Josef Newgarden And Team Penske - American Dream Becomes Reality

Josef Newgarden as he sits in his Ed Carpenter Racing prepared No. 21 Chevy Dallara at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pit box. Newgarden seems just perfect this year to be tapped for Team Penske since he finished the year at P-4 ... just behind P-1 Pagenaud, P-2 Power, and P-3 Castroneves - his new teammates for 2017. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Josef Newgarden And Team Penske - American Dream Becomes Reality

The rumors that began to crop up around the paddocks during the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma season finale of the Verizon IndyCar Series held at Sonoma Raceway September 18th had many scenarios bandied about. One of the more far reaching was that the new American Driver of the series, Alexander Rossi (2016 Rookie of the Year | INDY 500 Winner | finished season at P-11) was seen coming out of a Team Penske transporter during the previous race at Watkins Glen.

This rumor was put to bed recently when Andretti Autosport was able to retain Rossi as Bryan Herta's agreement with the Andretti organization became more formal for the 2017 season. American Driver, American Team ... American Dream.

Cresting the highest point of the Sonoma Raceway road course, Newgarden enjoys blue, blue skies as he sews up P-4 in the 2016 championship points race. The fact remains that only Team Penske drivers were the only drivers to lock out Ed Carpenter Racing and Josef Newgarden from placing higher in the Verizon IndyCar Series points chase. Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2016)

Today, the announcement that caught everyone's attention that involved American Team Penske and the pursuit of the American Dream was the confirmation that American Driver Josef Newgarden (finished season at P-4) was signed to drive the No. 2 car for the 2017 season. He will replace last season's INDY 500 winner and season points leader Juan Pablo Montoya, who ended last year in a tie of points after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma season finale and lost out on the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Championship through the pre-established tie-breaker to Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and finished P-2.  This year JPM finished P-8.

The rumor of Rossi had some plausibility since his career had been rather extraordinary with his early rise through to an F1 ride, to signing with the Bryan Herta / Andretti Autosport combo team and winning the INDY 500 first time out. When one thinks about it, this would be all too soon since landing a seat with Team Penske is never a gamble for the team - they always have the patience and the time to pick just the right fit and talent for the organization.

Josef Newgarden in his Ed Carpenter Racing pit stand following practice for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Image Credit: Chris Owens - VICS

A look at Josef Newgarden's rise through the ranks through these last five years, points out how focused this determined driver really is - Tony DiZinno's NBCSports review HERE.

PULL QUOTE:
It’s not very often you meet a driver coming up through the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires ladder system and immediately think, “this kid just gets it.”

A Penske Racing conference call interview with:

JOSEF NEWGARDEN
TIM CINDRIC
October 5, 2016

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everybody.  Welcome to today's media teleconference introducing Josef Newgarden as Team Penske's newest Verizon IndyCar Series driver.  Along with Josef, we have Team Penske president Tim Cindric joining us today.

Earlier this morning we announced that Josef Newgarden is joining Team Penske as the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet beginning in 2017.  This obviously comes on the heels of one of our most successful seasons ever in IndyCar where we earned 10 wins, 11 poles, our 14th IndyCar championship with Simon Pagenaud and a 1-2-3 sweep in the points standings, something we had not done since 1994.

Josef Newgarden as he bangs across the rumble strips in the off-camber Turn 5 at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. He finished the race through the concrete canyons by the sea at P-10. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2016)

Josef, you've been able to spend some time in the shop this morning.  What are impressions of Team Penske so far?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, it's been a whirlwind for me.  It's all happened a bit fast, which is great.  It's just like racing.  Everything goes quickly.

So for me, it's been a pleasure to try and meet a lot of the guys this morning within Team Penske. You know, trying to absorb as much as I can.  It's almost information overload for a guy like me.  Really excited to be here and hopefully add some more value to the group, which is going to be hard to do. They have got a lot of amazing people here, whether it's the manager, the ownership, sponsors, all the crewmen, the drivers.  It's really a lot to get your head around.

So I think for me, I'm just trying to absorb as much as possible and taking in the experience and being prepared for the long off‑season that we're going to have before we get to St. Pete next year.

THE MODERATOR:  Tim, can you tell us why Josef is such a good fit to drive for Team Penske?

TIM CINDRIC:  Yeah, I think that from an historical perspective, you look at it, and you know, he's the first American that we've had driving in IndyCar here since Sam Hornish, so it's been ten years. That's not the reason we hired him.

Obviously we look for the guys that can drive the car and that's what we've always looked at, but it's a bonus, for sure.  The fact that as we look at it, we wanted somebody that we could build on for the future.

It's no secret that he's bringing the average age of our drivers down a little bit, so I think it's somebody that we can build with and I guess the most important thing is showing that he can be successful at this level.  He's somebody that we met with when he was the Indy Lights champion.  I remember meeting with he and Rick and Roger after he won the Lights Championship, and he's somebody we've kept our eye on from that point in time.

No different than when we signed Simon, you have to decide if you're going to make a place for somebody like that, or if you're going to race against him for awhile.  So we figured he was better off being on our side than on the other side.

Q.  You're coming off an amazing season, given what transpired in June at Texas.  How does it feel to be driving for Penske now?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, it's amazing.  I think for me, as a still hopefully, relatively young guy in the sport, it's an amazing opportunity.  It's something that I think you really have to take a hard look at and make a decision on, and for me, it was difficult to look the other way at it.

I think it's a great place where I can learn new experiences, try and grow as a driver, and kind of open up my whole role within the group and try and just become better within the sport.

So I mean, just to put it simply, it feels amazing.  It's an amazing honor, just for me, I just want to be able to integrate into the team and be a part of the whole system that obviously works really well together already.  Had a very successful year in IndyCar and they are very hard to compete against. It's fun for me to be a part of that now and hopefully add some value to the whole group.

Q.  And for you, Tim, with Josef taking over Juan Pablo Montoya's seat, is it pretty safe to say that JPM is leaving the team after this year?

TIM CINDRIC:  Well, it's something that we're still working through.  You know, when we sat down with Juan around Toronto, and had told him at that point in time that we weren't prepared to make any decisions on what we were going to do going forward until the end of the season.

And we wanted to understand, really, what our options were, and we were very up front with him about that whole situation.  And all along, we said that we'd like him to be part of our team in the future.

That doesn't necessarily mean driving our No. 2 car full‑time.  We've talked to him about, you know, we've got a seat for him at Indy if he wants one, and if we do the sports car program, we'd like him to be involved in it.

You know, at that point in time, he said, look, I really want to drive at least another season of IndyCar.  I don't want this to be my last season.  If it was last year, it would be a little easier to take, but this year, I still feel like I have some unfinished business.

And we agreed to just explore different options at that point, which is really what he's trying to do right now.  Finding out if there's a full season ride available, and we said that our offer is open to him and we'd love for him to continue with our team.

It's just something that we needed to decide whether we were going to position ourselves to do that for another year and miss the opportunity to have Josef as part of our team for the future.

So, a really difficult decision for us, because Juan has really been a big part of our success.  Despite where he finished this year, he pushed our guys very hard.  He's been a great guy to work with and would continue to love working with him in the future.  Really, the ball is in his court. It's not the first choice for him, but we'd like to continue some association with him if it makes sense for him.

