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

The 2020 Patchwork Season Comes To A Strong, Yet Shortened 14 Race End In St. Pete

Astor Cup ... the grand prize - Image Credit: Karl Zemlin- via NICS (2020)

The 2020 Patchwork Season Comes To A Strong, Yet Shortened 14 Race End In St. Pete

After 1,800 laps over the course of 13 races, the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship comes down to a battle between Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. The two championship protagonists will be the center of this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and here are their thoughts before taking to the track this weekend to end the story of the Wuhan Red Death/COVID-19 shaded first season of a Roger Penske owned NTT INDYCAR SERIES for 2020.

The one thing that has come out during this unique and uncertain patchwork of a season that had no West Coast swing, the racing at INDYCAR is strong and vibrant and did not succumb to the virus event visited upon us by China.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR Series video conference. It is our last race of the season and we are joined by our two title contenders today, Scott Dixon drives the No. 9 for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Josef Newgarden, who drives the No. 1 for Team Penske.

As we head into the weekend, it is the 15th consecutive season that the battle for the Astor Challenge Cup will be decided in the final race. It will also be the first time that it has been decided at St. Pete, which is exciting. There are over 19,872 different scoring possibilities for both title contenders.

With that we'll get started Josef, between you and the trophy, what is your mindset going into the weekend?

SCOTT DIXON: I think it's only fair that Josef lets us lead the whole season (smiling).

I don't know. For us, we try to typically keep it pretty simple. I would say that was not the case for the last few races, which got us into a bit of a tailspin. Josef and Team Penske, him and his teammates, have been doing a fantastic job.

For us, it's just to have a pretty simple weekend, try to keep it clean. Obviously the goal is to go for a win. That makes it a lot easier, then you don't have to worry about any of the scenarios. As you mentioned, there's many different scenarios. I think we're still lucky to be in the situation that we are, the points lead that we do have.

As we all know, that doesn't guarantee you anything. NTT INDYCAR Series is renowned for throwing some curves in situations like this. It's always exciting. We tried to stop it going down to the last race, as you mentioned, it was a 15-year run, but we came up short.

Yeah, just looking forward to the weekend. Can't wait to get to St. Pete. Looking forward to getting on a street course, we haven't done one all year. Hopefully it goes well.

Josef Newgarden has a tall order in front of him along with Team Penske, but if Scott Dixon has a DNF kind of a day, and Newgarden finishes on the podium, this strange season may have an unbelievable storybook ending. Image Credit: NICS (2020)

THE MODERATOR: Josef, you have three wins on the season. You are tied for top fives, but you have actually won the last time we were in St. Pete, which is something that Scott hasn't been able to do yet. Tell us about your mindset going into the weekend.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think similar to Scott, we're excited to get back to a street course. It's been a while. We haven't been able to do that yet this year. That's going to be a change-up for the entire field with the new Aeroscreen.

Feeling good. Ready to go. Just had a great call with everybody a couple hours ago. I feel like we're definitely prepped and ready to rock for the weekend. Just going there to try to win the race. That's really all I can do.

I love on the fact sheet, I saw this put out, it was like 20,000 scenarios, 1% of the scenarios means we can win the championship. You're saying there's a chance and that's all we need.

Yeah, I don't know, it's going to be an exciting weekend. We'll see how it shakes out. We're just going to go into our thing, see where everything lands at the end of it.

THE MODERATOR: It's funny you mention that. Before we put it out the other day, I said, Do we really want to put 1% on there? I was told that looked better than the actual amount of chances you have. We were trying to help you out on that.

You're right, there's a chance, anything could happen, this is why we race, right? Anything can happen.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I like how the 1% looked better than the number you could have put up (laughter).

SCOTT DIXON: I think it looks better, right?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It is what it is.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Tell me how excited are you for the race this weekend, that we're actually getting to go to St. Pete, but also we're going to have fans there as well. Scott, talk to me a little bit about your season, where your mind is at going into the race this weekend.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I think honestly we've had a pretty good season. We've had some mis-steps here and there, which I think most teams do during the year. I made a pretty big mistake at Mid-Ohio which I think, had I not spun, I think it would have been a different scenario going into the last race.

I think these adversities, obviously the ups and downs throughout the season, is what makes INDYCAR racing. You see these runaways, then you see them get caught. The situations always come down to the wire, which is typical and great to see I think for the sport and for the fans, for everybody involved.

Yeah, I think more importantly just super excited to get to St. Pete. I think how all of us started the season loading into St. Pete, getting ready, ready to go, then waking up on Friday saying, You probably need to book a flight to go home.

Nice to end it in full circle and go back to St. Pete this year. Massive thanks to everybody in St. Petersburg, the mayor, Kim Green, Savoree to get this back on, have this race prepped. Obviously Florida for allowing us to have fans at the race, which I think doing some different series, it's been interesting to see how each state has kind of laid this out.

