Honda GP of Alabama post-race press conference

Drivers

From left, Hunter-Reay, Newgarden and Hinchcliffe

1 – Josef Newgarden (Penske Chevy)
2 – Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Honda)
3 – James Hinchcliffe (SPM Honda)

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We will welcome in our race winner Josef Newgarden, now a three-time winner here at Barber Motorsports Park. Today driving the No. 1 Hitachi Chevrolet for Team Penske. Josef —

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: A little discombobulated right now.

THE MODERATOR: As you said a few times today, the race was a little more eventful than you probably would have liked it to be, but ultimately able to sail to a strong finish here at Barber Motorsports Park. Take us through your race and trying to hold everybody off, when to go to rains, when not to, all that stuff.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: More hectic than you would want at the end. It seemed like it was pretty straightforward all day. We weren't having yellows. It was dry. Then that rain made it very nerve-racking. I think for us we did the only thing we could. We went to rains as soon as it intensified. We had to. I think it was the right thing to do, just because we're in the lead, we have the most to lose by not putting on rains early.

The only thing that did was we kind of burned off the fronts of our rain tires because it was still dryish, there was still dry parts of the track. So we weren't getting the tires cooled off enough, which rain tires they're designed to be driven in the rain.

But once it started to intensify, those guys, Hunter-Reay, Bourdais, who were making it look pretty good — they actually did a great job when it was still pretty wet. Once it got too wet, they obviously had to pit. But they kept it on the road, which to me was very impressive, and they did a great job. Fortunately, the weather cooperated with what we needed, and I think that's ultimately what got it done.

THE MODERATOR: As you move on in your career and you start racking up multiple wins at a certain track and people start thinking, wow, there must be something about Josef Newgarden at Barber Motorsports Park that's special, or he must have some sort of trick or secret that he's just got it down, and you see this with a lot of drivers that had multiple wins at tracks. Do you feel like that's the case? Are you building something like that?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I hope not. I don't buy into it as much. I think Scott Dixon's been arguably just as good here as Mid-Ohio, which people might go that's not true at all. But he's had so many second places here and so many potential wins that these types of tracks, I think, Scott's good at, but he's good everywhere. It just seems like there's some places that just work out better.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Hopefully, we get multiple wins — I guess where I'm going with this is I hope we get multiple wins at other tracks, and it's not just one place where people think you're good. I think we've got a good road course car. I think that's what helps here. Especially last year and this year, I think Team Penske's car has been very strong, and that's what's made a difference. Hopefully, we can be strong at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, which are similar type tracks. I think we've got a good road course car, we can do that too.

I don't buy too much into you have a track that you're just dominant at. I think, if you've got a good road course car, we can make it work everywhere else. So hopefully we do.

Q. Seems like a lot of that strength comes from your team in Team Penske. Both of your teammates are former winners at this track. Does that lead to all of this information and data sharing from past success at the track?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, like you said, everyone's been very good here. Will's been very successful. Simon's been successful here. They have good cars. Team Penske makes a difference with what they do, their employees. Everyone that's got their hands involved in it, they make the difference at the end of the day.

So all of that, combined with Team Chevy, I think, has done a great job this year. They've really given us the engine that we need to compete against Honda, which has been a challenge this year. They've been very good, but I think Team Chevy has done a great job giving us the power and reliability, and today we had the fuel mileage. They make the difference too, not just the team.

And then obviously, having Hitachi on the car this weekend was great. Because we got Verizon a win to start off the year, and now we got Hitachi one too. I'm pretty happy as far as 2018 goes.

THE MODERATOR: Before I open it up for questions, for those of us that aren't too familiar with rain racing, how much more physically demanding is a race like that? Is it or is it not?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's more stressful. It's stressful in that, if it's just wet and it's not changing conditions, it's one thing. You can kind of deal with that very easily. Same thing with the dry obviously. If it's just dry, then you don't have to worry about the middle ground or making a mistake in a transition. It's really the transition into wet or transitioning from wet to dry that can be very nerve-racking.

Physically, it's not that difficult because the cornering speeds are so much longer. In the dry around here, it's very physical, really, really physical, one of the most physical tracks we go to for this race distance. In the rain, it makes it a lot easier because your cornering speeds, like I said, are so much lower. It really helps you out as a driver where you're not leaning on neck. You're not leaning on the shoulder as much. You can kind of take a break.

But from an anxiety standpoint, it's a lot when it rains. You're very nervous at those points.

Q. Josef, when you pitted in lap 71, you came out maybe eight or nine seconds behind Bourdais. Would you have been able to catch him? He was on a one-stop strategy.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, but I don't know what you mean. Would I have caught him on rain tires?