Q.  When you were at Ed Carpenter Racing, that was always known as the little team that could. Now you're at the big super power team that always does.  And the resources that you have at Team Penske when you go around their shop and all that, now that that's going to be at your disposal, what goes through your mind?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, I think pressure is always present wherever you're at.  I always put pressure on myself with any situation I was in driving in IndyCar.  I think we had high expectations at ECR, and rightfully so.

I thought we had a lot of talented people there.  We had a really great process, great ownership and great partners.  Really had a lot of tools to be successful.  With that, there was a lot of pressure there to do a good job, for everyone involved, our partners, our ownership.

I don't foresee that shifting too much.  I think you're going to have that sense of responsibility anywhere you race, but it certainly is hard to not be inspired, I guess, or overwhelmed when you walk into the Penske establishment.  It's filled with a lot of great people, as well.  A lot of great partners. Tremendous support from the ownership.  I think that same type of pressure that I felt at ECR is really going to actually translate pretty well to what I feel here, as well.

Q.  Two of your teammates live in the area, live in North Carolina; Helio lives down in Miami.  Will you be relocating to North Carolina?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  You know, I would think so.  I'd like to be close to the team and to be able to absorb as much as I can over the off‑season.  I think that's really important.  You've really got to integrate yourself well and give yourself the best shot to help the group, especially for me going into 2017.

So I haven't really had much time to go over that stuff.  This has been a pretty fast process and we're trying to just hit the ground running real quick now and today, and I'm absorbing everything I can as fast as I can here at the shop.  I'll try and sort out a living situation later on, but I would think at some point, yeah, I'm going to have to locate down here so I can be close to the team 100 percent.

Q.  Josef for you, when I look at it from a teammate situation, it's been a rotating door.  You either haven't had a teammate, you've had one‑off teammates, you've had sometimes road course, sometimes oval teammates.  How nice is it going to be having the consistent, not just one teammate, but three of the best drivers on the grid as your teammates?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Yeah, I think it will be great.  It's going to be a different challenge for me, I think, from an establishment standpoint.  You've got more guys to work with.  That brings more engineers to talk to.  It changes the discussion, the whole dynamic that you go through on a race weekend.

I'm excited for that.  It's going to be a shift for me, something I've not been used to.  But I don't want to discount what I've been up against in the past.  I've had a lot of help from my previous owner, Ed Carpenter.  He was a great teammate to me, very strong on the ovals, J.R.  Hildebrand, Spencer Pigot, Luca Filippi.  There's been a lot of camaraderie in the past for me and I've had a lot of great guys to work with and bounce things off of.

What's really going to change is there's going to be more of that.  There's going to be more available here at this group, which I think you can see why they operate at such a high level, when you get that many talented people together, it really helps elevate the whole program and you push each other a lot more.  It's going to be different.

I don't know what that's going to be like.  I'm excited for it.  I hope it pushes me to a new level.  I'm probably going to figure some things out about myself I didn't know and hopefully those are good things; the bad things, I'll try and fix them pretty quick.  But I think it's going to be a great change.

Q.  When would you expect to see Josef make his first test in the car?

TIM CINDRIC:  Monday morning in Elkhart Lake.  We'll be taking all four guys to Road America on Monday, so he'll get a chance.  It's really a unique opportunity because a lot of times when we make a change like this, it's a while before they get in the car.  We had scheduled a test independent of whether we made a driver change or not.

So that's not really the catalyst; the catalyst for us is to get some permanent road course testing in before the winter months, because we feel like it's something that we need to understand a bit better before we go into the off‑season.

So the timing was good for him and he will also be doing a test at Gateway later that week, as well. He's going to get some seat time right off the bat and be able to get in the trenches with our guys and get acclimated very quickly so that in the off‑season we can, I guess, speak from experience.

Q.  Congratulations.  You're a Detroit guy now.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Absolutely.  It's the Motor City.

Q.  Tell me, the makeup of the team, you have an Aussie, you have a Brazilian and a Frenchman.  Are you going to be able to merge with these guys?  Got a lot of competition up here with Team Penske.  How do you think the synergy will be and how tough is it to tell Ed that you were leaving and how did he take it?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, I think to take your first question, I don't know.  I mean, I've not had this type of dynamic with personalities before like we're going to have.  But I think you can definitely see there's a strong work ethic and a strong sense of team work here within Team Penske.

So I think the challenge aspect of having three other really talented drivers around me is only going to be a positive thing.  There's guys from all over the world that bring a little something to the table, and I'm going to try and do the same.

I'm going to try and bring a little something extra that these guys haven't seen before which helps the whole program.  And in return, I'm expecting to get a lot of that from those guys.  I'm excited for that mix.  I don't know what it looks like.  Don't know what it feels like yet.

Like Tim said, we're going to have an opportunity to do that really quickly, which is unique.  It just kind of worked out, great timing.  Excited to see what that brings.

On the inside, you know, it's very difficult.  It was really difficult ‑‑ it was almost easy up until the end of the season, because I didn't really put much time into it.  We really just focused on trying to win the championship, get back in the hunt after the whole Texas deal.

We had a great effort going all year with ECR, and so I didn't really spend much time thinking about it.  I waited to spend a week and take some time after the season finale to really assess everything; and I came to the conclusion of where I wanted to go and where I saw things and where they probably needed to head.

And when I had a conversation and made the decision with Ed, it was difficult.  I mean, it was a great partnership.  It was a great, great environment for me and to do something different is never easy, but I think at this point, it can be a very positive thing for the growth of my career, and I think ECR is going to come out great from it, as well.

Q.  Jokingly, in the spirit of the political season, I wonder if you can offer an endorsement for who might replace you at ECR.  You've worked with Spencer and J.R. and there's some interesting candidates out there for sure.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  You know, fortunately I'm not in the position where I have to decide those things.  So you know, luckily that's down to the different people.

Like I said, Ed's got a great group with the ownership they have over there, so I'm sure they are going to make a great choice.  They have got a great team.

So I expect to be chasing hard to beat them.  I know what it's like on that side and they have a really good product.  I don't think it's going to be easy coming to the other side trying to beat them now.  So I have no idea.  I hope they make the best choice, and I'm sure they will, and we'll see where they land.

Q.  You mentioned this came together rather quickly.  But you also knew that the Penske organization had sort of been watching you for a few years there.  What's that dynamic like, and when did you kind of get the sense that if the numbers and the contract stuff could be worked out, that this was going to be the place that you wanted to be?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, you know, I don't think I did.  I think it was ‑‑ fortunately it was a short, but it was a short period of time where I was in limbo.  I actually didn't have a job.  So you hope it's going to work out.  But like I said, I didn't have much time to think about it during the season because we had such a great effort going.  We all really wanted to focus on trying to win the championship, which was the most important thing.

And then when I finally did start to think about it after Sonoma, really aggressively ‑‑ I knew there would be other opportunities.  I knew there would be other interests and I knew I wanted to try something different.  I knew that was something that I was looking at heavily, and I think at that point, you try and go a different direction and hope it all works out and fortunately this time, it did.

Q.  Josef seems a bit against the grain for some of your recent hires in that he's a little younger than Simon and Will and didn't bring two championships like Sam did.  What made him the guy even back when you spoke to him several years ago that you thought he was going to be a guy that you had to have eventually in your lineup?