We're in a great situation with the series. I guess a big thanks to Roger and everybody, NTT INDYCAR Series, because the season for a lot of us, we weren't sure we were going to be able to continue. Cool to end it the way we are with the championship going down to St. Pete.

I think everybody at Ganassi feels steadily confident and ready to go racing. I've always wanted to win at St. Pete, so hopefully maybe this is the year. We'll see.

Q. Josef, same question.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I'm excited, just like Scott. It's kind of fitting that we come full circle this with. It was odd to be there at the beginning of the year when everything fell apart, not just in INDYCAR but the world really. To be able to finally come back and run the race is great. To have some fans there is fantastic. Hopefully have a little bit of energy.

It's obviously different having the fans, the way they're able to be into the track, social distancing, masks, all that. It's going to be a different energy, but somewhat to have energy back is really pleasing to see.

Great effort by everybody. Like Scott mentioned, a lot of people to put this together the whole year without knowing we were going to have that. Just thankful we're able to go back there and race this season. I think it's going to be a really fun time in October. It's a different ending for us than we've seen in INDYCAR.

We're all pumped. Team is ready. Feel good. We'll go to try to have a great weekend.

Q. What are your thoughts on an Aeroscreen on a street course for the first time?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. It's the first time for it. It's done a great job first season, the conditions we've had in different situations. We didn't get the full rain situation, which I think a lot of us expected throughout the season at some point.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe the depth perception maybe a little altered depending on the walls, where there's placed. Honestly, this year it's been very good in every situation. Touch wood that there's no issue there.

I think looking at the weather, it could be a hot weekend. I think we're looking at mid 80s. Typically pretty humid down there. The only time we've had weather like that was the first race, Indy road course, where it was very hot in the car. They've made changes to the car since then as well.

I don't see it being any issue. Hasn't been through rest of the season, so should be all good.

Q. Can you tell me what the remember about being in St. Pete the first time, anything that stood out in that weird period of you thought you were going to race, then you weren't going to race? Also, if you could talk about what this season has felt like, some fans, no fans, canceled events, et cetera.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's been a tough year. Showing up to the racetrack in the conditions that we've seen this year, it's hard. I think just from an event standpoint, you don't have the energy of the fans and the crowd. That's really what makes INDYCAR racing what it is. I think it makes sport what it is.

It's fantastic, we have an amazing partner in NBC. To be able to showcase the events still through broadcast is great. The atmosphere at the track has been, yeah, I think tough in a lot of ways. Hopefully we can continue to work back to our old normal. I think you need that in sport. You got to have that energy to feed off for everybody, make it what it is.

Earlier in the year at St. Pete, it was an odd lead-up to the event. You have so much buildup over four or five months for the season to kick off, you always want to have a good first weekend. There's a lot of pressure and anxiety, some nerves going into that first event.

I just remember when the NBA postponed, I don't even remember how they announced it, I think they said they were canceling the season. As soon as that happened, people were speculating there's no way we're going to run this weekend. You saw the trickle-down effect from everywhere in the country. Didn't take long for everything else to follow suit.

It was just a strange time to be involved in.

SCOTT DIXON: All I remember was having lunch with you. That's all I remember about that whole weekend. I think Dario paid for the check, which is unusual for a Scotsman, so that was good (smiling).

Just how the whole weekend evolved. Josef and I did the charity thing, the go-kart thing on Wednesday night. I was actually on the mayor's team. He was telling me everything was going to be fine. That's how quickly things change. That was Wednesday night.

Thursday it kind of evolved a little bit more. I think I remember seeing Savoree Friday morning having breakfast. He was thinking within the hour he was going to get a message saying we were all going home. Obviously it changed pretty quickly. Extremely unfortunate. Crazy for a lot of people as we've all touched on many times throughout the season.

Just to touch on what Josef said about the atmosphere, I think a lot of us thrive on that. To be able to go back full circle and have fans again at St. Pete I think is going to be really cool.

But, yeah, just the effort that's gone in to make a season and have a season where a lot of people haven't had that opportunity. A lot of categories in motor racing, but other sports have really struggled. A lot of people that have gone into it, partners, quite involved. We're very fortunate and very lucky. Glad we're able to carry on.

Q. Is it a victory for the INDYCAR season to have gotten to a conclusion, almost a full season completed?

SCOTT DIXON: I think so, considering what you see from other sports, maybe how they've had to change so much or not do it at all. I think it's a major victory. To be able to work with NBC, get everything running as they have, to even pull off an Indy 500 with no fans.

It's been such a bizarre year, a year I'll definitely never forget, no one else will really. There will be standout moments you'll reflect on like walking out of Gasoline Alley on race day and seeing nobody. A polarization of what's normal.

