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  • Johnson’s playoff hopes end in crash

    Johnson’s playoff hopes end in crash

    Jimmie Johnson was a long shot coming into the Brickyard hoping to make the NASCAR Playoffs. And the No. 48 crew was below the cut line most of the race.

    At one point, the team caught a lucky break when a caution came out and Johnson was out front as the leader. However, the Hendrick Motorsports driver had to come down to pit road for his scheduled pit stop. Even with the pit stop, Johnson was able to finish eighth in Stage 2.

    Troubles arose when Stage 3 began as Johnson went to make a move in Turn 2 but eventually was turned and hit the wall. With the incident, Johnson was out of the race and his playoff hopes were over for 2019.

    “Yeah, it’s really disappointing. Unfortunately, we had a bad 25 races that led to the position we’re in here today and we needed a stellar day. I think we were having a strong day. I’m really proud of my team with what’s been going on.”

    When asked about the incident, Johnson said it was close racing.

    “The No. 1 car (Kurt Busch) had a little trouble on the restart. I’m on the inside going into the corner and it was just super tight. It’s unfortunate that happened. Certainly, it’s not what we needed on that restart. I couldn’t go below the white line and kind of got snipped there and turned around, and around and round we go.”

    This will be the first time in Johnson’s career that he has missed the Playoffs.

  • Jones and Keselowski involved in crash at Indy

    Jones and Keselowski involved in crash at Indy

    With just two laps left in Stage 1, a violent wreck occurred involving Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski off Turn 2. The No. 20 and the No. 2 made contact with each other, with Jones hitting the wall as Keselowski went sliding down the track, making hard contact with the tire barrier. Keselowski’s car was sideways on the barrier. Both drivers walked away.

    “Yeah, I’m good, I just got loose under Brad, the Toyota Camry was fast, I was trying to make up a spot before the stage end,” Jones explained to PRN Radio. “The 18 (Kyle Busch) got by and tried to follow him through, I just didn’t expect Brad to come down so much. Just drove in too hard and didn’t anticipate enough. Hate it for our guys, and for Brad, ruined both of our days. Both had fast cars, capable of battling up front and just didn’t work out. Get it out of the way this week, I guess and go on to Vegas next week and try to get our Playoffs started on the right foot.”

    Keselowski was able to walk away from the incident unscathed.

    “We were all racing there, some on tires and some not on tires,” Keselowski described to PRN Radio. “I couldn’t get by the guys on new tires in front of me, so I checked up, lost the nose and a couple of cars got underneath me and got down into Turn 2 and nobody had any air. We all just kind of lost there and wrecked. Next thing you know, we’re all in the fence and I found the one spot on the track with maybe the worst angle of the wall you could possibly have at a track like this and hit it. It was a pretty good lick, but we’re alright and we’ll move on to next week.”

  • Harvick qualifies on the pole at Indy

    Harvick qualifies on the pole at Indy

    Kevin Harvick qualified on the pole position for the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday with a lap of 48.44 seconds and 185.766 mph. This was Harvick’s third pole position at The Brickyard.

    The Stewart-Haas Racing driver noted the importance of the starting spot in order to win the race.

    “It’s very important,” Harvick said to PRN Radio. “I wish we had that first pit stall to go with it to cap off the pole with our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, but still a great job by our guys. Track position is going to be the name of the game today, having things fall your way but you’re still going have to have the handling of your car throughout the long runs in order to keep yourself out front and to have the option to put two tires on at any point.”

    “So there’s a number of things that’s going to come into play. The cloud cover obviously has changed things a little bit compared to the bright sun we had yesterday, so the track conditions are a little bit better today, so we’ll see how that affects the handling of the car.”

    Track position isn’t the only thing that’s important today. This race is also the last chance for bubble drivers to make the Playoffs that start next weekend in Las Vegas.

    Paul Menard qualified second, Clint Bowyer was third, Jimmie Johnson was fifth and Daniel Hemric qualified 11th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start 12th, Daniel Suarez was 18th and Ryan Newman will start in 22nd. All of these drivers face possible elimination in order to compete for the championship.

