2018 KOHLER Grand Prix at Road America

on a gorgeous day at one of the world's most daunting racetracks it's time for IndyCar racing in Wisconsin in Elkhart Lake at Road America it's the Kohler Grand Prix and let's go trackside for the command Road America race fans are you running it's time for those most famous words in all of sports here to give the command please welcome today's grand marshal president kitchen and bath America's for Kohler mr. Chris Baldwin drivers start your engines those the engines fire it's somewhat of a challenge to articulate just how special this racing venue is to each and every one of these drivers they love it they love the challenge Marty and they're about to take it on again and lead Sebastien Bourdais certainly familiar with this road America course for miles around and in his five starts here at Road America he's finished on the podium four of those times he told me this weekend though it's been very different he said I'm really struggling to get a feel for the race car what I want is some predictability in the car so they made some changes and they're certainly going to lean on his experience to get him back to the podium here in Wisconsin Kevin Marty we haven't talked about new passado today oh really much this season after winning the 500 last year was thought he might take another jump and helped elevate this team but it's been a rough start this season not because of crashes or DNFs but he is starting to find his try to best results within the last three races and Takuma said he feels more optimistic that he has going into this race today Kelly a very exciting race for the driver of that Breitbart on the young rookie Zack Beach is teaming with Bob that is this week so much so that yesterday during practice he decided to see if he could go flat out it turned 13 use it didn't quite work out another than a close call with teammate Ryan hunter-reay with Lily no harm no foul Zack told me that he's got a lot of confidence in the car a lot of confidence in his going he is ready to push things tonight he starts 11th robin 23 cars in the grid today kids eighteen of them were from the second of each other when they qualified now I know it's a spec series and I know Honda and Chevy are pretty close but think about that 18 cars around the four mile racetrack qualified within a second of each other to tenth you were sixth two-tenths back you were 16 so guess what if today's race is anything like qualifying was we got a hell of a show coming up lead if you are Robin it's fantastic and I think if we can keep it like that what a day we're in store for 55 laps around Road America and speaking about the track Townsend let's take a closer look well it's exactly 4.01 for miles around 14 corners the longest track on the schedule and it starts with that front straightaway over 180 miles an hour as you barreled down into turn one which is deceivingly quick minimum speed in turn one drops to about a hundred and fifteen bull ride on board with Sebastien Bourdais there you see it 185 top speed down to fourth gear lots of curb at the exit exit turn three get another long run down to turn five the heaviest brake zone on the track great passing opportunity remember the drivers will have 200 seconds to push to pass here four day takes us all the way down to first gear and you really have to be patient as you roll the power-on up the hill and then the carrousel a really unique corner really no other place in the world that has a corner quite like this it is wicked quick its banked so it'll hold you right in the side of the bowl but if you just get a couple inches too high you can go off especially late in the races the marbles bill to the outside there goes board a exiting at 150 and then it's a wide open run all the way down to your favorite corner Paul can in a corner absolutely Canada corner down here big breaking opportunity another good passing spot 185 miles an hour down to about 80 miles an hour at the apex up the hill almost wide open here 145 mile an hour corner and they finish off the lap coming up the front straightaway and this is a hundred and 40 mile an hour average speed for the lap and Petey you talk about this front straight that we see the two-seater going up now Road America track fax from Mike's Hard Lemonade yes it has the longest straight on active road and Street courses at point eight of a mile long beach you could argue is not really a straight with that that easy that right hand sweeper but nonetheless point eighth of a mile stretching up that steep hill and all the way up towards turn one time to show you where your favorite drivers are starting in today's collab romp pre round 10 of 17 races on this year's schedule but what do you guys feel in your gut and we've talked about Robin highlighted the fact of how close the work in practice and qualifying what does your racing gut tell you that we're going to see today I think we're going to see great racing because of the the more drag that this aero kit has produced a bigger hole that's gonna punch for the leading car in the trailing car I should say and I see a lot of muscle up here guys like Robert Wiccans and Sebastien Bourdais it seems like all the best drivers are up front ball today absolutely but it's all the way through the field with the whole field separated by one second watch for gassing gram ray all want to move through the field the key today is how much downforce did you put on how much drag do you have and fuel mileage when you pit because you go a lap further here on a four mile track it pays huge benefits in terms of the how the race plays out all the way back to row tenth you see a couple guys that be looking for a very big day T to really jumpstart their season like Charlie Kimball and Mateus lace and then you've got a rookie Alfonso sillies jr. he had an off in practice but not a lot of experience there Gaby Chavez picking up the rear time to guide you through our board coverage today and we kick things off with the spin Peterson Arrow Electronics car of James Hinchcliffe and this onboard view brought you by Lucas Oil and hitches looking for a good performance today relay provides us these picks on board the 26 machine of Zak beach who's feeling pretty racing this weekend we'll see what the young produced at a local company in galle is providing grammar a view for us today grams had some really good results here over the years would love to get another one today Scott Dixon were gone and looking on of course because he is the championship leader and Scotts view for us today brought to you by PNC Bank the doors Ganassi honda how about Alexander Rossi he's always given us plenty of great hot Ward views and this one brought to you by Verizon and speaking of Verizon carrying the Verizon streaming camera today is Sebastien Bourdais and you could go inside IndyCar all season lock by downloading IndyCar Mobile exclusively from Verizon America's best streaming network so there you have it folks it's all set up for you it's a beautiful day or at a classic old road course the championship has seen five different leaders from nine races so far and the leader the championship has changed eight different times in those nine races and it could change again today and surround the course of an IndyCar season there's very much it's compartmentalizing it's staged how do you open the season how do you get through the month of May and then once you cross into the second half of the season which is exactly where we are now you start looking towards the season finale in Sonoma you certainly do but it's stacked up right now and they're all coming to the front so we'll see what happens here it is an old Penske front row Championship is tight a lot on the line and for those who haven't school to win here at this classic circuit they want to get one today Josef Newgarden leads the field degree let's go racing in Wisconsin at Road America great start Ryan Hunter Ryan Alexander Uzi power got completely snookered bite new guard not that sir he's lost six seven positions or possessions 9/10 horrible star power something that's not a problem is something wrong with these cost surely has to be look he's still he's he's ailing what is up with will powers car from the front row to almost last picture : he said engine engine so I'm gonna check with Roger Penske right now to find out what exactly happened with a little power but they are all kind of talking to each other here on the timing Sam does seem like he's back out to power now and that will is saying what do you want me to do so further investigation for the 12 team but obviously an engine issue going on Wow look at Wiggins trying to challenge mozzie Rossi haven't none of that and that's what I was talking about elbows out today elbows out like st. Pete he just muscled Wiccans right off the track off the track he lost a couple positions Wiccans will be like hey we've done this before I'm not going for that again forcefully on the inside there you notice the fuzzy Chevrolet of Jordan King that was a nice move a warren of positional changes on this opening lap Tony canard with a good start TK's made up five positions I was watching Simon passional back there in the bright yellow Bogaerts car with Marco Andretti as we see more action that's ed Jones playing at 11 to mellow and up front Ryan hunter-reay all over new garden now we're gonna see the testes then within range now for push to pass we'll see on the front straightaway who's got the superior power power array is right there if he could stay close and get pushed to pass up the hill with the draft we might see a pass for the lead fabulous start to from Takuma Sato who runs fourth so end of the opening lap it's Josef Newgarden Ryan hunter-reay Andretti teammate in alexander rossi and then Sato Sebastien Bourdais in the top five he's a replay of the start look to the right car 12 the Verizon Chevy will power just watching the whole field sweep on by I know that feeling in 2001 I had a similar thing happened I started sixth when all the way to the back Rossi right here under review now is what we're hearing from pushing him wide I didn't see any contact but he definitely was aggressive with with wicken I don't see any problem with that frankly that corner that's a single-file line and has really no place to go at the exit oh and ready and Graham Bray hall I'll tell you what this is shaping up like a like a motocross race right now look at this back here with them this is Jordan King again Jordan has made up 12 positions from his starting spot he is flying in that in Commodore icing Chevy and he's got his teammate Spencer pick it right with him well power in the pits he's got engine cover coming off obviously now we think he's got an ignition box type problem and they'll probably switch and guys it's a boost issue he did shut the engine off just now it didn't sound the full song when it came to pit road they did have him cycle the power in the car so they had to try that that did not solve the problem and this is a team who clearly had a great month of May won the Indy GP then won the Indy 500 but then had a disastrous Texas two weeks ago finished 18th in that race they felt a third in the championship standings 36 points out of the lead coming into this race but an early exit it looks like four will power he is sitting in the car now as they try to diagnose exactly what it is leave off just got wrenching dominated the month of night and since then it has been frustrating Marco Andretti is looking ricey today hot one along with Zack Beach pad you know the ECR teammates at Jordan King and Spencer Pig and there is some great action all through the field each having a look at patch you know here comes Jordan King coming back on Tony Kanaan and we've got some really really hard racing going on midfield from passional back it just seems like passion I was kind of holding up this train as we look at the beach right on the back of him show you a replay just a few moments ago marco andretti and gray m.r a whole this is down the hill into turn five watch this one side to the other that's a double Bowl I would put that away from you squeezed in one way squeezed and the other so that would definitely fall under a that's a reactionary move because he put he went both ways arm they touch wheels right there no harm no foul but that's definitely not what the Stewart's like now that was two reactions you're not allowed one so we'll see how that's judged but it is fierce everybody knows that track position is critical at this stage as is fuel mileage Beach getting wide there that's where you have to be really careful late in the race you can get away with that early but if you have a moment like that late in the race is the marbles build very easy to go off at the Carousel are going behind the wall of will powers this really a disasters day as we see a car gonna run oh you guys you know he blocks to the inside so passion those definitely struggling as a way off the pace as Peggy gets underneath the over under on the outside to oppress there what I wanna move from Spencer bigoted money late at work absolutely outstanding and that's a young American driver who knows he needs to start putting up some results to validate the faith and ed carpenter the team owner shown in him with the full season opportunity and so far today he looks like a guy that is