Q. No. Against the pit stop.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't know if he would have made it in one stop, to be honest. If the rain didn't come out, I think he might have struggled to stretch it and had to slow too much, I think personally. It's just a different situation. We were working on building the gap. He was working on saving fuel, like you said.

But I think the rain is what changed the whole thing because you could have been running a lot faster till the end. We would have gotten more laps in because it was against the time clock. I think he would have struggled to make that work a lot more if it stayed dry. Yeah, that's what I would say.

Q. Josef, walk me through the challenge from yesterday on the wet, starting again today on the dry, and then finishing again in the wet.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's pretty simple today. It didn't rain. The track wasn't that soaked. That made a difference from yesterday. Yesterday there was just too much standing water, and it just intensified and got to the point where there was so much, you just couldn't run in it with these cars.

But today that level of rain was getting more to the point where we started the race yesterday. It wasn't even quite to that level. So it was plenty easy to run in the rain today.

But, yeah, it was very odd rolling into the track this morning, just having to race again. Nothing wrong with that. It just felt strange because it's not something we normally do. It felt very abnormal to get back in the car and restart, and you're just trying to stay focused on getting the job done over the last evening.

Q. Josef, can you explain the reason why you chose the reds for the start. What kind of strategy did you have?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We just thought it would be a quicker tire, better grip, especially on a green racetrack. We thought it would be a bit better. I thought they wore out quite a lot. I was really struggling with rear tire degradation just because the track was so green. We thought better grip, going to be a faster tire.

Really, actually, if you look at the race, I think the red tires were just better. You had dropoff between the black and the red tires. They were pretty even dropoff. It's just the reds were overall quicker.

I think that would have been the tire of choice. If it stayed dry, I think we would have gone reds there at the end. We did the blacks in the middle, but I think at the end, we would have used reds on and tried to run those out to the finish.

Q. Were you surprised when Sebastien (no microphone)?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes and no. They were making them work as long as they could. But then you saw it got to a point where it's too wet. He was about wrecking every lap. I mean, we could have stayed out and risked it like them too, but for us it made no sense. We had everything to lose. They had everything to gain. So I don't blame them with what they did. If it stopped raining, we would have been — we just would have been in bad luck then. It would have been their race to win if it stopped raining at that point because they would have been able to make it work.

But it was just a matter of how much water is going to come. That's the biggest thing. We were racing the weather. If you listened to my radio, that was what Tim was saying. We're racing the weather right now. We're not racing anyone else. The rain was either going to come more and work out for us or it wasn't. Fortunately, it just kept coming down, and the more it came down, the more it just played into our hands.

Q. (No microphone)?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, that's IndyCar racing. I think that's what you saw a little bit last week with Rossi at Long Beach. It's like, when you're not saving fuel, it can look a little bit deceiving. I think we had great pace. Our car was very fast, and we would have been fast regardless. If we're not saving fuel, it's probably going to look more exaggerated. That's, I think, why the gap built so aggressively because I was just, for the most part, running at my pace that I could. Yeah, it makes it look a lot better for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Josef, thank you. Congratulations.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: We will welcome in Ryan Hunter-Reay, who finished second in today's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. A two-time winner here, Ryan, really close, again, to that top step. Obviously, a very eventful race, shredding it out over two days. How did you guys work your way up to the front?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It was tough. Today it looked like the weather was clear. So the meteorologists are fired for sure. We thought it was going to be a nice dry race and ended up a little bit of a curveball at the end there.

So the challenge to begin the race was dealing with trying to get the fuel number, trying to make it on one stop. That was difficult for sure. And then toward the end, you know, with the rain coming, I could see the clouds coming, the moisture starting to accumulate on the visor, sliding around a little bit. The key there was trying to pit at the right time, not too early to where you burn the fronts off and not too late to where you'd be sliding around too much on slick.

I think Newgarden was right on the cusp. Had it gone another three or four laps, he might have been in trouble with the time he pitted because it was still a little bit dry when he took his rains.

We were coming there at the end. I think we had really good rain pace, catching Newgarden by a bunch every lap, but just a little too late. All in all, a good weekend. Drama free for us, so nice.

THE MODERATOR: Seemed like there was a lot of strategies playing out throughout the race. People trying to work their way to the front however they could. Waiting for tires, getting tires early. Ultimately, why did you guys land on the strategy you chose?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It was kind of wait and see. You kind of had to react. What kind of fuel consumption do we have on lap one, two, three, four, once you settle into a rhythm. From there, are there any yellows? Is this going to be reachable to do it in one? That's where those guys really earn the money on the timing. There's a whole lot of math going on. I'm just in the car getting the number that I'm told to get. It is tricky at times, but certainly they had a lot of stress today trying to make that happen.

