Four Car Team Penske Effort High On Prospects As McLaughlin, Newgarden, Pagenaud, & Power Size Up Season Before Barber Start

Top to bottom - Josef Newgarden (Hitachi), Scott McLaughlin (PPG), Will Power (Verizon), & Simon Pagenaud (Menards) in all of their first race of 2021 liveries. Image Credit: Team Penske via Facebook (2021)

Four Car Team Penske Effort High On Prospects As McLaughlin, Newgarden, Pagenaud, & Power Size Up Season Before Barber Start

We are at a point in time during the ebb and flow of emotion impressions that are colored by some extensive testing information from different track configurations and team building conditions but none of this has been tested in actual competition.

Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama becomes the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES opener Sunday, April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park. To be honest, it was amazing, given the moving goal posts put up during the 2020 year of varied virus protocols throughout the nation, that the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season was able to complete 14 races from a planned 18. A series of four races in three weekends will start the season, including the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, April 25 and a doubleheader weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2 for the Genesys 300 and the XPEL 375.

2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season driver review plates. Image Credit: Team Penske Twitter (2021)

These are the quotes that will be driving Team Penske during these next three weekends:

#1) For me, I don't really know what to expect. I think we've done some really good work as a team in the off-season. From what I understand the team's in a positive spot, but you don't know with testing right now sort of where everyone's at. I don't think we'll know until qualifying at Barber. That's my best answer to that sort of thing.  

#2) I think all those four engineers working together are really a fantastic group. Four awesome drivers, four awesome engineers. Obviously there's a lot more engineers in the background that really makes for a super team.  

#3) Yeah, the Honda versus Chevy, I think Barber probably is favored a little bit more to Honda because the way their engine seems to have more torque than ours. I think actually at the Speedway this year we'll be pretty strong. I think Chevy's made a really good gain.  

#4) I'm pretty excited. I think we've got a good opportunity to come out pretty strong this year. I think we've done a lot of good work this off-season. I'm very encouraged about everywhere we're going, to be honest. Barber included. I can't wait to get going this weekend. It's been a while since we got to do our normal jobs. I'm excited to get back with the boys and get working.  

TEAM PENSKE DRIVERS PRE-BARBER QUOTES

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER ZOOM CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

David Hovis - Team Penske - APRIL 12, 2021

TEAM PENSKE DRIVERS SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SIMON PAGENAUD AND WILL POWER met with media to discuss upcoming NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opening race at Barber Motorsports Park (post 2-day IMS test):

Q. What have you done to prepare for a track like Barber, which can be a tricky circuit? 

SIMON PAGENAUD:  Barber10 years ago, it was my first ever INDYCAR race. Lots of great memories. Obviously a great win in 2016. Battle with Graham Rahal. A great track, really technical, high commitment. Really need to bring a lot of confidence to the game. It's a brilliant oval track for those reasons.  

Q. Scott, what have you done to prepare for a track like Barber, which can be a tricky circuit?  

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I'm feeling as prepared as I can be right now. I said to my wife last night, Whatever happens this week, I feel like I've done a lot of hard work, worked on my fitness. It's going to be a very physical week, tough track on the body.  

Worked with the team to get an understanding. This track requires a lot of commitment, a lot of bravery, and a lot of commitment to the aero, aerodynamics of the car. That's something I'm getting used to right now.  

Bit by bit I've got used to it across the run. Having a couple test days here puts me in good stead knowing what I've got and what I will have chassis-wise when we hit the track on Saturday morning.  

Yeah, look, I'm happy where we're at. Really excited for the challenge. It's going to be an up-and-down year. I'm really excited for all the obstacles, what's going to come across in my rookie season.  

Q. Obviously it's going to be a pretty quick couple of races at the start of the season. For Simon and Scott, how confident are you guys going into the season? Also you've come off the back of a really good test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. How much confidence does that give you going into the month of May?  

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, it's going to be an exciting year. Yeah, absolutely had a great test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nice to also do some laps around there. I've got three great teammates to lean on, not only in terms of driving style but setup-wise, trusting what the car is going to be like at qualifying trim, race trim, understanding that. That was really nice to lean on all three of the guys. All three of them were fantastic with me, helping me build up, get acquainted.  

For me, I don't really know what to expect. I think we've done some really good work as a team in the off-season. From what I understand the team's in a positive spot, but you don't know with testing right now sort of where everyone's at. I don't think we'll know until qualifying at Barber. That's my best answer to that sort of thing.  

For me right now, it's about doing as many laps as I can, getting as much understanding under my belt, leaning on my three great teammates as much as I can.  

SIMON PAGENAUD: Clearly we focused a lot on the Indianapolis 500. Last year was not what we expected. We wanted to come back and really show the resilience of Team Penske. As you saw the test, the drivers felt, we were very pleased with the improvement. Everybody worked so hard this winter. We found speed. 

 

It's obviously just the beginning of testing at Indy, but it felt very good. That's clearly a very enjoyable thing to say as it's also my number one goal.  

Now when it comes to the full championship, also like Scott said, made big improvements on the race car, making it more consistently able to go get the last little bit of lap time. I don't know where we're going to stack up exactly, but I know that we've done everything we can to run up front and be there for the championship in the end. 

 

It's going to be a long season. You are going to have to score points and always be top five to fight for the championship.  

Q. Simon, obviously we have condensed schedules again this year. Last year you didn't know that going into it. Do you have to prepare a little differently now this year knowing that you're only running Saturday and Sunday at Barber, everything is condensed? Does that change how you prepare in the off-season and week-to-week? 

SIMON PAGENAUD: The big advantage is this year we knew that the schedule was going to change. We knew in advance. That really helped my team and myself to prepare and understand how the weekend was going to roll.  

At the end of the day it's about knowing how to tackle each practice for qualifying and then the race. I think we have right now a very good outlook on everything.  