charging to the front there goes cannot on beach cannons been racing early on meanwhile Spencer pig in there just going through shock this is a very special place to him as we ride along with Zach Veatch he got got his very first IndyCar top-10 result here two years ago been like driving like that all weekend super Lou it's one of the key overtaking points coming up here down the hill into turn 10 Alexander Rossi lights it up but it's been the pole man between the race leader every lap so far Josef Newgarden out in front [Music] you're watching NBC a sense coverage of IndyCar brought to you by Allstate are you in good hands and by United Rentals official equipment rental services provider of IndyCar and proud sponsor of Graham Rahal and by Honda and official vehicle of the Verizon IndyCar Series I tried to do my best Dennis Haysbert voice over there where are you in good hands but my voice isn't deep enough - there it is I work with him once what a lovely gentleman really good guys we welcome you back to Road America as Joseph Newgarden leads the way and look at this Josef Newgarden along with another young American Noah Lyles now Lee huge netted speaking of speed you jet it over here last night from the US track and field championships there in Des Moines how was it I was unreal now allow something to talk about these two young American stars Noah Lyles ran a 100 meter final in 988 that's the fastest time in the world this year and interesting to note you know that was over 100 meters his tracks over four miles but the time between the top seven so from Noah to seventh in 100 meter final is about 0.67 of a second spread from from Joseph to seventh place in this was 0.72 super-tight two completely different sports all about speed one of the storylines of this race and one of the strategies is you guys have talked about how much downforce do you is fast in the straightaways give up something in the corners but the other thing that it really impacts his tire degradation there was a lot of concern for many including Ryan hunter-reay especially a little bit for Alexander Rossi about tire degradation so the higher the downforce the better the tires should last and that's both what they have higher downforce so maybe those guys are a little better at the end of a stint and some others that are mid-range downforce Kevin back in the paddock will power some furious work going on his car right now they have diagnosed it's a header issue for will power this racetrack very rough here at Road America they're talking about maybe repaving it sometime down the road and also challenging you run over these curbs pretty hard when you're going through especially qualifying yesterday you're trying to get every little tenth of a second you can out of the race car so a broken right side header for will power they're trying to get that replaced and fix right now penske guys working as hard as they can as fast as they can to get that problem resolved for willpower is Alexander Rossi and third pushing cart chasing his Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan hunter-reay do you remember how the season started for this man who wants to be an IndyCar champ because seeing Alexander Rossi and Robert Wiccans on track earlier in this race certainly brings memories of some Petersburg Florida back well probably good ones for Rossi and not so good ones for Robert Wiggins because that's at least the second time this year that Wiccans has come out with the shorter end of the stick this was st. Petersburg moved for the win Rossi going to the inside of Wiccans who led almost all day and boom contact wicked spins gets into the wall Rossi finishes on the podium and then earlier today on lap one Paul this happened and no contact here they looked at him but they they pushed Wiccans wide Wiccans lost like three positions right there one corner and he's kind of fell off of this lead pack right now that's just sitting on Joseph Newgarden so watch the lone Chevy up front and then you got a whole pack of Honda's behind of so we're gonna see here if these Honda's make better fuel mileage you can go a lap longer than the Chevy that's out front I think it's important to say that as you can imagine Robert Wiccans was pretty sour after San Petersburg but these two guys as you look at the firestone telemetry had a wonderful race in phoenix and as soon as that phoenix race was over rossi went over to Wicked's and congratulated and said that was fun that was good watching rossi trying to make some some headway there sieving gettin to maybe a toe with his teammate just looking at push to pass the front five cars really haven't burned anything except for hunter a toons two seconds have been burned to push the past further down some of the younger drivers like Ed Jones Act beat Shaq Beach has less than 99 seconds remaining so those young guys especially the rookie they're firing through their push to pass like Mike fifteen year old going through his tip money at Barneys busy hands for Rossi can seize a little bit loose coming off the corner he's got a little bit of power on oversteer see how the balance is here the carousel a song of the we will see little bit loose right there so he's got a lack of rear grip all the red so see how he tries to tune this out on the first pit stop oversteer through the carousel is not something you will know it's one of the most daunting corners in bonus more can say that Sebastien Bourdais looks to be the best of this bunch he seems to be able to close here on Takuma Sato who's having a a good run but more day draws closer and closer to the group so that's a very promising sign as the track temperature continues to rise the Sun gets a little higher right now 107 degree track temperature what I felt that yesterday we only really turned one good lap he just said I couldn't really find anything mommy said I'm suffering from understeer and I feel I only really did one good lap yesterday all night and you know that's a great point because he told me I just want some predictability in this racecar so that's what they tried to add a couple of changes to the car Craig Hanson all just also just told him a minute ago they initially were thinking maybe we can go to lap 15 on this first step before we stop it's a fuel mileage game today but he just told him we can't reach that number at 15 so go a little harder so they're gonna put about lap 14 for that 18 car [Music] top five for Sebastien Bourdais at the moment he's less than three and a half seconds behind that man they're the Verizon Chevy driver for Team Penske Josef Newgarden desperately seeking no win and he did what he did in mama motorsports park earlier this year from haul to Victory Lane we will see what a race has been so far plenty of action here at Road America [Music] as you saw harm problems for Sebastien Bourdais the seal master Honda driver to Dale Coyne racing with Vassar Sullivan is back out on track butters lost a massive amount of time and distance he was running really well in the top five and he had an electrical issue that forced him to come in now reminding you that next Sunday 15 time most popular driver Dale Earnhardt jr. traits in his helmet for a microphone yes when jr. joins the NBCSN team for the Monster Energy Cup Series race from Chicagoland Speedway that's next Sunday at 2:30 Eastern right here on NBCSN hey Marty tell us more about Sebastien Bourdais here riding along with the SIL Master Honda and unfortunately he was a gear control unit they came down pit road and they cycle the power that seemed to solve the issue but he plummeted through the field Lee he was running up in the top five as we mentioned earlier but now having to come from way behind but if this cycles out might work out ok who knows there are other drivers and other teams trying a force drop strategy today as long as it holds together electrically this time a week ago Sebastien got to stand on the class podium at the 24 Hours of lomar where he was since a wonderful history there and of course driving for the Chip Ganassi Ford GT team meanwhile we get back to the front and Josef Newgarden has led all 11 laps thus far and looks comfortable out in front he doesn't very interesting to see what happens on the green flag stops and Josef Newgarden not looking too comfortable that was a big old slide exiting turn one in about 120 miles an hour we expect new garnet the leaders to pit in the next two laps or so he lined on board with beech now he's got dirt King all over him yeah he's under attack he dives down the inside he just got passed by Hinchcliffe just earlier in this lab so he's fully struggling for me yeah he has been struggling he said the cars just been laying over at in London's south and Zach Beach just a moment ago said it almost feels like something's bent but I haven't hit anything so we'll see what adjustments they can make when they come to pit road unfortunately when everybody fired on unfortunately for Veatch he's burned now 130 seconds of his to Leonard second so he's gonna be well out of push to pass really this thing and he's been loose all weekend he's been like slide the rear end all over the place and I think it's just a matter of fact you heard on the radio we're gonna put new tires on it suits burn the tires off and now it's just take it off the forest and he can't use the push to pass so he's kind of a sitting duck zach has really fond memories of racing here at Road America you need the lights the last time he raced here won the race and set a track record not quite going as well to plan here in the Verizon IndyCar Series for him at the moment so getting towards the end of this opening stint there's been plenty of quick hands PT out there lots of reaction yeah new cars are just tougher to drive this year and all all the downforce they had in the past you kind of just point you shot the whole track now these guys are really having to work hard through the corners the cars sliding it's fun to watch that's for sure [Music] Drive how to write maintain second Alexander ah see really nice opening stem from Takuma Sato then there's a fair bit of daylight back to Robert wickets in fifth and Scott Dixon and back to Graham Rahal in a really promising start in the direct supply Chevrolet through ed carpenter racing of young Americans Spencer finger guy who made a lot of moves right here behind ke was and ready he's to come through the field on the first couple laps made big moves so he's just and Spencer is the spot line to drive it you know Chevrolet Drive a profile and he is a huge soccer fan that's appropriate at the back with the World Cup coming off to be catching any I have some great upsets going on should be fun as that comes down the scratch unfortunately no American team of course in it but bigoted this is a great run for Spencer Piggott and I think with Graham Rahal kind of sliding around in front of them you see Graham Rahal drops wheels here big it might get grant before the pit stop by the way expenses that Mary is English Sonny didn't have a choice but to be a song a fan [Music] Paul mentioned it before very encouraging Graham will be coming with you opening stint from Marco Andretti and a decent 1/2 from Graham Rahal and you just heard there they're setting up their a whole Letterman Lanigan team setting up ready for Graham [Music] does he come or does he stay he's coming pitlane it is first stop of the race for Graham Rahal and Spencer Pickett coming with him as well and Takuma Sato Kevin and it's been a good start for Takuma Sato we mentioned that he felt a little more optimistic than some other races they're starting to find their stride in his first season back over a halt Letterman landing and racing he's picked up three spots coming off the scuffed read alternate Firestone's under the primary Blackfyre stones for this stint Kelly for every hostess not new turn up front wigs that he just lost all grip in the front of the car was quote numb Marty Simon Padgett was almost primary tires a lot of the other drivers were on the red alternate tire so he was doing all he could to hang on they said we're gonna give you a turn upfront Wiggy said I need more turn a front wing than just one they gave him two and a half turns of front wing and those red tires we'll see what kind of ground he can gain right here it was a positive start to the day for Simon passion are those scoring 19 points in the butter ball once you cook it and eclipsing Ryan hunter-reay well done said the day started on the right now little French bistro music goes a long way in the kitchen Tony Kanaan no problem getting by Spencer Piggott his ticket came out of the pit so Kanaan making a move going down to turn three still on the Bedard scar here saw John Menard in the pit lane before the start of the race good to have him and him at the race he's a big supporter of IndyCar Team Penske so it's nice to have him it's his home race for him to have a louder [Music] race leader Joseph Newgarden chooses this slap too bit last year you garden and Scott Dixon were involved in an enthralling battle and you got him very early set the time by staying out one lap longer than his teammate then Elio Castro Nevers and had put himself in contention for the win but it was Dixon with a powerful move who ended up getting the victory here last year Scott Dixon is also going to stay out one more lap this time most