JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: “It definitely was a bit of a shot. I want to cry. I’m so sad for my team. I don’t know what happened. It was a good run. It’s just one race but I feel terrible for us. Team Chevy and Hitachi guys did a great job. Something went wrong there.”
YOU REPORTED A VIBRATION EARLIER. DID THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT? “I’m not sure. Everything felt fine to me up to that point. I did have a vibration at the start of the stint, which isn’t abnormal. Tire balances are always shifting. It’s very possible that we had a mismatched set or something. It wasn’t diabolical whatsoever. Actually everything felt just fine. It was totally unexpected when it happened. It caught me by surprise. I didn’t know what happened until I was in the wall.”
THE BOOTH THINKS SOMETHING DEFINITELY BROKE. “This is racing. Team Penske is the best. I never have this stuff so maybe we were due. We can’t afford it for this year. But we’ll fight back. We have a great team here.”
OFF TO THE INDY ROAD COURSE AFTER TODAY. WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUR TEAM? “We pick right back up. We don’t stop fighting.”
THE RADIO BOOTH MENTIONED SOMETHING MAY HAVE BOTTOMED OUT. “I just feel bad for Team Chevy and Hitachi. This is just heart-breaking. I don’t have the evidence in front of me right now but something went wrong.”
THAT WAS A BIG HIT. WHERE DOES THAT ONE STACK UP? “It definitely rocked me. I got a little bit shaken from it but I’m OK. We have great safety in INDYCAR, and the car held up good. So it wasn’t that bad, but it’s never nice to hit the wall at flat-chat. We’ll pick up the pieces and go on.”
GM PR