Super excited about this format, quite frankly. I think we have a two-day weekend in Barber. St. Pete is different, three-day weekend. Texas is two races. The next four races are back-to-back. It's going to be intense. But I know we're ready. I can't wait to get going.  

Q. Simon, Team Penske has been three cars in the past. What advantages do you see in getting a fourth car full-time this year? 

SIMON PAGENAUD: You know, I know it's very simple actually to understand. It's two and two. Two and two make work a lot easier. When it's three, two guys might like the same thing, one guy might not. When it's two and two, there's more chances that two guys are going to like the same things and two others are going to like the exact same stuff for their cars or their style.  

As four, it also has a better flow, better energy within the team also. It's the same with the engineers. Jonathan Diuguid is with Scott McLaughlin. He used to lead the sports car program. Jonathan was also Helio's engineer in the past. Lots of experience there.  

I think all those four engineers working together are really a fantastic group. Four awesome drivers, four awesome engineers. Obviously there's a lot more engineers in the background that really makes for a super team.  

Scott McLaughlin's Merch page graphic. Image Credit: Team Penske via FB (2021)

Q. With the new aero package for the superspeedways this year, as I understand it you have more options as a team or a driver in terms of your setup. What has been your experience? I can ask both of you this question. What has been your experience so far? Has it made it confusing or has it made it better for you as a driver in that you have these more options? 

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: For me, it's probably -- I was speaking to Will Power about this, knowing that it's one of my first times on a superspeedway, on the oval, having no experience on really anything else. Going in, it's all brand-new.  

The feeling? I didn't have any old feelings of old cars and stuff. I was probably able to get acquainted almost easier because some of the older guys, in some ways they're so used to different feelings.  

I think it's a good option of having the option of putting the balance boards on or taking them off or whatever. It's going to be interesting what the racing is like.  

I think we found in Indianapolis, yeah, depends on your setup. It was difficult to pass three or four back in the train. But I think it certainly looks better than last year.  

Yeah, look, I'm learning every lap I do really, especially at the ovals. 

 

SIMON PAGENAUD: I felt like INDYCAR did a great job allowing us more options. It was important to make sure the show was going to be awesome. Especially if we get some fans in the grandstand, it would be fantastic to come back and put on the best show ever.  

The balance board, the more aerodynamics, also they fill up the hole on the side of the floor, and you can definitely add onto the front wing to help run in traffic. It was a big improvement.  

I really enjoyed being able to run in traffic without big surprises in the aerodynamics of the car. I think with more testing, a lot more cars will figure it out and drivers.  

So overall I think it's very, very positive.  

Q. 'Push to pass' was tested at the Indy oval recently. There's been some mixed feelings as to whether or not INDYCAR should allow 'push to pass' on ovals. In the past they never have. Like to get your thought as to having that option? I asked Juan Montoya last week. He was very much in favor of having it on the ovals. I've heard other drivers say they weren't so sure. I'd like to hear your opinion.  

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Well, for me, I think anything that makes racing better is a good thing. If INDYCAR thinks the racing is going to be better with a 'push to pass' option potentially. But I think you'll find if that gets brought in, it will be a very strategic move how you use them. You probably will save them for a long time, hopefully have enough fuel to use it, or gas as you say over here.  

I think, yeah, it's going to be interesting. It's hard for me to tell because I haven't been in a race situation. I think you got to back INDYCAR officials in anything that makes the racing better. Hopefully that will work.  

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I think it's very situational. Quite frankly, we don't really have -- drivers, it doesn't really matter. We're coming in, the rules are the rules. What INDYCAR decides is for us to use. I'm very much backing them up because they've made great choices in the racing in general.  

Would I have liked to have the 'push to pass' in 2019? Probably not. Would I have liked to have it last year? Absolutely. It depends on the situation. It's very hard to have one determined opinion on that.  

I think for the racing, it would be great. For the fans, it would be fantastic. But it all depends how it's gone in place.  

I look forward, in any case, to changes. It shuffles the cards and it's good for racing.  

Q. Scott, this month here you're kind of running the gamut of all the different types of courses that INDYCAR hits. You get the Indy 500 test, now you got a dedicated road course followed immediately by a street course and then a high-speed oval at Texas. Is that difficult to prepare for, to think about all the different types of racing that's coming up in quick succession? 

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, any time I get laps in these cars, it's better. It's wild, but this is exactly why I came to America for. I came to race nearly every weekend on all different disciplines I haven't done before.  

It's definitely a difficult thing to prepare for for everyone. I think we're all sort of working out times to get on the simulator, when do you give up preparing for this race this weekend and then start thinking about the next race in a week's time.  

But thankfully for the start of season when it's crazy, all these tracks I've been to before. I know what I need. We've got a solid plan in place. We can sort of hit the ground running at each track.  

So, yeah, I think probably this one this week is probably the one track that definitely I need to work harder. St. Pete I feel, having known that track, I know our balance there, it's going to be okay. Then Texas, it's an oval. I've just got to work my way around it.  

It's exciting. Like I said, I came to America to race most weekends. This is a dream for me really. 

 

Q. Scott, obviously last year was sort of an interesting one for you going from the Bathurst 1000 straight over to America to make your INDYCAR debut. What is it like this weekend? You've had a fair bit of buildup. Does it feel like you're having your debut all over in some ways? 

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It certainly feels like a bit of a reset button, I guess. I definitely feel a lot more prepared. I have an understanding of the car a lot more than I did when I was sort of rolling into St. Pete. That can only be beneficial for me.  

I came into St. Pete with a thought of what the car was like in sort of February, March. Got to October, it was all full on. That week was full on for me. I was jetlagged, whatever. I'm not making excuses, but at the same time like I said, I feel as prepared as I can be right now.  

The only thing right now I lack is experience. I feel like I've got, like I said, great teammates to lean on. I've got a great engineer, as Simon said, who has a huge amount of experience. I'm just leaning on everyone really and soaking everything up like a sponge.  

It's business time now. I really need to get into it.  