Again, we have to be thankful for the situation we're in.

Q. Josef, you're inside Team Penske. The effort that's come from Roger to get this season complete, are you surprised by what he's accomplished?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely not surprised at the effort. I don't know anyone in the world that has more energy or enthusiasm than Roger Penske. There's just nothing that's going to stop him when he's leading the charge on something, he's going to maximize everyone's capabilities around him and make the most of the situation.

I think we're all pretty thankful that Roger has been in charge to lead us forward. I think they've done a tremendous job. I'm certainly not surprised to see that. They've done everything possible. They did everything possible to run the 500 with a limited amount of fans.

I think if people knew the energy that was put in, the constant evolution they had to work through. The world was changing every day, every week. They're constantly keeping up with it, trying to make it work, trying to make it work. The same from the INDYCAR Series the entire season. A tremendous amount of effort.

Yeah, not surprised. There's a lot of great people working in the series, certainly at Penske. Thankful we had a year. You'll take this over nothing, without a doubt. Hopefully we can just keep getting better next year onwards.

Q. Scott, you said early year you're hoping going in and try to win this race. When you know it's coming down to one race, knowing you don't have to win and can secure the championship, do you anticipate maybe not going for a pass that you might typically go for normally? Do these circumstances change how you approach this race more than any other race?

SCOTT DIXON: I think you honestly just try to keep it as any other race weekend, which it is. They all pay the same points, apart from Indy this year. I think that's the constant situation when you're in any race, analyzing the situation that you're in, who you're passing.

This weekend may be a little more prominent. Cars that you maybe are having opportunity to pass or not, that you're racing hard, depending even which team they're from. That could alter things.

I think that's typical of any race weekend. Yes, there's a little more on the line with being caught up in an accident, points and situations like that. But I think that is something you deal with every race weekend.

Again, to simplify it, you go as we do every race weekend, to win, not just myself but my teammates and everybody involved. That makes it the most simple. I think when you start to cloud it and make it complicated, then it gets complicated. We'll just try to keep it as simple as possible.

Q. Josef, when you know you have to likely win, when you're going into a race in the end of the season, you're kind of the attacker instead of defender, do you anticipate this race feeling any different? Do you feel freer than you have been in '17 and '19 defending?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think for us, I don't feel the pressure so much on our end. You probably normally don't when you're pursuing versus trying to hold someone off. I'm surprised we're here, to be honest. It almost makes it more disappointing looking at the year now that we've clawed back to this point. We were in such a deficit, there was such a hill. We've reduced the hill, without a doubt, but it's still a mountain to climb. It's going to be a very hard task for us to try to win the championship.

I don't think there's a ton of pressure. I'm just really proud of what we've come back from this year, some of the adversities we've had to work through. But as far as the approach, answering that specifically, I mean, honestly for us, we don't change our approach. I've never really changed my approach.

When you do start to get yourself in a tough situation is when you start trying to compensate, or if you're trying to play to a certain level or you're trying to drive the car to a certain speed, that's when you can overcomplicate things and create more issues than just trying to go out and maximize the potential of the car.

If we have a fifth-place car on the weekend, you can only force so much. For me, it's all about calculated risks, getting the most out of the weekend. For us, that needs to be a win. If it's not there, I'm not going to take a sixth-place car and try to pass five guys in front of me. I'll probably end up in the wall doing that. I don't see the approach changing for us very much.

Q. Scott McLaughlin, what has been your impression of him in his lead-up to making his debut? What do you anticipate him being able to do?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's going to be really fascinating to see how he handles this challenge. This is going to be an enormous task for Scott. He's really, really good. We already know that. You could see that a mile away. I think we all admire his strengths around the Super Car side. I think he's a great racer overall, doesn't matter what car you put him in.

As far as INDYCAR specifically this weekend, he doesn't have a lot of time. This is a very abnormal St. Pete weekend. Normally you have three practices, an hour apiece, maybe about two and a half hours total. He'd have an overnight to kind of understand things and make sure to distill it down to useful information for him, review in a longer time period.

He's got to work on the fly. He's never been to this track. He's never really driven the car on a true street circuit. It's an enormous task. If he finishes in the top 10, it's a great weekend. If he finishes in the top five, it's an amazing weekend. Who knows, maybe he goes and wins the race. Very possible for someone like him.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, he's damn good. I'm super excited for him. I met him maybe four or five years ago. We had to do an appearance at some event in Auckland city, do autograph sessions. Had to sit around for a long time and chat. This is before he had gone to Team Penske.

Yeah, he's been crushing it obviously down there with his pole record, championship situation. Then for him to have this opportunity, I know he loves America, always wanted to come to America. I think it's really cool to have another Kiwi in the field, which didn't really even seem to be on the radar for quite a few years.

