You’re trying to go green again. They kept spinning under yellow. Were you shocked that they were even trying it?

WILL POWER: Palou, no. He can hold to a car.

WILL POWER: Very impressive. At the end of the day, it blew my mind that Palou kept hanging out. I thought maybe they red-flagged this, and he gets that second position. That was smart. He was going to hang on as long as he could because if it goes green again and he survives turn one, two, and there’s a crash, he is in the same position. Yeah, he is someone that can hang on to a car like no one else.

Q. That one restart where we did have the slicks on, that was impressive that he didn’t just —

WILL POWER: I didn’t see how he went through, but was he pretty good speed?

WILL POWER: Coming on the straightaway.

WILL POWER: Yeah, yeah, big time.

Q. The pit stop on I think it was around lap 56 everyone in the commentary booth and up here we were all wondering, are you going to switch to reds or wets? Everyone went for slicks. How close was it in terms of your — presumably it’s the driver’s call at that stage rather than the team’s, right?

WILL POWER: No.

WILL POWER: Yeah.

WILL POWER: The rain tire they almost need an intermediate. It’s too soft for — a bit more than damp conditions just destroys the tire. They finally felt good at the end there.

WILL POWER: When it was really, really wet. We need something in between.

Q. Did you have very bad pit stop for the first time this year, Will, at one point when and you Rossi went in and you emerged behind way down the group? You got in in fifth and came out in kind of, like, tenth out of the group.

WILL POWER: No, I don’t think so. No. I don’t think we had — oh, yeah, we did have — something happened on one of the stops. I do remember, yeah. Maybe we did have

WILL POWER: What do you mean? Oh, yeah.

WILL POWER: We did actually have one. Yeah. (Laughing).

Q. My apologies if this was asked earlier. Back at the open test everyone was talking about the sealer this or sealer that. Was there any issue with the sealer on the track with rain at all, or was everything okay?

WILL POWER: It was fine. No differences in grip in the wet.

WILL POWER: It felt fine to me.

WILL POWER: You mean on the front straight there? It seemed like it was —

WILL POWER: Yeah.

CONOR DALY

PRESS CONFERENCE

THE MODERATOR: Let’s begin with the driver of No. 20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, Conor Dailey. Seventh career top five finish in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season for his career. You could write a whole book on what happened today, right, amongst everybody?

CONOR DALY: Yeah. Where do I start?

THE MODERATOR: Exactly.

CONOR DALY: I don’t remember the last rain race that I did. I actually walked up to Ric Peterson with SPM. I was, like, ‘heck, I think the last time I had a rain race was with you in Detroit in 2015, and we led a lot of that race.’ I was, like, I’m ready. I’m excited.

Then it dried out very quickly. Difficult first for us. I don’t know what happened on the first set of reds, but they were used reds, and we just went straight backwards. Car was an absolute handful, and I have no idea why.

Then it kind of forced our hand, and we put on new reds, and it was right back to the great car that it was. So I think we did second fastest race lap, and we were just hauling getting back making up some of the ground that we lost. Then, obviously, the skies opened up a little bit so, that made for an interesting rest of the afternoon.

Q. Conor, first race with the Aeroscreen in the rain. A lot of drivers saying they couldn’t see. Was that more from just the rooster-tail effect than the actual Aeroscreen?

CONOR DALY: No, I’ve never seen anything like that before. It was like the water just stayed in the center of the screen, and I don’t know why, but even as you went faster, which you would hope it would clear, it didn’t. Again, I can’t say anything.

Obviously, this is very much a scientific test run. Obviously, we have a lot of data to go through with the series, and I’m sure Jay Frye will look at it as well. And he hates when I talk about the Aeroscreen, but I’m just describing what I saw. That’s all. It was challenging.

Thankfully, we had a great spotter in Packy Wheeler, who was literally guiding me into turn one. I couldn’t see the brake zone or the cars in front of me or the end of the pit wall, but I could look out the side of the Aeroscreen, so I was looking right and left to go straight, which was neat.

Q. (Off microphone).

CONOR DALY: Look, I used to race in the rain all the time, so we had a visor that you can work with, but this is a new era, so obviously there are things that we can figure out. We go from here.

I do think it was tough. It was definitely hard to race like that because you don’t want to, obviously, end up on the wrong side. Even under yellow. I couldn’t see the cars in front of me under yellow. I had to be guided into pit lane, and that’s concerning. Hopefully we can figure that out, but hopefully we also have very shiny weather for the rest of the year.

Q. When you said the tires, did you make any adjustments to the car outside of the norm, or is it literally just the tires weren’t agreeing with the car?