Simon Pagenaud at Texas Motor Speedway test - happy to be at the precipice of 2021. Image Credit: Chris Owens (2021)

Q. Following up on that 'push to pass' question before. Up until now it's been allowed to be used as a defense mechanism as well as offense. Some drivers think that's a good thing. Others feel it defeats the purpose of having it. I'd like to get your opinion on that.  

SIMON PAGENAUD: That's a loaded question (laughter). You never get everybody to agree on that one.  

It is what it is. Again, like I said earlier, I think it depends what INDYCAR decides to do, and we have to oblige by the rules. We're an entertainment show, so at the end of the day it's about making sure we put on a fantastic show.  

As we saw last year, racing without fans is not racing. They have a huge part of -- they are a huge part of what we do, so we have to think about that, making sure that the fans enjoy the racing. That is what INDYCAR is doing.  

Whatever the drivers think doesn't really matter as much. But no matter what, it would be a great show. It has been without it. It will be with it, if we have it. So I personally have zero opinion on it. I don't personally like gimmicks in racing, but honestly it completely depends on the situation and how it's implemented.  

Q. Scott, can you tell me a little bit about the helmet design you're going to be running at the Indianapolis 500. Is that a tribute to Rick Mears? 

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah. It's just basically the same helmet design that Helio has run in previous years. Obviously what Rick was synonymous for with the yellow submarine.  

I love tradition, I love history. I think it was a cool tribute. I couldn't fit McLaughlin down the side, it would wrap around my visor as well. I had to subs substitute for Scott.  

I thought it was pretty cool, quite on the back. It's just a tribute to the 500, the people that have run it before, and hopefully a legacy we can start with myself and Pennzoil. I'm tremendously excited to run that car. I feel very lucky and privileged. Excited to see what we can do with it.  

Q. I'd like to get your thoughts on INDYCAR going to Nashville for the Music City Grand Prix later this year.  

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I've never been to Nashville before, so the more America I can see, the better. Very excited. I heard Nashville is a wild city. I'm really excited for the street track there, around the stadium where the Titans play, too, is cool.  

Sounds to me, Josef is the Nashville king or Nashville mayor, he's pretty pumped by it. He said it's an awesome city and awesome vibe. Yeah, super pumped. Any track that goes over a bridge, man, is pretty bad ass, so I'm excited for that.  

SIMON PAGENAUD: Can you play any instrument?  

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No. Depending how many drinks I've had.  

SIMON PAGENAUD: I want to see it. I want to see it (laughter).  

Pretty exciting when we get to that market. It looks like a really interesting layout, for sure, going over the bridge. I'm sure those photos will go around the world and be very iconic after a while. I am really looking forward to it.

It's a town of festivities and we're bringing the show. Very excited to get to know the town. I've actually never been to Nashville either. As you know, I look forward to finding some good restaurants.  

MODERATOR: We're joined by Will Power, Josef Newgarden. Will, as a two-time winner and four-time pole winner at Barber, it's been a couple years since we have been to Barber, so how excited are you to get back to racing?  

WILL POWER: Yeah, I'm super excited to get back in the car. Yeah, very excited. Josef is going to be very amused at this (laughter). Yeah, I think we've had two test days at Barber, so I reckon we've got the car pretty well sorted.  

I know it's going to be super competitive. It's going to be very, very competitive. So many good guys and teams this year. Certainly have to put everything together to make sure that we're in the game.  

But just really happy to get back to racing. It's been quite a long off-season.  

MODERATOR: We're also joined by Josef Newgarden, who is the most successful driver in the history of INDYCAR Series at Barber with three wins. Josef, what is it about Barber that kind of suits you?  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I'm pretty excited, too, like Will said. I think we've got a good opportunity to come out pretty strong this year. I think we've done a lot of good work this off-season. I'm very encouraged about everywhere we're going, to be honest. Barber included.  

I can't wait to get going this weekend. It's been a while since we got to do our normal jobs. I'm excited to get back with the boys and get working.  

Excited we've got four cars. I think we've got some of the best people as always. We've been bolstered this year with adding Scott, his engineer J.D., and a couple others. Very, very excited to get going.  

Q. Going to be a pretty frantic start to the season. How beneficial is it to you guys to have Scott kind of added for a fourth car this season?  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think it's tremendously beneficial. I think we're going to find a lot of benefits from it. Last time we were four cars, we worked really well together when Helio was in the mix. Having the resources that come with an extra car at Team Penske has, in my opinion, been quite useful. I think probably more useful now with the shortened track time.  

We still have to be better at showing up with a car that's going to work out of the box. But I think just having that extra car with the workload demand across the weekend will be very, very beneficial.  

It will be fun. It's also fun to just see a pure rookie kind of going at it. He's obviously super talented, going to have a good car on him. But it's fun to watch how excited he is for every little thing, which I think makes it exciting to go to the track.  

Q. I wanted to ask, obviously we always expect Penske and Ganassi drivers to contend for titles. Who do you reckon are going to be the new contenders for titles, people outside that group that are going to fight for titles? Do you expect to see Colton or Pato or Felix battling for the championship this year? 

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think McLaren is going to certainly be strong this year, with Pato, they've added Felix, who has a lot of experience in INDYCAR now. I think those guys are going to be pretty strong.  

Obviously Colton was already a threat last year, so more so this year ... (Loss of audio).

  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: As Will was saying, all of these guys are going to be very good. Is he back?  

WILL POWER: Was I just talking and nothing happening?  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You froze, yeah.  

WILL POWER: I thought everyone was so engrossed in what I was saying, they were just like frozen, looking like, Oh, my God (laughter). Just an amazing, amazing reply. Then it just stopped. Oh, I'm frozen, okay. I should stop.  

Q. Do you want to finish your statement, Will?  

WILL POWER: I have no clue where it stopped - Oh, yeah, just basically you add after Herta Penske and Ganassi and you've got a very fierce championship. I think you're going to see many different winners this year. It will probably be a year of consistency that will win it.  