This is a great situation I think for him. It will be an interesting race weekend for him, as Josef touched on. It's definitely stacked against him. As we saw even at the COTA test he was exceptionally quick. I hope it goes well. Looking forward to seeing him. Looking forward to racing with him in the future.

Q. Josef, what do you admire about Scott and what he's done over his career? Scott, what do you admire about Josef, what he's done so far?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think for me, I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Scott, without a doubt. He's one of the best that we've seen in the INDYCAR Series. But I think in racing overall. I wouldn't limit it to just our championship. I think he's a world class driver that's very diversified and has an incredible amount of accomplishments over a long period of time.

He's been consistent throughout his whole career. He's just always there. He's very dependable and very capable in any situation, which is why I think he's had such success.

Yeah, I'm happy to compete against him. I want to kick his butt this weekend. I have a tremendous respect for him. If we don't have enough to beat him, we'll shake his hand, his team's hand, say great job, try to beat them next year.

They're one of the toughest to beat, and specifically Scott is one of the toughest to beat because he's so consistent and dependable. I respect that a lot about him. That's a key quality he's had throughout his career.

SCOTT DIXON: The respect is absolutely mutual. We've had a lot of great years so far racing together. As we've already seen, as soon as Josef hit his stride, which was pretty much the first season or second season in INDYCAR racing, he's been a standout. Even from junior categories I remember watching. It's a bummer he was never on our team. I think it would have been a fantastic situation to race with him in a team situation on that level.

As we've seen, Josef is exceptionally good in all areas that INDYCAR throws at you, whether it's the short ovals, superspeedways, to the street and road courses. That's why he's a two-time champion already, and many more to come.

Yeah, excited to race with him as we do every weekend. Hopefully he trips up a little bit this weekend, makes it a little bit easier. We'll see how that goes.

Q. Josef, do you feel there was a certain point in the season when this championship chase really turned in your direction?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think you got to look to race two at Gateway, was kind of the final time it came back around to us. This trend has thankfully gone the right way from there. It kind of ebbed and flowed. The first three races were just bad because Scott racked up so many points so quickly, then we kind of were ebbing and flowing for a little while. We'd have a good race, then a weird race. The points would go up and down.

The point where the trend has reversed was Gateway race two. That's what we've been working towards. We're going to try to continue that trend through St. Pete. We need another really good weekend.

Q. Scott, jumping ahead to the 2021 schedule. There's only three ovals on next year's schedule, a couple of new races. What stands out for you about what's coming up for this calendar next year?

SCOTT DIXON: I think the biggest one honestly is the Nashville addition. I think it's been in the works for many years. The layout looks fantastic. Everybody loves that circuit. It's a home race for Josef. I'm super excited about that event. These are the events we need more of.

On the polar opposite side of the that, I'm bummed there's only three ovals. I started in this category in 2003. It was 16 ovals in the series. We definitely need to work hard and trying to get back to that. I was extremely bummed about Iowa. It's not a place I've won at, but it's a track that is complete chaos, very difficult to set the car up. It's exhausting physically. It provides some of our best racing we have all season. Hopefully that can be rectified down the road.

I think we're in desperate need to get some more ovals on the schedule. As we all know, you got to do the venues that work right. Hopefully we see more of those in the future. I know Jay and everybody at the NTT INDYCAR Series are working hard on that.

Yeah, I think Nashville is awesome and hopefully we can get some more races on the schedule here soon.

Q. Can either of you remember how good your street course setups were back in Sebring in February? Are you confident they're strong? Once we learned St. Pete was back on the schedule, when did your teams say, Right, we need to go focus on that again, that's going to be the championship decider?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, Sebring test was really good for us. The car was quite good. But it's Sebring. It's a road course. You run a street course tire on it. I think the tire was probably the biggest change that we saw. The 2020 street course tire seemed to have a ton more grip, which does that owe to the difference between the black and the red because we only get to test the blacks. I think everybody will be pretty interested to see how that plays out.

Tire deg could be a real thing for both. Last year the black tire was definitely the preferred tire because the red didn't last. If it's going to be closer, it might not be a tight two stopper, everybody may have to jump to a three stopper.

There's always so many unknowns. I think sometimes Sebring can give you a false sense the security going into St. Pete as we find every year. The only time we found Sebring to be meaningful was when we tested there in July and August. It's really hot. You get into the run of the later street course races throughout the year.

We're trying to apply what we do every year. We do this at Sebring, we apply this to St. Pete for the first race. I think there's always a bit of a conscious and mindfulness on what races are coming up, whether it's simulation or directions we've learnt throughout the year.

As Josef brought up early, it's so compact now on race weekends with one practice session. There's so much to get through, sometimes you can't get through. A lot of times you hope you roll off in a good situation.

