He went sitting in second-place in the standings, but can now call himself a points leader for the first time in his career. With back-to-back runner-ups, Simon Pagenaud has taken an early lead in the IndyCar point standings for the season.
Pagenaud started the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix in 10th Position.
“It was an interesting night, totally,” he said. “It was as difficult as I thought it was going to be. It was a great race, very, very difficult to follow people, very difficult to get your balance right on the car, but we started with a lot of oversteer, struggled a little bit the first two stints, were having a lot of tire degradation.”
As the race went on, two of his Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya would have tire issues.
“I got the information, but there’s not much you can do as a driver, just keep pushing and see what happens,” he said.
At the end of the race, he was in second position behind Scott Dixon when a late caution was called with the race ending under the caution flag.
“No I will tell you, I was really content with second,” he said. “Like I said before the race, this wasn’t my strong suit in the past. That’s my best result on a short oval. It’s not where I’ve been the most comfortable in the past, so now things are changing. If where we’re weak, we finish second, that’s really good. It’s a long championship, and I’m trying to be consistent.”
With the early season consistency, he has taken the lead in the points after Phoenix.
“Like I said, we’re building a championship contention, so pretty happy tonight,” he said.
Next up for the Team Penske driver is the IndyCar test on Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.