Two Teammates, Different Paths For AJ Foyt Racing As Kellett Joins Bourdais In 2021 Paddock

Dalton Kellett from Stouffville, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, started his first INDY 500 August 23, 2020 at P24 and finished P31 after completing 24 laps (Contact) - before this first opportunity to compete in the big show, he said, “I am very excited to be doing this, It is a huge moment in my racing career. I’ve been building up to this for many years. I know I sound calm and cool about this but beneath the surface I am very excited. This is a huge opportunity and I am so thankful." Image Credit: AJ Foyt Racing (2020)

Two Teammates, Different Paths For AJ Foyt Racing As Kellett Joins Bourdais In 2021 Paddock

Dalton Kellett, who starts his second year association with AJ Foyt Racing,  joins four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Sebastien Bourdais. Kellett will be driving the newly designated No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Chevrolet along side of Bourdais in his No. 14 (TBD) Chevrolet.

“Being paired with Sebastien will be a great opportunity to continue to learn from one of the most experienced veterans in the field. I can’t wait to get back on the track for off-season testing and back behind the wheel in 2021.”

In eight races in 2020, Kellett scored a best finish of 20th twice at Road America.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Larry Foyt - President AJ Foyt Racing
Dalton Kellett - Returning Driver (first full season), No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Chevrolet

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES video conference. Today we are happy to be joined by AJ Foyt Racing team president Larry Foyt and their newly announced second driver for the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Dalton Kellett, who will return to drive the No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Chevrolet.

Congratulations, gentlemen, on your announcement today. Larry, would you like to kick us off and tell us how the deal came about and how great it is to have Dalton back?

LARRY FOYT: Sure, Kate, thank you. Obviously, we got to work with Dalton a little last year. He was part of the three-driver rotation in the 14 car, and obviously, the goal was to get him full-time. 2020 was even tougher for him than we expected it to be being a rookie with limited track time and having to deal with shorter race weekends, but he really rose to the challenge. I think he impressed a lot of people and we were just happy we were able to get him full-time.

THE MODERATOR: And Dalton, do you want to talk about the opportunity that you have now for 2021 to be with the team full time?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I'm very excited. Thanks, first of all, everyone for joining our little press conference here. This is the biggest Zoom call that I've been on this year.

As Larry said, it was a challenging year for veterans and rookies alike, but I'm really excited to be back in the No. 4. So same team, different number. Learned a lot last year, and that was with limited track time, limited testing. So being full time in the 4 car is going to be a great opportunity. I can't wait for the season to get started.

THE MODERATOR: Well, I'm excited for your sophomore season, as well. You were one of my favorite rookies of 2020.

Q. It was a difficult year for a lot of drivers basically with the schedule changing and being so fluid, but for you, it was even more difficult because of how limited it is. Now that it's going to be full time, how important is that going to be for you to build upon your career and try to get as much experience as you can, especially working with a guy like Sebastien?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, that's a good point and I think having Seb on board is going to be a great asset to the program. I'm really looking forward to working with him. We had a great test earlier in the off-season at Barber Motorsports Park in October, and seeing how he works with the engineers and how exacting he is with his feedback and what he wants out of the car was pretty eye-opening.

So I think he's going to be a great asset and looking forward to working with him. Yeah, it was tough as a rookie with limited track time. But it was, like I said, going into next year, just capitalizing on the increased amount of testing and the closer to full-length weekends that we're going to have is going to be really important, and that's going be to the goal to kind of hit the ground with -- hit the ground running.

Q. A lot of guys out there would love to have a full-time ride in IndyCar. What was it about Dalton that made you decide to bring him back?

LARRY FOYT: Well, we had already started working together, you know, and the relationship was there. When we started it was not meant to be a short-term relationship. We were really just continuing what we started and really looking forward to watching him progress and seeing how Seb can help his learning curve in IndyCar. Because like Dalton touched on, it's huge to have a multi-time champion to be able to learn from in this day and age. I think it's a great opportunity for Dalton. We're excited.

Q. With his engineering degree and everything, is he almost like having an engineer in the cockpit of the race car?

LARRY FOYT: Well, we'll see. I wasn't on his car last year. I was on the other car, so I didn't get to hear a ton of his audio and feedback but during some of the tests when I was able to, I listened in and the feedback was really good.

I think what he was talking about, that Barber test, Seb has some trust in Dalton that we were able to run both cars through some different programs like a proper-two car team. For a rookie to be able to contribute to the team was really helpful.

Q. You sort of touched on this in the last question, but what did you see from Dalton this past season?

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, well, the thing sometimes you see someone's body of work in racing as they are coming up through the series and as they jump into the bigger car, you don't know what to expect, right. You just have to see, okay, how is he going to adapt to the bigger tire, more horsepower, and what we saw was he really adapted well. And he was great at looking at data, improving himself, going quicker.

I think he can really surprise a lot of people and that's what we see in him and that's why we wanted to get him full time.

Q. As a follow-up, what are your expectations for the upcoming season, for not just Dalton but the entire Foyt team?

LARRY FOYT: Well we want to win races. We obviously feel Seb can and we feel Dalton can, as well. Really, this is only his first year in IndyCar. That's a lot to ask. We're not going to be pushing him on that.

The biggest thing is let's go, let's keep improving. Let's get faster and faster, and I think Dalton has got the right mindset for that.

Last year, I think he knew the situation everybody was in with COVID, with some of the races getting cut, some of the sponsorship getting cut due to that. It was tough on teams and we had kind of put him in a tough spot because it's like, hey, we really want you to go out there and do your best but we don't want you to be out there crashing cars, which rookies a lot of times are going to make that mistake.

But Dalton did a good job to stay, to just to keep getting quicker on a good pace and not overstep the bounds too much because we really needed that as a team. He's a really good team player. That's the thing, we have to see where we shake out as a seem with Seb leading the program and starting to get some of our -- hopefully driving our setups and direction for Dalton to feel and also contribute to.

So there's a lot going on but I think we showed in St. Pete some of our basic setups, hopefully aren't too bad, and I think we'll be competitive.

Q. Firstly, happy Christmas. Secondly, how much is this going to benefit you guys in terms of consistency with Dalton returning, given that Seb is obviously new to the program this year, how much are they going to complement each other do you think with Seb's experience, but also the fact that Dalton's been with you guys kind of last season, as well, albeit kind of on a partial program?

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, thanks, good to see you all the way from Ireland. I think -- and Dalton can probably answer to that, too, because I do like to sit in in a lot of the debriefs in the engineering room and just hear them talk about things.

We saw -- you know, I was able to see sides of it from Tony trying to help a rookie like Matheus, and also as Dalton came into the fold and listening to how Tony speaks to Dalton and how Seb speaks to Dalton. It's interesting, and I think everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and different ways of explaining things.

I think Seb is definitely very analytical, as is Dalton. They both bring that mindset in that's going to be really interesting to the way they look at data, talk about the race car, and so you know, maybe even Dalton can answer to some of that. But I think they are going to get along splendidly and I think it's a really good pairing.

As a 2020 rookie contender, Dalton Kellett shared driving duties driving the No. 14 last year with Tony Kanaan and Sebastien Bourdais with a primary focus on road courses. Image Credit: Doug Mathews via NICS (2020)

Q. And for yourself, Dalton, there's a few points that Larry kind of picked up on there. If you wouldn't mind kind of going into a bit more detail into those, but also for yourself, you're stepping up to a full-time position this year, or next year. What do you think are going to be the challenges to that, but equally, what are you most looking forward to, as well?