Q. Josef, you feel the same?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I agree. It's hard to know until you actually really get to the weekend. We were in the same position back in March where we'd all tested, we'd all been on the tire that we were going to run on the weekend. But it's not a true street course track condition that you're testing on. You don't know how it's going to apply to each specific street course that you go to.

I guess I could say I felt like our street course car took a massive step in 2019. We were all pretty happy, I know I was very happy with our street course package in 2019. Tried to carry that through with the Aeroscreen, modify it a bit for the differences.

I don't think it's changed our outlook. Running this whole year with the Aeroscreen, running a lot of road courses, I don't think it's changed our outlook on what we want to do going into St. Pete. I think our plan, what we had, is a lot of what we're probably going to stick to.

The good news is we had already done a ton of work. We were ready to go run St. Pete. Now we're just going to try to apply that.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks to Josef and Scott for joining us today.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

Will Power P1 with the Astor Cup in the background - Harvest Grand Prix Race 2 - Saturday, Oct 3, 2020 -- Image Credit: James Black via NICS (2020)

Of course, there are other stories to watch heading into the season finale on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Here are five non-championship things to watch for this weekend.

Power & Glory

When it comes to the streets of St. Petersburg, no team is better than Team Penske.

The team has nine wins and nine poles at the 1.8-mile temporary street course and boasts one of the circuit’s most successful drivers – Will Power, who has two wins and eight of the poles in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Power is motivated to end his season on a high note and finish third in the championship ahead of young stars Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward.

“We’ve been out of contention for the championship for a few races now, so we are fully focused on just getting more race wins,” Power said. “St. Pete is such a technical street course, so it can be really fun to race.”

Turn 1 is Poppin'

If you’re looking to overtake in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the first turn of the 1.8-mile street circuit at St. Peterburg is one of the corners you’re looking forward to driving.

The corner, which turns right off the long and wide Albert Whitted Airport runway, leads into a tight section of downtown St. Petersburg streets. It has been the location of more than 500 on-track passes in the history of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but it’s also a place where attempts to pass have gone wrong and ended potential winning days.

“St. Pete has been recognized so well for the season opener for a long time, so it feels a little different when you realized that it will be our last race of the season,” said two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato. “Nevertheless, St. Pete has been one of the greatest tracks and we all love it, so I am very happy to go back there. Needless to say, but we are so much looking forward to this challenging street race. Yes, it will add an element of unpredictability as it’s the nature of the street course race, but that’s all good for the show.”

R is for Rookie (and Rinus)

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay has all but locked up the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year Award.

The 20-year-old Dutchman only needs to start the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to claim the rookie title over Alex Palou of Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh and Oliver Askew of Arrow McLaren SP.

“It will be so nice to come back to St. Petersburg,” VeeKay said. “We are finally returning after being there earlier this year, but we were not able to race. Hopefully, I can secure my Rookie of the Year title; it will be a very nice achievement. I am really looking forward to the race. First street course race of the season as the last race, that's very cool.”

McLaughlin's Debut

Virgin Australia Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin will make his highly anticipated NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut at St. Petersburg as he weighs his options for the next stage of his racing career.

The New Zealand native, who wrapped up his third straight title for DJR Team Penske in the Australian touring car series, impressed in three preseason tests with Team Penske’s INDYCAR squad, including finishing in the top three at the series Open Test at Circuit of the Americas.

“I’m super pumped to finally get a crack at my first INDYCAR race,” McLaughlin said. “Feels like it’s been years since I was part of spring training, but due to COVID-19, we had to hold off. But hey, sometimes the best things are definitely worth the wait. It’s a dream come true to be running an INDYCAR race for Team Penske and Roger (Penske), especially coming off of such a successful Supercars season.

“I’ve been trying to get to know my team as well as possible virtually for a few months now, so it’s been great being able to see everyone in person and work with them. I spent some time last week running in the simulator as much as I could and spent some time at the race shop, as well, to prepare for this weekend. It was a quick turnaround from Bathurst since I flew to Charlotte immediately after, so I’ve definitely been moving at a fast but really exciting pace just to get to this weekend. The Shell V-Power Nitro+ Chevy team is such a talented group, so I feel like I’m going to be a quick study and learn a lot really fast.”

Ending the Year on a High

Of the seven drivers who won races in 2019, only Alexander Rossi hasn’t visited Victory Lane in 2020, meaning the Andretti Autosport driver will have to win at St. Petersburg to extend his streak of seasons with at least one win to five years.

Rossi has history on his side.

In his four previous starts at St. Petersburg, Rossi has an average finish of 7.75 and led laps in the last two races, where he finished third and fifth, respectively.

“I am so thankful that we get to have this event as our season finale, and hopefully we can continue our run of podiums to finish out the year,” said Rossi, who has finished on the podium in the last four consecutive races. “If all the stars align, I know we can get a win before it’s all said and done.”