CONOR DALY: I really don’t know because Firestone obviously makes a great tire, and sometimes when you put on the used reds, I don’t know if you pick up something on it. It’s something.

I’ve had that happen before in other races kind of randomly, but it might just be kind of like the luck of the draw. You might have run over something that — it felt like we had a left rear that was going flat, but it wasn’t. Very strange feeling. Literally, as soon as you put on another set of tires, everything was perfect. There’s only one variable there that we changed, and that’s tires.

Q. What are your emotions inside the car knowing you were fourth. You’re top five. Then, oh, no, what’s going on? Is it hard to keep your calm?

CONOR DALY: I thought it was just another day in the office, but I never give up in this series, and I tell the team that. I said, it doesn’t matter if the day is going bad, but I will always be fighting until the end.

Same in Barber. Same in any track. This is what I love to do. I want to be competitive. I want to beat these guys and girls that we’re racing against, and we obviously beat the majority of them today.

It was something that worked out in the end, and we’ve seen crazy stuff like this before. I remember Sebastian Bordais starting last and winning races, and people going all over the place spinning, being a lap down and winning races. That’s the fun of INDYCAR.

Q. With the rain this last race, leading the most laps and top five today for you, do you feel a momentum now? Now you’re going to the race that you led the most laps last year. Do you feel it within the team now?

CONOR DALY: I think the team has done a great job this year. We know we had some areas where we wanted to improve, and I think we have. Obviously, the old big one is next, and I’m very excited about that one, honestly.

This was a day that helps us for sure. There’s a lot of momentum. And, honestly, it’s a shame because all of our BitNile folks are not here this weekend, so we might have to ban them from the rest of the races, I don’t know, because we had a wildly good day today. Hugely thankful for their support. Honestly, Chevrolet right now is doing a great job and really proud to be under that banner as well.

Q. Is that one of the most physically demanding races that you have ever done?

CONOR DALY: No. My left elbow is bleeding. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I hit it on something or I had a couple of moments where the wheel was doing a lot of different things, but, yeah, I was okay today. It was not too hot and then in the rain you’re going a lot slower, so it wasn’t too bad today.

Q. In terms of, obviously, next week we go into the practice for the Indy 500, how much does this give you confidence going into the month of May given that ECR have been so good kind of at the 500?

CONOR DALY: We know we’re excited, and I think everyone at Chevrolet is excited about the next couple of weeks. I think we got the right horses underneath us, and we have a great team, and, yeah, let’s just roll on the next week.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. 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, May 14, 2022) – Linus Lundqvist leaned down and kissed the side of his car, expressing gratitude and jubilation after conquering a more than six-hour day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Saturday.

The Swedish driver found redemption after a mistake cost him a potential victory Friday by mastering the 14-turn, 2.439-mile track in dry and wet conditions to claim his second Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires win of the year, his second career win at IMS and fifth overall victory.

“A massive thank you to the team, they’ve done such a good job,” Lundqvist said. “It’s been such a long day and tough day for all of us, starting off the day in the dry and then having to wait after the INDYCAR race and getting the rain conditions. Firstly, a massive thank you to them for getting the car prepped. Obviously, it was on fire.”

At the end of the 35-lap weekend finale, Lundqvist’s No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car held a 3.5993-second lead over second-place Christian Rasmussen in the No. 28 Andretti Autosport car. His Andretti teammate Sting Ray Robb, in the No. 2 Andretti Autosport car, finished third – his third straight third-place finish this year.

The day was split in two for the 14-car field. After the first 12 laps around a dry track surface, lightning struck in the area, causing a red flag, and rain followed. That forced the race to be delayed until after the end of the GMR Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES race.

More than five and a half hours later, after more rain and the entire NTT INDYCAR SERIES program, drivers returned to their cars to face a wet surface for the remaining laps.

Before the rain fell, Lundqvist had a 2.7-second lead over Matthew Brabham, who went from fourth to second with a four-wide pass into Turn 1 on the initial start in the No. 83 Andretti Autosport entry. When the race resumed hours later, Lundqvist again mastered the start, pulling ahead by two car lengths while Brabham, Rasmussen, Danial Frost and Benjamin Pedersen again went four-wide down the front stretch, playing chicken to see who would brake last before Turn 1. Rasmussen won the battle this time, taking second.

Brabham’s shot of holding on to a podium vanished seconds later when he ran off course, giving up several positions to Frost, Hunter McElrea and Pedersen. And while they argued over who would secure the final podium spot, Robb spoiled their battle in the closing laps. As one of the fastest cars on track, he worked his way from 13th to third by the checkered flag.

“I’m so excited, going from 13th to third,” Robb said. “It’s awesome.”