    NBCSN coverage of the Big Machine Vodka 400 starts at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. They will switch over to regular NBC with Countdown To Green at 1:30 p.m. ET.

    With potential threatening weather in the area and the potential for more, the start time of the race has been moved up to 2:05 p.m. ET.

    Stages will be 50/50/60 laps to make up the 160 lap race.

    Official Results

    1. Kevin Harvick
    2. Paul Menard
    3. Clint Bowyer
    4. Joey Logano
    5. Jimmie Johnson
    6. Brad Keselowski
    7. Kyle Busch
    8. Kurt Busch
    9. Ryan Blaney
    10. Aric Almirola
    11. Daniel Hemric
    12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
    13. Alex Bowman
    14. Erik Jones
    15. Bubba Wallace
    16. Chris Buscher
    17. David Ragan
    18. Austin Dillon
    19. Kyle Larson
    20. Daniel Suarez
    21. Michael McDowell
    22. Ryan Newman
    23. Ryan Preece
    24. Chase Elliott
    25. Ty Dillon
    26. Matt DiBenedetto
    27. Martin Truex Jr
    28. Matt Tifft
    29. William Byron
    30. Corey LaJoie
    31. Landon Cassill
    32. Parker Kligerman
    33. Denny Hamlin
    34. Ross Chastain
    35. B.J. McLeod
    36. Ryan Sieg
    37. Reed Sorenson
    38. Garrett Smithley
    39. Josh Bilicki
    40. J.J. Yeley
  • Brandon Jones rebounds to top-10 finish at Indy

    Brandon Jones rebounds to top-10 finish at Indy

    It was a whirlwind of a day for Brandon Jones and his No. 19 IK9 Toyota. Jones qualified on the outside pole on Saturday to give him great starting track position.

    The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was able to take the lead early, leading eight laps and winning the first stage. This would be the only the time Jones led the race. However he would remain consistent in the second stage and finished fifth.

    A big moment came for Jones on Lap 89 of 100, as the No. 22 of Austin Cindric would make contact with him sending Jones up the track in Turn 3. Jones had some damage to his No. 19 but the team was able to get back on track.

    “These guys at First Foundation and IK9 volunteers for their fight dogs, so I may have one for them after this race,” Jones said to PRN Radio. “It was just a racing deal, I held him (Cindric) fairly tight going into (Turn) 3 but also his job to control his car as well, so I’m putting it on him a little bit. All in all, Toyotas were really fast this afternoon and yesterday in practice, even qualifying we were 1-2-3.”

    Jones was able to rebound for a sixth-place finish in what would be his 12th top-10 finish of the season.

    “So that’s something to be proud of, I think our car was definitely the one to win the race. To fight back to sixth like that, I think that’s pretty impressive, so I was really proud of my guys all day today. They always stay behind me every race no matter what happens, so I wouldn’t want to be with any other team than I am right now.”

  • Allgaier comes up short going at Indy

    Allgaier comes up short going at Indy

    Justin Allgaier came oh so close of scoring two consecutive wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The JR Motorsports No. 7 driver qualified eighth and had a strong car all day long, finishing second.

    Allgaier remained consistent in Stage 1 and finished sixth. He was able to get out front to the lead when Stage 2 began and took the lead on Lap 53 for nine laps. He battled with the No. 2 of Tyler Reddick for several laps, changing the lead multiple times.

    Allgaier was able to get the best of Reddick, taking the lead and taking the Stage 2 win for 10 championship playoff points.

    After the stage break, the JR Motorsports driver remained out front in hopes of getting his second Indy victory. However, a new driver came to challenge him and that was All-time Xfinity win leader Kyle Busch. Like Reddick, the two would battle back and forth, hoping to get the best of one another.

    At one point, Allgaier got around Busch and led for 12 laps before the caution flew on Lap 80 to bunch the field back up again. As they always say, “cautions breed cautions” which most certainly came into play in the remaining laps.

    A late-race restart came with four laps to go, with Allgaier on the outside front row and Busch on the inside row. Busch got a better push then Allgaier did off the start. Despite staying close behind the leader, Allgaier scored a disappointing second-place finish.