TIM CINDRIC:  Well, he's shown me he's a winner.  He's shown me he can handle himself on the racetrack and off the racetrack, and that's really the core ingredient for us, is somebody that can work in our environment, because our environment is not for everybody.

But at the same time, as Roger has always said, it's hard to run a driving school with the expectations that are here and we need to also have somebody that we feel like can work within our group, our teammates and that kind of thing.

When you look at who we've hired over the years, it's been an important part of our structure, although it's not the No. 1 requirement, we want people that can drive race cars and represent our organization and those that we represent in the right way.  Felt like he fit that mold.

Obviously he's got a longer runway in terms of age than maybe some of the hires have or what‑have‑you, but that's really not the motivator, either.  It's more about how do we build the strongest team we have for the upcoming years.  We felt like, as I said, there's never a good time to make a change, especially when you've had success with the guys we've had.

You know, replacing Juan Montoya with anybody, that's a difficult call.  I'm sure if he doesn't end up racing for us in the future, he'll still be winning races and he'll still be one of the guys to beat.  You know, he's not done for sure.  So it's just a matter of us trying to understand what's best for us, and short‑term and long‑term, I guess that will all play out, but this is where we are.

Q.  Have you identified a potential long‑term partner or whether we can expect a sponsorship partner or whether we can expect to see the No. 2 in the kind of like variety that we have seen the last year like PPG, Verizon and DeVilbiss?

TIM CINDRIC:  Yeah, I would say there would be a few exceptions to that, additions or subtractions possibly.  Our 2017, our total lineup for every race isn't totally defined.  We needed to get this piece of the puzzle out there first.  But I don't see it being dramatically different.

Q.  Do you think that Joseph's personality, and obviously now reputation for sheer speed, do you think that that will help attract a more long‑term partner?

TIM CINDRIC:  We've got a lot of personalities around here, as you know (laughing).  I think he'll bring a different dynamic for sure, and I certainly see it as a positive going forward.  I think it helps the potential.  I don't think it hurts the potential in any way.

Q.  I wanted to ask whether you feel like, as someone referred to earlier, you're the only American and you're suddenly in a prominent position; whether you feel like kind of an almost patriotic sense of pride ‑‑ not just pride, but actual dependency, like the future of IndyCar is depending on you.  So many people say that IndyCar will spring to even greater prominence once we have an American champion again.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, I think a great championship is going to be built on a lot more than one person.  I can't see that coming to fruition.

There's definitely a sense of pride in being American, especially joining a team like Penske.  I think it's one of the most successful teams in the world and a team you dream about being a part of.  It really is, it's kind of the American dream, the team itself.

So to be a young, American guy; to get an opportunity to drive with this type of group, it's everything you could ask for.  It's everything you could dream of.  And I'm sure that's going to resonate well with some people.  I don't know how much that moves the needle or not.  I'm not the right guy to ask that.

But I think, yeah, I think for sure, you know, there's a lot of things that are going to help move the needle in IndyCar Racing, and I think you've already seen a lot of them.  I think we are on a good trajectory right now and there's a lot of excitement within the sport and what we are doing with IndyCar Racing.  I hope to add to that.

Winning races is all I care about.  It's my focus for the team and trying to help them win championships and the Indy 500 and I think if there's people that are interested in an American doing that and Team Penske, maybe it will help the cause.  But I don't know if that's the whole equation.

Q.  I know it's probably premature, but could you give a status update on Helio Castroneves?

TIM CINDRIC:  That's a broad question.  He's down there trying to fight the hurricane today.  If you're asking about our driver lineup for next year, this is the only change.

So yeah, he's a guy that as I've said before, he's been a big part of our team.  When you look at the definition of kind of team work and leading by example on and off the track, he's certainly done that. He's a guy that, like anybody else, his career is not forever, either.  He'll be the first one to tell you that.  He's a big part of where we've been.

He and I started with this team at the same time, so certainly a lot of loyalty there and on both fronts.

Q.  Everybody gets into racing and they know who Roger Penske is and they know that that name is synonymous with success.  Did you ever dream of driving for Roger?  Did you ever dream about this or envision this?  Did that ever enter your mind?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  I think for me, I watched everything when I grew up.  I saw NASCAR, Formula One, sports car racing, IndyCar racing, numerous Indy 500s on TV.  Never really got to the race to see it in person until later on in life.

But you always knew who the Marlboro cars were back in the day and they always had those iconic liveries and they always were well kept and they always were distinct within the field.  If I was going to give you the best answer, that's what stands out to me when I was younger, and I always thought, those are the coolest cars out there and I want to drive one of those.

You know, I got into racing actually relatively late.  I didn't start racing, truly, until I was 13.  So you know, it doesn't date back to me being four or five that I had this dream to drive for this team or that team.

I think the more and more I got immersed into racing and really started trying to learn about it and get my hands around everything and understand where I wanted to be; I think the more respect and history that I learned about Penske Racing and how amazing it would be to be able to drive for an organization like this; it's a huge honor to get this type of opportunity and to be a small piece of it.

So to answer your question, yes, it's probably just in a different way for me.  I think my career was a little different in the way it progressed up.  It's an honor.  I think this place is the American dream, and it's one of the best teams in the world.  So it's crazy to be a part of it now.

Q.  Just a quickie.  Roger likes to get on the phone and talk to drivers.  Did he actually get on the phone and offer you the job, and what was your quick response?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  You know, I don't think I've talked to Roger on the phone until like 24 hours ago.  That was the first time I ever had a phone conversation with Roger, really, which was great.

Really, this team has been so easy to get immersed with, in such a short period of time.  I've had a lot of help from Tim in a short amount of time and Roger to try and sort through something and see if it would work and it was a very easy decision to make when it came up.  It was a quick process but it was very easy to see this was the direction I wanted to go.

So yeah, to answer your question, I think I've had help from a lot of people, Tim and Roger have just been great to me.  I don't know much about them to be honest with you.  I'm still learning.  We talk about just being here today trying to take everything in; I'm like trying to tread water right now as a young guy.  I don't know much about it and I'm trying to learn about everyone.  But they have been nothing but gold to me so far.  I can't tell you how easy it is to get to know these people and how well they take care of you.

Q.  Will Brian and Myron and the rest of the crew pretty much stay the same on the No. 2?

TIM CINDRIC:  I don't think our off‑season will be any different than in the past.  We'll sit down and consider all that stuff in the off‑season.  We'll have plenty of time after this testing.  So you know, certainly a believer in continuity to whatever extent makes sense.  But we'll evaluate things in the off‑season like we always do.

So I guess nothing is etched in stone.  But there haven't been any decisions made to make any changes, so I don't know if that really answers your question.  But first thing we need to get in place was who is going to drive the car, and then we'll go these next couple tests, and really after next week, we don't run for, really, probably until next year.

So we've got a lot of time to think about it and try and understand what's the best way forward.

Q.  I know loyalty is a big part of who you are and you've been with Ed and Sarah and that group for a long time.  Was there anybody, drivers, anybody else within the sport, that you sought for counsel to help you make this decision?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN:  Well, I think you're always assessing things.  You're always talking to people that you're close to.  And for me, it wasn't a matter of, you know, this team, that team.

I think for me it came down to:  Do you ever want to do something different than what you're doing currently, and if you do, is that the right or wrong decision.

I think it would have been very easy for me to continue with ECR and have a lot of success and be very comfortable, and just have a great team behind me.