Q. Josef, anyone else? Do you see maybe Rinus VeeKay with a year of experience under his belt being a threat? 

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't think you can count him out. Yeah, I don't know. I think time will tell. I wouldn't necessarily put him in the list right now. I think we probably need a little bit more evidence of that.  

Like Will said, I think Colton and Pato are probably the strongest newcomers to join the mix, and are definitely already threats in the championship. That's only going to get probably better.  

We've got to see how Scott takes to it. Scott has an opportunity I think to be very strong in his first year, which could be unique to other rookies. I think he's going to have a good opportunity. We'll see how it takes to it.  

WILL POWER: Yeah. I mean, I liken Scott to Wickens. I believe he can have a year like that just from experience in top-level motorsports.  

Q. The new aero package this year, on ovals you have had a chance to test it at Indy. I'd like to get your opinion with the options you now have compared to before in terms of setups. Also you tested the 'push to pass' on the oval. Should that work into the mix? Is that not necessary?  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I mean, I guess I'll speak to the 'push to pass' because I was at the test.  

I was certainly not a big believer that's something we need at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I want the racing to be as difficult as possible at Indy. I want opportunities for the front group to be able to race, to put on a good show.  

You can't have everything. It's really, really difficult to find a good balance where you have the most difficult cars to drive, the drivers can really showcase their talent behind the wheel and work with the team to make a faster car. Also to create an environment where the race is thrilling.  

I think you can have both of them. Honestly at Indy we've had that for the last 10 years. I think it's been very difficult races and also very thrilling races. I think we're talking about adding horsepower. I would rather just add pure horsepower to the car, which is what we all want. We just want more power for the cars.  

I think the 'push to pass' situation where you create this big speed disparity between cars is more of a risky proposition, putting it in the hands of the some of the field of 33 would make me a little bit nervous, not because it's going to be more difficult, just because I think it would be more risky for no reason.  

Adding more horsepower is great, but probably not in a 'push to pass' format I think at Indy.  

Q. Will, Honda versus Chevy, road course versus oval. Have you seen any trends? Your photo shop skills are getting as good as NASCAR. Will you be doing more of that in the future? 

WILL POWER: Yeah, the Honda versus Chevy, I think Barber probably is favored a little bit more to Honda because the way their engine seems to have more torque than ours. I think actually at the Speedway this year we'll be pretty strong. I think Chevy's made a really good gain.  

Yeah, it's very close. I mean, both honestly are very close. But the field is so stacked now that any little advantage really makes a difference. If one manufacturer is just weighted a little bit more on the torque side, torque of the engine, for somewhere like Barber where it's just pure power because there's so much grip, it kind of stacks the field one way. Yeah, it's super close.  

And my videos, yeah, I can keep doing them. Josef is actually using my guide to what to do, how far I should go. Is this okay to post? Any post that you don't agree with, you should really message him because nothing to do with me, it's his decision (laughter).

Will Power feels, given past performances, Barber Motorsports Park gives him a shot at a great start. Image Credit: Team Penske via Facebook (2021)

Q. Yourself and Simon have spoken fairly highly of Scott McLaughlin leading into his first full year in INDYCAR. What sort of separates him from perhaps other rookies that we've seen over the last few years? What has your advice been to him ahead of his first full season? 

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, the difference is that Scott has a significant amount of experience at a very high level because the Super Car Championship in Australia is very competitive, very professional. It's on par with INDYCAR.  

He's been through all the stuff that rookies go through. You've seen that in his testing. He hasn't thrown it off. I don't think he's even been off the track. Yeah, he's very methodical about his approach. I think experience is going to help him significantly over a rookie that had only done junior categories.  

Q. Will, obviously in the Road to Indy you're helping out or mentoring Myles Rowe, but also there's some young Australians. How cool is that as an Australian to see guys like Alex Peroni and Cam Shields come over here and try and make it? 

WILL POWER: Yeah, no, I've certainly helped Cameron Shields a lot in trying to make sure he continues. Obviously Myles is in a great program and has had a lot of laps in the car now. I'm hoping he'll be super strong.  

But, yeah, I actually don't know Alex Peroni very well, but I've kind of followed him a little bit with what he's done in Europe. I think he'll be really quick.  

Yeah, it's great to see, especially Cameron Shields, he's from Toowoomba, and he is very quick. I really believe he can get all the way to INDYCAR.  

I've got to give it to him because he has absolutely zero money or funding and he stuck it out for the last few years here by just meeting the right people, getting in the right situation and performing when he needs to.  

Yeah, I hope he gets a full season this year. I think he's in a good car. We'll see what happens there.  

Q. How excited are you to be affiliated with Paretta Autosport for the Indianapolis 500? How impressed were you with Simona's time over the weekend?  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Very excited. They're certainly a great addition to our group. It's fun to have another car with Simona, too. I think Simona is a top-shelf talent. I think a lot of us feel that way about her in INDYCAR. It was almost a shame that she got cut short with her timeline in INDYCAR. When she left, she never probably had the best opportunity to compete at a high level. She was already doing that.  

I think she's going to be fantastic. She took to things pretty quickly, almost like she never left. With Paretta, the entire team, they've been absorbing the way work. We've had a lot of the different women at the track with us trying to understand our philosophies, the way we go about racing.  

It's going to be exciting. They're a really fun program. I think they're going to be covered pretty well in the 500. There's a lot of interest in their specific group. I think they'll have a good opportunity to compete at a high level.  

Q. Will, a couple years ago you were involved with trying to get INDYCAR back to Australia. Any update on that? Any movement in that area? Is that a dead horse? 

WILL POWER: I don't think that will ever happen. I don't think it will ever happen (laughter).  

I shouldn't say never, but not in the time that I'm in INDYCAR. Let's say it's definitely not going to happen in the next five years. I think Roger's focus is going to be on North America, not really going anywhere else. I don't know that for a fact. I think he'll try to grow that before he thinks about going anywhere else.  