DALTON KELLETT: I'll tackle the first question first. I think as far as working with Seb, and as a rookie, even though last year was tough, I've been pleased with great teammates and having really experienced teammates and that really showed and it really helped me get up to speed at Indy last year, I think having guys like Tony, Charlie there, that was great. Coming on with Seb is going to be a big part of the program.

What I've seen from him so far is that as Larry said, he's very analytical. He's very demanding, more so than me. I think as a rookie it can be kind of tough to come in with the confident and the kind of, this is what I want, and it has to be this way; and justifiably because you're a rookie. You don't quite have the pedigree to kind of say those things.

But also just seeing what it is that he is exacting about and kind of tailor in my feedback and kind of my expectations as far as what I want out of the car. I think that's going to be the -- at least one of the first things I'm going to learn from Seb.

In looking at data and from a simulator day and from some time testing at Barber, it seems like we have pretty complementary driving styles, and when we do like an ABA change and kind of compare apples-to-apples, do the same change on my car and then replicate that on his car. Our feedback seems to be relatively similar. You don't want -- it can be tough when you have one guy that, say, you make a rear spring change and the feedback is different, that can make it difficult for the engineers. It seems like we have kind of similar driving styles, which I think is going to help.

Moving on to your second question, the big challenges this year. I mean, it's a challenge but it's also a good thing. We're going to have a full schedule. I'll get to experience my first full-time year in IndyCar. There will be a lot more travel than we had this year and new tracks, even though I came up through the road at Indy, there's a few tracks I haven't raced on, like Long Beach and we have the Music City Grand Prix coming up which we are all excited for; so there will be some learning opportunities there.

I think last year, Indy was my only oval race, so there will be three ovals. So kind of coming to grips with the IndyCar on an oval. I would say that the Foyt team showed well at Texas last year, so really excited for that, and just excited to be here full-time and back with the team. It's going to be a good year.

Q. Dalton, I know we've talked already a lot about how difficult last year was to be a rookie with the limited track time and testing and everything. I know even though it may not have shown in the results that you put together, was there a time in the season where things started to feel easier or where you felt a little bit more comfortable in the car, if there's anything that comes to mind?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I think for the -- the high point of the year for us was definitely Indy, even though it didn't end the way we wanted, but just with our pace and teammates and where we were. I was really happy with how that progression went during the month. I was definitely happy that we passed that milestone of kind of being comfortable and competitive there.

I think Mid-Ohio was kind of a bit of a turning point, like I say, even though the results weren't quite there. But we had chances for some really good performances in qualifying that were kind of curtailed just by circumstances, whether it was seeing when the yellows came out or the rain and all that. But I felt like our race pace was decent there. Just it was more of a question of extracting the potential that was there, which I think is where we kind of missed on this year.

So I think that's going to be sort of the theme this year is putting everything together and kind of making the most out of what we have, and I think having Seb there has kind of shown that we're starting off from a point that's relatively good, so we have a good base to work from.

Q. You mentioned earlier that this was always the plan to hopefully go full-time with Dalton, and you brought him in with the intention of hopefully building on what you guys have. As you had already put a veteran driver next to him, was it really important for you guys when you were looking at options for that seat to have someone that you guys could maybe stay with long term versus maybe another veteran that's around maybe three or four more years?

LARRY FOYT: Definitely was in our thought process for sure. It only makes sense to try to do that, right, because you want to have someone in your system that you're growing with. We don't currently have an Indy Lights team, something like that. It's something we've looked at and something we'd love to have in the future to keep young guys kind of in our system and coming up through our way of things.

But yeah, no, I think it's a perfect fit. When Seb came available, we felt like he did have some very good years in him. He's very hungry right now. And also, I think for Dalton, it made Dalton more excited because I think it took our team to another level, and it can help Dalton's career immensely. So that's where I think that came about.

Q. I know the K-Line sponsorship, the primary sponsor on the car for next year, I know that was -- from what I had heard, a pretty solid sponsor and someone that is an excited backer of Dalton. When you guys are making these decisions, how difficult is it to kind of weigh what comes with the driver with sponsorship versus the results they have put on the track and the age of the driver? I know there's so many things you have to weigh when you are making these decisions. How does sponsorship at times play into that?

LARRY FOYT: Well, you have to have sponsorship to be able to compete, no doubt. You certainly can't do it on race winnings alone. Every team out there, that's probably the majority of my day, honestly, is spent on sponsorship stuff. During a pandemic, it's extremely difficult.

So no, it's just a great relationship that we already had with K-Line, obviously through Dalton, but they are just super people, super company, and we wouldn't have done this if we didn't think Dalton can do well on track.

So at the end of the day, that trumps everything, and we just think there's a lot of potential there that people just haven't seen yet, and we think we can get it out of him.

Q. You mentioned in the fall that there would be a chance for you to move into a third full-time car with the right opportunity. Where are you on that? Is there a chance we could see that in 2021 or has the timeline moved as far as that's concerned?

LARRY FOYT: I would say no in 2021; barring I win the lottery or something like that. It's something on our radar for sure. I'm a big person who thinks growth is important to any business, but it has to be done the right way.

I think we suffered some growing pains as we went to -- from one car to two car a few years back that we are finally getting over. But at the same time, it just has to be the right situation. We did look at some deals, and just felt like it wasn't the right time at this -- at this juncture. We really wanted to focus on Seb and Dalton for this year.

I'm sure we'll see, we typically run three cars at Indy. We'll see if that comes about. But really wanted to focus on the two cars for 2021.

Q. Going through this process, there was a lot of drivers who were probably trying to get after this particular seat, and with all the seats starting to get taken up within IndyCar, was it a stressful period for you going through this ordeal and how relieved are you that it's done?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, you know, going into the off-season without something signed for the following year is always -- you were a driver yourself, you know how that feels; the uncertainty, not knowing where you're going to be next year. I was happy we had already had conversations that were relatively well-progressed, and I think having it signed even this early is great because it gets us really moving on to 2021 and we can just focus on testing and getting ready for St. Pete.

Q. And quick question for Larry. Sort of a similar question for you, as well. A lot of drivers out there, I heard Romain Grosjean may be one of those drivers going after that seat in particular. What sets Dalton apart from a lot of other drivers that you have already spoken with? Is it the reason that he's gone through the Road to Indy ladder system and has that experience with IndyCar?

LARRY FOYT: Well, honestly it goes back to what I touched on earlier. I think we knew where we were headed, even middle of last year. It wasn't something -- I know there was an article about Grosjean, but really there wasn't a conversation there to be honest other than, you know, kind of a "Hi, how are you," nice-to-meet-you thing.

I think we kind of knew what way we were going with Dalton from the beginning. It was kind of in the plan of doing a part-time, getting him some seat time and then working up to the full deal.

Darren Manning works a lot with Dalton. He's obviously a good friend of mine and I really trust and respect his opinion, so before we even put Dalton in a car, I spoke with Darren a lot about how Dalton drives and things like that.

So this has kind of been the plan, so this will be a really good chance for Dalton to get a full year, get more comfortable, get more seat time and then we can really see what he can do.