But for me, it came down to trying to make a decision if I wanted to try something different, and specifically, doing that while I was young still in my career.  If you're given that opportunity, do you want to take it?  That for me was the hardest part.

And there's a couple people that were close to me that I tried to bounce things off of and figure out if that was the right thing to do.  I don't want to get into who they were, but yeah, you always have people that are close to you that try and help you try to sort things mentally.

THE MODERATOR:  Thanks, everybody, for calling in.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports ...

Nice conference call this morning ... Josef Newgarden mentioned dreams but was not overly dreamy. Always focused.

American Driver, American Team ... American Dream.

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Josef Newgarden, Penske Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Tim Cindric, Sonoma Raceway, Alexander Rossi, INDY 500, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, The EDJE, ECR, Roger Penske, 

Records Fall As Fastest Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach Ends

Scott Dixon: "Today, good start.  Juan [Montoya] sort of crowded me a bit on the left, which sort of gave me an opening to go around the outside of him into Turn 1, which was definitely the key there, and the first pit stop exchange with TK [Tony Kanaan] and Helio, obviously opened up the position for me to try and pass Helio in the pits.  Probably need to buy TK a beer.  Obviously he didn't do it on purpose, but that's the way it happens, and it definitely helped out the scenario with our race." - Question: You saw TK right in victory lane? What did you say, if anything, and did you touch base on his pit stop at the first stop? Answer, SCOTT DIXON: "Yeah, I spoke to TK, he said I need to buy him a beer, even though he doesn't drink ... I'll drink it for him (Laughter)." Image Credit: Chris Jones for IndyCar.com

Records Fall As Fastest Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach Ends

As the caption on the lead image suggests, there was not a lot of passing for the lead on the track during the running of the 41st Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach (TGPLB). The largest driver position change during the race was delivered by Andretti Autosport DHL Honda's Ryan Hunter-Reay ... backwards 9 positions (P4 to P13).

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “Today was a big disappointment for us, probably one of the worst races we’ve had from green to checkered. I had a car I couldn’t drive hard when I needed to. The strategy we went for didn’t work out. Our pit stops did not really work out. Nothing really worked out for us today. I guess sometimes you have those days in racing, but they’re certainly not days we ever want to be accustomed to having. We’ll regroup and move on to Barber." Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

On a positive side, new #IndyCar #TGPLB track records were set when all 23 of the cars entered in the race were running at race end with 19 of the cars being on the lead lap, and overall average race speed of 96.800 mph when the checkered flag flew and Scott Dixon driving the Red #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing aero kit modified DW12 won.

All three previous records were set in the 2013 DW12 era race won by Takuma Sato when 21 cars finished with 18 being on the lead lap while the leader posted an average speed of 85.763 mph.

As far as the hard-charger award is concerned, a field-high of positions gained is held by Conor Daly, who was a late replacement for Rocky Moran Jr., who injured his hand, in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Trench Shoring Honda. He finished 17th after starting P21.

Scott Dixon trails Helio Castroneves after getting past Juan Pablo Montoya on the first lap. Here, Helio is nearly 2 seconds ahead of Scott as they begin the fourth lap ... just before the only full course caution of the race. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

The most important pass of the day happened in the pits during the first round of pit-stops for fuel and tires on Lap 29. The pass happened with the help of proximity in pit location and timing, in that the pit directly in front of the pit box of the Verizon P1 pole winner and race leader for the first 29 laps, Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves, was being filled by Tony Kanaan (the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate of Scott Dixon) as he came in for his tires and fuel.

Post Race Press Conference:

Question:  Just so we're clear, when they held you in the pits, was that because other traffic coming right behind you and you didn't want to run into them?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah. It was close. It was definitely close. But yeah.

Question: Helio, if that hadn't have happened in the pits, if there was no one in front of you and you were able to go when you were ready, do you think Dixon would have had enough to get by you because I assume you would have been out in front of him?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Again, he was so close. All three cars, four cars actually, but he was much better being in front. I don't think he would be able to get by. After the race was over, we were just talking between ourselves and we can see that he was very consistent, but I have moments of very good and maybe some moments, some laps maybe would be terrible. But in the end of the day, it was ‑‑ it would be very difficult for him to pass. 
ENDS

So this brings the season to a full circle understanding of aero kit modified DW12s after a really tough start to 2015. The 41st Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach, by default, was the first near incident free real race test of the new aerodynamically modified Dallara DW12 racing platforms.

The first race on the schedule was to be run in Brazil, but was cancelled just a few weeks before the scheduled date, so the actual first race ended up being the Firestone Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg through the streets of St. Petersburg, FL the last weekend of March. The drivers ended up crashing into each other a lot, sending carbon fiber debris from the elaborate multi-element aero kit front wings to be cleaned up during the many laps run under a full course YELLOW Flag caution.

Brian Herta Autosport Bowers & Wilkins CURB Honda's Gabby Chaves (R) running in clean air at #GPNOLA. Notice how the trailing turbulence is left down on the track surface as opposed to being lifted away from the racing surface. Image Credit: Bret Kelley - Verizon IndyCar Series 

The second race, the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana, was held at a totally new venue outside of New Orleans, Louisiana and poor weather placed an inaugural penalty of 28 laps. The race was scheduled for 75 laps but was only able to complete 47 due to the abundance of full course YELLOW Flag caution periods that started happening after the first wet, cleanly run 16 laps. Accidents caused by standing puddles on the track had the race called a timed race after 28 laps and with incident after incident happening during each of the many GREEN Flag restarts had the number of racing laps run under GREEN at only 26 Laps.

Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana race winner James Hinchcliffe trails (R to L) Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Carlos Munoz through the "Fountain Turn" (Turn 3) in an evenly spaced parade of very fast cars. Image Credit: Myles Regan (2015)

Welcome to "The Beach" for the third test of the season and the long straightaways of Shoreline Drive (front from the hairpin at Turn 11 to Turn 1) and Seaside Way (beginning at Turn 8 and ending at Turn 9). In St. Petersburg, it was suspected that the trailing turbulence from the aerodynamically modified bodywork would not allow the faster car of Will Power to re-take the lead away from his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya on any straight line part of the course after Montoya's pass in the pits (sound familiar?) on the last round of pit stops in the race.

At Long Beach, the race supported much of the same evidence that the trailing turbulence was at work again (see above images, last image, and launch YouTube video for car spacing observation).

For a complete race with little race impeding YELLOW Flags, the cars can be seen along each of the straightaways pacing each other with similar spacing between each car without much in the way of challenging through out-braking or aggressive actions seen by fans in previous season races.

After winning the first race at the Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg, Penske Racing's currently holds down the Verizon IndyCar Series season points lead after three races with a different winner in each race. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

It really appears that ever since Tony Kanaan came out publicly with statements recognizing the increased occurrence of intensity in the nature of the trailing turbulence, a memo seemed to have been circulated before the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach to all who compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

The speculated points contained in the memo instructed competitors to 1) Stiffen-up and reduce the number of exposed aerodynamic parts on the front wings and etc. 2) Do not drive so aggressive as to break anymore pieces of any car given the carnage of the last two races (a reminder that this is an open wheel racing series), and 3) Whatever one does about responding to questions or speculation on trailing turbulence ... DO NOT make this an issue as to reducing the competition on the track - diffuse by saying to anyone who asks about the subject; "This effects everyone the same way so it really is not a problem."