Q. The Music City Grand Prix in your hometown of Nashville. What can everyone expect from that new race coming up this year? 

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think you could expect a good party, a really good party. I think it's very positive. When I think of street course racing in INDYCAR, I think of thrilling racing for all the purists out there. But I think of an entertaining show, certainly a bit of a party, which caters to everybody. That's what you want. You want that atmosphere where everyone can show up and have a good time regardless of how much of a racing fan you are.  

I think Nashville is going to do that probably better than anywhere. I'm very excited for it. I think it will be a great event. I know all the drivers in the paddock are excited for that one to come around.  

Q. Will, with Scott on the team, both from the same part of the world, do you have any secret language you can talk to each other your teammates won't understand? 

WILL POWER: We certainly do, but probably nothing I can mention on here. If you've ever been to Australia, you probably understand they like to throw swear words around a lot (laughter).  

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: They like to use their language at restaurants, I've noticed, when we go there (smiling). People love it.  

WILL POWER: Yeah, no, we certainly have our own language, which isn't good language, I would say (laughter).  

[ht: Judith Kouba Dominick - Chevrolet Racing Trackside Communications]

FAST FACTS

Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Takuma Sato are the only entered drivers to have won at Barber Motorsports Park. 

Power won the race in 2011 and 2012, Hunter-Reay in 2013 and 2014, Newgarden in 2015, 2017 and 2018, Pagenaud in 2016 and Sato in 2019.

Power, Hunter-Reay, Pagenaud, Newgarden and Sato are the only entered drivers to have won the pole position at Barber Motorsports Park. Power claimed the pole position in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2017, Pagenaud won the pole in 2016, Hunter-Reay won the pole in 2013, Newgarden won the pole in 2018, and Sato won the pole in 2019.

Five drivers have won the race from the pole – Power in 2011, Hunter-Reay in 2013, Pagenaud in 2016, Newgarden in 2018 and Sato in 2019

Race weekend: Saturday, April 17 – Sunday, April 18

NBC Sports race telecasts: Qualifying, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, NBCSN (tape-delayed); Race, 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy.

... notes from The EDJE

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TAGS: SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SIMON PAGENAUD, WILL POWER, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Chevrolet, Team Penske, Barber Motorsports Park, The EDJE

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

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

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

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

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

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

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

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

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

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

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

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

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Josef.

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

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

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

Q. Case of every man for himself tomorrow?

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

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

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

Q. How do you think Scott McLaughlin got on?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Alexander Rossi - Andretti Autosport

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

Alex, tell us about your qualifying run today.

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

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

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Alex.

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

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

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

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

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

Q. Well, St. Petersburg normally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Alex, for joining us.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Thanks, guys.

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

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference

Will Power - Team Penske

Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCOTT DIXON: Thanks, guys.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, all positives really when you add another car.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... notes from The EDJE

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

INDYCAR HARVEST GP 2-Race Weekend Brings A Cooler Challenge For Pagenaud, Power, & Herta

Will Power is looking forward to racing in the INDYCAR Harvest GP, a track he has won on three times before, matched only by his teammate Simon Pagenaud. Power said he believes his success at the IMS GP track boils down to his qualifying, an area of mastery. Power has 60 INDYCAR poles, just seven shy of tying Mario Andretti’s record of 67. Each of Power’s wins on the IMS road course have come from the pole. "For me, generally if I qualify on pole at that track, we have a great shot of winning, and that’s been the case for me every time except this last one," Power said. "I can’t really put my finger on why that is the case, but some tracks favor you a little, maybe it’s the way the strategy works out, maybe it’s the fact you can use your raw pace." Image above, Will Power - salvages 2020 season with a win at Mid-Ohio's Honda Indy 200 Race 1 - Sept. 12, 2020. Image Credit: Matt Fraver via NICS (2020)

INDYCAR HARVEST GP 2-Race Weekend Brings A Cooler Challenge For Pagenaud, Power, & Herta

To some, open-wheel racing in October during NFL Football season is a crime against Humanity ... especially with the previous owner of the INDYCAR SERIES. It is tough to compete when the series owners are more concerned about their skybox seats and relationships with team owners than watching cars buzz around a track with temperatures dropping down into the 50's and lower. This just isn't the meaning of Fall.

Bring in a disruptive pandemic health event, a change of ownership and a reactive salvation from a planned 17 race season, to a possible 9 or 10 race season, then rebuild it back to a 14 race season through a series of 2-Race weekends at supporting and series owned tracks, then, voila, October 1-3, 2020 plays host to the aptly nicknamed INDYCAR "Pumpkin Spice" Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Tuesday, September 29, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Currently P4 In Championship - Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing

Currently P5 In Championship - Will Power, Team Penske

Currently P8 In Championship - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to today's NTT INDYCAR Series video news conference featuring three drivers who will race this weekend in the INDYCAR Harvest GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We're pleased to be joined by Simon Pagenaud and Will Power from Team Penske, and Colton Herta from Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing.

Colton, you're the most recent winner in the NTT INDYCAR Series, winning the front pole at Mid-Ohio. Indianapolis has been a place where you've had success in the junior formula and finished fourth in July. What are your expectations heading into a doubleheader this weekend?

COLTON HERTA: Definitely keep the momentum from Mid-Ohio and try to win. If you want to try to get Newgarden, second in the championship, we're going to have to have two good races. He's a little bit ahead, so we might need a little bit of help from him. If we can win both races, that will definitely help our chances.

THE MODERATOR: Will, you started on the pole there, won at IMS three times. What is it about the IMS road course that seems to suit your style pretty well?

WILL POWER: It's a pretty straightforward track. But every corner sequence, it's quite technical. There's a lot of compromise in there. I kind of like that stuff.

Yeah, I mean, it's just another track that I enjoy. All pretty good for me. Yeah, I can't put my finger on why I've won there three times. I think being fast is one of them.