Q. What do you think the areas are Foyt can improve for next season? Obviously you're coming from a more inexperienced background, so what are you going to need from the team to really fight for Top-10s, Top-5s and wins next year, which is kind of what the team seems to be aiming at for next season?

DALTON KELLETT: I think the big thing that we're going to be focusing on is consistency across the program and having myself and Seb on board is going to be -- we're going to work well together, and when you have two drivers -- as I kind of touched on earlier why, it seems our driving styles are relatively complementary.

So from the direction of where the setup is going, I think that's going to be pretty consistent and helpful for both of us to have like a plan that we are kind of working towards.

I thought the team did a great job last year in Atlanta. I think we obviously have to continue working there and making sure that stops are quick and all that, but they were great last year. Even on the 41 car, which was a third-car crew, that can always be hard to put that together for the month of May, but we had a great crew there. So continuing with that with practice and everything.

And then for my side of it, like I said, putting everything together and just extracting the potential that we have in myself and the car and kind of putting our best foot forward.

Q. What's your focus on for next year? Seb was a big part of that in terms of being the spearhead of the on-track stuff and the setup direction, but is there any personnel changes or anything you're kind of looking at within the team that needs to change to extract that performance for next year?

LARRY FOYT: Yes, we have beefed up our engineering staff a little bit over the winter. I think we'll be probably, as we figure out exactly what places people will be in, we'll be putting that out here shortly. So we did beef that up.

We have had some new mechanics come on board. Just trying to field the weaknesses or wherever you feel you have a weakness. Pit stops have become so important, just from -- just everything is so tight. You see the speeds and the lap times through the whole field. You cannot lose anything on pit road, you just can't, not to mention what it does to a driver's psyche. We all know in this wind screen, it's hot, and these drivers are out there giving it all they can. You lose a couple spot in the pits, they will tell you about it, so you don't want to do that.

That's the biggest thing as a team. I think you touched on it. Top-10s are the goal here at first and solid qualifying. I think we lacked some pace on some of the permanent road courses that we'd like to add. Outside of Mid-Ohio, I thought Dalton was doing a great job at Mid-Ohio and showing some pace there. But Indy GP and places like that, we didn't fare very well, so we're going to work on that.

Q. First of all, I would like to congratulate Dalton and I'm looking forward to meeting you in the No. 4 car. And this question is for Larry. With Dalton in the No. 4 car and Seb in the 14, is there any word about Charlie Kimball will be doing anything with a team next season?

LARRY FOYT: Thanks, Asher. Good to hear from you. Yes, we really like Charlie. I don't know what's going to happen with Charlie next year. I know he's looking at some opportunities, so we'll just have to see where that falls. But great driver, and I'm sure he'll land somewhere, and we'll just have to see what happens.

But yeah, looking -- we'll see. We haven't figured out what we're going to do with our third car at Indy yet. Don't know for certain, but we will see. But yeah, Charlie and everything ended on really good terms, and he understood what we were doing, but enjoyed the year with him for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks to all of you for participating today.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

Kellett has a degree in engineering physics from Queens University in Canada. That allows the driver to better understand the communication between driver and the engineering staff.

Bourdais has a very analytical approach to his style of driving as well, making this a very cerebral combination for Foyt’s team for the 2021 season.

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: Dalton Kellett, Sebastien Bourdais, Larry Foyt, AJ Foyt Racing, 2021, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Chevrolet, K-Line Insulators USA, The EDJE

Meyer Shank Racing Taps Helio Castroneves For Partial 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season

Helio Castroneves accepts medallion honor laid into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk Of Fame at the 44th Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. Acura, the make of the sportscar Helio currently drives and has won championship IMSA sanctioned races in, took over title sponsorship in 2019. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Meyer Shank Racing Taps Helio Castroneves For Partial 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season

What a grand silly season agreement for all who do not believe that former Penske Racing standout driver and 3-Time INDY 500 winner Brazilian Helio Castroneves' INDYCAR career is over. 

Welcome the era of six races with Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) next season. He will be fielding a second car along side of British teammate Jack Harvey in a six-race commitment season that will begin with the Honda Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park on April 11, Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18 before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the “500” on May 30 and the road race at IMS on Aug. 14. His final two races will include the West Coast Swing ... the Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway on Sept. 12 and the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 19.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Meyer Shank Racing ZOOM Call Press Conference - Michael Shank, Jim Meyer, Helio Castroneves

THE MODERATOR: Good morning to everyone here. My name is Dave Furst from INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR Series. Great to see everyone here this morning. A reminder, through the beauty of Zoom, you'll be able to ask questions this morning and to do so please click the raise hand button in the chat and we'll get to your questions here in just a bit.

Special announcement to begin today and three gentlemen who have come together for a very special partnership. Helio Castroneves is a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, a total of 30 wins in the NTT INDYCAR Series and 50 poles, which puts him fourth on the all-time list. Jim Meyer is the CEO of Sirius XM and partner of Meyer Shank Racing, back in April of 2017, doubling down on his passion not only for motorsports but in particular the Indianapolis 500, and of course Mike Shank, who began racing back in 1989, found success as a young driver and as someone who leads an extremely successful sports car program, but then found himself with an opportunity to get into INDYCAR a few years ago and has built on that ever since.

We'll begin with car owner Mike Shank, who has a very special announcement. Good morning, Mike.

MICHAEL SHANK: Good morning. Thank you, everybody, for coming today. Although it's not a huge surprise at this point, although we tried for it to be a surprise, Meyer Shank Racing is really happy to announce that Helio Castroneves will drive for six races next year. We can talk about which six those are shortly.

This was a bit of a long process actually between Jim and I on who did we want to fill this very specialized role, and it had to tick a lot of boxes. Helio drove for me in 2007; is that right?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, that's right.

MICHAEL SHANK: 2007 in Daytona Prototype. We started to know each other then, and through a lot of common friends we stayed friends over all the long years.

I think there's so many reasons why Helio is the right guy for us, but I will lead with the passion. There's two things I want to say because this will be a question. I think the passion Helio has is as strong as any 20-year-old out there right now. I think the knowledge he has is times four of anybody out there. And I have to be honest with you, we have metrics that we look at from all the drivers that Bob Perona, our driver coach, has put together, and when we look at Helio's numbers from 2016 and 2017, he's in the top four of all categories when the switch happened over at Team Penske for him.

Of course we're not part of that at all, but what I'm saying is we saw a guy that was still driving at a level that can compete with anybody.

Lastly, what can Helio bring to help Jack Harvey, and we've built our program around Jack, and we're ready to expand it now, and we believe and we hope that Helio is the right guy for us.

THE MODERATOR: Tremendous announcement. Congratulations to all three. We'll start with Jim. It's kind of been a systematic growth for this team. What kind of a step is this for you guys, Jim?

JIM MEYER: Really it's exactly what we planned, and seldom do things go as you plan, but when I first met Mike, it's pretty funny, I approached him and said, I might have some interest in getting into racing, and he said, well, that's interesting, I don't really need a partner, and I said, yeah, you're right, I don't really want to do this anyway.

Then he and I proceeded to meet together over a three- or four-month period and lay out exactly what we wanted to do in INDYCAR and sports car, and certainly adding a second driver and eventually moving to two full-time cars on the INDYCAR circuit was a key cornerstone of what we laid out almost four years ago, and I couldn't be more thrilled that we're on our way.