    “The team deserves all the credit, JR Motorsports, Hendrick engine shop, everybody that touched these racecars,” Allgaier told PRN Radio. “You know, to come here to almost win three years in a row, almost back to back for ourselves with the 7 team says a lot about our program. Our car was so good on the long run. I knew those guys didn’t have anything for us on the long run, I knew if we could get out front we were going to be good and cautions breed cautions at the end.”

    “Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch Kyle (Busch). Kyle and all the Gibbs cars had fantastic cars all weekend. We saw it with their qualifying efforts. It’s just disappointing, I thought we were going to be there.”

    The second-place finish earned Allgaier his 10th top five of the season and his third second-place finish this season. The JR Motorsports driver sits fourth in the points standings, 138 behind leader Tyler Reddick.

  • Busch fends off Allgaier in last lap thriller

    Busch fends off Allgaier in last lap thriller

    Kyle Busch held off Justin Allgaier on the final restart with four laps to go to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Indiana 250 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was Busch’s fourth victory of the season and his 96th of his career.

    “We just didn’t have the grip in traffic,” Busch said to PRN Radio. “The car was really really fast in a straight line. I could pass some of those guys on the straightaways, even if I botched the corners, it seemed like I could catch them back. Different situations with some of those guys. The 7 (Allgaier) was really good, really smart, played a great race. We were faster, just faster at the end to make sure we stayed in front of those guys.”

    This was Busch’s seventh and final race of the 2019 Xfinity Series season.

    “Real proud of the effort, certainly want to thank Big Machine Vodka, Big Machine Label group for being on my stuff there and partner at the racetrack this weekend. Also want to thank the fans for their support, this Combos Supra, these guys, everybody on this team did a great job. It’s cool here to win anytime at Indy, so we’ll take it.”

    Before the race, Busch qualified on the pole claiming his 66th career pole.

    There were a couple of drivers that had to go to the rear before the start of the race. Ronnie Bassett Jr., Josh Bilicki and B.J. McLeod went to the rear for unapproved adjustments and Kyle Weatherman for an engine change.

    Stages were 30/30/40 laps to make up the 100 lap race.

    Stage 1 Lap: 1- Lap 30

    Stage 1 was green for the most part, aside from a few incidents. The No. 10 of Austin Dillon came down pit road early on Lap 12 and reported no oil pressure. The issue only got worse for Dillon as the car ran out of power on the backstretch, eventually coming to a stop on the access road. This brought out the first caution of the day on Lap 16.

    Some different strategy was played out with Busch, Cole Custer, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett and Chase Briscoe, all pitting under caution. Busch had to come back down pit road once again due to not having the lug nuts tight on the right front.

    Two more cautions came out before the stage ended on Lap 30. One was for the No. 52 of David Starr who had his motor expire and the other was for Ryan Sieg who spun off Turn 2 on the final lap of the stage. Another driver, Tyler Reddick had some issues on the pit stops. Reddick was served a penalty for having too many men over the wall after his stop.

    With the track position and by staying out, Brandon Jones went on to win Stage 1. Austin Cindric, Busch, Gragson, Custer, Allgaier, Christopher Bell, Haley, Briscoe and Reddick rounded out the top-10 finishers in the first stage.

    Stage 2: Lap 36 – Lap 60

    Busch and Gragson, along with a few others, stayed out under the stage break to assume the lead for the second stage.

    It didn’t take long for the caution to fly again as the No. 86 of Brandon Brown went spinning by himself in Turn 1. Two other drivers also had slight contact with each other. Bell and Gragson made minimal contact off the restart. With the contact, Bell had to come down pit road to fix the left front fender.

    On Lap 52, eight laps before the stage ended, a thrilling battle for the lead took place between Allgaier and Busch, with Allgaier eventually taking the lead from Busch. The JR Motorsports driver went on to win Stage 2 after holding off Busch. It was a sign of what was to come later.

    Busch, Reddick, Jeb Burton, Jones, Bell, Briscoe, Custer, Sieg and Gragson were the top-10 finishers for Stage 2.

    Stage 3: Lap 66 – Lap 100

    A lot of action and incidents took place in the third and final stage. Allgaier and Busch continued to battle for the lead before a caution came out on Lap 80 for the No. 23 of John Hunter Nemechek. Mostly everyone came down pit road with Haley being the only one to pit for two tires.