of the other leaders coming in Ryan hunter-reay from second he has to go around the tires of his teammate Marco Andretti Alexander Rossi had a clean end it is to the primaries this time for hunter-reay and one turn hallelu flame the interesting study here Kevin see if that one extra lap pays off Josef Newgarden leaving pit road as you can see Robert Wiccans also on pit road new garden wanted no changes to that one car they put on primary sticker tires for Robert Wiccans they did take a big change in front wing he said I'm too free on entry and too tight on exit so they made changes to that six car as well and we'll see where all these guys cycle up once six and comes to pit road look at this mock o n train rejoining right in front of Graham Rahal in San Juan the iveron the right hole is able to get by and ready swimming down to turn two it's made up a lot of ground by staying out an extra lap because he's jumped ahead of pagan in almost got Graham Rahal but Graham rails and hot tires now easy work for him but the guy he's got to watch out behind to turn five six seven is pick it right here the god we've got to look out for is Scott Dixon who stayed out one extra lap and I think Graham Rahal is probably doing his best to get some distance on Marco Andretti who I'm sure hasn't forgotten some of the boos Graham was banking on the opening lap and Dixon once again as you said Lee with incredible mileage joining full lap longer nobody saves fuel better than this guy was one of the lines in Robin Miller's essay exactly what you just said nobody saves fuel like him and he told me many years ago he learned that when testing for Toyota when Toyota came into car he's been so much time testing that's where he was able to really refine it and look at how hard Dixon was pushing through those final few corners he knows that this in lap means everything in terms of his ability to leapfrog and make positions on guys like Newgarden hunter-reay Rossi it's exactly how he won the race last year keV he didn't get the starting position eight that he wanted but he felt pretty good about the racecar and he goes a lap longer than everyone else how much would this play into Scott Dixon's plan this time it's the primary skin might be the only one you see the way to test me go from the red to the black spandex in his back out with Sunoco fuel as well leaders go by on the main stripe but we'll see where he cycles out he's going to come out just in front of Wiggins here it's gonna be a drag race Wiccans gets by but he's jumped ahead of Kanaan [Music] artwork for Dixon in these first two corners he's on the harder black compound tire needs to get some temperature and those won't take him very long you can see him struggling there but you did see him tippy-toes returned one you have to yeah tighter in the front Ryan hunter-reay Captain America starting to apply the pressure to Joseph Newgarden Team Penske Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Honda and the top three positions filled by American indie car stars here at Road America [Music] great fans up here in Wisconsin they really love their IndyCar racing as we welcome you back to Elkhart likely difficult Tracy Townsend Bell with you and things are getting tighter at the front the two and ready teammates Ryan Hunter Ryan Alexander Rossi right in the middle there sandwiched in between Josef Newgarden and Takuma Sato have kind of brought things a little bit closer robert Wiccans is running in the top five and then scott dixon tony kanaan ray hole bigot and marco andretti is the top ten running order at the moment tight quarters up here first four cars separated by just over a second seems like hunter-reay on on when the pressures are down he could put some pressure on Newgarden but then as the run goes on Newgarden cut kind of stretch away just a little bit to give himself some breathing room npt it's a game of saving fuel right tim cinder it's almost like a head coach in an NFL game he's calling plays to Josef Newgarden he is telling him when the cars behind him Ryan hunter-reay and those guys are on the push to pass button he'll say they're on it they're off of it so at that same time Josef Newgarden Townsend he had supposed to pass button sort of match what they're doing you don't want to use fuel if you don't have to but you also have to match their pace well according to our data Marty right now Josef Newgarden hasn't had to touch the button once the mention tell you just how dominant a performance it's been so far oh I see push to pass on new guards just getting to know tis not working on our data so we don't know how many seconds he has left but my hunch is that he hasn't had used very much because he is comfortably in the lead and as you said Marty just managing the fuel that he needs to burn to stay out front trusting the information from Tim Cedric on the stand in terms of when he just needs to open up the gap a little bit very smart driving from new garden you get 200 seconds allocated to you a push pass time and you can use that in allocations of up to 20 seconds [Music] there we go [Music] data analytics expert 158 seconds remaining for Newgarden hunter a 177 Rossi 131 Sato 168 so the frontrunners all would similar push the pass remaining as it Jones while he works his way through turn five always a sleeper it seems that Jones always seems to work his way to the top five Paul at the end of some of these races currently in eleventh Beach has some handling issues he dropped to the rear of the field apparently the last guy on the running order back team Paul the steering arms trying to figure out if something in fact is bent or maybe I wonder if even that he loosened up on him yeah except Beach saying it almost feels like a broken toe link or something but he said I just haven't hit anything so they can't quite figure it out but he was saying it's getting worse about 2 to 3 degrees worse every lap and finally they just call the Vinson and I'm kind of worried about this thing let's bring it in and take a closer look figure the lock nut loosened up on the steering I don't know but he left in a big smoky burnout sideways but he's got play in the wheel looks like will powers gonna retire he came back on track 14 laps down did a lap went back in Beach comes out in traffic this going rumble here this could set up a pass [Music] stays way out of the way of his Andretti Autosport teammates right hunter-reay and Alexander Aussie Sato goes by Wiccans is the next one I promise you Joseph new Gardens coming down the front straightaway at 185 going oh don't no don't don't don't don't do that please one of those last shots call down into turn two there's something that just does not look right about Zach features car as we see Wickham's just in front of him he's kind of Klein is waved back onto the back end that he's top four guys but obviously there's something wrong at a steering steering rack steering arms it's play in it it's terrible loose [Music] on board with Sac Beach and just look at the steering alignment here going through the down the hill I candor the steering looks straight I'm just looking at the alignment across the stop of the steering wheel when he gets the wheel straight it seems to be parallel so maybe they fixed whatever issue they had burnt the rear types of soap evident felt then but certainly got a half season of experience a little hard on the back straightaway to tell on steering alignment because you're never really straight here you've got the Canada corner but so far looks alright we'll get our best cents here on the front straightaway that's steering alignment I talked about so it comes out of the final at the top of the steering wheel effect with the suspension and look pretty well spot-on [Music] Dixon smart move now what'll apt further than ever these front guys so if he could claw his way back up onto the back of these guys that's gonna be a big benefit so we saw images just a few moments ago of the Indy 500 went up will power out of his Team Penske Chevrolet bodies with it it's a tough one to swallow for willpower 20 Lowen left in the race he's out of the car back here in the paddock any idea what happened what a strange problem yeah we don't know it's just they replace the exhaust just glue straight back out so it's obviously something something going on there ya feel bad for all the guys just just one of those things you know you get that every now and then at some point yeah no good but we'll move on to the next one talk about how rough this racetrack has been this weekend worn over curbs in qualifying could that have maybe had something to do with it it's so hard to tell I mean you know it's I don't think it's an exhaust problem something within the engine who knows like they have they're gonna look deeply into it obviously something like that happens but yeah I couldn't even comment on what it may be but yeah see to keep moving forward think about Iowa and try have a good car there and get back at the points you just reminded of how cruel the racing game is I mean you won the Indy 500 now you're gonna be fifth in the championship leaving wrote America just a few weeks later yeah it is amazing how quickly it swings but that means it can swing back the other way we still got plenty of races head down and keep working at it because we can definitely win the championship from here it's a positive spin on it he swept the month of May but it's been a rough time for willpower since then right now his teammate Josef Newgarden is a man out front Ryan hunter-reay trying to chase him down 22 laps into the race [Music] you're watching the Kohler Grand Prix here on your home of motorsport NBCSN and the Verizon IndyCar Series continues in just two weeks time Sunday July 8th that's the Iowa for 300 looking forward to that not the biggest track but boy does it turn on some good racing wonderful facility who is good to take it because back to the heartland and the man you see in the red and white DHL machine for Andretti Autosport Ryan hunter-reay has had some incredible races and some wonderful success then is 2012 Nutter a ball moved to take the win this was 2014 some tracks just click for people and Ryan says Iowa is that track for him what's one of the biggest what's one of the big takeaways from that just have dramatically different than console yeah I think so much more body work so much more hanging off the back I think it's pretty refreshing Paul that we get back to the Indy car look of old nice clean body work free off the rear tires and it certainly helps them get down the straightaways faster here at Road America see all those guys coming off the five laying down tracks so rear tires starting to go away Rossi has lost the just a little bit to the back of his teammate Sato's dropped off the back a little bit further but the guy right now who's been able to stay closest as we look at Sato who's lost touch a little bit with Rossi hunter-reay is implement stay close right here with new Gardner we'll see if he could save some fuel and go that extra lap to try to leapfrog on the next stop and speaking of saving fuel the guy on watch is Scott Dixon a course started about on the last sequence of pit stops he came out about nine seconds back in the leaders now he has that down to six point eight and if Dixon can tag onto the back of the top five with Wicked's he'll start saving even more fuel that he's clothed that'll shorten up his final pit stop closing quick now so he's inside of them he was out of sight so now I can see them and he can make pull that gap in the next few laps in the lead-up to this rice I spoke to a couple of engineers who don't want to be nine because they're not from Jim ganassi racing they said what Scott Dixon in here last year was just pure classic Dixon yeah what he did against the Penske cars was incredible maybe that's what Scott Dixit does Robert Wiccans meanwhile off the road from Scott Dixon in the mid Peter submachine well bringing dropping a wheel and bringing the dust to the air of Scott Dixon to drive sir he's definitely caught secure Misano Santos dropped off the back of Rossi Rossi's off the back of hunter great just a little bit but Wiccans moving forward and the guy who now is right there in the Victor Scott Dixon is now closing quickly on the back of Wiccans turns out Zack Beach is going to get a drive-through penalty for an improper pit exit when he came out in front of the leaders there so the day going from challenging to worse for Zack Beach and hearing the Nina's just served that penalty adding insult to injury meanwhile here is Sebastien Bourdais back on pit road [Music] tell us more Marty and if you see him coming to a stop remember they had that gear control unit issue earlier so they're kind of forced into this four stop strategy for him he said you know what primary titers were not good for our car I want the alternate tires for the rest of this race so they did that here with scuffed alternate tires half turned down in front wing as well for the 18 Wiccans is all over the back of Takuma Sato heading down towards Canada corner riding with Scott Dixon that fighters up ahead be interesting to see that one lap advantage if that turns into a two-lap advantage on the second stop for Dixon which would be HUGE if he can rip off some quick labs have a good in lab little further down the order this is James Hinchcliffe