I have to acknowledge that as you know, I think it was three or four weeks ago we announced that Liberty Media, who I know very well since they're a controlling shareholder of Sirius XM and many, many key assets, I know them very, very well. Obviously as you well know they control Formula 1, as well, approached us about interest in becoming a part of what we were doing, and we were thrilled that we were able to work that out, which actually accelerated our efforts for a second car in the INDYCAR circuit.

THE MODERATOR: Helio, you're back!

HELIO CASTRONEVES: I'm back, man. I'm so, so excited. This is incredible.

As Mike alluded, we've known each other for a long time. Mike and his wife built this team from scratch, and look what they were able to achieve, have an incredible sports car program and an INDYCAR program, as well.

Jim obviously is a person that's passionate about racing. I think him and I are going to get along very well especially because of that ingredient. I'm looking forward to knowing him better.

And having Jack Harvey as a teammate, he's been showing an incredible amount of speed on the racetrack. I guarantee you in 2021 he's going to become an Indy winner, as well.

I'm looking forward to working with this group, looking forward to the races. I know it's only six races; however, one of them is extremely important for me, which is the Indy 500, and I can't wait to be in the race car right now.

THE MODERATOR: Mike, you said you want to get into the races. Maybe let's do that and just talk about how mindful you have been in the expansion over the years, and I guess you wonder if you did it too quickly would you be at this point where you can expand to a second car here for the 2021 season?

MICHAEL SHANK: No, we'd be broke. I mean, let's see, in -- I'm getting confused in years here. In 2019 we had a -- we started with six in '18, went to 10 in '19. There was a point where we did the first six races of 2019 with a scheduled 10, with a budget, but we were ninth or tenth in the championship when kind of that first six races -- we looked at each other and said, hey, do we want to continue. We could go for this and rob Peter to pay Paul, and we all, including Jack, adamantly said, stick to the plan.

It's the same way with Helio here. We're going to do what we can afford to do at the highest level we can give Helio. We're giving him an incredible car, an incredible team that we've built around him. We'll have technical support through Andretti.

We can talk now a little bit about the races. We're going to start with the Barber Grand Prix. Then we're going to go right to Long Beach, and then we'll go to the Indy 500, and then we'll do the Harvest August race at Indy road course, and then we'll fish with Portland and Laguna.

That covers a lot of bases for us and our sponsors and partners. We will announce partners as we get closer to things. We're still kind of working that exactly out, what will be on the car.

The program has a ton of potential for the future, and Helio and I have an agreement to keep working on it and do the best we can, and we'll see where this thing goes with us in the future

While preparing to take to the track, Helio Castroneves finds himself at home at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the INDY 500. Image Credit: Chris Owens via NCIS (2020)

.

THE MODERATOR: Very cool. Again, virtually raise your hand and we'll take some questions here in this virtual format.

Q. Two for Helio and one for Mr. Shank. Helio, you and I checked in quite a bit during the month of August following your trevails talking to team owners for next year and all that. When did all this begin, the dialogue with Mike Shank?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: This was quite a while. Mike called me I think it was the first race in Petit, the short one. We spoke about it, and it started growing. He didn't -- for sure wasn't ready yet, and we kept just discussing and talking, and here we are.

It wasn't right away, but Mike and Jim worked really hard for this opportunity to happen, and I'm ecstatic. I'm ecstatic because I thought, okay, it's not going to happen, and all of a sudden when things started growing, I was actually getting more excited about it. Not only myself but Roger Penske is one of the guys that I asked for guidance, and he is the one, as well, that asked me, and here we are.

Q. So you have a part-time role with this team for six races; Ganassi has got an opening for an oval driver in the 48. Are you kind of hoping to get reunited on the track with your Brazilian boyhood buddy Tony Kanaan?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: It would be great. It would be great to be back with everyone, with Tony, with Scott, with my former teammates from Penske, and especially with Jack. As I said, Jack has been showing an incredible amount of speed, and he's so close so many times. I'm really looking forward to working with him and trying to build this relationship, new group, new group of guys, new group of people, new friends. I'm looking forward to a great season.

Q. For Michael Shank, a couple of years ago I talked to you at Barber and asked you when you were a one-off that year at Indy how you did it, what the budget was, and you said you went and you rented the timing stand and the pit equipment rather than buy it. Now here you are going from basically renting pit equipment to running the Indy 500 to having a motorsports powerhouse. Are you sometimes amazed at how fast this has come together for you?

MICHAEL SHANK: Yeah. Yeah, we really are. You know, I put a lot of this on Jim Meyer, to be honest with you. His passion for INDYCAR racing and his network and his world has really pushed the INDYCAR program kind of over the top. Plus on top of that I've learned a ton on contractual law and how to do deals. He deals with some of the biggest celebrities in the world, and just getting a nugget of that knowledge is really helpful for me I've found.

Listen, I think we'd have the sports car deal that we have today no matter, but make no mistake, this INDYCAR deal is driven by Jim, and I'm lucky enough to get to run the thing.

Q. Two questions for Helio and one for Mike. First off, Helio, congratulations, fantastic news. You're one of the most decorated INDYCAR drivers there is out there, three-time Indy 500 winner, as well. You've been away for a while, so why come back now?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Well, you know, I have to say, I have to thank obviously Team Penske to put me in the sports car program because I feel that it was a great experience, and I feel much better as a driver today than actually I was three years ago.

But you know, even though I was in the sports car program, INDYCAR has always been part of my life. I enjoy it very much. I love the sport. I grew up in open wheel. Basically as soon as the Acura program was terminated, I said, you know what, let's go back. Let's go back because I feel that I have unfinished business in the INDYCAR world. And here we go.

Having this program, six races, it's a great opportunity to come back and build something unique. Again, Mike and Jim, they are able to build something really spectacular, and I felt this could be a long way, and hopefully that's the goal.

And again, not only that, but it's coming back to the Indy 500, which obviously everybody knows we're really searching for that number four. Couldn't do it anymore with Team Penske; it could be awesome to do it with Mike and Jim and everyone at Shank Racing.

Q. You mentioned goals; what realistically is the goal for the season, given it's a new team and a limited schedule?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Well, the sky's the limit, you know. We have a great opportunity here. I don't see anything to stop us from having great results and winning races. I feel that you saw Mike mention about it when we spoke, as well, the commitment, not only from him, from his group, as well. Everyone is really excited, and we've got to carry this momentum, and just, you know, translate that to the race cars.

And Jack, as well, he has been there. He has already been with the team. It would be great to have this synergy together so that we can work together so that not only one car but both cars will be up there. Again, it's limited races, yes, but it's a great opportunity, and one that I'm really looking forward to.

Q. Mike, have you spoken with Helio about maybe running the IMSA sports car program with you next season?

MICHAEL SHANK: Yeah, we've talked about a lot of different things. That's not really what this announcement is about, but there's other things going on there for sure.

I think for me, from how much I dreamed about the 500 and the -- just the thought that we could have Helio or be a part of what Helio does to get a fourth just puts me over the moon, and I know it does with Jim, too, and it means a lot. What's that mean? It means I'm throwing everything we can at his car. There will be no budget. It needs what it needs to be the fastest machine we can make for him. Specifically for that race we're going to do lots of work to make sure that car is as good as anything out there.

You ask about results. Listen, we should be able to fit -- it's tough to parachute into these races, right, really tough, and that's been seen a lot last year. But we're going to test Helio. He's going to get some opportunity to run a little bit before we race, and there's no reason we can't finish in the top 5 in any of the races we do, none of them, zero.