    The restart came with 16 to go and saw new names out front, as Bell and Reddick were fighting for the lead. However, before they could break away from the field, another yellow was seen with 11 to go as it saw Cindric making contact and spinning the No. 19 of Brandon Jones.

    This would shape up another restart with eight laps to go. On the same lap, a vicious crash took place among the leaders. Bell and Reddick took each other out and hit the wall hard off Turn 2. Despite the hard hits, both drivers walked away from the incident. With the long clean up effort, NASCAR officials threw the red flag to let track officials clean up the accident.

    Eventually, this would set up a four-lap dash to the finish. With a little bit of help from Burton, Busch got the push he needed in order to get out front of Allgaier. The two broke away from the field to fight it out.

    In the end, the All-time Xfinity Series wins leader Busch held off Allgaier for his fourth Indianapolis Xfinity Series win and the 96th of his career.

    Earlier in the year, Busch has noted he may retire if he hits the 100 win mark in the series. He’s only four away from win No. 100.

    “Yeah, hopefully, we can go five for five and we’ll make it 101, and hang our hat.”

    Busch led five times for 46 laps to score his fourth win of the season.

    There were eight cautions for 31 laps, one red flag, and 14 lead changes among seven drivers.

    With it being Busch’s last start in the Xfinity Series due to NASCAR’s restrictions on Cup drivers, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will end his Xfinity Series season with four wins, five top-fives and top-10 finishes, two poles and an average finish of 9.4.

    Up Next: The Xfinity Series has one more race before their playoff run begins at Richmond. The series will head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Saturday on Sept 14.

    Official Results

    1. Kyle Busch, led 46 laps
    2. Justin Allgaier, led 24 laps, won Stage 2
    3. Noah Gragson, led one lap
    4. Jeb Burton
    5. Justin Haley
    6. Brandon Jones, led eight laps, won Stage 1
    7. Cole Custer
    8. Chase Briscoe
    9. Austin Hill
    10. Ryan Sieg
    11. Jeremy Clements
    12. Michael Annett
    13. Gray Gaulding
    14. Garrett Smithley
    15. Ronnie Bassett Jr
    16. Landon Cassill
    17. Josh Williams, led four laps
    18. Joey Gase
    19. Stefan Parsons
    20. Ray Black Jr
    21. Josh Bilicki
    22. B.J. McLeod
    23. Stephen Leicht
    24. Tommy Joe Martins
    25. Matt Mills
    26. Vinnie Miller, one lap down
    27. Austin Cindric, OUT, Engine
    28. Brandon Brown, three laps down
    29. Christopher Bell, OUT, Accident
    30. Tyler Reddick, OUT, Accident
    31. John Hunter Nemechek, OUT, Crash
    32. Mike Harmon, OUT, Electrical
    33. Chad Finchum, OUT, Transmission
    34. Austin Dillon, OUT, Fuel Pump
    35. Kyle Weatherman, OUT, Overheating
    36. Morgan Shepherd, OUT, Handling
    37. David Starr, OUT, Engine
    38. J.J. Yeley, OUT, Suspension

  • Jeb Burton gets emotional top five finish at Indy

    Jeb Burton gets emotional top five finish at Indy

    It’s not very often you get to see Jeb Burton compete in the Xfinity Series, but when he does, you can expect him to bring the best out of the car and run up front. The same was seen today at Indianapolis.

    Burton, the son of former NASCAR driver Ward and the nephew of Jeff, was back in his first start at Indy since his last one two years ago in 2017, where he finished 19th. Burton was hoping to better that finish today, but this time driving the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevy.

    The Halifax, Virginia native was making his fifth Xfinity Series start of the 2019 season. Burton had a decent qualifying spot of 12th for the No. 8 machine. From there, he worked hard to be up front and in contention for the lead. However, at a track where track position means everything, it was difficult going in Stage 1 where Burton finished the same spot he started in which was 12th.

    Throughout the race, the team made continuous adjustments to the car hoping it would get Burton out front. At one point in Stage 2, Burton was running as high as third and was not saying a word to his team with 10 laps left in Stage 2.