Robert Wiccans teammate working on Zack claim and de Melo to Canadians here one from Montreal one from Toronto three Canadians in the field Wicked's up front of these guys and them guys you will go back a couple of weeks when we were at Texas Motor Speedway in I want to say we gave Zach claimant D'Mello a hard time with that incident with world power and kind of maybe it looked like it might have been a bit ambitious at the end and have to say when we spoke to Zach post the wind post his race where his race was over he was very forthright and Anderson saying it from his perspective and when we got the opportunity from willpower he said absolutely my fault I didn't hear motor spot up we had some communication issues and I went up the track I had no idea was here and I put him in the walls credit to Zack because he was having a very good run they like Hinchcliffe easy oh yeah you got a nice run off the corner a little bit loose Zack will protect the inside he's gonna make him go around the long way hitch Lane on the brakes Zack still there whoo chop the nose right up folks Heusen and turned in good bass heads all you have to do is leave just enough room not an inch more Hinchcliffe with a nice mode and now inch cliff has some clear track in front of a Jordan King the next car up ahead about five seconds ahead of Hinchcliffe there's King there's hinge and look at the gap that he's been able to put hitch cliffs been able to put on the bellow in just about three corners you know we haven't seen a whole lot on the front but that past that hinge just put on D'Mello there was the honker pass in this race that opening stands it was pretty messy but it's all going to plan perfectly so far for Joseph Newgarden team penske out in front some second round of pit stops have already taken place but not with these top two as we welcome you back to Elkhart Lake Road America Josef Newgarden up against Ryan hunter-reay so Your Honor I think is really doing a good job of saving fuel Townsend and if he could go an extra lap he's really gonna be in the catbird seat so we'll see this lapped right here if new car pulls off no they're gonna go one more lap it just seems like ever since the leaders have gone to the harder black compound that hunter-reay has just been stronger across the board I mean his teammate Ross he's falling back Wiccans falling back but gotta still mentioned Scott Dixon as we see patch you know make it a bold move of the inside of Piggin turn 12 Rutzen a little wide off the edge of the Koretz could pass nice and clean think it was blocking the inside china protect but we see the couple the leaders up front Kevin so Alexander Rossi comes with a lap earlier than Ryan hunter-reay you're right on it PT that hunter-reay is getting a mileage that might impact this would run wing adjustment this is scuffed threads Marty Barassi a lot of the other teams going to scuff revs or the other Robert Wiccans going with the primary tire sticker primary tires for him he said the rears went off too quickly with the alternate tire I want to stick with the primaries they do that we'll see where they cycle out and these other leaders including Josef Newgarden staying out one extra line this should be fun to watch Takuma Sato at speed this is a battle for position they're deep on our tires hard to hold the guy off that's already got a lap he Sato might get Rossi here he's hit the toe heel brake as late as positive he doesn't get him by five he's really gonna have a difficult time Sato on the outside which is the wrong side in five but he's gonna have it go in anyway Rossi doesn't come off yes it does Rossi fights back up the hill he's gonna stuff it in here side by side Oh Kanaka see remember what Ronnie's into Wiggins Snickers pushed us what a pass I come under the scrutiny he's already been looked at for the same move yeah but they looked at that move and deemed it to be racing appropriate earlier so I don't see anything different about what Rossi just did there I think that was great Racing's wheel the wheel tired of tyre banging I'm cool with that here's the leaders same on on the same lap Kemp standing by second wife the Townsend you were right on at about Ryan hunter-reay that was one of the things he told me before I think we're better than others on the older blacks and he made that work for them he's going to come in and he's going to take another set of the primaries meanwhile Scott Dixon goes by him you just see him through the screen there he's going on scope Raines Marty Joseph Newgarden at the front Hill was really pushed by Ryan hunter-reay on that lap coming to pit road they're going the opposite direction they're gonna go with the alternate scuff tires we're gonna look for Rossi and those other guys coming through see where everybody cycles out but Newgarden able to push it one lap further here on this stint Zack beech coming up at speed but look at Dixon we totally forgot about Dixon leapfrog all those guys into third and has a nice gap to Rossi but Rossi is flying on warm tires just like we saw earlier a lap ago Rossi should be able to close the gap very quickly to Dixon and Dixon's going to be working hard to get temperature as fast as these cannas gonna take Rossi probably two more corners to catch him but then Dixon will have tire temperature here we go guys just in race control is reviewing the Alexander Rossi to Coombe asado situation from a lap ago let's have another look from a different camera angle exiting turn five Sato when you lift this DiSanto runs wide there's no way to get good power down there that allows Rossi to come back they're side by side Rossi has the position legitimately just like with Wiccans at the start of the race it's identical so I don't think you can review it any different despite Sato throwing his right hand up in the air and in dispute and objection well Sato definitely didn't give up on the outside and hubcap put himself in position to be pushed off the track on the exit by not giving up but that's just good hard racing in my opinion Graham Rahal now starting to zero in on the back of Robert Wiccans and catches stray whole Letterman Lanigan teammate Sato but what a move from Ganassi and Scott Dixon to put him in that position he was five and a half seconds behind Josef Newgarden the leader coming in on that pitch cycle and then puts himself right in the guy in nine seconds back on the first round of pit stops five seconds before they pitted as you said Lee and now he should be able to make quick work of Zack Veatch as we hear that there's no action taken that's the right call between Rossi and Sato stop patting yourself on the back I'm just I'm all for good hard race and I like this elbows out this is lap one let's watch it again this was Rossi on wicked the exact same accident or incident I should say exact same contact on lap one and then it happened to get later in the race the officials reviewed and they just call that good old-fashioned Road America elbows out Grayson whole pack now is closed up we got ray Hall in seventh now on the back of Wiggins he's come out of nowhere passion Oh is now in Haven though that I fold it back but we got beach in the mix of all the leading cars here which is causing a little bit of drama for these frontrunners Graham pumped out of the drops Erin show the inside lines of Robert Wiccans was not close enough heading down into turn five Zac Beach it was all the way back in 20 on the lead lap doing his best not to get involved in this scrap at the front [Music] good idea for beach to kind of just get out of the way being a lap down cookies gonna hurt Wiccans here on the exit because wickets is right up the back of them and it might allow ray Hall to get a run here there you see beats breathin wisely to allow Wiccans to get going here comes ray home with the big run [Music] now the big gap back to patch notes for the best thing beach can do here is just hang on to the lead pack here just learn a little bit now in that cycle of pit stops new guard hurt more push to pass here's 136 seconds left hunter-reay didn't really have to touch the button so hunter a with the most push to pass remaining in the race that could be a big big deal as we get to the closing laps still bright sitting on the back of the leader new guard not surprised that he was not able to make the fuel miles to go an extra lap you really got to pay attention to Dixon if he can pull up on these guys and make more fuel mileage again you might be looking at a Scott Dixon win here going down the stretch I think one of the questions is is how much risk the Dixon take in terms of staying out till the very end or do you be the first one to make the last stop and protect yourself against but we've seen them they've we've seen them push the limit to try to get the win before Toronto in particular you had so much more risk on a street course above that crash creating the wall here it's such a huge no an extra lap but the guy goes off he goes in the grass comes back off so the advantage is huge here to take that risk we did just get an update although there's a slight telemetry glitch from our and where we said Joseph Newgarden has 130 seconds switch to pasta beautiful Elkhart Lake Wisconsin what a great place to be this is such a great time of the year not only for IndyCar racing but the 105th edition of the Tour de France is on NBCSN the riders begin their three-week tour the Atlantic coast with a sprint for the yellow jersey the coverage of the tour begins Saturday July 7th right here on NBCSN it's part of the NBC Sports Championship season presented by Canada Dry ginger ale and lemon a fantastic stuff so much to look forward to at this time of the year welcome back folks Lee Diffie Townsend Bell Paul Tracy Kelly stammers Kevin Lee Marty Snider and Robin Miller on a beautiful day in Wisconsin and Josef Newgarden hoping it just keeps going in this current form because he has led 31 laps of this race so far in dominant fashion but he's being dogged he's being hounded by Ryan hunter-reay [Music] riding on board here with gram Rehan just moments ago he got around Robert Wiccans heading in at turn five sets him up nicely great toe that is textbook right there I like the color scheme on the Gail Honda this weekend looks great reminiscent of his dad Bobby's car on milla car this is Gabbie Chavez and James Hinchcliffe move down into Canada corner this is what it looked like for hitch this way you know that way no this way and you know it's a great run for Gabby Chavez remember II started last worked his way up into 13th so he's made the most boots so far slightly off its feet with last pitted on lap 23 but Graham ray Hall's got a good shot there's a slow car there that's Koko's Kelly what he know about Graham so obviously the team pretty pleased with that move that he made to get around Robert wicked they had been telling them all along every time that Wiccans was on the push to pass so that Graham could respond accordingly he finally made the pass even though qualifying wasn't as strong as he wanted he's had a lot of confidence coming here a to Road America two podiums in three races here you just saw the new drivers Seles in that 32 car get a little white there to lead I still haven't you to get by for forever I know so the young Mexican Alfonso Solis jr. it is in the card around for horse racing grams got a nice run right here he might have a little shot at uh please cut right there in the draft so see if he tries to make a move teammate on top my out [Music] Brown definitely on the move music to movers so far on this racer Dixon and Graham had come from further back in the field Grahame lost about a second to the leaders there so he'll be in a big hurry to try to get around Sato wouldn't surprise me if he gets on the radio and asked for a little help from his teammate this is the fight for fifth zhan push the pass right there not gonna happen there but he might be close enough to ever run out of turn three anything difficult to pass turn one here it's so fast at the apex really hard to out-brake but much slower corner turned five bigger braking zone we see if he can get a run off the corner here [Music] since Texas two weeks ago and now there has been a manufacture a test day here at Road America which break or Letterman Lanigan participated in both Taku and Bryan said that it was a productive day they learn a lot cars perform well and that statement post-test would reflect in their running right now very strong in a crown get a whiff of this guy Joseph new guards the end of the race I think you might have something for but right now I gotta say hunter-reay looks to be very strong he's just sat kept set on new garden just can't just close that a little bit of gap to get close enough to make a pass [Music] inside the final 20 laughs as we give you a shim relay driver update stating the obvious no one better than Joseph Newgarden representing Chevrolet and the moment Simon pass you know it's been a bit of a distant day for the Frenchman at the bottom end of the top ten so far so good for the tape Penske number one the reigning champ you've been seeing this in non-stop at home something may be wrong with Alexander Rossi as Graham Rahal continues his search forward through the pack we're on board now with roasting the end ready driver yeah it looks like he's got a flat tire tire going down so easy