This response was delivered to multiple members of the press who asked questions in the paddock and conference rooms about trailing turbulence and were curious about what had been happening (or not happening) on the track.

Juan Pablo Montoya leads a group of evenly spaced cars into Turn 1 on Shoreline Drive during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Image Credit: Richard Dowdy, Verizon IndyCar Series

Fans who follow the series developments and competition closely know that something has changed and it may not be for the better. To be truthful, any aero-engineer worth their salt would attempt to design a trailing turbulence pattern that would kick ANY competitive car that threatens to take the position away on a long straight ... into the next zip code (if not, the next time zone). This may good for leading cars in protection mode but this effect is not good for the product of racing. Neither is a seven month hiatus from the last race of the season to the first race of the next season and being FEARFUL to hold races during American Football season, but these are the subjects for a different time.

Records fall with the increase of aerodynamics but is the racin' any better if no one can pass even with a stronger car? Ask Will Power why he felt a dive into Turn 10 (or Turn 4) at St. Petersburg seemed to be the only option(s) when he clearly had the faster car.

... notes from The EDJE

Next Race: HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA ||| APRIL 24 – 26 ||| Broadcast NBCSN 3:00 PM ET - Race: 3:30 PM ET - 5:45 PM ET

TAGS: Mushroom Busting, Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach, turbulence, Verizon IndyCar Series, Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana, The EDJE, #IndyCar, #TGPLB, #Highlights, #Toyota, #GrandPrix, #LongBeach

Penske Racing's Reaction To The New Chevrolet Indycar Aero Kit Bodies

Entrance sign at Barber Motorsports Park. Image Credit: Eric Schwarzkopf (2015)

Penske Racing's Reaction To The New Chevrolet Indycar Aero Kit Bodies

Will Power‘s time of 1:07:3118 seconds for Penske Racing topped day two of the two-day Verizon IndyCar Barber Motorsports Park test, which translates to a whopping 123 miles per hour on the undulating road course. Scott Dixon driving the Honda-powered Target Chip Ganassi Racing DW12 holds the track record at the road course facility in Alabama, without the benefit of aero kit, and it stands at over a half-second quicker at 1:06.7750 (set in 2013) than Power’s aero kit aided record time achieved on Barber's Tuesday test.

As for Honda-powered and areo kit prepared teams, Graham Rahal led the way for Honda, posting the fifth-quickest lap time in the final session on Tuesday afternoon, seventh quickest during the full two days.

Graham Rahal navigates the through the Turn 8-9 Esses during Tuesday's Open Test sessions at Barber Motorsports Park. Image Credit: Chris Jones (2015)

Driving for A.J. Foyt Racing, veteran Takuma Sato was seventh quickest in the final practice, and 10th for the full test; while James Hinchcliffe made a successful debut with his new Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team, turning the 10th-quickest time in today’s final session.  In all, 21 drivers (of 23) posted times below the pole qualifying time from the 2014 Honda Grand Prix of Alabama.

2014 Verizon IndyCar champion Will Power is fastest at Barber Test. Image Credit: Chris Owens (2015)

This excerpted and edited from Penske Racing -

TEAM PENSKE OFF TO A STRONG START WITH NEW CHEVROLET AERO KITS
By: Penske Racing

The new-look Team Penske Verizon IndyCar Series program got back to business after a busy off season with two days of testing on Monday and Tuesday at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala. Team stalwarts Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya, along with newcomer Simon Pagenaud, all took turns laying down some impressive lap times around the picturesque circuit as the teams got their first experience testing the new aerodynamic body kits that have been introduced to INDYCAR this season.

All four drivers placed inside the top-five on the practice charts on day one of what is referred to in the INDYCAR garage as “Spring Training.” Driving the No. 22 Penske Truck Rental Dallara/Chevrolet, Pagenaud led the way with a lap of 1:07:5329 seconds in the afternoon session, which was the second-fastest of the day overall. Power, the defending series champion, came in with the third-fastest lap – also set in the afternoon session – with a time of 1:07:5495 seconds in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevy. Montoya, piloting the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske machine, and Castroneves, racing the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, rounded out the top-five fastest cars with times of 1:07:6266 and 1:07:7703 seconds, respectively, in the afternoon session.

“It’s been a long off season and one with a lot of changes, both with the new Chevrolet aero kits and the move to four cars at Team Penske,” said Castroneves. “This was our second test together with the aero kits and we have one more before we get to St. Pete. These are very-important for us to hit the ground running when the season starts and I think we’ve shown we are working well together already. I’m really impressed with the speed we have shown.”

Power turned 70 laps on the first day, the second-highest total of the 23 drivers in attendance. Castroneves made a total of 57 circuits, with Montoya and Pagenaud lapping the track a total of 53 times a piece. In all, 16 drivers turned in times faster than Power’s pole-winning lap from the 2014 race at Barber, demonstrating that the new aero kits are going to bring about some fast times throughout the season.

“We are still trying to understand this new car, but it’s good to be back at the track after a long off season,” said Power. “The new Chevrolet aero kits provide massive downforce and the cars are just stuck right into the track. It really has a nice balance between downforce and drag, and the speeds we are running are impressive.”

The second day of the test provided a bit warmer climate, but that did not slow down the Team Penske Chevys. Power led the morning session on Tuesday with a lap of 1:07:3118 seconds, which turned out to be the fastest lap of the test. Castroneves posted his fastest lap of the test in the afternoon with a time of 1:07:5304 seconds, good for the fourth-fastest overall time. Pagenaud’s time in the afternoon session on day one remained his fastest lap of the test and the fifth-fastest time overall. The same was true for Montoya as his time from the afternoon session on Monday was good for the ninth-fastest time of the test.

In all, Power led Team Penske with a total of 157 laps turned during the productive two days on track. Pagenaud completed 155 circuits with Castroneves and Montoya touring the course 141 times and 140 times, respectively.

“All of these tests are important for my acclimation into Team Penske,” stated Pagenaud. “To come out here, in a competitive environment, and have speed like we have shown here at Barber is great for me. We learned a lot during the two days about these new aero kits and I’m excited about the way it will race when we get to St. Pete and beyond.”

The pit crews on all four Chevrolet entries were able to gain valuable preseason experience on a pit road where they will be competing during the season as all teams practiced live pit stops on the second day of testing. Team Penske and all the other Verizon IndyCar Series teams will return to Barber Motorsports Park for the fourth round of the championship – the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, April 24-26.

“When you have an opportunity to test on a track where you will be racing later in the year it’s very important to take advantage of that,’ said Montoya. “It’s good for all parts of the team to be able to come to come out here and practice in a live situation. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Verizon IndyCar Series and I can’t wait to get to St. Pete.”

The first race of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season will be the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.) on March 29. Power is the defending winner of the event. Castroneves has won the race three times, more than any other driver.
[Reference Here]

With the Cevrolet-powered and areo kit prepared teams filling the eight positions in the top ten speeds registered during the two day test at Barber, the cars powered and outfitted through Honda Performance Development have some catching up to do.