THE MODERATOR: How important is it to try to end the season on a strong point, try to maybe grab top three in the championship?

WILL POWER: Yeah, that's obviously the goal, try to finish in the top three. More just looking at race wins honestly. The whole championship thing, I mean, I'm only interested in contending for a championship win. Other places don't really mean anything to me.

Trying to get wins, that's all I'm aiming for. I mean, do my absolute best honestly, not even aim for wins. Just get the most out of myself every weekend.

Three time IMS GP event winner Simon Pagenaud on racing the IMS road course the first time - “I grew up at a racetrack that’s quite similar in terms of driving technique, that racetrack was only 20 minutes from my home, and that’s where I learned to drive a car,” Pagenaud said. “I was very well suited to (IMS) because it suited my driving style and therefore it was working together very well. I felt at home right away. I didn’t have to search too far on my driving side to produce lap time. Those are the fun times in racing.”  Image Credit: Chris Owen via NICS (2020)

THE MODERATOR: Simon, you also are a three-time winner at the IMS road course. 20th to third in July. It's a completely different race in October than July with temperatures being probably 40 degrees cooler ambient. What do you expect from the weekend?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, of course it's an interesting dynamic. Hasn't been the greatest season. We've had a streak of bad races, starting in Indianapolis Speedway, unfortunately. So the season didn't develop as we wanted.

Certainly right now we're honing in on what the car needs in terms of setup. That's super exciting. We've got three races to go. For us, it's about winning, quite frankly winning races, nothing else.

The other goal is to understand the car the best we can for next year, come out of the gate next year to win the first race and go on and try to fight for the championship.

Different dynamic than last year for sure. We were in the championship. This year it's going to be about, like Will said, doing the best, just extracting the best out of yourself and the car. Also really understanding, that's what I'm aiming for.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for any of the drivers.

Q. When the whole thing starts off with one driver taking the first three races, a truncated season of 14 races, kind of sets the bar in a weird way. Everybody is struggling. There's been some really great driving. I would like to hear what your experiences have been driving with the new rookies that are out there.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, you're absolutely right. There's been a lot of great driving. Colton was winning in Mid-Ohio. Pato has been tremendous in a lot of races. The young guys coming up, it's interesting to see them, how they handle their cars.

Like you said, there's been difficulties for everybody. Some, like Scott Dixon, managed to get the best out of tough situations. Wish we could have done the same, but we didn't. Try to focus and go forward.

Definitely new race format, new qualifying format. Very different season. No testing, which I personally love going testing for improvement. I'm missing that. I hope we can go testing very soon.

WILL POWER: Yeah, the rookies again this year have been very impressive. Alex Palou, Pato who is not a rookie but pretty much is. They're all quick. Rinus VeeKay. I know I'm missing one there, I feel bad. There's one other guy who is really fast.

Yeah, they've been very impressive with the limited running we have. The field just seems to get tougher every year. Get these young guys in, barely 20, and already right on the pace. Have 20 years of racing ahead of them.

It's good. I love racing against the young guys. I even go back and I'll race karts against the 15, 16-year-old guys just to embarrass myself amongst some aggressive, fast kids.

Yeah, it's good to see.

Q. Colton, you were one of the young guns coming up. Now you're established in the field. How has it been going side-by-side with the rookies?

COLTON HERTA: No, it's been nice. I think for a lot of my career, I grew up racing against a lot of these guys anyway through karting. This isn't really new for me with this rookie class.

Yeah, I think like the guys have said, it just seems like the series is getting tougher and tougher. Another really good crop of rookies. Definitely makes you work harder. You know there's a lot of guys coming in that are really fast and can take your seat. Yeah, definitely makes you work really hard.

I think it is impressive. Especially with the limited running time that we have, just one practice for a lot of the weekends, it is impressive to see they've gotten right on the pace. Who knows, maybe they will be even better next year when we have a lot more running time.

Q. I know with the two races on the IMS road course this weekend, we have a couple different race distances. You don't want to necessarily give too much away. Just with those two distances, how do you feel that could have a chance to shake things up as far as strategy?

COLTON HERTA: I don't even know the distances, so it's probably someone else's question.

WILL POWER: I think it's going to be pretty straightforward honestly. I think the longer race will be a three-stop and the shorter will be a two-stop. Yeah, kind of mixes things up.

Yeah, I guess it's good because everyone learns on the first day what the best strategy is. So having two different race lengths keeps everyone guessing. Might make the racing a little better.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I join Will on that. It's a really great point. In Iowa, for example, on our team we had a strategy starting from the back. Even before the yellow came out, we were already back to the front.

On the second day, actually use that strategy, so we can come back as quickly to the front. We ended up being more in traffic. I thought that was super interesting to see. Obviously everybody is paying attention to strategies. But that could be changing the format for the second race, probably (indiscernible). I think it's good for racing.

Any time something unexpected happens, makes the racing more exciting in some ways. Yeah, I would agree with Will 100%.

Q. Cooler temperatures than in July. A lot of times when the road course race is held in May, it's fairly cool. What type of race do you think we'll see with the cooler temperatures, hopefully drier conditions?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think the track will be a lot faster. There will be less deg, more horsepower basically. It's really difficult to actually say what effect it will have on racing. Maybe the racing will be similar, honestly. I think the cars will just be a little easier to drive, more downforce in the cool temps.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, definitely be less physical, as well. The heat personally was excruciating in the first Indy Grand Prix. The Harvest one should be a lot easier physically speaking. Should allow the driver to be 100% as well, all of us. I expect that to be a bit different.

Now, I don't know about the race, if it's going to change anything, like Will said. Might make the out lap more exciting because tires are colder. Something to watch there, yeah. Less degradation on the tires, for sure, faster cars, faster pace.

COLTON HERTA: I'm not really sure what it will do for the racing. I think there's a possibility that guys will try different downforce options if it's that much cooler. This is a place you can sometimes get away with trimming if it's a little bit cooler because how long the straights are, no major high-speed corners. It might be interesting in the race to see what people go for with downforce options that might open up the passing a little bit.