here towns you drop a wheel off on the exit on those curves you drop the wheel off in that dirt you can hit a rock or something and it cuts the tire might have cut through just slightly punctured the rear tire is it possible that the puncture might have been from the Contacts Navy with susato it was very much wheel-to-wheel yeah unlike me none like the Wiccans one which was more side puck to wheel is it the left rear though because the contact was with Rossi's right side last lap was a 149 spot for 45 seconds off the pace and this is brutal doing brutal for Rossi because he's not in the window to make the last stop right now [Music] as you know no prep so he's coming in Kevin so the only hope now for Alexander Rossi is going to be a caution that's the only way and a decent-enough lengthen caution of a couple three laps to be able to get him to go the rest of the way they're gonna take a good look at the tires they do have their sticker Reds as all the other leaders do right now so that's going to be the hope is that they get a caution at some point preferably really soon before everyone pitch to cycle back to the front looking at steering again sort of like Zack Beach they were looking at the steering knuckles on the right front the left front has not been replaced and this could be died down for Alexander Rossi so - Andretti cars have now had steering issues up front in the steering rack and steering arm system so then now they're working on some pretty interesting if that's some something going on with their set up in the front rack and pinion setup what are they saying on the radio cave obviously not the tire going down I think they're looking at the shims over there on the left front so this is going to take some time that's definitely not tight as they're tightening it so it looks like the camber shim before you put the camber shims in that was loose cuz he was you could see Rossi steering wheel going down pit lane was slightly askew like we talked about with beech earlier so appears to be some sort of systematic issue that's really odd that would come and what's even more bizarre is Alexander's comments pre-race he said we have had great speed here I've just never been able to get a result but for Rossi he did not fall off the lead lap that is HUGE he they comp so he's just left he's heading down to one's turn five there's Joseph you got it being pursued continually pursued from Ryan hunter-reay and then Scott Dixon at cresting the top of the hill three and a half seconds blanketing from the top three three different teams who's going to get this one today and wrote America [Music] back at Road America and riding with Scott Dixon first I want to remind you that this July skateboarding's elite bring their best tricks to the California coast it's the new tour Long Beach Saturday July 7th on NBC about your two California kids your two sons they aspiring to be skateboarding legends like to do that cord sports they get out there no goofy style regular footing our family so a lot of pit stops happen in Kevin Lee standing by came out the window is now open to make it the rest of the way without needing to SuperSave Takuma Sato has moved up the fourth with the problem for Alexander Rossi he's got the sticker alternates the red side wold Firestone's for the last stitch Marty Robert Wiccans about the hit his stall he was frustrated during that run so these other guys just have so much more straightaway speed then we have they're going to make an air pressure adjustment for him and put on sticker alternate tires he put up his hands in frustration he was trying to get to his stall as Wiccans was leaving his stall for pazzo it's been a terrific run today started 14th he was running seventh circle fuel to make it to the changes on that car and the sticker alternate tires of note these leaders hang out one more lap that means they can run a little harder on this finalist in that might get called that's an unsafe release Schmidt team that we've just heard they're gonna look at that release so they waved him out right into oncoming traffic the key now as we see the out laps of pinging a passional is what's going to happen at the front as Dixon done that he always does can he go an extra lap we're gonna find out in the lab for two and that was we should say some good head driving from London fashionable avoid a collision he's Scott Dixon been running three position three for a long time and just slowly very carefully strategically worked all I up into that three and I was pushing mileage I don't think that I don't think honoré came in I think on a race stayed on track I did and so too did you got him Scott Dixon was pushing harder than I've ever seen him on that in lap doing everything in his power to make up the gap and when you've been going 180 close to 190 the 60 mile-an-hour pit lane speed limit feels like you're crawling Kevin Scott Dixon coming in to keep in mind also the advantage of going the extra lap I know for example Ryan hunter-reay who's about to come in they're talking a shorter quote no no no this was a shorter fill for Dixon too so let's see if that gets him anytime on track back out leaving on sticker Reds gotta have a good clean out lap he'll sweep out here get out to the breaking point turn in nice exit there so we're gonna see get hunter-reay and go another lap but he hasn't be able to do it yet Newgarden has done a masterful job of just pacing the burn on the field we pick up the number-one Verizon Chevy and Ryan hunter-reay lost a little bit of ground to Joseph over the last five or so laps yeah it looks like Ryan's tires are fried at this point look at the marble buildup to offline in the cake remember by shortening or lengthening this stint that means that you just need to take that a little bit less fuel on the final stop and that could be a real big advantage in addition to just the clean air pall of stayin out left longer absolutely these two guys have really been the class the feel the terms of fuel mileage so far this race Dixon went a lap further than everybody but it didn't translate into here they come and Scott Dixon I can tell you is about to go through the carousel so let's wait for it let's watch and let's see how close this will be between Joseph Newgarden Ryan hunter-reay and Scott Dixon on this final stop of the race [Music] so Ryan hunter-reay does have to clear in with Markos box empty does have to go around Charlie kibbles team you're going to see here in a moment 15 gallons of fuel instead of the full 18 and a half is all they need for Ryan hunter-reay sticker Reds for the last n Marty pitstop to now Labs that could decide the race here Road America Josef Newgarden one and no changes to that car these sticker alternate tires for him and again that short spill so critical his lead over the 28 was 1.8 seconds when they came to pit road we'll see where he cycles out yet the Twitter of Ryan hunter-reay and I'll say Scott Dixon who's coming on those fresh retired say count again hunter-reay my turn five tires Reggie I'm pushing hard he's got to close the gap here in turn two to get her run down the front down to turn five Willie Adam Townsend I don't know if he'll be close enough but it's gonna be close Monterey has to get to turn five first it looks like he will hunter a and Dixon both on push to pass look at this the run downhill to turn five Scott Dixon agonizingly isn't close enough to Captain America to make a move just yet Dixon will draw closer in these next couple of corners but the challenges there's really nowhere to make a move until they get to Canada corner by that point new garden and Hunter ray will be fully up to temperature then loose Honore Dixon draws close right here he's closed up on the tail if he can stay close here in the carousel might have it run to Canada corner usually pushed a pass race little wide man that thing is dancing that DHL car he's there he's close enough to get a draft damn Ahana raised on the button with Dixon and hunter-reay has 60 seconds more of push to pass he was so efficient throughout the race and it's paying off now down to Canada corner the Scott Dixon feel he has a chance I think he might on the front straight Paul another opportunity but you've really got to become law not there yeah you've got loose loose on entry washed-out Dickson knew he had to do everything he could to stay close and hit that bump in the braking zone to the last corner and now the gap is opened up to about a second meanwhile new cartons love in this and new Gardens got almost a full minute full 60 seconds or push to Boston the third place Scott Dixon and that was huge for new guard the reason he loves that battle is that it's forced hunter-reay to use up push to pass so that now new guard 93 seconds hunter-reay 84 so that advantage that Monterrey had is effectively gone they're even and an updated report on Robert Wiccans and the Schmidt Peterson cup we flagged it maybe an unsafe release race control looked at it and everything okay no action taken against Robert Wiccans the Canadian and lead rookie who runs fifth in this collar grant bring back for the closing 10 laps after this welcome back to the Cola Grand Prix here wrote America priest pleased to say that George brueggen thiis the promoter here then who does such a great job getting it together announced today proudly announce today a contract extension of three more years that's good news Marty very good news in this crowd incredible today and speaking of incredible the performance by Joseph Newgarden he's led all but two laps today Tim syndrich is the man who makes the calls for him how do you manage these final few laps tim has been a bit of a game of cat mouse all day as far as figuring out you know what the out laps are all the rest dick crews got a great job it's not over yet but he's in the right spot lucky he wasn't to go the extra lap there before that final stop to be able to kind of unleash him here on this final stint yeah levae it's been that way and then you got to decide whether it really fill the tank over the last time for naught if you're just trying to manage all that and I think like so the guy's done a really good job here but you still got eight to go I just make sure you filled the tank right no not gonna take all the way full you didn't need all the fuel from very good all right so they think they're good on fuel to the very end but we'll keep our eye on that cab and that was the same situation for Ryan hunter-reay as reported he didn't need all the fuel Michael Andretti is one of those on the stand all right pit stops are done is there anything you guys can come up with to be able to catch new guard honestly I think we have really fast cars this track positions been the problem and you know we were hoping we'd be able to get him on our pit stops and stuff you know they did a great job too I know Bryan's questions already Ken right now at the DHL car and we'll see if he has something there an informant even if not a win it's been fun to see Ryan fighting for wins and Championships again on level playing field issue yeah I know precedent about it you know especially the last few weeks he's things have actually been going right for him finally because he's had such bad luck so hopefully he keeps it going fourth in the championship coming in today right now running second Ryan on a ride with Michael Andretti points as they brought right now would put Ryan hunter-reay in second so he's been on a real nice roll since that win in Detroit which he needed because there was a substantial period of frustration not always his eye quality they're like mechanicals and Andrea thinks you know who else is having a nice run it's young Americans Spencer pinger it's actually headed for his best result of the season if he can stay where he is right now in seventh in the direct supply which is a local company and they've been based in nor walking aboard the ed carpenter Chevrolet there Spencer is doing very well again a top 10 I think back in Detroit so the 7th will be best of 2018 that will bring some relief with more on him is Kelly yellow flea this team is how to make so many changes throughout the weekend just trying to get a setup that the balance would be right for Spencer Pig and they obviously finally hit on something at a decent qualifying and he's been running really well inside the top ten most of this race he said a big difference this year is getting to run full-time you've really got to get to know the engineers that communication line is better this year he was expecting a decent result today and it looks like they'll get it I tell you one thing I was expecting a better day out of passion oh and looked like he was moving forward as we look at EDD it sandwiched in between negative as nobody it's really not been a great day or Simon is just he hasn't had any pace all day Logan yesterday said the college is not working I just can't get the car that I wanted to work the way I wanted to work too much too much drag and those meatballs Townsend [Applause] too much Butterball turkey right Townsend is that what's wrong with pageant oh now they've actually had very good pace especially at the end of runs and he told me he's been frustrated this year he said the car has really thrown him for a loop he said my teammates have really figured out how to get pace out of this lower downforce car I just