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

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

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

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

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

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

Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCOTT DIXON: I think it looks better, right?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It is what it is.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. Josef, same question.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was just a strange time to be involved in.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. Josef, you feel the same?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Power & Glory

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

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

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

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

Turn 1 is Poppin'

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

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

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

R is for Rookie (and Rinus)

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

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

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

McLaughlin's Debut

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

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

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

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

Ending the Year on a High

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

Rossi has history on his side.

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

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

... notes from The EDJE

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. Now it's too cold in the car.

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

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

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

Q. Hopefully it's nice tomorrow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. 107 something.

ReplaceName: Is it?

Q. I believe so.

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

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

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

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

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

THE MODERATOR: Welcome and congratulations.

RINUS VEEKAY: Thank you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RINUS VEEKAY: I might try it soon then.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. What size wooden shoes do you wear?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... notes from The EDJE

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

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