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske, Race 14, NTT INDYCAR SERIES Finale, St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, The EDJE

Josef Newgarden Gets Up-Ended By Rookie Rinus Veekay For Championship NTT P1 Point Award

Ed Carpenter Racing's rookie Rinus VeeKay will lead the field to the green flag in tomorrow's Race 1 of the INDYCAR Harvest GP presented by GMR. VeeKay earned the NTT P1 Award for his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole position tonight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, setting the fastest lap of all 25 competitors. Teammate Conor Daly's qualifying run was cut short when a red flag closed the track, saddling him with the 14th starting position. Image Credit: Ed Carpenter Racing (2020)

 

Josef Newgarden Gets Up-Ended By Rookie Rinus Veekay For Championship NTT P1 Point Award 

In a rare month of October NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Road Course held Group A / Group B style qualifications - where the fastest times from the first group are zippered in with the times of the second group on a row-by-row basis, fastest times lining up on the inside lane - Dutchman Rinus Veekay beat out the American and P2 in the 2020 points championship Josef Newgarden for the NTT Pole Award and championship point for Friday's running of the INDYCAR HARVEST GP Presented by GM R.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Thursday, October 1, 2020
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske | Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR Series post-qualifying session.

We've already been joined by our front row starter Josef Newgarden, who drives the Hitachi Team Penske Chevy, who gained a point in the championship hunt today with his front row start.

Josef, go ahead and let's us know how the day went.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was good. Great qualifying session for us. Pretty happy overall. Obviously we would like to be starting first, but kind of first of our group, if you will, which gives us a point, like you said.

It's about as good as you could hope for on a day like today. Got a little bit lucky with the yellow flag. We were quickest on merit with the same tires as everybody else, but didn't get to see what was going to happen on reds. I felt positive we were going to be just as good on the red compound, because I was so happy with the car right out of the box. It would have been fascinating to see.

Yeah, I think a front row start is going to be good for tomorrow. I feel good about the Hitachi car, like I said. Don't know much about it in race trim, but from what I felt here, we had some of the things we wanted to test for the race. You have to on these weekends use every session you can to keep working on things.

I feel confident it's going to be quick. I think Team Chevy has done a pretty good job. Our straight speeds are fantastic. I feel confident with them backing us power-wise that we're going to have a good shot tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Talk to me a little bit about the conditions on track. With the sun coming down, drivers were struggling a little bit with visibility. How was it for you?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was typical glare. Whenever we have a session during this time or we have a race that races from dusk till evening, it generally is difficult for the vision. In a couple spots today, it was tough in turn 12, turn 13 getting on to the front straight.

You could work through it. It wasn't the end of the world. It was just a little tough to get your reference point going into the corner.

We've dealt with it before. We have tinted visors for that reason. It wasn't anything I'd say abnormal than what we've seen in the past.

Q. The race tomorrow, how much confidence do you have, getting the extra point, gives you a bit of an advantage over Scott, albeit a small advantage?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Much more confidence after that session. I was curious to see how we would get on in qualifying. We were much better than we were in practice. In practice it was a challenge just to get going. We had issues that we didn't really forecast, things that we didn't have here in July, but things that we just did not foresee.

I mean, it was complete opposite of what we were expecting to get. We were all over kind of setup-wise trying to figure it out. We didn't even figure it out by the end of the session. Then we threw on something a little bit different for qualifying, it was right where it needed to be balance-wise and comfort. I was really encouraged by that. Speed was there. That's going to translate really good to race conditions tomorrow.

Q. What is the strategy for an 85-lap race tomorrow and 75 laps on Saturday?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Different stops for sure. It makes the spread different. I need to look at the sheet, to be honest with you. I haven't fully studied. It's going to be different.

We're probably looking at a three stop versus a two stop when you look at the two different races. But it all depends on yellows. You could turn tomorrow into a two stop if you wanted to. It just depends on when the yellows come out, if they come out.

I think tire degradation is going to be very low. It was very low here in July. I think with temperatures being where they're at now, it's even better. That pushes you to think about going longer, if you didn't want to go longer in the past. It kind of forces you into that.

I think with tire warmup, it's actually not too bad. Sort of the undercut I don't think -- I don't think the undercut will be as powerful as maybe it was. It's not terrible either. You would suspect the tires to take a lot longer to warm up where it would penalize the undercut. I think the warmup has been pretty good.

You probably still have some options to play with, either overcutting or undercutting. We'll have to see. It could be a straightforward race or very mixed up. At this point we don't know right now.

Q. With the temperatures being in the 90s the last time you were here, much cooler or has it gone too far in the other direction?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: In which respect? If it's gone too far?