haven't been able to do it this is the first weekend that I felt like I've been able to quote unleash myself so they had good pace start at 14 but remember they came to pit road running seventh a moment ago and Wiccans was release and to wait that little beat he lost two spots on pit road because that little transition well Robert Wiccans was leaving his stall passionate trying to get his song here to check up on pit road so the running order is Newgarden Hunter right Dixon no surprise there Sato Wiccans was able to hold off Graham Rahal for the time being then figured ed Jones on screen right there then Simon patient on James Hinchcliffe has come from 16th to 10th so Hinch will be relieved to be inside the top ten then Marco Andretti has been shuffled back somewhat and then Jordan king is running in 12 if you do if you went with us a little earlier willpower right from the opening lap was plagued with problems and he was the he is the only retirement tech peach has had some dramas with his car Sebastien Bourdais also had some problems and he's been pushed back to 13th but there's somewhat of a good comeback so good day for some not so much for others with six laps remaining here at Road America [Music] and Jones with a couple of podiums this year he's be his driver coach is the man in the middle who got his first IndyCar victory 20 years ago and he still has the track record here Dario Franchitti is getting a chance to look at this as well 20 years ago yet you're still so young yeah that's an optical illusion to be honest and haven't seemed a long time ago no but I really agree memory to first win here was that to do this track such a great places they're fun times talk about it you've been working with kitties getting a chance to look at this as well twenty years ago yet you're still so young yeah I think that's an optical illusion to be honest and haven't seemed a long time ago no but really a great memory to first win here was that to do this track such a great place it was their fun times talk about ed you've been working with him throughout the season his first book Ganassi he's having a pretty good day today yeah he's doing very well not the best start he's ever had but he's worked his way back up past a lot of cars guys I'm going good job in the pits so we're trying to stay ahead of passional here which is not the easiest thing are you still satisfied being involved in competition from this standpoint you still getting something on a racing from this side absolutely and it's not it's not the same as driving in the car but to still be involved in trying to make cars go away win races to go faster is fantastic the guys he's like the rest of us just likes a good excuse to come to the racetrack Pete's having a real job doesn't it he loves to come to help car lake and it is he t-that he'll be with his buddy sitting at simpkinson I happen to find beer because he's always there on a Saturday and Sunday night well he's a student of the sport he loves the history of the sport and sequins is such a historic place here in Elkhart Lake probably a good bet that David Hobbs will be there as well he says hobos hometown of Elkhart Lake mention it made me think of combo before when you mention all that all that rubber buildup on the edge of the trebuchets a clang ha I'll tell you this battle between Jones and patch you know is is a battle of uh slim pickings in that they don't have very much push to pass left Jones has 10 seconds catch you know eight seconds so they have to be extremely efficient with the usage of that push to pass button maybe just a quick horn off for the last five laps we ride on board with Sac Beach he's actually put in the Tag Heuer fastest lap of the race and issues with [Music] the mechanical systems the funnel the steering system steering arm coming loose [Music] pass make whoa got a little dicey there blamin de bello not making it easy at all for the young American by the way that's it over 190 miles an hour yeah put up some one sauce back sire if he actually turned one I think that was de Melo Wow [Music] yesterday Zack Beach putting in the fastest lap of the race but the guy who's put in some fast laps right now his new garden Clayman D'Mello just went off but new gardener has his biggest lead now that he's had now that he's good to go doesn't have to think about fuel mileage he's got his biggest lead at one point seven seconds now so he's kind of stretched it out on a rail a small gap to him biggest gap he's had on race you see Zack Beach here claim to Oh big loose bike claim and D'Mello right at the apex through the gravel that's a nice save heck of a save and that'll which is throat to stomach you know sometimes things are just meant to happen Josef Newgarden has a children's book written about him it's called Joseph the IndyCar driver it was based here in Rouen America so if you can go on and get his first victory here at this trick that will be fantastic I think maybe hey Marty Tim syndrich my claim that he's the good luck charm considering earlier this week in Mooresville North Carolina Tim Cody's a hole-in-one I don't think anything's gone wrong first time this weekend syndrich with a hole in one from about a 127 yards with a sand wedge so congratulations to him they got the pole for the road America race and looks like they might be on the way the wind you know Joseph started the season so strong two wins in the first four races but as he described to me then the boat wheels fell off the bus no better than eight since that time he said listen we've had the speed we haven't had the race execution today they have been flawless on the track managing the gap second place he has led all but two laps and on pit road they have not missed a step all day long - Joseph Newgarden might be on the way to getting his first ever road America win and what timing he came in 68 points behind lead in the championship standings he would gain 18 points today if he does pull off this week yeah man jump up one position into the top 50 back from Scott Dixon when I go back to IndyCar live and I said to you mate right at the beginning hey is this does this have a similar feel to a toe - Barber Motorsports Park where Joseph got the pole and went on a winning dominating fashion and you said absolutely what is kind of bizarre the slope that went through and Indian Texas and Detroit and all of a sudden it's as if that never happened this is just such a dominant performance and Paul your pick for the race was Rossi if he showed you know quite a bit of speed and a lot of aggression but unfortunately had the issue yeah I mean the issue very odd at campers shim block come loose as we saw he had to come to the pit lane and fix that but he was definitely racing definitely driving the way he has all season long open and shoving and pushing and grinding so a little bit of wheel to wheel contact with some guys and that coming in and fixing that cameras Jim really constable Wickens this was Sato same corner very similar incidents Race Control said no worries just good hard racing and then the mechanical issue is poor detail is what put paid to Alexander Aussies chances today and Rossi is well down the order now in 16th place he's gonna have to pit again because he pitted so far sequence he's probably gonna have to do another stop as well which is gonna hurt him even more [Music] look at this pageant oh ah Ned Jones Jones given the squeeze they're trying to keep the door tight pageant Oh kicking it open Saint uh-huh coming through and this is under review he just heard from Dario Franchitti saying about in Jones we're trying to keep passion hope behind us which isn't an easy task as you know is got his sights set on Spencer Pickett trying to steal that seventh position away over these closing two claps and go she's surprised to see it stay green no grace I'm really we've had him before you know we had a full green race at Sonoma to end the season live scene in Mid Ohio in the past in the past but I guess I'm a little surprised that at the start of the race you know there wasn't maybe one situation that would have would have led to yellow certainly with those two Rossi incidents that could have been closed but no this is a big fast racetrack these guys have been aggressive I love the fact that this new car doesn't have bodywork little pieces of aerodynamic line everywhere that forces in to start went all the way to the back that came all the way through to NZ in 1993 victory as well exactly you really didn't cause many yellows [Music] it is very clear-cut upfront is enough what a day what a day for the one team from Team Penske and Josef Newgarden I like the way that he hasn't changed what he's been saying the last few races despite the setbacks we just got to regroup we got to get going we know we've got the speed we know we're a great team I think Josef Newgarden understood the significance here of pole position and remember he had pole at Texas which gave him such a great pit stall position at the front of the line at the end of pit lane nobody in front of him as we get the white flag and so for du gard that lap that he put qualified fall of superior I mean he's such a tough-as-nails guy was so bold with his move in the last corner the secure pole is Bensalem so dominant all weekend right from right from the green flag dropping in the first practice but and you got to be impressed with Scott Dixon he is put in a drive today that is what you would call a championship drive we okay you don't have the best bar you've had a bit of a bad run in qualifying to bring your weight under the podium got a beer go ahead and turn five for the last time this is what it takes he knows exactly what it takes to much championships he did this at the Indy Grand Prix all the way from the back this is uh it was an important day I think for Dixon four points well Joseph you gotta gets to join Penske from Penske drivers will power Paul Tracy Emerson Fittipaldi Danny Sullivan 2-1 at Road America for the captain and that even though drivers say you I don't look at records etc they do and it means a lot because when they do get a time to reflect they're the kind of things that resonate the most he won in Phoenix anyone in Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park and speaking of Barber Motorsports Park that was the site of Joseph's new Gardens first IndyCar career win this is going to be number 10 how about that he's wrecked them up in very quick succession but this track is a special place and this drive was extra special Josef Newgarden wins that call the roam free to give back in this championship chase look at the gap that he put on new corners on hunter-reay in the closing laps you get the feeling Paul always had in his pocket all day he just unleashed the beast at the very edge his last lap was two seconds a lap quicker than hunter-reay knew he had the car knew it just played the game like a chess match and I don't myself I don't like somebody breathing down my neck that close he could have pulled away but at risk of using fuel and and he just played it perfectly today Honore and you gotta congratulate each other because that was a tough race it was tough physically tough strategically and there's Dixon in the mix and I'd say three of the toughest guys in this series finish one two three only a couple years ago that new garden had that broken collarbone there we go the very final team and this is one they strive for victory that's exactly what Josef Newgarden as today here at Wisconsin [Music] you've been watching NBC SN s coverage of IndyCar brought to you by Tag Heuer official time piece of the IndyCar Series and Byfleet Causton can unleash the full potential of your fleet with fleet cost and care software [Music] this could not be a more beautiful day in so many ways weather-wise but if you Josef Newgarden it is just perfect car number one position number one and gets himself back in a better position to defend his Verizon IndyCar Series championship title first-ever win at Road America 10th career win what a day Marty what a day an impressive day for Joseph Newgarden in this entire Team Penske organization dominant fashion leading all but two laps he winds up in victory lane at America what a day we started the weekend talking about how special this place is he told me it was top 2 on his list of places he wanted to come to break a slump you're a winner at Road America how bad did you want this one Joseph really bad I mean I wanted to win here since last year you know I felt like we had a car to win and it just didn't happen but this car has been a rocket all weekend it was not easy I mean Ryan was very quick and I knew Dixon was right behind him so we were working for it the entire race but these guys were the best I mean they gave me an incredible pit stops I think we nailed the strategy Tim was coaching me through the whole thing so I kind of knew what I had to do but it was a lot of work I'm honest with you Ryan was really pushing me so um you know just the hats off to the whole team Penske team I wish we could have the other guys up here with us but you know it's good to get a win it doesn't matter which car it is as long as we get when it's good for Team Penske you told me we've had the speed we haven't had the race execution can you imagine a more well executed race for you or the team than this yeah I mean I was