Michael Andretti at the Barber test, driving his Honda Dallara with areo kit. Image Credit: Eric Schwarzkopf (2015)

Overall Barber Test Stack Ranking:

Rank - Car - Driver Name - Chassis/Engine & Aero/Tire - Session Time - Speed - Total Laps

1 1 Power, Will D/C/F Practice 3 01:07.3118 123.010 157

2 9 Dixon, Scott D/C/F Practice 4 01:07.3996 122.849 162

3 4 Coletti, Stefano (R) D/C/F Practice 3 01:07.5224 122.626 120

4 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/F Practice 4 01:07.5304 122.611 141

5 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/F Practice 2 01:07.5329 122.607 155

6 11 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F Practice 3 01:07.5829 122.516 98

7 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F Practice 4 01:07.6203 122.448 149

8 83 Kimball, Charlie D/C/F Practice 4 01:07.6225 122.444 144

9 2 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/F Practice 2 01:07.6266 122.437 140

10 14 Sato, Takuma D/H/F Practice 4 01:07.6638 122.370 107

Rank - Car - Driver Name - Chassis/Engine & Aero/Tire - Session Time - Speed - Total Laps

11 67 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F Practice 3 01:07.7204 122.267 121

12 5 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F Practice 4 01:07.7796 122.161 126

13 10 Kanaan, Tony D/C/F Practice 4 01:07.8081 122.109 148

14 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F Practice 2 01:07.8494 122.035 87

15 18 Huertas, Carlos D/H/F Practice 4 01:07.8868 121.968 114

16 26 Munoz, Carlos D/H/F Practice 2 01:07.9540 121.847 123

17 41 Hawksworth, Jack D/H/F Practice 4 01:07.9572 121.841 119

18 7 Jakes, James D/H/F Practice 4 01:08.0252 121.720 118

19 20 Filippi, Luca (R) D/C/F Practice 4 01:08.1197 121.551 141

20 98 Chaves, Gabby (R) D/H/F Practice 4 01:08.1868 121.431 138

Rank - Car - Driver Name - Chassis/Engine & Aero/Tire - Session Time - Speed - Total Laps

21 27 Andretti, Marco D/H/F Practice 2 01:08.2657 121.291 103

22 8 Karam, Sage (R) D/C/F Practice 1 01:10.7555 117.023 3

23 19 Dracone, Francesco (R) D/H/F Practice 4 01:11.6317 115.591 118

Total Laps for Combined Sessions: 2832
(ht: IndyCar)

... notes from The EDJE

Pagenaud Leaves Honda For Chevy's Team Penske

Simon Pagenaud poses at The Gorve in Los Angeles with the Verizon IndyCar Series championship prize ... The Astor Cup. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

Pagenaud Leaves Honda For Chevy's Team Penske

At the end of a post finale MAVTv500 race press conference at Auto Club Speedway, a question was quickly posed to Simon Pagenaud as Simon was leaving the room - "Hey Simon, great year! What are your plans for 2015, any changes? Pagenaud replied with a large smile and a twinkle in his eye, "Just wait, in a couple of weeks there will be a big announcement - there may be a surprise." Since Simon was quickly leaving the room, there was no time for a follow-up.

Fast forward to about one month later. Rumors swirled around the future of Simon Pagenaud and if he just might jump to Honda's new alliance with McLaren in F1 and campaign for Honda in this new effort in the other top professional open wheel racing series here on mother Earth.

After all, Pagenaud has been very closely associated with Honda so as to have him viewed as a factory driver for most of the company's competitive efforts. So much so, that Simon Pagenaud took on the challenge of Pikes Peak last year in a specially outfitted IndyCar powered Honda Odyssey. Sadly, the effort did not produce great results other than the promotional value ... the Odyssey's time (12:54.325) was beaten by a turbo diesel-powered Freightliner that was being promoted by Banks Power (12:49.211).

On Monday, September 29, 2014, Simon Pagenaud officially became a member of a four-car team that may just have the most talented group of drivers to grace a team in American open-wheel racing - Verizon IndyCar Series' Penske Racing.

Simon Pagenaud as he waits to qualify his last Honda-powered Dallara DW12 at the MAVTv500 held at Auto Club Speedway. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

An Interview With:

SIMON PAGENAUD & TIM CINDRIC

An Interview With: SIMON PAGENAUD & TIM CINDRIC (audio part 1)

MERRILL CAIN: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Merrill Cain with Team Penske, and thank you for joining us today for this special media teleconference. We hope everyone saw the news this morning that Team Penske is proud to welcome aboard Simon Pagenaud in the fourth car for the organization's Verizon IndyCar Series program beginning in 2015. A four‑time IndyCar race winner with a championship pedigree who has finished among the top five in the Series Championship in each of the last three seasons, we are happy to be joined by Simon Pagenaud along with Penske Racing President, Tim Cindric, to discuss today's announcement.

Simon and Tim, thank you for joining us on the call this afternoon.

We'll begin by getting some opening comments from both Tim and Simon who are at the Penske Racing facility in North Carolina today and we'll open it up to questions for media on the call. Simon, first off, congratulations on today's news and welcome to Team Penske.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Thank you. It's a very special day in my career. This is a stepping stone in what happened for me in this life. It's an honor to be part of Team Penske, a team that I've always dreamed to drive for, so a very special day.

MERRILL CAIN: Simon, obviously, this is a great opportunity for both you and the team. Can you just talk about what this means for your career overall, and also what you're looking forward to as you complete a powerful four‑car Verizon IndyCar Series lineup for the team starting next season?

SIMON PAGENAUD: It's definitely the next step in my career. I've been working my whole life as a race car driver, and now was perfect timing for Team Penske to come and work together. I'm really excited to get to work with Helio (Castroneves), Will (Power), and Juan Montoya. So having three teammates like them is definitely a huge help as a driver to complete the steps and it's going to help the team as well. I'm really excited. I think it's a tremendous opportunity for my career.

MERRILL CAIN: Thank you, Simon, and we hope the off‑season goes quickly for you as you get ready for 2015. Tim Cindric, why was now the right time for Team Penske to expand into a four‑car team and why was Simon the right driver to add to the lineup going forward?

TIM CINDRIC: It's the first time we've run four cars with Team Penske, so it will certainly be a challenge. But when you have someone like Simon who may seem as though maybe this has been something that we've looked at here in the short‑term, that's not necessarily the case.

Simon Pagenaud teamed with Gil deFerran to win Gil's last professional race as a driver at the 2010 ALMS race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It turns out that deFarren started his career in North America by winning his first professional race driving for Jim Hall here at MRLS. Image Credit: Motorsport.com (2010)

Simon had obviously had an association with (former Team Penske driver) Gil (de Ferran) back in the Sports Car days when we were running the ALMS program, and that's where we took notice of what his capabilities were. You know, really this has been the opportunity that we've had to bring him on board.

If that meant changing to a four‑car program, that's what we were prepared to do. We feel like any time you can expand an organization, certainly it's satisfying to know that we can continue to add to the Team Penske heritage, and bringing Simon on board was certainly an added plus to that. So, certainly looking forward to the challenge ahead.

Open Questions:

Q. Tim, we know that each individual driver will have their own individual team, but it seems when you're going to add a fourth car to the organization, you've never had four cars before. Maybe just talk a little, if you can, about some of the logistical hurdles you guys need to jump over to add another driver and another car? It's probably a lot more difficult than it actually sounds like.