Q. Back in December, Chip Simmons predicted at this time a year ago to now, meaning now, everybody will be talking about how great the racing is and not about the Aeroscreen. Do you think we're at that point yet?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it's honestly been a difficult year because people haven't had much track time. You are kind of running on the go.

Yeah, I believe everyone's become pretty immune to the Aeroscreen. I think it looks really good from the side angle. Obviously the front angle it's a little bit wide. I think, yeah, it's going to be the normal look in INDYCAR. I think if we see one without a screen, it's going to look kind of strange.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I mean, it's just a different format this year. Again, like I just said, are we completely used to it in terms of setups? No, personally on our car I think we still have a long way to go on setup to be very happy with how the car handle. So we're not there yet.

Some of that is due to lack of time. Even less practices at the racetrack doesn't allow you to make much changes. You just show up. If you unload quick, then you stay there all weekend. If you are not too quick, you can't make big changes because you don't want to get lost. That's really what happened this year for everybody, I imagine.

But in terms of driving comforts, like we talked about, INDYCAR has improved the cooling. We've also been lucky with not really hot races yet. In terms of safety, we've seen it. It's been amazing. Thanks to INDYCAR for protecting the drivers and making sure that we are still the pioneer in safety going forward.

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I'd agree with Will and Simon. I think it's hard to say relatively what the racing has been like this year because of how little practice, I think very few guys get it right on a weekend. Maybe that tops three or four guys that kind of break away from the pack, got it right on that weekend.

It's hard to say relative to any year if the racing is better or not. I think we have had good races at some places and others haven't been so great. I think that's an aftereffect of what we're allowed to do in a COVID situation practice-wise, trying to get as much track time as we can.

I don't necessarily think that's an effect of the Aeroscreen, though.

Q. Is this one of the more challenging championships you have ever been a part of with all the uncertainty you've had this season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think what was challenging about it was not knowing exactly what races were coming, when they would be to prepare for them, the lack of testing.

But I actually don't mind the short weekends. We only have an hour to get it right. I feel like I can get on top of it pretty quickly. I've kind of enjoyed the short weekends, kind of wonder if INDYCAR will look at that and think, Well, maybe we don't need these three-day weekends, get it done in two anyway, have a lot less practice, just get on with the weekend next year with a normal schedule.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I found it just, like Will said, challenging in the ways you didn't know really, like Mid-Ohio, what was going to happen when it got canceled.

For any athletes, I think you prepare yourself mentally, even though it's just subconscious sometimes. You prepare physically and mentally for an event. When the event gets canceled, it's on to the next one. All of a sudden you have to reshuffle your ideas.

There's a whole preparation with the race team also, communication with your engineer on preparation going into the weekend, what is going to be the practice like, what is the race going to be like, what you need.

All that has been really kind of shaky this year. 'Adjustments' has been the king word of the year, I would say. Challenging for sure. Different, absolutely. Yeah, just have to deal with it, I guess.

COLTON HERTA: It's definitely been really challenging. I think, like they alluded to, you always kind of physically and mentally are preparing yourself, whether that be in the gym or on the sim, doing prep work with your engineers. So it's tough when you kind of have these (indiscernible) and go weekends where you don't really know if they're going to happen, you don't know the next race on the schedule.

But I also do like the weekends being a little bit shorter. Like Will, I think it's a good thing. I think if you're a professional racing driver, you have to be able to get on top of it. An hour session should be plenty of time to get up to speed in a race car.

Yeah, I do like that. I particularly like it more for the short ovals. Maybe there's a chance we can do more doubleheaders, one-day or two-day events on the shorter ovals.

Me personally, I really like the full weekends on the road courses.

Q. Obviously the top two goals for a season would be Indy 500 and championship. This year at this point it's kind of chasing down second now. Do you embrace swinging for the fences this weekend? How do you balance that and trying to stay in the top five of a championship?

COLTON HERTA: I mean, I think if you're not going for the championship, you're kind of mindset is to win races. That's really the mindset. Obviously don't overextend it and throw a good result away. I have a little bit to lose.

Obviously we need to do well. If we really do want to get second place in the championship, we need to win another race. I think we do need a little bit of help from Josef on this weekend.

But, yeah, like I said, if you're not really in the championship, I think the goal for everyone should be to win races. That's what we're going to try and do. Try to get on pole, just like Mid-Ohio, then be able to lead the whole thing.

WILL POWER: I mean, I do the same thing every weekend, doesn't matter the situation. Unless you're truly points racing, all you have to do is cover the guy you're racing the points with. You're just trying to execute the perfect weekend. Everyone understands the goal. The whole field are going there with one goal in mind. They're just focusing, trying to get the most out of it.

There's no real benefit for going for a big move or something that's 50/50. It just never works out.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I mean, for me it's a bit of a different approach I guess. Obviously if we manage to get the car where we wanted it to be, go for the win, execute, like Will said. Obviously if we execute as a team, we should be in contention to win the race. One goes after the other.

But to me and to my engineer and my 22 team, the goal is thinking about championship next year already. Considering the lack of testing, really want to understand what we need for next year. We'll take some risk on setup choices and hope that it works. If it doesn't, then we revert back and try to do the best we can. That's really our goal at this point, think about 2021 as well.

Q. Colton, obviously this weekend you have Hinch back in the car, also for St. Pete. How beneficial is that for you given he's got the experience of being with you guys this season, given that it's a truncated schedule, but also coming off the back of the momentum from the last race in Mid-Ohio?

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I really like working with Hinch. I think a lot of guys know he's a great driver, deserves to be in INDYCAR. It's nice that he's back.

I think as far as setup-wise, I think he's really good at setting up a car. His feedback was really important in Indy. I think you can sometimes get it where, like, maybe a teammate likes to set their car up a different way. You try their setup changes and it doesn't work out for you. I found the very opposite for me and Hinch. I think it was very compatible.