pretty flawless it was difficult I mean I was really struggling at the beginning to you know do what I needed to do and then gap Ryan correctly but I'll tell you what team Chevy did a great job this weekend they gave me the horsepower and he didn't had great fuel economy so really proud of those guys good reliability everything you expect from a team Chevy engine so I think that made the difference at the end of the day how much of your day was spent looking in the rearview mirror at that 28 car trying to keep that gap exactly where it needed to be because you're right Tim was on you a few times you got to do a better job on fuel I know I was almost working my butt off believe me I was looking at him every lap and then I started thinking I'm looking at him too much then I started looking forward I knew if he was getting too close to let me know so once I focused forward it was a lot better towards the end syndrich said on the radio we're back on track do you feel like this team is back in the championship hunt now only 50 points out of the lead yeah we're far you know it's far until we get to the end of the season so for me I'm not too worried about it I think we need to focus on this one weekend at the time that's what Roger told me he said look take it one race at a time we got a long way to go I think we're gonna be just fine we focused on being fast and executing our race day we'll be there at the end Josef Newgarden will always win remember career win number 10 because it comes Robin at a very special place vote of ex-parte Scott Dixon that's right he started eighth finish third he's got a forty five point lead the championship is six straight podium just another ho-hum day ha Jackson yeah it was it was okay you know I think a little disappointed just with where we started you know I think had we had a better run in qualifying you know the car definitely had the speed the PNC Bank has been fairly quick all weekend and that race condition our Blackston was just phenomenal we were able to close the gap jump all those guys and that pit sequence but you know you always kind of just worship we'd started maybe up in the first sort of four positions I think we would have had a real good shot of winning this race today but you know congratulations whoo you know Joseph drove a hell of a job there and so did Ryan so who's fun to fun to make another podium there was one stretch there where you were closing hard on hunter-reay and maybe had a little slip-up in the last corner yeah we obviously put it early so you know we had the unfortunate part of the undercut which it didn't really you know you know come true you know had a really good run on Ryan and I knew he'd been struggling a little bit in in the last corner but just went into deep man got a little loose and then lost a momentum and and I think that was really the only shot I was gonna have on trying to you know complete a pass on him while he was still getting up to speed but they did a great job and you know we came in third with ten laps to go the first five were like separated by five seconds on a four mile road course which pretty much speaks volumes about this series it's so tight you know it is kind of tricky to get close enough right now you know the hard part is you know with the overtake everybody's got a right you can use it in defense you know I think we may have to look in the future of you know blocking out the car in front or you know something like that but you know it's it's it's tough the rise IndyCar Series right now the competition is through the roof and you know to get a podium these days is tough enough you get to get a win so we'll keep pushing to see what we can get well now I would you kind of like Iowa aren't you kind of an all guy I like I like all old tracks you know that's that's the cool part about this series you know we have so many different disciplines with short track super speedways you know rodents street you know we go from a four mile road course and you know next we've got a short track oval so we're in two weeks so looking forward to that man I will should hopefully be a lot of fun all right thanks Jesse Kevin there's a guy with you that kind of likes Iowa didn't he yeah three-time winner where we're going in just a couple of weeks Ryan hunter-reay almost got his second win of the season he's still been in the top five the last five he's kind of debriefing with the engineer and his strategist Ray Gosselin right now so what'd you guys come up with you were really close to new Gardens er anything differently that you could have done I was hoping to make it more interesting both for the fans here at Road America and on TV but I thought I had the pace for him early on especially the first two stints I could really close on him when I wanted to just get in the fuel number I thought it's gonna be a really good race between us but then the last two stints when he put on those used Reds and I put on the blacks those fire stones for him and he was he was hooked up and in the dirty air I had a really hard time keeping behind him in the carousel and trying to get a run on him so I was pushing under 10% heads that's for sure and that's just what we had but the 28th DHL team did a great job in pit lane today and you know big banks to AutoNation also butterball these guys have all stood behind us and we're doing really well right now on the points so we just need to keep that consistency up no doubt this team can challenge for championship we just need to keep the momentum rolling and that that'll be most important speaking of pit lane after your last stop you come out chasing Newgarden but then you're on cold tires and here comes Scott Dixon tell me about that battle we're gonna get a look at them yeah that's the last guy you want to see engineers when you have cold tires and you know he's on hot he gave me a run for the money there and we were able to keep it behind him and then maintain the gap so I just couldn't more unfortunately just couldn't catch up to Joseph I was able to close the gap a little bit here and there but not like it was early in the race so he found a zone for sure and you know definitely the clean air out front helps but hats off to him Joseph did a great great race and you know you definitely deserve the win all right I mentioned going to a place that you like pretty much but this is a new car this year any idea what you and the Honda's and the Andretti's are going to have at Iowan two weeks no we were gonna go there and test we'll see what we have I love that racetrack so a lot of pressure on the engineering staff to get that all right it's gonna be you know it's a brand new car so a lot to see what we have it's an off set everywhere we go we just have to figure it out so thankfully galava tester the Great Gosselin just said off camera it's all up to the driver if the driver does it will be good terrific to get the insights of the top three and to hear how they really appreciated how tough that fight was although there wasn't a whole lot of overtaking at the front for those top three positions it was a good intense battle for a new Garden Hunter ray Dixon podium here at Road America we've still got a lot to come don't go anywhere [Music] lots still to come here on NBCSN today Meachem auto auctions and that's happening in Portland you've got Red Bull Air Race from Budapest what a beautiful place to have that race and then earlier today the Indy Lights race here at Great America that ran that's coming up at 10 p.m. Eastern and then we'll meet them after that and 11 as we walk you back in the follow up from the polar Grand Prix here at Road America a couple of guys who are really in the mix Takuma Sato Grand Prix Hall the team mates so with Kelly yeah nice day here for team rll Takuma Sato fourth place finish not only your best finished this season but easily your best finished here at Road America what was the difference out there today well I mean we had a fast car that's the difference I mean under the circumstance we were we were a little stronger at the beginning in season but the grameen Ryan obviously working really closely with the engineering side and we share a lot of stuff and we pick up a lot of speed at Road America so I mean this is a great truck you know for the drivers you commit the time is always reflect you can overtake on the truck and I think that the fans really enjoyed today I've gets you know without yellows today I think we had enough great you know excitement in the race there was some excitement there in the race and from effect a moment between you and Alexander Rossi no action taken by the way how did you see things well in in high security of the professional racing is shouldn't be really popping each other I receive I give him a room inside I just couldn't stop in and come into the me and a bumping into that he did exactly same thing see the Wiccans I think that the start and I'm surprised the did store didn't take any action I'm gonna carry decided by side of the borrow means but just don't touch me all right obviously Takuma Sato felt like he had done his the right move there and thought there should be accident taken for Rossi Congrats on a great finish though we'll turn it over to his teammate here Graham for you we've been talking about consistency and yet another very solid results for you guys did you feel like however you got the tire strategy right there well you know we went to the new Reds in the third Stanton it catapulted us up into the into the group with with Robbie and Takuma and everybody but no I mean I think we needed them at the end you know we just have to go back and review that because you know we definitely needed new Reds to close out but you know look at the end of the day it was a great day out here in the Gail machine I mean how about that crowd you know it's unbelievable when you drive around there and see that many people so thank you to everybody for coming out and supporting us and you know just another kind of race for us I mean I shouldn't be disappointed but I mean we want to win you know we finished in the top six seven every single race but one this year I mean at some point we got to improve enough to to win these things and you know today we just came up a little short but we'll go enjoy the fourth of July and then off to Iowa you spent a lot of time around Robert Wiccans at one point getting past him it sounded like you guys were stressed trying to match each other push to pass talk about that battle out there yeah I was trying to gauge when he was using it and have my stand tell me because I didn't want to run out say what to Coombe I had a few good runs but I was burnin pushed to pass and I knew had we got in a late race yellow I was going to be in trouble if I had none so I just decided to stop using and we had [Music] you know but Robbie coming out of the pits on the red first of all I had a blindingly fast stop and second of all you know heat coming out of the pits on Reds the Reds have so much more grip that I knew I was a sitting duck and it just couldn't hang on sixth place finish for Graham Rahal Marty let's chat with the other end of that Robert Wiccans and so Robbie he was talking about battling you there that was fun you could bite could have made a move maybe to block a little bit there huh see I said the right he was coming I mean if I block he would have passed me on the outside so it was the only feeling myself as I wish I I threw it back in on the inside there because he passed and cleared me but got back in and I could have actually out broken we get on the inside and it would have been would have been cool but at the time I was kind of going for overall race distance and not kind of scrapping there so you know hindsight's 2020 but luckily on that last stop I was able to get around him on the out lap there on the Reds and and end up at of him but it was a was a tough day you know we started fifth finished fifth but I feel like that's not the whole story you know we got the third on the start got pushed off by Rossi yet at a six there which I thought was a little little rude but you know fell back to seventh came back to the fifth in the end but in the end you know we had a great car we could fight for podiums all day we a setting up the track position to do it I mentioned the lap one thing that we're seeing right now with Alexander Rossi and in tow there were other frustrations throughout the race today too weren't there here's a few I was frustrated a couple times I mean those in those those rail cars must have been really trimmed because I was trying to get around Sato earlier I was on push the pass and he wasn't and I wasn't gaining on him so they must have done a good job on their arrow configuration but that being said I wouldn't say they had the ultimate fastest car they were just really hard to get around another tough spot was pit road where we're standing right now with Simon passion who trying to come to his stall you were trying to leave you said you did see him and checked up a little bit on your own yeah it's tough right because you never really see the other car and I launched looked in my mirror and saw him coming in and then you're kind of stuck in this no-man's land like should I just go and in the end I decided to go and then he went around I mean thankfully there was no action taken but it's one of those 