Andretti Autosport Chief Operating Officer Rob Edwards says the team had good speed at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda had a great race and was challenging for a podium finish until the closing laps before he crashed on lap 248 of 250 and was classified in 14th place.
SPeaking following the race, Edwards said:
“I think we had good speed today. We knew from yesterday that we were going to be quick and we proved that with three of the four cars running in the top 10 for the majority of the race. There are a few things to be satisfied with, but obviously, a lot of disappointment in not getting the finishes in the end and wrecked race cars to fix before Long Beach. We’ve shown speed in St. Pete and Texas, so we’ll take that and get ready to do battle again.”
Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda started the race from tenth place and had a great race, finishing up inside the top ten in seventh place and speaking following the race he commented saying:
“We just finished up Texas in seventh and feel like we probably could have done a little bit better. It was just a scenario where we were on a little bit older tires. The No. 26 Gainbridge Honda was great and we were able to stay competitive all day. We’ll take a top-10 finish and set our sights on Long Beach.”
Romain Grosjean in the No.28 DHL Honda commented following the race saying:
“We had a good race with the No. 28 DHL Honda fighting up there at the front, so that’s very positive. Obviously, the end result is difficult to digest, but the positive takeaway is that we were up there all race fighting for the lead. We’ll just refocus and make finishing races our target as we head to Long Beach.”
There was disappointment for both Kyle Kirkwood in the No.27 AutoNation Honda and Devlin DeFrancesco in the No.29 Capstone Honda as they both retired from the race.
Speaking following the race, Kirkwood commented saying:
“Unfortunately our race ended early today. We made it about 100 laps before we had a right rear upright failure. It was disappointing because we thought we got the No. 27 AutoNation Honda into a good window after that first pit stop. I think we could’ve been right there with Colton and Romain fighting for the lead at the end of the race. Overall, disappointed, but we’ll just head to Long Beach where we know we’re fast and it’s a good track for the team.”
Devlin DeFrancesco commented saying:
“We were making a lot of progress throughout the race and were moving forward really well. The No. 29 Capstone Andretti Honda was really good. We struggled a little bit on the start and restarts with bringing in the tires, but the car just came to us all day. We were running in the top 10 all race until the 20 just came up on that restart, took the air off my wing and I just went straight into the wall. We need to get the monkey off our backs – two DNFs in two starts, when we’ve had a good car, isn’t a good way to start the season. We need to get some points on the board.”