We look forward to trying to get that. I just feel lucky that we got him.

Q. A couple questions for both you guys. I'll start with Helio. Kind of going off what Tim asked there, I know this is a new journey for you in your INDYCAR career, so much of it that had been spent chasing 500s and championships with Team Penske. I know it was important for you just to get back to this series, but going into this next chapter of your career, what kind of -- how do you feel like -- I'm trying to think -- how do you characterize this next chapter and what do you want to get out of it more than just kind of the results and the win side part of this?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Look, no question, with Team Penske it's 20 years we are talking about. They are part of my family. They were part of my life basically, my career, my life.

Right now, again, as you're still saying, Roger and I are partners in dealerships and he is the guy that I'll always ask for guidance. But now there is an opportunity here to make new friends, to build something different.

As you heard Mike saying, everything we're going to try to do here is to have a phenomenal result, and especially in the Indy 500. When you see that, come on, what more can you ask for?

As I mentioned before, Jim is a guy that's passionate about racing, and everyone is excited. Everyone is looking forward to it. We have work, yes, no question, but this is the new chapter of my life, as you mentioned, and I'm looking forward to building new relationships and having great results, too.

Looking forward to it. I can't stop smiling because obviously I'm extremely excited. It's been an amazing couple of months, no question, but we have a lot of work to do, but I'm ready for that challenge.

Q. You mentioned reaching out to Roger and using him for guidance and for advice. I'd be curious to know maybe kind of any advice or guidance he gave you in this. I know you've been a part of the Team Penske family for so long and it didn't seem like that was going to be an opportunity anymore. Did he in some way kind of give you a blessing or encouragement to go out and continue your career because he knows how passionate you are for racing in general?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: In fact, Mike, when we started talking, he went to speak with Cindric even before he was pursuing that idea. Roger knew about it. Roger felt there was a great opportunity, as well.

As you said, he kind of gave the blessing, and we're all here now, and super excited for next year.

Q. What do you feel like as far as this team goes, I know I think you said back in August when you were talking about wanting to come back to INDYCAR in some capacity, you said that you wanted to make sure that you were a part of a competitive team and a team that could give you everything that you needed to succeed going forward. What specifically about this team do you feel like made that perfect fit for what you were looking for in a next partner?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Well, hopefully I have enough time, but I have so many. One is the passion of Jim, another one is the commitment of Mike, to make sure that we get everything right for all the races, not only the Indy 500, for all the races. Mike has been doing everything he can, the technical support from Andretti, and obviously with having a great teammate, Jack, which has been showing incredible amount of speeds all of the season.

You keep it going, and as I said before, the sky's the limit. We are committed for six races. Who knows what's going to happen in the future, but at this point all of these ingredients were able to show me this is the right direction, and that's why we're here.

Q. Mike, you talked a little bit about why you felt like Helio was a good match for what you guys were looking for in building that second seat. What, I guess, is the roadmap, or is there any sort of roadmap that you guys have laid out beyond the six races that you have planned this year? Do you have maybe a number of years in mind as far as how long you hope it will take to build up to two full-season program cars?

MICHAEL SHANK: We have a roadmap that we're going to stick to that we use with Jack, and depending on what we put together for partners, it could be heightened or quickened, so we did six this year. We want to push that to at least 10 the year after, maybe the full season. We'll do with what the economics dictate and the partnerships dictate. Jim, do you have any thoughts on that?

JIM MEYER: Yeah, I would say the one thing that Mike reiterated earlier and it's taught me early on in this, passion can get ahead of your wallet if you're not careful because I mean, we're very competitive. By the way, I would just point out, I think as participants in this sport and owners, drivers, team members, we sometimes forget how good the racing in INDYCAR is. In my opinion it's the best in the world, and I realize my partners own F1. I think it's the most competitive and best racing in the world. And by the way, there's no reason why we can't win every week, and particularly with -- we couldn't be more thrilled with our partnership with Andretti racing and the technology we're getting.

I think the point Mike has taught me is not to let your passion get ahead of your plan, so we're very careful. We are not going to go any faster than we have the proper amount of funding. And I don't mean -- we could put the funding together now to expand, but we want to expand correctly and do it the way that we have with Jack and continue on that way.

It's going to be all about how we build, I call it the book, going forward for a commitment of the money to be able to do this correctly, but I'm confident we'll do that.

Q. For both Mike or Jim, whoever wants to chime in here or both of you certainly can, you both I think have spoken on it a little bit already on why you think a seasoned veteran driver was the proper fit. Is this just a partnership for 2021, you guys will evaluate and move forward? Is this a multiyear program that you hope you guys can build with Helio, or do you see this kind of maybe as some sort of a bridge maybe to what you guys can be five years down the road?

MICHAEL SHANK: We want to build it. If Helio is the guy, we both agree, Helio and us agree, we'll go forward with Helio if he wants to. We've all been in this a long time, and I want to see how this year goes. It takes a little bit to get the gel to happen. But you know what I like about this is I've got -- when you decide are you going to do a young or new guy or are you going to do a veteran guy, I just like hungry guys. I like hungry. I don't care how old you are. I don't care how old. Do the job. I've got a hungry guy that I know can do the job and wants to get a fourth Indy 500. So what's the choice? He's sitting there on the TV with us. So I'm really pleased to have him.

Q. Quick question for Mike and Helio. Mike, how important is it for you from both a business perspective but also a personal perspective that you have two cars next season to kind of build the momentum from this year into next year?

MICHAEL SHANK: It's very important. This is part of the grand plan that Jim and I when we sat down three years ago said that we want to do. We want to do it correctly, like we've said all along here.

You know, we're going to do two INDYCARs and one prototype car this year. This is exactly the size of business that Jim and I want to be. Jim can speak for himself here. We have plenty of work. We're building a new shop. We have 45 people working for us now, which is not a little team anymore.

Just so many positive things that have happened since Jim and I came together. I don't even know what to say. But this is just a natural evolution.

Jim and I like to sit and have a beer at the end of each day at the 500 in front of our motor homes, and to have two opportunities to sit and have a beer like that, that's just perfect for me. I don't know about you, Jim.

JIM MEYER: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. You know, at this point with our investment, we have in my opinion a huge new shop under construction in Ohio that we broke ground on about eight weeks ago that we're thrilled to accommodate the size of our new program. We wouldn't be building that if we weren't in this for the long-term.

And I just -- I haven't said it, we're thrilled to have Helio. I think Mike summed it up. We're just kind of thinking -- we think we got lucky, and we think he's going to be a tremendous partner for Jack. We're really pleased with our -- but we took a chance on Jack. Funny story, when Jack and I first met, we took a chance with Jack. We're thrilled with his progress, and I think 2021 is going to be a really, really outstanding year for us with both the No. 60 and the No. 6 car.

Q. For Helio, for yourself obviously this is a new chapter for you in your career. Do you feel like you're a rookie going into a new team or do you think you'll be able to bring an awful lot of your previous experience from Penske into MSR to kind of guide Jack then, as well, for next season?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, it's starting out, again, no question, but it's starting different. When I started 10 years ago I had no experience, and now I know exactly what I need, I know exactly what I want and I see the commitment that the entire organization is ready to do it. That's not only showing me the light at the end of the tunnel but it pumps me up to go out there and probably the guys are going to say get out of here at one point because I'm going to be like digging everything I can, because it's what I love. That's the only thing I know how to do is drive cars, and that's part of my passion, and that's what I'm looking forward to.