TIM CINDRIC: It's a good question. When you look at the landscape right now, and you're looking at even how Andretti runs their program and the team continues to change and develop up until the first race. Typically we don't really put our teams together year to year, even when we stay with the same group of people. We don't necessarily designate them as the No. 3 car mechanic, No. 2 car mechanic or engineer, what have you, until later in the off‑season. So I think that would be the same case.

Personnel is the first challenge that you have, and logistically how do you place four cars, how do you put them under the tent? How do you debrief? How do you put together what you need for our overseas trip now at the Brasilia race and those sorts of things? Certainly a logistical challenge, but more importantly the personnel is always what makes the difference, so that becomes your biggest focus.

Q. Simon, you seemed to thrive with a bigger team. I mean, you've got three primary guys that you can feed off of and debrief with. Talk a little bit about the wealth of experience and success that those three guys have had over the years and how you're going to use a lot of that to develop even further as a race car driver?

SIMON PAGENAUD: It's a tremendous opportunity. I've got Helio, a three‑time Indianapolis 500 Champion. I've got Juan Montoya, and Will Power who is now a champion of the Verizon IndyCar Series, so it's great. It's really going to be a very interesting season next year. Feeding off each other will be an important task. We all work for Team Penske, and that's how it works here. I'm really excited about it, and I think it's a perfect - like I said, perfect timing in my career.

Q. Simon, we started talking to you in July or August about all the people interested in you. Could you just talk about what it took to get you. As good a partner as Honda was, and maybe this is one of the few opportunities that a race driver gets or was the fact it was Roger Penske? I know it was a tough decision, but just maybe talk in your words as far as being torn maybe between staying with Honda or going to maybe one of the great opportunities a race driver gets?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, it's a good question. As a driver, you grow, and there are teams that you look for and there are teams that you admire. Team Penske has always been a team I've always admired. The Penske way has always been something that impressed me, and I felt like I would fit the mold really well. I don't think any driver would turn down any opportunities from Roger Penske, so it was because of my interest in this team, it was the decision I made. I have to thank Honda for the past and for everything that they helped me to do. But, like I said, I just admired this team so much, this is my decision.

Q. As far as Ben (Bretzman), the engineer that Simon has had, will he come on board as Simon's engineer next year?

TIM CINDRIC: We haven't started the process. This is the first step and we haven't spoken to anybody in Simon's team at this point in time. So after today we'll start that process. Honestly, I don't know him. I've never met him, so don't really know what that is. He hasn't contacted us either. So I really don't know what the next steps are there. We have some depth here, but we'll certainly look to add from outside where we can.

Q. It just seemed that when Will (Power) came over, he brought Dave (Faustino). It just seems like the natural progression.

TIM CINDRIC: Well, if you remember, David didn't come for a year until after Will was here. Will didn't mention David to me. I didn't know David Faustino until after the first year Will was here, and Will never mentioned his name until Derrick Walker mentioned him to me. Derrick was the one that said I should talk to David. It was never Will.

I know it's interesting, and I asked Will, I said, it's interesting you hadn't brought up David's name? And he said, well, I just wanted to be here first, and I figured you guys would figure out the rest. But if we could have David, that would be great. I said, why didn't you tell me a year ago? (Laughs)

Q. Simon, congratulations. You mentioned your teammates earlier, Helio, Juan, but Will is the big talking point. You obviously had a bit of a rivalry this year. How different will it be being teammates with Will compared to when you were rookie in Champ Car and you two were teammates at that point?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, Will is a champion. He's a tremendous driver. Yes, we've had contact on track and all that, but you need to grow as a driver. We're quite mature now. We've known each other for a long time and been good teammates. I enjoyed very much working together at the time. I think it's going to be our job to make it work for the team at Team Penske. It's a great opportunity, certainly for me, but for all of us here. I don't see any problem. I don't see any reason why it won't work well. Actually, it is going to work well.

Q. As a follow‑up, with leaving Honda, is it at all bittersweet given what they've been able to do for your career?

SIMON PAGENAUD: They've done a lot for me, that's definitely the case. It's been a great relationship. It's been a fantastic three years in IndyCar with Sam Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, but then you have to choose some decisions in life. And like I said, my dream has always been to drive for Roger, and I got this opportunity and I made this decision.

Q. Some of the feedback I've already started to get in this announcement is that now Andretti and Penske each have four cars. How do you answer that with what's good for the goose is good for the gander kind of thing as far as the overall sport?

TIM CINDRIC: I guess we didn't really look at it as car count. We looked at it more as opportunity from our end. I think you see it in all the different sports, whether it's IndyCar, NASCAR, what have you in terms of car count, obviously raises your odds in some ways. But if you don't do it right, it can also be a distraction, and we've seen that within our NASCAR program. We've been a stronger team with two guys than we were when we ran three cars. So I think it really depends on when you add those cars and what your capabilities are.

I think if there was a time for us to add a fourth car, it was now. To where we feel we've at least got people in the right places. And our focus of expanding is really just a matter of enhancing what you have, and also adding a car rather than really trying to catch up in some ways. I think what we learn from the NASCAR side of it is if you don't have the two cars right, it's hard to add a third car. When we brought back the two cars in NASCAR, it benefited us in terms of our approach. So we felt like if we were going to add a fourth driver that really there wasn't another guy to consider.

But Simon is someone that we've been interested in, as I said earlier, since he drove Sports Cars for Gil, and this is the first time we've had an opportunity to get together and who knows when the next time might be, so you just have to make a decision.

An Interview With: SIMON PAGENAUD & TIM CINDRIC (audio part 2)

Q. Do you think this is good for the sport to have three teams so dominant in terms of their car count?

TIM CINDRIC: I think that's for somebody else to judge. You saw what the Schmidt Peterson team was able to do with one car and you look at the number of race winners they had this year, and there were two four‑car teams out there this year. You look at the number of race winners that were at IndyCar, I'm not sure it really matters.

Q. Simon, have you talked to Will since the decision was made?

SIMON PAGENAUD: No, I haven't talked to Will yet. I will certainly do that very soon. We're actually going to a Verizon event tomorrow all together with all four drivers. So we'll have time to chat about it and that will be an interesting day.

Q. Is this a Verizon car, or are we that far down the line yet?

TIM CINDRIC: No, the answer is no and no. As far as a Verizon car or are we that far down the line, we're obviously starting to work on the sponsorship package for that program, but it's not necessarily a Verizon car. It's not necessarily not a Verizon car. We haven't talked to Verizon other than letting them know that Simon is coming on board. We certainly have some sponsorship programs that we're working on, and Verizon is part of all of our cars, so that's yet to be determined.

Q. When did you seriously consider adding that fourth car, and was that decision based on the fact that a driver of Simon's caliber was available and you didn't want to miss the opportunity to lock him up for the long‑term?

TIM CINDRIC: When did we start considering it? I would say pretty much all season long it's been in the back of my head because I've known what Simon's obligations were, based on the discussions we had before. This is a business you have to be kind of looking ahead to be sure that you're prepared. So in my mind that thought had been going on throughout the season. But we really hadn't crossed that bridge or talked about it in seriously until it was time, really.

Q. Simon, have you had much interaction with Rick Mears in your time with IndyCars, and have you looking forward to benefiting the role he plays with Team Penske?