Lundqvist was flawless in the final 20 laps, gaining two car lengths on every restart and never missing his mark. However, Rasmussen tried to give him a scare. With eight laps to go, Rasmussen was laying down laps a half-second quicker than Lundqvist, who was five seconds ahead.

Math says Rasmussen could have caught Lundqvist. But Rasmussen lost that chance with a slip in Turn 12 that allowed Lundqvist to pull ahead by another two seconds.

“I was pushing it to the edge and over the edge,” Rasmussen said. “I made a mistake in Turn 12. I’m a little disappointed in myself. I think it should have been one position better.”

With 10 races remaining this year for the Indy Lights, Lundqvist exits the Indy doubleheader weekend with an extended point lead for his championship quest.

Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires continues its 2022 season in June for the second doubleheader weekend of the year. The field will join the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in Detroit at The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, June 4-5. Live coverage will be provided by Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires

Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Rinus VeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

About Cooper Tire

Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

About Goodyear

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 14, 2022) – Colton Herta won one of the wildest races in recent NTT INDYCAR SERIES history, controlling the chaos of changing weather conditions, ever-evolving tire strategies and numerous incidents to take the checkered flag for the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Herta, from Valencia, California, earned his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of the season and his seventh career win in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda after starting 14th. The win was the first of the season for a Honda-powered driver.

The race, originally scheduled for 85 laps but slowed by numerous incidents and the arrival of rain near the midway point, reached its two-hour time limit during a caution period.

“This is the hardest race I think I’ve ever done,” Herta said. “Wet to dry, dry back to wet. Thank you so much for the Hoosiers for sticking around. I know you’re used to this weather, so thank you very much. Love you guys.”

Simon Pagenaud climbed from the 20th starting position to finish a season-best second in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda. NTT P1 Award winner Will Power placed third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, tying his season best and climbing into the series points lead.

Marcus Ericsson drove from 18th at the start to end up fourth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with Indianapolis native Conor Daly finishing a season-best fifth in the No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet.

“I’ve never been in a race like that in my life,” Daly said. “That was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.”

The box score indicated there were 10 lead changes among six drivers and eight caution periods for 31 laps, but that doesn’t begin to describe what unfolded on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. This was a test of speed, strategy and survival that will live in the memory for a long time.

Rain sprinkles caused the race start to be declared wet, with all drivers on Firestone grooved tires. But it took Herta and Takuma Sato only two laps to realize there was enough traction to switch to the slick, grippy Firestone alternate “red” tires. The rest of the field quickly followed suit, with all 27 drivers changing to alternate slicks by Lap 5.

For the next 30 laps, this appeared to be a highly competitive but conventional NTT INDYCAR SERIES road course race, with three incidents triggering caution periods and mixing up the running order. But the strategic mind games began when Dalton Kellett spun off course in Turn 6 on Lap 36 in the No. 4 K-LINE/AJ FOYT RACING Chevrolet.

Leaden, threatening clouds approached IMS from the west, with the airwaves between pit boxes and drivers crackling with strategic chatter.

Rookie Devlin DeFrancesco, Alexander Rossi and reigning series champion Alex Palou decided to pit for Firestone rain tires during that caution as light rain began to fall to varying degrees in different locations of the massive facility, with a handful of others following suit to switch to rain tires during another caution that started on Lap 42.

This dice roll came up snake eyes because the rain began to let up on Lap 45, when Herta passed Ericsson for the lead in Turn 4.

By Lap 52, the rain began to fall again at varying levels around the track, creating more head games for teams and drivers. During a caution period on Lap 60 with intermittent rain falling, all the contending cars came to the pits for Firestone alternate slick tires.

Two laps later, those plans became a soggy mess when hard rain began to fall. All the contenders tiptoed back to the pits for Firestone rain tires except for Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Romain Grosjean, who stayed out on alternate slicks.

The race restarted at the end of Lap 66, and Herta – on rain tires – easily devoured the slick-shod O’Ward to take the lead for good with an inside pass into Turn 1 after the field took the green.

Later that lap, the daring strategy of staying on slicks unraveled for McLaughlin. Struggling for grip, he spun in his No. 3 Snap-on Tools Chevrolet. O’Ward also spun out of second place on Lap 69 in his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP.

Herta gradually pulled away from Pagenaud over the closing laps, as teams kept their eyes on the race clock and the skies. Herta led Pagenaud by 3.8256 seconds on Lap 72, and the race effectively ended when Juan Pablo Montoya went off course after making contact with the wall in his No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

“It was treacherous at the end,” Pagenaud said. “You’ve got to say congrats to Colton because it was really tough to finish the race. We made the right calls on the tires. It was tricky. It was really tricky to decide.”