It's great when you rejuvenate. It's great when you have something different and something new, but you see everyone putting the efforts together.

Man, this is going to be great.

THE MODERATOR: Mike, I know you've got to split. You're involved in a championship chase, as is Helio. I assume you guys are going to be rooting for each other.

MICHAEL SHANK: Yeah, what we're trying to do is not hit each other.

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Be sure when you see the No. 7, just wave and stop the other guys.

THE MODERATOR: Jack Harvey, back full time; Helio Castroneves, six-race deal, including the running of the Indianapolis 500. Congratulations Mike, Jim, Helio, good luck this weekend. Enjoy the off-season and can't wait to see you back on track in 2021. Thank you all very much.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

To have one of the best ambassadors for open-wheel racing back in the paddock is good news. The only thing that would make this a better deal from a fan perspective, would be the full season with a chance at possible swan song career-ending NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship.

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: Meyer Shank Racing, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Helio Castroneves, Jack Harvey, 6 race, 2021, INDY 500, Honda, HPD, The EDJE

2014 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Power scored his fifth pole of the season and his second consecutive after starting first in the INDYCAR Harvest GP presented by GMR Race 2 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Oct. 3. Image Credit: Joe Skibinski via NICS (2020)

Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg 2020 Finale Knock-Out Post Qualifications Interviews - Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Scott Dixon, & Josef Newgarden Featured

Will Power Owns Streets of St. Pete with Another Pole; Josef Newgarden To Start 8th, Scott Dixon 11th

Will Power, the qualifying master of both the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and on the streets of St. Petersburg, reigned again Saturday, winning the NTT P1 Award for pole position in St. Petersburg, Florida. This makes 5 Poles in this 14 race 2020 season, his 9th pole in 12 tries on the streets of St. Pete (normally a season opener) and with 62 career P1 Pole Awards places him just 5 pole awards in tying the all time career pole award winner, Mario Andretti.

Power posted a top lap of 1 minute, 1.0369 seconds in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet in the Firestone Fast Six of qualifying for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Live coverage of the season finale on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course begins at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on NBC and the Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network.

Joining Power on the front row will be Alexander Rossi in the No. 27 AutoNation / NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda, who continued Andretti Autosport’s strong day and posted a best lap of 1:01.1730. Rossi has four consecutive top-10 starts to close the season as he also looks to end the year with four consecutive podium finishes.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. We are at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg post qualifying video conference. We are joined by Josef Newgarden.

Josef, qualifying didn't work out the way you wanted, but you'll start eighth, three spaces ahead of Scott Dixon, who you're chasing in the championship chase tomorrow. Tell us how your qualifying went and what your expectations are for tomorrow.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Certainly not what we wanted on our side. I felt like we took a swing for Q2. Our Q1 run was pretty good. I was pretty happy with it for the most part. Felt like we chipped away on the next couple runs, a couple things to get us more competitive. Felt like we were there, but we just wanted to probably be aggressive and try to get even further up. I think we ended up probably going the wrong way with our adjustments.

Kind of a scrappy qualifying in Q2. Unfortunately that puts us eighth. Not a terrible spot to start, but not where we wanted. We wanted to be closer to the front, top three, top five group.

A little more work to do for tomorrow, but feel positive about our Hitachi car, think Team Chevy has done a good job this weekend. Good confidence that we have something to attack with.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Josef.

Q. How happy are you to have Will Power up front? Being a bit of a rear gunner for you as you make your way to the front of the field.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I don't know that it's really relevant for us. I mean, we needed to be up front on a day like today. He did a great job. I felt like we were capable of being up there, too. Not sure I feel really one way or the other about him being up there. It was more about we needed to be up there.

I don't think he can help us from that position, nothing like that. We just got to put our work in for tomorrow now.

Q. Case of every man for himself tomorrow?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't know that Will is going to be able to help us do anything when we're sitting eighth. That's just the way it goes.

Q. In terms of the race tomorrow, is it going flat out, see what happens?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, we need to look at everything. I'm not sure yet what our plan will be. I think it will be a pretty aggressive race for most people as far as running pretty hard on fuel. I don't think you'll see a ton of fuel save. But there's options there, big options. We'll see what everyone decides to do at the end of the day.

Q. How do you think Scott McLaughlin got on?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Really good. Obviously first qualifying session for him. Not a lot of track time. I thought he was really good in the first session, seemed to adapt quick. I don't know, I haven't seen his run. I don't even know what happened in qualifying. Could have been a lot of different things that pushed him back.

He's going to be just fine. Just him getting going today.

Q. In regards to what happened out there today, was it a direction that you went in with the team that went the wrong way or do you feel maybe a lack of running on Fridays may have contributed today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, we had a really poor Q2 right from the jump of Q2. On the black tires I was half a second slower than I was in Q1. The adjustments that we did in between didn't seem to really pan out.

It's disappointing. I think if we just had our form for Q1, we would have been okay. We took a swing at it and it was the wrong way to go. It's one of those deals. You try sometimes, sometimes you try the wrong way.

Reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Josef Newgarden is 32 points behind five-time series champion Dixon entering the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, Oct. 25 (2:30 p.m., NBC, Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network). Newgarden, last year's season-opener winner being honored with plaque above, knows the math. He knows there are 19,872 possible championship finish scenarios between him and Scott Dixon this weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, with only 1 percent favoring Newgarden. He could care less. “You're saying there's a chance, and that's all we need,” Newgarden said. Image Credit: James Black via NICS (2020)

Q. In regards to the whole weekend, do you like the two-day weekend or would you want something longer?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I love the three-day weekends personally. I've always enjoyed that. For me, I do enjoy more days. Also for the process of how you work, your kind of workflow of sifting through information, the way you prepare to roll into a weekend, how you kind of manage an event, I've always liked the three-day format.

If we don't ever go back to that, it's not a big deal. We'll adapt, run this way. I think we've been okay on this format this year for the most part. If I had a preference, I like the three day, but we'll see what ends up getting decided for the future.

Q. I want to know what is the mindset that you will use now? You have to reset everything? How do you focus on your goal?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Same as always. If this was any other weekend, we'd be doing the same thing. It's disappointing we qualified eighth, but it's not the worst position. We have a little more work to do. We're going to focus on what strategy we can implement, being good at the start, manage a really good race that hopefully can produce a win. It's as simple as that. We're going to treat the as any other.

Q. Do you think it's something about the yellow flags always happens in the race could help you?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It would be beautiful if it helped us for once. We have not had help from yellows this year. But it is possible. You can have a yellow ruin your race, you can a yellow really help your race. Tomorrow if a yellow flag decides to help us, I'm not going to complain about it. I think it would be good for some payback for the year.

Q. Do you go in with an aggressive strategy? Do you expect Scott to go with a very conservative strategy?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Hard to say with Dixon what they'll do. For us, I think we'll treat it as normal when we're trying to win a race. We try to win every race. I don't know how to spin it differently. We do the same thing every time.

We're going to focus on what's the best strategy for us with where we're sitting in eighth. How can we manage the race better than the people around us with the fuel usage, all that. When is the right time to push and not push.