    Burton remained in the top five at the end of Stage 2, where he finished fourth. When the third and final stage came, the JR Motorsports driver was reporting that he was needing more grip to help the car out.

    It wasn’t until a caution came out with seven laps to go when Burton would get his lucky break. After the extensive clean up due to an accident, Burton was lined up right behind race leader Kyle Busch. When the race went back green with four to go, Burton pushed Busch out front to the lead.

    However, despite being up front at the end, Burton had to settle for an emotional fourth-place finish.

    “It wasn’t by myself for sure, we had a good hot rod,” Burton said to PRN Radio. “Sorry, a lot of emotion man, to finish fourth at the Brickyard. We ran there all day, we didn’t get lucky and just finished there. Appreciate the State Water Heaters, LS Tractors and ALSCO. We’re going to win before it’s over with, we just gotta keep digging.”

    It was Burton’s second top-five finish of the season and the third of his career.

  • Weekend Schedule for Indianapolis

    Weekend Schedule for Indianapolis

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the final race of the regular season. Kyle Busch clinched the regular season championship after his third-place finish in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

    There are only two open spots in the Playoffs with four drivers on the bubble. Clint Bowyer (15th) has an eight-point lead over Daniel Suarez (16th) and Ryan Newman (17th). He has a 26-point lead over Jimmie Johnson in 18th.

    The Xfinity Series will also compete at Indy with two races remaining before their Playoffs begin. Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick can clinch the regular season championship if he has a 61-point lead at the end of the race over second-place Christopher Bell. He has a 51-point lead heading into the Indiana 250.

    Please see the complete schedule below. All times are Eastern.

    Friday, Sept. 6

    1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – NBC Sports App/Airing tape-delayed at 2 p.m. on NBCSN

    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice – NBC Sports App/Airing tape-delayed at 4 p.m.

    Saturday, Sept. 7

    11:05 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.: Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    12:05 p.m. – Xfinity Series Qualifying – Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions)

    1:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    3 p.m.: Xfinity Series Indiana 250 (Stages 30/60/100 Laps = 250 Miles) NBCSN/NBC Sports App/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Sunday, Sept. 8

    10:35 a.m. – Cup Series Qualifying – Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App/PRN

    2 p.m.: Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (Stages 50/100/160 Laps = 400 Miles) – NBC/NBC Sports App/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    INDIANAPOLIS — All the talk about Simon Pagenaud entering the Month of May was his slow start to the season and that he’d be out of his ride at Team Penske if things didn’t turn around. After sweeping the Month of May, he’s now the points leader.

    On the final restart of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on race leader Alexander Rossi to take the lead heading into Turn 1. Rossi replied in kind the following lap, and Pagenaud took it and held it for the next seven laps. Coming to three to go, Rossi drafted and passed him on the front stretch to retake the lead. On the backstretch with two to go, Pagenaud followed suit, took it from Rossi for good, snaked his way down the backstretch on the final lap to break Rossi’s draft and score his fourth career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “It’s been such an intense race. I believe we led the most laps of the race. The car was just on rails. The yellows came out perfectly. The stars are aligned. Man, wow, I’m seeing myself on TV with this. It’s pretty amazing. It’s a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this. So I’m just speechless. It’s just incredible.”

    It’s his 12th career NTT IndyCar Series victory in 127 career starts. He led a race high of 116 laps.

    2016 race winner Rossi finished runner-up and earned his 14th career podium in 56 career starts.

    In the end, the difference was “horsepower.”

    “That’s unfortunately the way it is,” he said. “(Pagenaud) did a great job. Obviously, he was on pole and led the most laps, but I think we had the superior car. We just didn’t have enough there at the end.”

    2017 race winner Takuma Sato, who was at one point a lap down, rounded out the podium (10th of his career).

    “My race, one stage it looked really tough,” Sato said. “We got some little issues after the first pit stop, so we had to come back, and then I think it got a lap down in 31st place.

    “But I think we had to do head down the job and recalculate. Our team did a great job to stretch the field and then get back to the pack. I think it took more than 100 laps. But I think it was brilliant, and after the restart, it was very exciting. Pato, P6, P5, P4 and finally got P3, and then I got everything I had. Obviously I have on board Alex, but we were just flying all over the place with the temperature, and it was a great battle. It is a little bit of a pity that we couldn’t challenge for the win, but we got third under some very difficult circumstances, I think.”

