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Race report

Iowa IndyCar: Top 10 quotes after race

Castroneves ends victory drought, climbs fence at Iowa

Race winner Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Race winner Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet takes the checkered flag
Podium: Race winner Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Podium: Race winner Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet, second place J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, third place Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda
J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet
Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda

Cla #DriverLapsTimeGapMphPitsPoints
1   3 brazil Helio Castroneves 300 1:55'11.2807   139.702 5 53
"That was great. I can't thank enough Team Penske, Hitachi, Chevy car group and all our partners, and especially the people in the shop. They don't get much credit, but without their work and effort, we wouldn't be able to do what we did. And again, it's a great team effort because we came here, we tried a lot of different setups between all four cars, and man, I picked the winning one, so it was really good. The car felt really good, and it was just great. In the beginning we missed a little bit on the setup, then we made some adjustments after the first stop or second stop, and the car was fantastic. It was really good. It was a long time (between wins), but you can never stop believing, and my team never stopped supporting me on that and today was great. Everything went great. We didn't have a yellow at the wrong time, we didn't have issues with the tire or anything else or mechanical. Everything was really, really good, and when you have a day like this, you've got to execute."
2   21 united_states J.R. Hildebrand 300 1:55'15.2454 3.9647 139.622 5 41
"It feels good. I definitely think that under some slightly different circumstances we had a car to win out there. The guys made a great call to pit early and get out into the lead at the end and try to hustle all the way. I think if we'd been on equal tires with Helio (Castroneves) we'd have had something for him there at the end - but all and all really excited for the Fuzzy's Vodka crew to get on the podium here again. They definitely deserved it after the weekend that we had. Hopefully this gets us kicked off for a stretch run going into the rest of the year."
3   28 united_states Ryan Hunter-Reay 300 1:55'15.8652 4.5845 139.609 5 35
 "That was a tough drive. We just made the car better and better through the whole race and I wasn't really happy with the car at all. I have to give big credit to my team and my engineer, Ray Gosselin, for putting the right setup on the car. We finally got it to where I like it - some remnants of the past. A little more straight-line speed and we could've given these guys a run for their money. Congratulations to Helio (Castroneves) - it's great to see him win again. He's been right there knocking on the door for so long. Hats off to the No. 28 DHL team and thank you to all the Iowa fans, we love coming here. Hopefully we can come back here at night some time, because that is my favorite."
4   12 australia Will Power 300 1:55'17.0210 5.7403 139.586 5 34
 "I wish we could have gotten the Verizon Chevrolet to Victory Lane, but I don't feel bad at all with where we ended up. It was a good day. Not unhappy at all. The car was pretty loose on that second to last stint, but very good on that final stint. We got another solid finish and scored some important points. But the story of today is Helio (Castroneves). I'm mega happy for him. It's really kind of ridiculous that it has taken this long with how good they've been. Something always seemed to bite them, but not today. I couldn't be happier."
5   15 united_states Graham Rahal 300 1:55'21.4618 10.1811 139.497 5 30
"I'm really proud of the GEHL team. I wanted to win today so I'm disappointed with fifth, which is a good thing. We had a good day and got solid points. We would have liked to have gained on Will (Power) and Helio (Castroneves, in the point standings) though. I actually felt I had a car that was equally as good as theirs but the track position became hard. As I said during the broadcast under the red flag, the guys just kept moving up (on the high line), which is fine - that's their right to choose a lane - but that was where I was comfortable running so we lost some space. The guys did a great job, though. We've just got to keep our heads down and keep finishing in the front. We're going to Toronto (street race) now and after what happened in Detroit (two wins, street race), hopefully that setup will translate well and we'll have a great race there too. Yeah I'm disappointed with fifth place, but overall it was a great day. That's four really solid finishes in a row, so we've just got to keep this going."
6   2 united_states Josef Newgarden 300 1:55'22.3307 11.0500 139.479 6 29
"It was one of those not bad, but not great days. The Fitzgerald Glider Kits Chevrolet was really good, but we just couldn't get over the hump. Everyone is so equal now that it really is challenging to make up large amounts of ground. We were a little behind the eight-ball after qualifying 16th, but that's the draw sometimes. I really couldn't be happier for Helio (Castroneves). He's been so close so many times. It was a great day for Team Penske." 
7   1 france Simon Pagenaud 300 1:55'23.5369 12.2562 139.455 6 27
 "It took a little while to get the Menards Chevy running fast, but it definitely was at the end. There was so much tire degradation that it was difficult to get a great feel for balance. Essentially, seventh is not bad. It's not what we want to do, but starting 11th and being unlucky with the draw in qualifying are factors. I can't complain about it. That's the sport. We just need to be patient and keep doing what we're doing. At some point we'll get another win. I feel awesome for Helio (Castroneves) - just super happy. Instead of concentrating on me today, I think we all should congratulate Helio. He's been waiting for this win since 2014 and it's kind of unfair considering how competitive he has been."
8   9 new_zealand Scott Dixon 300 1:55'25.6460 14.3653 139.412 6 24
"It was a rough day for the NTT Data car. We were just so loose. We tried to fix it with wing adjustments, tire pressure adjustments and cross-weights, but the rear was just loose especially on restarts for us. As we got later on in the run, we could beat up the right front tire and create some understeer which helped. Our only option was to run the high line and as soon as I went on the low line I started to spin out. All in all just happy I didn't crash today." 
9   10 brazil Tony Kanaan 300 1:55'26.3991 15.1184 139.397 5 22
"That was an exhausting race for sure. The car was a handful at the beginning of the race, but we were able to make some adjustments throughout that first stint in the cockpit that really helped out. The car definitely came to us as the race went on and we made adjustments in the stops. We were running the same lap times, if not faster, as the leaders multiple times throughout the race. We just weren't able to make the passes we needed to get to the front. The NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing guys did a good job in the pits and were able to get me a few spots on pit lane. We were hoping for a higher finish than ninth, especially with how the weekend was going, but we'll take a top-10 finish heading into Toronto." 
10   5 canada James Hinchcliffe 300 1:55'27.1050 15.8243 139.383 5 20
"It was a bit of a long day for us, to be honest. We had a really quick car in certain points of the day, but really struggled with the car going loose in traffic. There was a bunch of times where we had really good runs on cars, and as I tried to pull up behind them, we just totally lost the back of the car. We were really fighting that all night long... it was a bit of a battle out there for sure. I feel bad for Mikhail (Aleshin), obviously, and certainly not the finish that we wanted. We probably had a fifth-place car, but unfortunately we couldn't pull that off today. It was nice to get a finish after some of the luck we've had the last few rounds. We head to a street circuit which is what we've been strong at so far this year, so hopefully we can have a good result in the Arrow car in Toronto." 

 

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