I don't think it will be more aggressive or less aggressive than what we normally are. We're just going to try to charge the front. It would have been nice to be in the top three, top five. Top eight, we're not too far back. It just makes it a little bit harder.

Q. What were you thinking during the lengthy delay while they sorted out the scoring?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was painful. It was hard to understand what was going on. Yeah, we were just sitting there waiting. I still don't know a lot of details. I know they were kind of working through yellow flags and penalties, all that stuff. It was a long wait, that's all it was for everybody.

Alexander Rossi will start from the front row as Honda secures four of the top-5 positions for tomorrow's IndyCar season finale on the streets of St. Petersburg! Image Credit: Honda Racing/HPD (2020)

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Alexander Rossi - Andretti Autosport

THE MODERATOR: We've been joined now by our second-place qualifier, Alexander Rossi from Andretti Autosport.

Alex, tell us about your qualifying run today.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, it was okay. I think we got the car better every session. I think we really got everything out of it we could there in the Fast Six. That was a pleasant surprise. I think we thought we were kind of probably going to be around fourth or fifth. To be on the front row is good.

It's pretty par for the course if you're going up against Will Power in a Fast Six qualifying, going to be pretty hard to beat him. So we'll take it. We can have a good result from there, for sure.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Alex.

Q. This is a little bit later in the year. It's a lot hotter. It's a tight track. How is that going to affect the driving style tomorrow?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I don't think it's going to affect the driving style too much. I think Firestone has done a good job with the tire. It seems to handle the heat pretty well for the most part. So, yeah, I mean, I think it will be pretty much the same as usual. It's usually pretty hot here in March regardless. This is always one of our tougher races from a physicality standpoint. Just the heat and humidity, a street course, also one of our longer races as well.

But, yeah, I don't think it's really too much different than last year.

Q. I noticed in the warmups you're looking to catch the braking just right, went a little bit long. Is the track that much different from March or was that trying to push the edge?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: We didn't drive in March, so I don't know.

Q. Well, St. Petersburg normally.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I don't know. We have the Aeroscreen, which is 60-odd pounds as well. I don't know if it's track or car.

Yeah, practice, that's when you got to find the limits for sure. It's pretty much par for the course, especially when with this kind of newer schedule that we have with the obvious restrictions and such, you only have the one practice session. You got to try to fit a lot in, a lot of learning in, in a short period of time.

Q. Coming to the timing line, most of the cars sometimes would go too fast and not catch the last turn properly. Did you find any trouble with the timing line?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: No, I thought it was all right. I guess the Andretti Autosport cars were doing a good job.

Q. Tell me about the Aeroscreen, what it's like on a road course. Scott said it was probably going to have an issue with depth perception. How has it been for you so far this weekend?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Quite honestly, the visibility has been great. From that standpoint I haven't even really noticed it.

It doesn't change the driving style a whole lot. It changes a little bit about what you're looking for from the car. It's a little bit harder to see the tight stuff. The change of direction is a little bit slower.

Really the biggest issue, if you call it an issue, is just the heat. It's hot. I think we've all kind of touched on this topic throughout the year. Really this was always going to be one of the bigger tests to run when we get there next year. That's usually a very hot race.

The street courses are probably the most physically demanding just because they're so bumpy, low grip. You're fighting the car a lot more than you would on a permanent course. They're slower, so not as much forced air coming in. I think an area we need to improve on.

In terms of the heavy hitting items, the visibility, which was a question for everyone, I didn't think about it till you just brought it up. Hats off to INDYCAR for that.

Q. Do you think the Aeroscreen changes from a physicality standpoint how these cars are?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, I mean, they're harder for sure. You don't get the cooling that you used to. It will be interesting tomorrow to see how guys fare. I think everyone is kind of managing it right now. It's hot, but you're only doing six, seven laps at a time. It will be interesting to discuss it after a 100-lap race tomorrow in some of the worst conditions, probably 85 degrees, direct sunlight, high humidity, street course. All the factors line up.

Yeah, it's going to be very physical. Yeah, I mean, I guess I'll have a better answer for how it actually is come tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Q. Will strategy for you tomorrow to be to get the jump on Will on turn one? If you do, do you think you can hold him off given he's strong here?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, for sure, we're going to try. Whether it's lap one or into one or whenever, we're going to try to get it done. Regardless of who it is, clean air in these cars is hugely important. It just makes everything easier. The pace is higher. It's easier on the tires. Makes your life simpler.

That will be our goal. Our car on blacks is incredibly strong, probably stronger than anyone else out there, aside from maybe the 88 car. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Yeah, we're definitely going to try to get the lead early and manage the race from there.

Q. Any fuel savings by being behind him? Can you go longer on your fuel, get a jump on a pit stop?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, I mean, that's always an option, right? I think we don't really know what the mileage target is yet just because we've been focusing on qualifying. In warmup tomorrow we'll see how easy it is to get a number, and that will give us an idea of what is possible tomorrow.

Usually in races like this it's not so much fuel saving as it is just who runs out of tire first. You're usually pitting for tires or holding on, trying to get to the end of the fuel window. I think tomorrow will be probably pretty similar. I think the tires are good for 25-odd laps. Beyond that it will get tricky. It will be whose car manages the deg throughout the stint better.

Q. In a lot of ways you and Colton can finish the season quite strong. How much do you expect to be contending with him tomorrow to try to get the victory and go into the off-season strong?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I don't really care who it is, just trying to win a race before the year is done whether it's a teammate or not. Yeah, he's obviously quick. He's done a good job all year. He can probably finish third. Well, Will will try to beat him in the championship. I'm not in the championship. I don't really care. I'm just trying to win a race.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Alex, for joining us.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Thanks, guys.

Speaking after securing his fifth pole of the 2020 campaign ahead of Alexander Rossi and Herta, 2014 champion Power said he would be prepared to sacrifice track position if Newgarden needed help. When asked, on this ZOOM Call by Edmund Jenks, if it had crossed his mind about what he'd do if Dixon was running poorly and Newgarden required only track position on Power to clinch the championship, the Australian replied: "Yeah, it has. I mean, obviously if that's the situation, I would let him go." Image Credit: Yahoo Autosport via David Malsher-Lopez (2020)

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Will Power - Team Penske

Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Will Power and our championship contender Scott Dixon. We'll start with Scott really quick.

Scott, I know qualifying didn't end up the way you wanted, starting from the 11th position tomorrow. Tell us about your day.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, the day started not too bad. The car was pretty good. The biggest thing we've been struggling with all day is braking. We've had a lot of rear locking biases, like 62% or 63%. We didn't want to change any of the brake setup before qualifying because at least we knew what we had.

In qualifying, it seemed in Q2 we couldn't build the tire temp quick enough. It showed on the blacks we were kind of last until the last lap, then we jumped up to fifth. With the slow out-lap on the reds, I just didn't have enough time. I had to abort the first lap with traffic as well. Really only had one lap. There was no temp in the tires.

The car was actually pretty good, especially on the long run, once we get temperature into the tires. All three of us have been struggling to turn on the first few laps.

It is what it is. Starting 11th. Just got to try to stay out of trouble and have a good day.

THE MODERATOR: Will, it is your ninth pole at St. Pete, your 62nd pole overall in your career. You are now within five of tying Mario Andretti. It is your fifth pole of the year. Obviously a great day for you. Tell us about your run.

