Josef Newgarden in the No.2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet was the highest-placed Chevrolet-powered car to finish the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday. Speaking following the race, Newgarden said:
“It was pretty big (the fuel save) at the end. Thank goodness I was trying to do a little more than we needed to in the final stint just to prepare for the end. None of us knew what was happening there or what was going to happen with two laps to go. We must have had some fuel error issue because they’re going off our calculations and normally they are always spot on. So something must have been messed up today, which we were unaware of. I feel terrible more than anything. I gave away a ton of positions and it was completely my fault. I just slid through the pit box. I’m more disappointed in myself for just giving away an opportunity today. I thought for sure we could have raced toward the podium with those other guys if we could have made it happen. Obviously, that would have meant more fuel save but we would have known what to do. I’m proud of my team. They did a great job. We tried to recover as best as possible. We’ll have to take our top-five but unfortunately it was a day that maybe could have been better but we just didn’t realize it.”
The Tennesse native started the race from 11th place and came through the field to finish the race in fifth place. Meanwhile, it was a tricky race for Scott McLaughlin in the No.3 Gallagher Chevrolet, who started the race from second place on the grid and finished it in sixth place just behind Newgarden.
Will Power in the No.12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet started the race from sixth place and ran strong up until the end of the race as, with just a handful of laps remaining, he had had to pit due to running out of fuel and as a result he finished the race in 14th place. Speaking following the race, Power said:
“I was (surprised). Giving me a number… I could quite easily have just gotten the number and made it. We have to review all that. I’m not sure what happened there. It was good. The car was really good. The strategy was right. I just needed a much bigger number earlier. I had no idea we were going to run out (of fuel). If I didn’t get the numbers and attacked too hard too soon, it’s my fault. I was trying to put pressure on the two guys in front to run them out of fuel and probably not watching mine close enough.”
Arrow McLaren’s promising qualifying ended with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist finishing the race in eighth and tenth place respectively while Alexander Rossi came through the field from 26th on the grid to finish the race in P16.
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“It was a tough day for us. We keep making the same mistakes that don’t help our races go forward. We need to look into the issues and fix them because they’re obviously valuable points that we’re just throwing away. But Iowa is coming next, and we’re usually pretty strong there.”
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
”It was a bit of a tough day for us. We were fighting tire degradation quite a bit. We kind of ended up on a strategy to save a bunch of fuel, and even with the fuel-save we were degging pretty hard. We lacked a bit of straight-line speed, which we’d done all weekend, but it seemed even worse in the race. We have to take a look at that and analyze it. The car didn’t have much pace, and I feel a top 10 was still pretty decent, but I’m not super stoked with the result.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
”We got a good start, and then there was a track blockage in Turn 1. I kept the engine running, but by the time the safety car got there and got everyone cleared out of the way, we went a lap down. Then we were a lap down the whole day, trying to get our lap back, but it never came. You’re always subject to that kind of thing when you start in the back. From there, it was just a day of attrition, and we couldn’t really do anything. It’s unfortunate, and it feels like a lost weekend, for sure.”
Gavin Ward, Race Director, Arrow McLaren INDYCAR stated:
“Overall a pretty disappointing day. It could have been a lot worse. The fueling issue on Pato’s car that we need to dig into to understand compromised his race. In the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, you need to be bulletproof, but you can’t change the past. All you can do is go from here. We are where we are, and we know we’ve got to be better. That’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No.20 BitNile Chevrolet was forced to retire from the race in the first corner of the race and speaking following the race he said:
“Unfortunately, too short of a day. I had a good start and was up alongside (Jack) Harvey. I am not really sure what happened as I haven’t yet reviewed the video, but I believe there was a penalty issued for avoidable contact. There were just a lot of cars in a very little amount of space and now we are leaving Toronto with nothing to show for our efforts. On to the doubleheader at Iowa.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“It’s been a tough year and to be in contention for somewhere around 8th, that would have been a really good result for us. Unfortunately, we just had that long pit stop. The guys do their best and we have really good stops, but we had some bad luck we couldn’t anticipate. We lost around 10 seconds and that was a bummer. I went all out afterward and gave it my all, we didn’t have much tire left at the end. Just a huge shoutout to my BITNILE.COM crew. We had a good car and the strategy was good. It was a tough one, but we definitely have some positives to take to the next race.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“We got caught up in that first-lap incident with just nowhere to go. A car in the wall spun in front of us and our teammate piled in behind us. It’s not his fault because he was in the same boat as I. Unfortunately when he got hit, he broke his gearbox so I couldn’t back up. That trapped us a lap down. We also had a completely crushed floor. We just really kind of maintained and survived today. To come home 17th today was the best we could have done.”
Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“We had a really good start. Made good progress on the cars in front of us headed into Turn 1. There was unfortunately a crash on the exit of Turn 1 and just had nowhere to go. I came to a stop to avoid it and then got hit from behind. That damaged our gearbox and we weren’t able to get out of the gear we were in. Unfortunate ending. It was completely out of our control. I know a lot of cars were involved in that. Bittersweet. We had very good moments throughout the weekend where when we were able to get the car in the window, we were actually very quick. Sometimes within top-six pace. But we just struggled to get the car in the window the majority of the weekend. The speed is there when the car is in the window, but the big thing for us is just trying to have it like the other teams have. Onwards to Iowa. We know we’re consistently delivering when the car is there. We’re just trying to do our best to keep the car in the good window.”
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
Pos. Driver
5th Josef Newgarden
6th Scott McLaughlin
8th Pato O’Ward
10th Felix Rosenqvist