    Josef Newgarden and defending race winner Will Power rounded out the top five.

    Ed Carpenter, Santino Ferrucci, 2014 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2013 race winner Tony Kanaan and Conor Daly rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Simon Pagenaud led the field to green shortly before 1 p.m. Pagenaud led the first 32 laps before making his first stop of the day on Lap 33. Four different drivers took over the race lead before it cycled back to Pagenaud.

    This pattern of lead changes during green flag pit cycles continued until Lap 151, when Newgarden slingshot past Pagenaud entering Turn 3 to make the first on track pass for the lead of the race. He held serve until he pitted with 29 laps to go. During this pit cycle, a five-car wreck brought out the fourth caution of the race and set up the run to the finish.

    What else happened

    Colton Herta brought out the first caution of the race on Lap 6 when his car stalled on the access road in Turn 4.

    Kyle Kaiser brought out the second caution on Lap 73 when he got loose, overcorrected and hit the wall in Turn 4.

    Marcus Ericsson brought out the third caution on Lap 138 when he spun on entry and hit the inside pit wall.

    Who had a good day

    Santino Ferrucci earned his career best finish of seventh.

    Who had a bad day

    Scott Dixon, who entered the race second in points, was caught up in the five-car wreck with 22 laps to go and suffered front wing damage.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours, 50 minutes and 39 seconds, at an average speed of 175.794 mph. There were 29 lead changes among 10 different drivers and four cautions for 29 laps.

    Pagenaud leaves with a one point lead over Newgarden.

    IndyCar returns to action on Saturday on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, as part of the two-race weekend double-header Detroit Grand Prix.

  • Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi was asked what made the difference in the end that cost him in his duel with Simon Pagenaud in the closing laps of the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

    He said it was the horsepower differential between Chevrolet and Honda and the straight-line speed.

    “Obviously the 22 guys fully deserve it,” Rossi said. “They were on pole. He led probably 70 percent of the laps. Yeah, I mean, he was a deserving winner for sure.”

    The last caution particularly hurt him, as he was going to cycle out to the lead at the conclusion of the green flag pit cycle, having passed Pagenaud for said spot.

    “We were doing a lot better on fuel mileage than (Pagenaud) was, so that was the first kind of nail in the proverbial coffin.”

    On the final restart with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on him coming to the line and took the lead heading into Turn 1. He was able to match him for a few laps, and even took the lead with three laps to go. But with two to go, Pagenaud overtook him for the final time and won.

    “We didn’t have the speed out front,” he said. “I mean, I was flat for the last 15 laps, and there’s not much more you can do.”

    Bad luck basically sums up the day for Rossi at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition to the untimely caution, he suffered a slow stop because the fuel pump wouldn’t connect to his car. Then came his battle with the lapped car of Oriol Servia, who blocked him for multiple laps.

    “I think it was one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen in a race car, to be honest,” he said. “He’s a lap down and defending, putting me to the wall at 230 miles an hour. It’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for him, and it’s unacceptable that INDYCAR allowed it to happen as long as they did.”

    At the end of the day, it was an excellent race to the win that he and Pagenaud put on. Maybe in time, he said he could take solace in that aspect.

    “Ultimately it was a good day for the team,” he said. “You know, I think that we put a huge focus all month as we always do on the race car. The car was by far the best in the field in terms of what we could do and pass at will when I needed to. I didn’t see anyone else doing that. So a huge testament to the whole Andretti Autosport organization for really my fourth year here giving me a car that was capable of winning.

    “So that’s a great thing, and I’m very, very thankful for that.

    “But as I said, leading up to this many times, once you’ve won this thing once, the desire to win just ramps up exponentially every year, so it sucks to come this close and really have nothing that we as a team could have done differently. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the effort that they always put in, and yeah, when we get No. 2, it’s going to be probably a huge explosion of emotions because we all want it really bad.”

    He leaves Indianapolis third in points, trailing new points leader Pagenaud by 23.