WILL POWER: It was a typical very tough qualifying session, the first few rounds. Made some slight changes. The car wasn't perfect at first. It does take a long time to turn on, so you could not do it like last year on your first lap. Your second and third lap are really the best laps on the tires. Kind of played around with that a little bit.

Yeah, I mean, when I saw what Colton did on blacks in the first round, I saved some reds. I thought this is going to be really tough. But when I went out in the second round and made the car a bit better, made a mistake. I said, Okay, we're kind of close. Then I went all out in the Fast Six to get the most out of the car. It was enough.

Yeah, really, really happy with it. I thought we played it very well strategy-wise. Just very determined to win the race tomorrow, I really am. I really want to convert that pole into a win and finish on a high.

I know we're, what, whatever points away from Colton. It will be nice to be third in the championship, but for me it's more about finishing with a win. I'll be aggressive to do that. We'll see how we go.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Scott and Will.

Q. Scott, obviously qualifying didn't go as well as you'd hoped today, but what is the plan for tomorrow? Any kind of specific thing you'll do differently tomorrow in the race?

SCOTT DIXON: Not really. I think for us, ultimately we're at St. Pete, if you guess the strategy right, you can win from any spot. The likeliness of that, we just got to stay clean and obviously try to move up a little bit just on pace and hopefully good pit stops and things like that, eliminate any kind of issues there. If we catch a lucky break, so be it.

We're not starting on the first couple rows so we have to understand where we're starting. We're mid pack. Traffic and starts are going to be pretty interesting as well. We definitely need to focus on just trying to keep it clean, pick up cars when we can.

It's unfortunate because I think the car, race pace over a long run, is going to be really good. Again, all year actually all of us have been struggling to get the pace out of the car. It's been really frustrating.

Q. We had the announcement today about Jimmie Johnson. Having him there today, how exciting was that? How happy are you to have him onboard for next season?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I think it's big for the NTT INDYCAR Series. Jimmie is a seven-time NASCAR champion. He's definitely coming over to go up a pretty steep hill. It's definitely tough. I think he's starting to see. He came to Indy GP, been to a few races this year. I think he's starting to see how tight the competition is, how one little mistake can have you fall five, six, seven spots.

It's definitely going to be a tough transition. I think obviously if he had done ovals, it's would have been a bit more of a sweet spot for him. That's obviously not the case.

I'm excited for him. Fantastic to see a new sponsor coming over a new brand. I think it's huge for the sport. Excited to hopefully hear a couple other announcements here in the next couple weeks, as well.

Scott Dixon will secure his sixth title and burnish his legend by finishing ninth or better in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon has finished 10th or lower only three times in the 13 races so far this season, but two of those results have come in the last four races. Image Credit: Chris Owens via NICS (2020)

Q. Scott, obviously with the Aeroscreen on a road course, tire degradation for the race, do you think the tire deg is going to be quite high? Have you and the team discussed it? Do you have an understanding of how it will be in the race?

SCOTT DIXON: It's definitely pretty interesting because I think when we went to Sebring earlier in the year, which is really the only place we get to run the street course tire, it felt like they wore out a lot quicker than usual. They came in pretty quick. We're expecting them to act a lot different than what they have.

My first run this morning, it took seven or eight laps before I put in my quickest. Pretty consistent to, like, lap 25. Each stint was five laps before we could turn the tires on.

We were actually thinking coming here the two stop was going to be pretty tough, most not because of the fuel mileage but tire degradation. Even the reds seem to be holding on really well, too.

We'll find out a little bit more about that tomorrow in the warmup. The tire has reacted a lot different than we thought it was going to. Definitely be pretty interesting. I think the tire deg, at the end of a stint, doesn't seem like it's going to be a problem.

THE MODERATOR: Scott, thank you for joining us. Good luck tomorrow.

SCOTT DIXON: Thanks, guys.

THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Will.

Q. We heard from Alex, he talked about the physicality of what it was like out there doing several laps. Looking at tomorrow's race, very hot, very physical, what do you have to do tonight to prepare yourself for that challenge tomorrow?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, you've got to hydrate very well. I think I would consider adding that scoop to the top of the roll. I think it's actually a drag, a downforce loss. It does hurt the performance a bit, but it gets so hot in there, so physical, I just wonder if physically you'd be way better off with it. Maybe I'll try that in warmup tomorrow.

Q. I know you want to win the race. Of course you have a teammate that wants to win a championship. If for some reason Scott Dixon is way down in the line, Josef is only one position away from getting a championship, has that ever crossed your mind what you might do?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it has. I mean, obviously if that's the situation, I would let him go.

Q. Next year you're going to have a teammate from New Zealand, Scott McLaughlin. Being your two countries are close together, any rivalry?

WILL POWER: I'm sure that he wants to come in and beat me and everyone else because he's a tough competitor. But he's a lot younger, he has a pretty good future ahead of him. He's in the right team. I think he'll do real well, I really do.

Yeah, I mean, no different to the rivalry that I have with Scott Dixon. He's a Kiwi, too, yeah.

Q. You're only five poles away from Mario Andretti. What would that mean to you if you were able to break that record? That's stood for a long time.

WILL POWER: That would mean a lot. That would be a great achievement for me personally, to be up there with a name like Mario Andretti. It's something that I just love about racing, is when you get to absolutely get the most out of the car in one lap. That's qualifying.

To be at the top of the list for that would almost sum up my career, I guess, as far as being the speed that I have, maybe not the championships. Certainly a lot of race wins, as well.

Q. You're now back to a four-car team. How do you kind of look at that, how it's going to play out with a new guy coming in?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, we've obviously been there before. It's more information. Obviously Scott is going to be in a learning year, kind of understanding qualifying, how the races go. I think this will give him a good head start this weekend.

Yeah, I feel like it's four pretty strong drivers. I mean, yeah, I've been there before. I know how it is. Engineering office gets pretty busy. Yeah, should be good.

Q. You're going to get some old favorites back from a crew side coming from the IMSA side. How important will that be to have them back with an INDYCAR program?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it's actually a good influx of really good people. It will just help on the engineering side of things. Obviously you've got a bigger crew to pick from as far as crews.

Yeah, all positives really when you add another car.

Q. What is your karting schedule going to look like this season?

WILL POWER: Karting? I was going to race a club race next weekend but then I realized I'm testing a couple days after, so probably shouldn't risk it. Yeah, I love the karting. No Vegas this year, unfortunately. They called that off.

Q. Where is your mindset in terms of this being the last race of the year with the circumstances of how this season has gone with COVID? What would it mean for you to finish on a strong note this weekend?

WILL POWER: It would be amazing to win the last race of the season, it really would. It would really make this year worthwhile for me. I would feel very good about it. Get to go on vacation feeling good about the finish of the year.

Super determined about converting the pole into a win. Obviously circumstances are going to play out. I'll do the best job I can. That's all I can do. See if we can get the car well so it lasts really well over a stint.

Yeah, that's the plan. It's been a trying season, I'll have to say, the beginning of it. We're knocking on the door every weekend, so we have to, we have to come into next year with very solid pit stops and solid races and we have to get ourselves in a championship position so we're not in a hole having to dig ourselves out the whole way. It's just been too many years we've done that.

That's a huge focus of mine going into next year.

THE MODERATOR: We'll let Will Power go and focus for tomorrow's race.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: Scott Dixon, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, NTT P1 Pole Award, Knock-Out Qualifications, Interviews, The EDJE