He really did do an amazing job with the car in setting itself up in May. I could use a lot of his ideas and things from his car that kind of transferred right over to my car. I felt the same exact balance.

Q. Similar driving style?

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Q. With the momentum going forward from Mid-Ohio, anything you can take from that into this weekend?

COLTON HERTA: I think just a bit of relief that we got the win in this year. I think it's important for me to win at least once a year. I think for a lot of guys, they feel the same way. It was nice to get that win done, kind of take it off my shoulders, kind of push forward.

Q. Will and Simon, I spoke to Josef yesterday about Helio coming back in. What are your thoughts on that? Are you going to have any advice for him? Josef said he's probably going to be a bit rusty.

WILL POWER: I think it's great that he's able to run in INDYCAR again. It will be really interesting to see how he goes because he's been in a sports car, which is quite a different animal to drive. He has a lot of experience, very quick driver.

I hope he does really well. I hope he does real well.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I don't think Helio ever gets rusty quite frankly. He's fast as hell. I've seen him obviously as my teammate in sports cars. He's been putting the car on the poles more often than ever.

Q. He won at the weekend, as well.

SIMON PAGENAUD: He won three races in a row. He's super excited to be back in INDYCAR. That is what he loves. It's different for us. He's not going to be our teammate. We love having him with us because he brings that energy.

Yeah, I wish him good luck. Hope he doesn't do too well. Yeah, he's going to be just fine. Obviously McLaren Schmidt team is really good. Should be in really good shape this weekend.

Q. The championship for you guys is difficult. As you alluded to, you're kind of focusing on 2021.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I think like I said we're going to do some aggressive setup change that we think should go in the right direction. Obviously it's not just like throw a dart and try it. It's something that we think might be interesting for the future. We'll try it. We'll see. If it's in the right direction, we stick with it. If not, we revert back. Like Will said, basically extract the best out of the weekend.

Like Colton said, there's a few things I'm looking for in the car that we haven't really been there yet. It's not far. Should be an exciting weekend for those reasons.

Q. Will, is it the same for you, almost like a test session?

WILL POWER: Yeah, not really. I mean, I'm approaching it like a normal weekend, like I would any weekend. Try to get the car in the window, I guess preempt as much as we can on setup to what direction we think it will go with the cool weather, kind of evolve what we had earlier in the year at that track.

Just the normal progression of trying to get the car in a window. I think it was obvious to us that we needed to improve the car a little bit from what we had back in May, I can't remember exactly when it was, but earlier in the year.

Q. A lot of running at the IMS this season. Next season you might be doing something similar. Are there any changes you'd like to see for the Indy GP weekend in terms of track layout?

COLTON HERTA: I think I would love to maybe see -- I think you could do it each day, do a different track each day where you can have the turn one like the Formula 1 cars used to use, I think that might make overtaking a little bit better. The other day you can do the normal track. You can practice on the normal track, run it Sunday, shouldn't be a huge adjustment to run the track Sunday. It should be easy flat out for these cars, so...

WILL POWER: Actually, I agree. I actually was going to suggest it to Roger. You change the track from one day to the next, do exactly what Colton said, which is open up turn one of the oval. I think that would create actually a lot more passing.

I don't know with Firestone, we have to change the tire, like they had issues in Formula 1 for the long-loaded banked corner. But, yeah, I think that would be quite interesting.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I don't care (laughter). I really don't care. You ask that question, I was like, Well, okay, whatever they decide quite frankly. I have zero opinion on it. I drive whatever they give me. Love just being at the Speedway. Whatever the track is, it's going to be fine.

Q. What do you think about doing more off-season iRacing? Would you like to see INDYCAR put something together like they had done back in March, April, May?

WILL POWER: Definitely not.

COLTON HERTA: Yeah. I was going to say the same thing.

WILL POWER: Drives me crazy. I don't miss that at all. I guess it was fun, it was good for the series to be able to do it virtually. But, man, it consumes so much time. It becomes very frustrating.

I think iRacing is great. I think they've created an awesome product. Man, if they have the series in the off-season, I won't be doing it. Consumes way too much time.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun. Brought competition home, which was cool personally. I liked actually spending the hours, something I enjoy. I thought that was cool.

Obviously iRacing is a great product. Also raced the 24 Hours? Colton, did you do the 24 Hours?

COLTON HERTA: No, no way.

WILL POWER: 24 Hours, man, you're crazy. I could not sit there doing that.

SIMON PAGENAUD: It was fun. It was fun.

I hope that INDYCAR is going to work on having the official game though someday. It's great to see the F1 game come out every year, the new car, livery, sponsors, all the drivers. It's a great reach, right, for the youth and also anybody that is interested in racing. It's just great to have a video game, just like NBA players or NHL. It would be amazing.

I don't know. I don't know what the future hold. I really hope that INDYCAR is going to have its official game someday.

THE MODERATOR: That is all the time we have today with our three drivers. We thank them for their time, wish them the best of luck this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

This two race test weekend event (starting Thursday Oct. 1, 2020 with Practice and Qualifying) may actually live up to its nickname of the INDYCAR Pumpkin Spice Grand Prix. The inside prediction of the series points championship for this Wuhan Virus health event truncated 14 race season may be decided in the favor of points leader Scott Dixon (by 72 points over Team Penske's Josef Newgarden) gaining his historic Sixth (6th) NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship leaving only one driver to have secured more championships - AJ Foyt at Seven (7).

INDYCAR HARVEST GP SCHEDULE:

Thursday, Oct. 1

2:25 p.m.: Practice (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

6:20 p.m.: Race 1 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

Friday, Oct. 2

3:30 p.m.: Race 1 (USA Network)

Saturday, Oct. 3

10:20 a.m.: Race 2 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

2:30 p.m.: Race 2 (NBC)

All action carried on the Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network 

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Team Penske, Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport, Chevrolet, Honda, Firestone, Pumpkin Spice, The EDJE