5050 calls right where if we had of not checked up we would have been slide by side with ray Hall and pit exits oh wait they got our guys had a great stop and I think we were pretty ambitious to try to beat at least Graham out of the pits and we honestly we could have done it if we didn't have to check up there for patch but luckily everyone got through it safely and you know good thing is Sebastian sorry Simon's a professional as well and he was able to see what was happening like like I did and we avoided something that could have been bad a lot of people cheering for this guy top five another one for Robert Wiccans Kevin and Marty it looked like Alexander Rossi was set for at least a top five maybe more running up front and then worse feeling what you can't can't steer the car yeah the camera zooms fell out in the king come on the left front side so pretty pretty detrimental anywhere you go so I couldn't steer the car as you said and we just had to kind of nurse it back to pit lane and from there was we're doing a huge amount of laps on one thing a fuel and we made it fortunately and we salvaged something but yeah hugely disappointing I mean I think the nav Auto Parts in jetty Honda was was good enough for 4/4 for sure possibly a podium if we we had a good final stint there but I guess it just wasn't meant to be today before the issues you were providing a lot of action and already Robert Wiccans and Takuma Sato have common in a little bit neither where were all that pleased we're gonna let you look at and this is the start on the opening lap but Robbie yeah yeah pass him on the inside you see no issue no issue whatsoever okay I'm not a racing driver I'm making no judgment now the next one was what Takuma Sato he was a little more vocal and he just didn't like that there wasn't contact there how did you see that one was the first one so that's why I did it again and obviously the race stewards didn't see any issue with it so you mean it's tindy car racing man this is hard stuff it's a wheel to wheel you know we talk about a lot in the driver's meeting sit the primary responsibility is the overtaking car but you know once you're alongside it's your corner so it's their decision to stay on the outside we enjoyed the entertainment thanks so much thanks for hanging around - no problem thanks guys tough disappointing day for Alexander Rossi today from a top five maybe third third fourth and he finishes 16th now into a tie for second in the championship I touch I tell you what I love is I love his style I love the side by side racing I love the bumpin and grindin but I find myself next to you all the time Townsend I got to tell you don't touch me well then back off back off on the outside we'll continue this discussion when we wrapping up the cola drop free from Elkhart Lake wrote America [Music] that pretty much sets the scene doesn't it Elkhart Lake that's what it's all about really popular holiday destination place vacation and we are at that time of the year and it has been an enjoyable day here at Road America enjoyable race from from many perspectives obviously when green flag to flag so no problem there but a lot to take away from this event what's the big one for you I think for me it's Alexander Rossi he's very aggressive right at the limit of what's allowed and he minimized the point loss somehow he's still third in points decide it's despite a disastrous day but I love the fact that he gets his elbows out and kind of digs into the guys it's fun I like the racing today there was a lot of good action okay there wasn't any passing for the lead Newgarden put on a clinic today and what it takes to win a race in IndyCar st he maintained the gap did his fuel mileage and when he said it's good to go he pulled out a bigger lead so he dominated this whole weekend but the action was really great from second back to eighth I think one of the interesting things was when you look at the race and people might say yeah well in 1st 2nd and 3rd there wasn't really much passing and it looked I don't want to say pedestrian but looked you know without running line of stone but then when you hear the guys talk to say how intense it was how hard Ryan hunter-reay was pushing Joseph how hard Joseph had to push him he said Tim was coaching me I had to follow and I had Rodgers voice in my head just keep it calm stay steady you'll be there at the end you know there was so much more going on than what appeared it's a hundred and forty mile an hour average lap that's hard to get right up behind a guys gearbox sound is so tough so these cars are so fast around here I think also the resurgence of Ryan hunter-reay this season yes is terrific you know he's really coming on strong like we saw back in 2014 with his championship run so it's been it's been a good day and I think the balance of the season looks really encouraging very strong performance we just heard from him very strong from Ray Hall Letterman Lanigan to have both team cars up there Robert Wiccans again impressing by the way Simon passion out in the end we didn't mention this in the race course I'm impatient I did get Spencer Pickett in the end so Spencer got eighth which is still the best of his season but speaking more about Paige now let's hear from the Frenchman and seventh is his best finish on a road course retreat courses which is hard to believe we're in the second half of the season but how hard was that fight guys were just talking about what a battle it was out there to get from starting 14th to finishing seventh yeah it was a really good race you know it really is a shame we didn't qualify better yesterday by three tenths of a thousand you know if we qualify in the next segment we can make adjustment to the car which was to lose and then it becomes a whole different story I think I would have fought for a better position like our teammates and the whole weekend changes but today it was ahead of a race I had a great time the Menards car was fast we made a lot of passes I had a great time that was probably my best race here just just having fun passing people I know it was tough to get up there but also on pit road had a little bit of a run-in with Robert Wiccans how much did that set you back you came in seventh on that stop wound up going back to ninth and had to get back to seventh by racing on the track yeah we're just talking about it we think we had to pace finish fourth or fifth that really cost us a lot because then I had to deal with their joints and Spence Spencer figured again but you know it is what it is the shame I mean to me that was unsafe release because I really had to slow down I had to stop so I lost a bunch of time Spencer passed me Edie pass me on track so it's a shame I'm not calling the races so I can't say anything but it's a definite Acosta's Iowa coming up next so you kind of become where you've liked like short ovals don't you I'm excited to get on oval hey wait wait that's a headline in itself you're excited to get to ennoble it is the road ko sex but it's becoming more of an oval I don't know I like it better right now I think it's just we've got to find what I like about these cars on these kind of tracks we're getting there it's slow but think about it it's all about fine details and 3,000 of a second would have made a difference it was a scrap for Simon passion Oh Kelly from 14th to 7th finishing right behind him Spencer Pickett as Lee mentioned eighth your best results of the season you told me yesterday you just hope to have a good clean race and a result would come from that qualified tenth finish date but was it as simple as that no definitely not you know the start was it was pretty eventful for us I you know obviously we'll had an issue and I kind of got boxed in behind him and the rest of the field was just kind of streaming past me on the inside so we fell back a lot in the first thing first lap but weren't able to pass a lot of guys and move up but you know overall the direct supply chevy was really good for us and the guys are really good in pit lane but it's a little frustrating to get passed there by Simon on the last lap but you know we we did the last in there on used the reds and we're just hanging on there and he just got me but overall is a great race you know I had a lot of fun out there a lot of really good battles and a clean race but lots of hard driving right they've had kind of an up-and-down season this is definitely a high point so far finishing eighth Robyn all right this man thought about this too late he stormed all the way back to 10th after getting screwed and start throw a water ball bring out a yellow but no you didn't do it I know I should have in hindsight I should have done it it would have helped a lot but you know here's what it is that's the way it goes sometimes when this whole race starts and you're thinking okay I'm you know I got a Honda I got a chance and you're in the absolute worst possible place because of wills problem yeah just bad luck you're wrong place wrong time on the start there and you know we we roll the dice starting on the blacks and we kind of needed to maintain position on the start and then in the wrong lane swore my guys on reds it pushes back a lot but we had good pace over the stay and that's what mattered you know we really took care of those fire stones really well and that's what paid dividends for us today I gave you a terrible stat with 10 or 12 laps to go the hook the first six were like six seconds apart and there's like 200 passes in the race it was a hell of a race to watch was it fun to drive honestly that's probably the most fun I've had in any car in a long time with the kind of race that we had we started at the back we fell back even further got a bunch of guys I had a bad first pit stop at a problem with the fuel and lost a lot of track position and we were just like quality laps every single time I think we've made passes on the outside one five twelve two wheels in the grass I mean my car's got way more tire marks on it than it has any other race so far this year that's why we love coming around America man the Racing's so good it's such a fun place to drive in any car and with all that we had today I'm thrilled we came back with a top ten I mean the Aero car was probably top five face but I think like I said way to battle back a lot we didn't get that yellow to help us out and even up the field so part of the boys day all right Lee hitch got temped out of today yes he made something out of nothing we but on the backfoot at the start time to spray the champagne if you're Josef Newgarden we'll be back to wrap things up right after this ten of the seventeen rounds in this year's Verizon IndyCar Series are done and that man their center of your screen Joseph Newgarden the 27 year old American has won three of the ten looking good to defend his title he's got some points to catch up on though as we show you the unofficial results and we've heard from the majority of those drivers Marco Andretti just missing out on a top ten I thought it was a pretty solid day from Jordan King as well yeah nice recovery had some moments during the race quiet run from Ed Jones but finishes with top ten also and they think for a lot of these guys they are gonna start thinking about points as we're in the second half of the year and running toward Sonoma Paul yeah the guys who really got hurt today was poor day he had an issue you look at poor willpower came in and he's dropped and Rossi had a problem these guys have dropped but they're still in the championship frame I think really the cutoff now and the points is what's really shaping up the top five guys from power on up to the leader that's really shaping the picture for the rest of the year well to your point let's have a look at the points and this is how they stand 45 the difference from Dixon back to a tie for second between Andretti Autosport teammates Ryan hunter-reay and alexander rossi and that was the point that you brought up Townsend that it was very much a good effort from Rossi today of damage control yeah even shockingly with a 16th place finish he still sits third just 45 points back and I immediately start thinking about what sort of tracks we have coming up you've got Iowa or Hunter Ray's been so strong we go to some places that are permanent road courses it might favor a new gardener at Dixon we've got a super speedway in Pocono so a lot you let to play it yet to play out ball yeah I mean there's a chance for Wiccans and pagin oh and graham to get in the championship picture but I think right now it's the top five guys we're gonna be focusing on from here out so there you have a beautiful day at one of the most spectacular race courses you can be at anywhere in the world coming up next it's Meachem auto auctions from Portland and to join us in just two weeks time on Sunday July 8th at 2 o'clock Eastern for the next oval as all of the drivers have been talking about at the Iowa Corn 300 what a day here in Wisconsin's we congratulate Joseph Newgarden we'll see you in Iowa two weeks time [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: NTT INDYCAR SERIES

Views: 227,599

Keywords: IndyCar, Racing, Motorsports, Verizon, Verizon IndyCar Series, Open-Wheel, Indy 500, Indianapolis 500, Autosports

Id: 4U4gADtvu7Y

Length: 108min 40sec (6520 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 28 2018