Q. Now it's too cold in the car.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, no. If anything, it's lovely in the car right now. It's just about perfect. It's cool out. It feels like a nice fall day. You've got a bit of heat radiating into your back, into your seat from the engine and the fuel cell. It actually feels beautiful. If the temperature was like this every race, it would be perfect. You wouldn't have any complaints.

Q. You're saying this is something you could get used to?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, yeah. If someone wants to forecast this in, I'm all for it.

Q. Hopefully it's nice tomorrow.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think it will be. On the cooler days it used to get cold in the cars for sure. Now I almost think a colder day is nicer. You have the screen insulating you a little bit better. Yeah, it should be a good day.

Q. You realize you needed a bit of a break to get back into the points race. You got it today. How much can this kind of shake things up? How much are you going to expect that guy starting 12th to drive his way on up and try to challenge you before it's all over?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, this is the luckiest we've been all year with yellow flags. I would have much rather had this happen in a race, where it went our way. The race is where you make all the points. Qualifying is good, it's one thing.

The positive was we were quickest on merit. Everyone, same tires, we had a fast car. Looked a bit quicker than Dixon. I was really pleased for that. It bodes well for race pace.

With him, you can never count him out. I would say the same thing for us. If we were starting back, he was up front, don't count us out. We are going to do everything we can to get up front again. Dixon and his crew will do that, probably be there in the mix at some point.

If they have something unfortunate or they can't crawl forward, that is good for us, but I don't think you can count on that. They are going to run a good race like always, and they're probably going to be in the mix.

Q. I asked you about being the only Team Penske driver that hasn't won at Indianapolis. You got to feel this could be your best shot.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, never know. I've felt positive here in the past and it doesn't happen. You just never know. It could be a good day tomorrow, maybe not.

Q. Is it really important to have these extra points for this pole?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Every point matters. I mean, every point matters. I'll take it. It's good to get a point. The race win is obviously the most points. Every bonus point on top much it, it helps you out a little bit more.

In the grand scheme of where we're at with three races to go, the race is what matters. Not going to get caught up on a bonus point. At the end of the day it could make all the difference.

Q. How much improvement did you make in the car between July and now? Does it make a difference, matter, with the big weather change?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It does. The weather change does affect trim levels, tire warmup. I would say the wind affected things more than we predicted today. It's really the wind direction, where the wind's coming from on the track, at least with our car directionally.

We found that we had quite a bit of tailwind today, which we didn't have in July. I thought that was a bigger change to the car balance-wise than the temperature. The temperature you pick up horsepower, you pick up downforce, you lose a little bit of the tire degradation. Everything gets a little bit easier in some ways.

The wind, it wasn't super windy, but the direction of the wind was more of a factor today, in my opinion, than the temperature itself.

Q. The lap times are two seconds a lap slower than they were a couple years ago. What would you attribute that to? The windscreen being heavier? Is the track getting slower?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I would say probably at its peak, what was your best lap here overall? What's the record? A mid or low eight?

Q. 107 something.

ReplaceName: Is it?

Q. I believe so.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Okay, so maybe it's 1.5 seconds slower, 1.6. I know some of it's the weight of the car. We're 60 pounds heavier. That's going to account for it. At most tracks we're 8/10ths of a second slower just because of the weight. Some of it's just the downforce era. When we did our peak times here, we had fully engineered kits making the cars as efficient as possible.

On a track like this it really matters because when you have long straightaways at a place like this, if you have a very efficient aero package, you can trim a lot. You can be really quick on the straights.

Whereas now we run close to max downforce at tracks like this with this aero kit. We're slightly trimmed whereas in the past we were super trimmed out. So it is a combination of not having as much downforce, as much efficiency and probably the weight of the car.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. Good luck tomorrow in the race.

<<<< NTT P1 Pole Award - Rinus Veekay >>>>

THE MODERATOR: Welcome and congratulations.

RINUS VEEKAY: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: It's your first career pole in the NTT INDYCAR Series. You are no stranger to success here at IMS. You've had four podiums in six Road to Indy races here, including a win in the Indy Lights. I'm sure this is definitely a highlight of your young career so far. Tell us about your day.

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, thank you. Definitely is a highlight. We've been working hard to finally get that first pole position. Yeah, everything got right once I did my first corner with warm red tires. The whole setup, everything felt perfect. I knew this was going to be a car to challenge for the pole.

I'm very happy. I hope I can translate it into a win or podium tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: We'll get right to the questions.

Q. We were here in August and you were the fastest teenager in Indy 500 history. You're the fastest kid at the Speedway. How does it feel to back it up at IMS on two different types of layouts?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, that's great. I know Ed Carpenter Racing gives me a great car here at Indianapolis, their home race. I like Indy. This is basically my backyard. I live next to the Speedway.

It's nice to finally get all the hard work rewarded. Yeah, first pole was definitely a big goal to end the season with at least. Happy that I finally have it now.

