Photo Credit; Chris Owens/IndyCar
Simon Pagenaud, driver of the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Chevrolet, finished in second place in Dual 2 in Detroit at Raceway Belle Isle Park after leading 40 laps. His teammate Will Power made a pass on him for sixth on a restart, which ultimately began for the lead when the other drivers on a differing strategy. Power then went onto win the race. It was a great day for owner Rodger Penske at a race he promotes and being in Chevrolet’s backyard so to speak.
“Yeah, it was a great day,” Pagenaud said. “ I think most importantly it was great for Team Penske. We got a 1-2. Helio was really strong. I feel really bad for him. He had a good race going. He was really strong. He got caught up. On the HP car, we were strong all weekend, led a lot of the race. We were really strong on long runs, not so strong on cold tires.
“The restarts really made it difficult for us. Will was really good and aggressive. He made a good pass on us. So, yeah, Will went really deep outside turn three. Didn’t have the confidence on cold tires to do that. There was no point colliding or trying too hard. I thought maybe with the long run I would get back to him, which we did at the end, but it wasn’t enough. Good job to him. It’s good to see him back in Victory Lane. Again, 1-2 for Roger.
“He and the whole Penske organization, they do so much for this island here. It’s a beautiful park, we have a great race going, great event. I think I’m really happy we put on a good show today and bring a 1-2 home.”
The French driver had a pretty decent car all weekend long. He had one of the best cars going into Dual 1, however he finished 13th. However despite not getting the results he wanted, Pagenaud wasn’t frustrated or complaining, but rather he was happy as it was a good points weekend for him.
“That’s the Verizon IndyCar Series,” Pagenaud added. “That’s what it’s all about. You can be as frustrated as you can be. There’s nothing you can do about it. At the end of the day it’s about where you are. I think today, strategy played really well for us. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. You have to accept it, otherwise you’re going to be very frustrated as a driver. “We really did have a strong car all weekend for sure, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to win everything. That’s why I’m happy. We leave here with an 80-points lead. We were strong everywhere. We were strong in Indy, just couldn’t finish the way we wanted it. Hopefully we can be strong in Texas and it will be okay. “But, yeah, I’m very happy. I think we salvaged a pretty good weekend. Helio had a pretty bad day today. Dixon is behind. Those are the main contenders. So 80 points lead is big.”
There has been a lot of talk lately that in the past few races Pagenaud’s teammate Power has been pushing the boundaries while racing. Pagenaud has known Power a long time and says he hasn’t really noticed because during race weekends he focuses mainly on himself.
“It is so much already you need to extract out of yourself, you can’t really focus on the others,” Pagenaud said. “Will is doing his job. Juan Pablo is doing his job. I have to focus on myself. It’s so intense. To be at your top level in this series, it’s so intense that you can’t really focus on things that not going to help you. So I can’t really answer the question.”
As the IndyCar teams prepare to head to Texas, Pagenaud finds himself looking pretty good. He leads the championship standings right now. He has three wins, as well as three second places in the eight races that they have raced so far. Needless to say Pagenaud is looking forward to Texas Motor Speedway and carrying the momentum with him into the night race there.