SIMON PAGENAUD: I am very much looking forward to interact with Rick. We've had a few words on the racetrack, but just as competitors and very respectful words. I'm always looking up to those kind of drivers, like I did with Gil de Ferran, so it will be really awesome for me to get to have good stories with Rick.

Q. Simon, could you talk about the resources at Penske with both what's available to you and plus the depth of all the talent that you're going to be working with when you get there?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yes, it's a good point to bring. The big advantage of a team like Penske is definitely all the resources that you can have and all the research and development that you have available to make the car better and improve. As you know, I'm someone very technical, and that is the side of the sport that we enjoy. What better fit for me? There wasn't any better fit. So it's pretty exciting going into 2015 that way.

Q. Do you feel that perhaps you're going to be able to add to some of the deep history of the Penske legacy?

SIMON PAGENAUD: I surely hope so. I mean, as a driver, when you walk into a team like this one, the goal is different. You're here to win. That's the bottom line. The goal is to have complete success with the contract.

Q. Congratulations, Simon, and Tim, too. There was some suggestions that Nissan approached you about possibly driving their new P1 car in Le Mans in the World Championship. Can you comment on that at all, and if you gave any serious consideration to such an offer if it came?

SIMON PAGENAUD: I've always been interested in Sports Car. I've had a great career in Sports Car. But as you can see, my goal was to go back to IndyCar in 2012, but it was a successful time and great opportunities ahead. So, yes, I've been in talks with Nissan. It's been good talks, but I was very interested in my opportunities in IndyCar, so that was the bottom line.

Q. Joining Penske in IndyCar, it would be like if you joined McLaren or Ferrari in Formula 1?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yes, the Penske heritage is huge in racing. What Roger Penske did for the sport is amazing in America and worldwide as well. It's truly an honor to be part of the team now, and I'm very excited to get to work with everybody here. I'm just super excited and really impressed with the organization already.

Q. Do you feel that for the timing it's a different thing to be the little French man on a smaller team than a big one and it's another thing to be part of one of the big teams?

SIMON PAGENAUD: That's an interesting question. I don't think nationality has anything to do with success. It's who you are as a person, and who you think will win. I definitely feel like on the Team Penske side and my side it could be a really good fit, and that's why we joined the two ends of the link.

TIM CINDRIC: We worked with a smaller French guy before in (Romain) Dumas.

Q. Congratulations both of you. My first question is for Tim. I know in the past there have been times where you weren't able to go from two cars up to three cars because of sponsorship considerations. Simon is a great talent. What was it about this that you feel confident that you can collectively stage a fully good four‑car effort bringing in all the financial resources it will take?

TIM CINDRIC: The fortunate thing is obviously we have an owner that is committed to winning and committed to opportunity. That doesn't mean we can't make a business case behind it, but obviously, to make this decision, we have to have those resources in place or at least to the point where we're confident enough that it can stand on its own.

So I think it's a little bit different than the Montoya situation because that one, honestly, we didn't have one discussion whatsoever. This one, I think we also have some processes in place to where we feel like there is some potential beyond our existing sponsors. But at the end of the day, that is the secondary thing for us in terms of this opportunity. I know that sounds backwards sometimes, but we've been fortunate to have a really good marketing team, and with the off‑season the way it is, we feel like we've got more time than you typically would have to raise those budgets. So, obviously we're willing to take that chance.

To have four cars, there is efficiency in doing that. The first car costs the most, and then each one after that costs a little bit less. That's not always the case for the driver, but it is the case for the sponsor, in a way.

Q. Simon, if you could talk about the path it's taken to get to this ride? Obviously one of the best rides in the history of the sport. If you could talk a little about the road and the path that it's taken for you to get here?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Of course. It's my path in America has been very interesting and challenging at times, but quite a good adventure. I came here in 2006 and won the Champ Car Atlantic championship. Then I went to Champ Car, had a good time being teammates with Will Power and unfortunately the series folded. 

So I found a home with Gil de Ferran and a great organization, and then I had an opportunity to drive Le Mans in the 24 Hours.

So I had the chance to have really good rides and to shine in those good teams. I'm really happy to get in contact, basically with Team Penske and Tim Cindric. 

So that was, I think, Sports Car was a very important moment in my career. It helped me to learn a lot by technical aspects of the car and set‑up, and also to be known as someone who could share and work as a teammate. Then the next step was coming back to IndyCar with Sam Schmidt, and I can't thank him enough for what he did and the opportunity he gave me. We had great success and it allowed me to have a great opportunity today with Team Penske.

Q. I know that you've had quite a bit of success with Sam, but how stunned were you when the initial overtures came from Team Penske?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, I worked pretty hard. I worked really hard, and the goal as a driver is to go out and win races and win championships. So you always hope for the best. You always hope that you'll get the best opportunity possible. There's been a lot of interest during the winter which I truly was honored about it. Luckily enough I had a very good opportunity with the team that I always dreamed to drive for, so the decision from then on was pretty easy for me.

Q. Do you have a car number yet or something you're leaning toward?
TIM CINDRIC: 22. 22. Thanks for asking.

Q. Simon, you've been honest the last couple of years - (you've) got to upgrade (your) oval track program, and I think you've made strides. But you've never had a strong teammate that had oval experience. Now you have Montoya, Castroneves and Power, and now Rick Mears. Maybe that is the one missing piece of your career right now. As far as looking ahead, that's got to give you more optimism than anything?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yes. It took time for anyone like Dario Franchitti or Will Power to win on oval, and I think it's the natural progress and natural improvement. I feel definitely ready to take on the fight on the ovals, and definitely having someone like Montoya with so much experience on the oval and Helio by my side will be huge.

I'm actually really looking forward to our first test together on an oval some day. That is definitely going to be an interesting one for me in that sense.

Q. Have you determined the first test dates for Simon yet? How different is this year's first testing program going to be considering you have the aero kits coming, but it's a little bit of a waiting period until that point?

TIM CINDRIC: Yeah, I think understanding where the aero kit test plan is probably the best answer for that as we try to work through that for Chevrolet. Chevrolet has done a lot of work on the aero kit program over the past couple years as I'm sure Honda has. But understanding what the best approach is for utilizing their days and how they plan to utilize their days, we're still working close to Chevrolet on that and trying to incorporate Simon into that at some point in time would be great if we get that opportunity.

But certainly before the year is out, we'd like to get him in our car at some point in time. We're actually pouring the seat for him here today, so we'll have that piece out of the way. Really, after that I guess I don't have a specific date, but I can say he'll be in the car before the end of the year.
ENDS

Many are now left asking ... what in the heck did Honda do to warrant such a level of defection to the manufacturer of the other engine and aerodynamic body work for the Dallara DW12 in the Verizon IndyCar Series - Chevrolet?

Last year around this time, Target Chip Ganassi Racing jumped to Chevrolet, and with the merger of Ed Carpenter Racing with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing earlier this month - CFHR will be running Chevy-power leaving Honda without rising American star driver Josef Newgarden.

And now this - Simon Pagenaud leaves Honda for Team Penske!

At least, now, Pagenaud will not have to be concerned about being bested by a 10,000 pound mule for a rolling cross-country shipping container.

In 2015, what is Honda going to do to buttress its dwindling American open-wheel prospects? Of the three four-car teams, only one is powered and supported by Honda - Andretti Autosport. Maybe their answer will lay in providing better Aero Kits!

... notes from The EDJE