Q. On July 4th it was a bit of a breakout race for you back then with your first top five in your second race. You got to really feel good a good result could be coming your way here.

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, yeah. I know we have a good racing car. We have a really good strategy team. I know there's still a lot of potential in it now. I think we can really go for that first win.

I'm just happy with this qualifying because I always have kind of struggled with the red tires because we have so limited practice with the red tires. Finally got it. Did everything perfect. I'm very happy.

Q. I know being from The Netherlands you like milk. With this being the Harvest GP, how much do you like cider?

RINUS VEEKAY: Cider? I don't drink alcohol.

Q. Apple cider doesn't have to be alcoholic, just so you know.

RINUS VEEKAY: I might try it soon then.

Q. Talk about the conditions out there today, what you can expect in the race tomorrow.

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it was a really weird track today. In practice it felt quick, the track, but it never really felt right I think for anyone.

In qualifying the whole car really got balanced, I think also because the track got better. Yeah, I think we have a really fast car because it's cold. This was a late qualifying session, but I think still the track is going to be quick.

Yeah, there's going to be a lot of potential for the tires staying good for longer because they don't overheat. I think this will be a good race. I think there will be quite long stints.

Q. This season you've had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of close finishes. Finally you have your pole position. Do you feel validated finally, you have something under your belt? Also how does this make you feel for the remainder of the season for Rookie of the Year?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it feels amazing. Now I finally know I can do it. I've always kind of struggled, like I just said, on the reds. To finally show that I learn every race, that's great.

I think, yeah, just heading into tomorrow, two races this weekend, confidence is super high for me, but also for the whole team. Everyone finally gets rewarded for all the hard work.

I think this translates into better weekends, better finishes this season.

Q. MOTORSPORTS JOURNAL/The EDJE - How did it feel being out on the track with the sun so low? Does it cause you any problems?

RINUS VEEKAY: It was a little hard to see the braking points for turn 12 on the black stint. Then the sun got lower than the grandstands, so I could see my braking point very well then.

But, yeah, it was a little issue on the first run, but luckily the second run everything was fine and I could just do my own thing.

Q. MOTORSPORTS JOURNAL/The EDJE - Do you think this may cause some issues during the race tomorrow?

RINUS VEEKAY: I don't think so. I think the race is not going to be that late that the sun's going to get that low. Maybe we'll have that with some bigger visor stickers on the visors.

Q. MOTORSPORTS JOURNAL/The EDJE - What do you expect tomorrow might be your biggest challenges?

RINUS VEEKAY: Well, starting from pole for the first time, it's different. It's new for me. I have to defend 24 guys behind me. I'm going to do my ultimate best. But, yeah, there's going to be a lot of new stuff. I think every other lap is going to be a challenge. I'm ready to take on the challenge.

Q. Coming up through the Road to Indy, you've had success at every level. How does it feel to get one step closer to the top step of your entire progression up the ladder?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it feels great to finally show this. Of course, it's been a weird season. I've had some really good races, but also I've been a little bit unlucky in some places. It's nice to finally show on a road course that I'm just right there with the big guys in qualifying.

I think giving the confidence boost like this to the team, yeah, it's very important. I think everyone will be even more motivated and we'll be even better for the rest of the season.

Q. What size wooden shoes do you wear?

RINUS VEEKAY: We have European sizes. I only have one pair, which is 44. They're a little tight, but yeah. Might save them for the podium to drink some champagne.

Q. You mentioned the cooler temperatures. Tomorrow it's never going to get out of the 50s. Do you anticipate there could be some issues with cold tires out of the pits, especially on the black set?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yes, I think it will be more difficult to get up to speed, keep it between the lines. It's always been super warm, so you always kind of have grip from your first corner. Yeah, I could feel it was hard to get temperatures in. It kind of took an extra lap of tire wear before I could push 100%.

That's definitely going to play a role in strategy tomorrow. I also think at least our car is, yeah, more brutal when it's colder. I think it's going to be closer racing, yeah, just more fun tomorrow.

Q. Do you think you are going to have rookie jitters because you have all the veterans breathing down your neck at the start? Will you be thinking about that?

RINUS VEEKAY: Of course. There's very good drivers behind me. Yeah, I think for tomorrow it's going to be only focus forward, make sure I execute everything perfectly.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much. Congratulations, Rinus. Enjoy the pole.

RINUS VEEKAY: Thank you. See you tomorrow in Victory Lane.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

So a rookie series driver from The Netherlands, Rinus Veekay scores his first NTT P1 Pole Award point proving the old Holland adage, "If You Ain't Dutch, You Ain't Much" - sure beats just peddling around.

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R, Group A, Group B, Qualifications, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Rinus Veekay, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, Firestone, Pumpkin Spice, The EDJE