Texas 600: Top 10 quotes after race

P.	N°	Driver	Team (Engine)	Avg. Speed
1	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal (H)	144.901
"It was just a really good battle with Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) and TK (Tony Kanaan). I've got to tip my hat off to Hinch. He did a great job tonight. He led that thing pretty well from start to finish other than a couple hundred yards. Great job by him and TK. I have to apologize to TK for rubbing him there. I think Helio just flew up the track and hit me and I hit TK. We're lucky we made it all through. That was a great show. We appreciate all the fans that came out tonight. I hope you guys all go home and talk about how great INDYCAR racing is because that's as good of a show as you're going to get. My Firestones (tires) were great and I knew mine were very consistent over the whole stint. We started to lose them maybe with five or 10 (laps) to go but I knew I was going to be better than everybody else. I was just only concerned about TK on the fresh rubber. I didn't realize after he had pitted he'd be allowed to get all the way back up to us. I thought he'd be stuck behind the lapped cars and I thought it would come down to a duel between Hinch and I, but we fended him off. My car, my god, what a machine tonight. This PennGrade machine was just flawless. We had United Rentals, Steak 'n' Shake, Mi-Jack and Hyatt and everybody that supports us and gets us here. This means a lot."
2	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt (H)	144.901
"It was a tough finish, for sure. It was a great race. The Arrow Electronics car was just a rocket ship. We built the thing to be good over a tire stint, which is always the name of the game here in Texas. Tire degradation is key. We haven't had a late-finish, three-wide battle here in Texas since 2011. It was tough. We kept a lot of guys at bay. Like I said, we really built the car for long runs and on those restarts we kept them at bay a couple times but ultimately, Graham (Rahal) and TK (Tony Kanaan) stopped for tires and I think that was kind of the difference maker. It's a tough call but huge credit to the Arrow Electronics boys because the car really was a rocket and congrats to Graham. It's a lot of fun racing up there with those guys and I think we put on a much better show for the fans than we would've if we were leading by half a straight. We'd have liked it better but we're here to put on a good show."
3	10	Tony Kanaan	Ganassi (C)	144.900
"Oh, that was so much fun. I've got to thank the fans that came back. I didn't think there was going to be a lot of people but whoever didn't come missed a hell of a race. That was some old school Texas right there. It was a good night. We started way in the back, but we made up positions right away. I think with INDYCAR not changing the rules and the earlier race being a day race, we had a ton of downforce that we had to run during tonight's race, so the cars felt a lot closer as you could see. I had to dig into my hard drive and remember pack racing again. It worked out pretty well. Big props to the guys in front who gave each other room, that's why we finished the way we did. It's always a pleasure to race like that. I feel bad for the people that didn't come back tonight from the first race to watch because it really was a hell of a show." (On how exciting the end was) "When you have good cars going with each other, it's quicker. I gave them hell!" (On where he wanted to be for the last lap) "On the inside. But if Graham (Rahal) wasn't pushing Hinch (James Hinchcliffe), I was going to have it. So, I was hoping for Graham to get greedy and go three wide. That was going to slow everybody down, but that didn't happen. He was smart enough."
4	22	Simon Pagenaud	Penske (C)	144.894
"My spotter said, 'four-wide', and I'm like 'Uh oh, that's no good'. And then (Graham) Rahal touched me and I touched (James) Hinchcliffe, so I was actually loose going into the corner and had to back out of it. It's unfortunate. I really wanted to get that first oval win. But, I think no matter what, that was a great performance. The HP car was amazing all night. Thanks to Chevy, obviously; this aero kit is really amazing. It really shows what the Indy cars can do. I think tonight we had a great show. Did you guys enjoy it? I did. Wow. That was exciting. I don't think I have any breath left. I thought we were going to get it, but when it went four wide I got touched and pushed me into (James Hinchcliffe) and I had to back out of it or there was going to be a big wreck. The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevy just got better and better all night. I really thought it was going to come together right at the end when we got back on the lead lap. We were able to come in for tires. Everything nearly came together."
5	3	Helio Castroneves	Penske (C)	144.750
"That was an eventful night. The AAA Insurance Chevrolet was really good from the very start. We ran up front and led some laps. Then, all kinds of things happened. We caught a break with a yellow which allowed us to come in and change both the front and rear wings. To dodge as many accidents as we did and finish fifth is very good. There were some crazy moves up there at the end that could have ruined just about everybody's day. But we're ready to head to Watkins Glen."
6	83	Charlie Kimball	Ganassi (C)	144.305
"It was kind of a crazy night out there. I'm really proud of the No. 83 Novo Nordisk guys here at Texas. I don't think we were particularly strong here in June when the race started, but we learned some things from our teammates. The guys were solid all night in pit lane, the strategy calls were right on and we were knocking on the door of the top five which was good. It got crazy there at the end and we just couldn't get our lap back which was unfortunate. It was a good day in the points for us which I'm happy about."
7	26	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti (H)	144.297
"I was a little disappointed, if I am honest. The positive side, I think, is we got better position than what our speed showed. The balance wasn't there in the car. After the first stint it wasn't the balance we expected to have. But, you know, it's just racing. Still (finished) seventh, it's all right with points. Honda did a great job - I'm really happy Honda went P1 and P2. We will have to keep working hard."
8	12	Will Power	Penske (C)	144.269
(On Texas being the race that changes the points battle) "Yeah, I would say that. Obviously there are still plenty of points on the table. Simon (Pagenaud) did a good job to get up there and get his lap back and get tires to make it up there. But that was an intense race there at the end. I kind of just stayed out of it." (On not finishing second or third for the first time since Detroit and what made the difference) "I think it was definitely the pit stop sequences. We kept going long. That yellow had us there at the end. And I think if we didn't get that yellow, I would have finished around Simon; maybe ahead, maybe behind, however the stint played out, but much closer to him. But that was going to be a crazy restart at the end there. It was something to watch. Intense racing there at the end, especially with the last restart and with new tires and cool air being a factor. The cautions in the midst of some of the pit stop sequences made it more difficult to get back up into the top two or three, but the Verizon Chevy was still strong today. We are still up there in points and Watkins Glen is right around the corner for us. We'll look ahead to next week."
9	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Penske (C)	143.727
"It was just OK. We struggled most of the night in the long run pace. The short run pace was good. I restarted last there, and drove up to fourth. It is little too late like every race has been. Just mistakes again that we really have to work on that."
10	11	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH (C)	143.689
"It was a tough night for the Hydroxycut - KVSH Racing team. We knew we were going to be on the shy side with the downforce level because that was the way it was when we were here in June. At that time, we didn't anticipate that everyone else would stack up on downforce and we didn't have some of the parts we needed. So, of course, we had to restart that way, which was quite frustrating honestly. I knew it was going to be tough in the beginning and it sure was in traffic. I was basically just trying to stay out of trouble and manage my tires. Then during the second stint when it stretched out, I went for it and after 15 laps the tires disintegrated and the car got very loose on my own. I was out of adjustments, so we had to make an earlier pit stop, which destroyed our race. After that we corrected. We were still not good in traffic, but could hold some decent speeds, 204 (mph), 205 even toward the end of our stint. Unfortunately, the leaders were running 207, 208 and there was nothing we could do about it, so I went a couple of laps down. We fought our way through the race, but it is definitely not fun when you have to be that passive, just hanging on and trying to bring it home. The good news is we finished in the top 10 on all the ovals this year so we have made progress."