Can you ask me some questions?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Ryan, how nervous were you with the No. 5 car breathing down your neck?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It was terrible. I was like why is he going so fast? We're saving fuel.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Did you pee yourself?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I didn't.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Not today. I was covered in a different yellow liquid, but that was after the race.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: We thought you were popular on Dancing With the Stars. You've taken a whole other level now.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: I joked with Robin Miller this morning that it was the piss heard round the world because it was literally picked up by more.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: No doubt, man. Good on you, brother.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: My phone was blowing up. I did not expect that at all. Oh, hi. I forgot this was actual.

(No microphone.)

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, yeah, guy's like a sprinkler.

THE MODERATOR: Did you think we're safe for this press conference?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: You should start a movement, something where people piss their pants on road trips and take pictures. What would you call it?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: If kids are willing to eat Tide Pods, they'll pee themselves in a road car. That's not a problem.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: What would you hash tag it?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: #GrandPee. Instead of #GrandPrix, #GrandPee.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: We'll get back to you.

THE MODERATOR: No need to make serious decisions such as these right now. Let's think on it.

James, let's formally welcome you in. A new career best finish for you here at Barber Motorsports Park, finishing third in today's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, but an eventful race, one that was spread over two days, obviously. Your thoughts on the race and ultimately a new podium finish for you here at Barber.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: It's great to finally get on the podium here. I feel like we kind of always flirt with it every year. The track, I've got a decent history at, but it's like that fifth, sixth, seventh range.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Hinchtown Hose Me Down, something like that.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Nice, but it looks like you're peeing on somebody else. Hose it down? Hinchtown Hose It Down. We'll work on that. That's good though.

It was nice to finally get up on the podium. Like I said, we've had some strong cars here in the past, just haven't been able to seal the deal. Man, what an eventful race. We started off kind of the odd guys out, in the top ten at least, starting on the Firestone Blacks. I think it was a solid call. The red started to go up at the end there.

We were able to get Alex coming in right behind Ryan. He was really good on the out lap. We didn't really have anything for him there.

Then the rain was coming. It was like a little bit. At first I didn't say anything. They can't do anything about it. Started raining a little bit more. Started raining a little bit. No, we see it. Started raining a little bit more. Rain tires? No, no, no, don't be crazy. Like a lap later, maybe you're not crazy. They made a great call on when to come in. I think it was a two-lap window. You had one of two laps to get in there and capitalize on it.

Huge credit to the SPM team. Two cars in the top ten in qualifying, two cars in the top five in the race. Huge congrats to Robbie, and obviously to Josef and Ryan as well for first and second, because that race had a little of everything. We had to keep guys on red tires behind us when we were on black for the start, and you had to not pit stop in the rain, when you had flicks on, when you had wets on — just a little bit of everything.

Like I said, just part of the guys who had a terrible test here a few weeks ago, and to come back with this result, third and fourth in 15 cars, is great.

THE MODERATOR: So many things to think about and all the decisions you have to make. From a mentality standpoint, going from a race one day to a race the very next, continuing that race, what does that do — what goes on behind the scenes from a team standpoint there?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: This one in particular was tough. The race ended obviously having only run in the wet. We were going back to the dry. We hadn't been in the dry since qualifying on Saturday. That's obviously a bit of a different car than you want for the race. Don't know what track conditions are going to be like. It was good of the Series to kind of give us the opportunity to work on the cars and do something. Make sure we get — try and get our heads around it.

It was all kind of guesswork. Everybody kind of just took their best stab at it. Our predictions had rain at the beginning and dry at the end. When it started dry, we're like, oh, we're dry for the whole race. We're good. We didn't really have anything prepared on the car for any wet running.

But that's the risk you take, and that's the kind of game of roulette you play with Mother Nature every weekend. We did an all right job as a team and proud of that.

Q. Ryan, you've had a rough start to the last two seasons, but you've come on later in the season. How does it feel going to the month of May with you're right in range in the points?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, this is — like I mentioned, this is the first weekend this year that we've had no issues, no drama. At St. Pete we had the electrical issue before the race, had to start from pit lane. At Phoenix, we had some type of fuel rig issue where we couldn't get all the fuel in the car. And then Long Beach was Long Beach. It was nice just to have a nice, straightforward weekend.

The team worked really hard. Like James said, we kind of rolled off the truck not happy, but we continued to work on the car. Made it better through the weekend, got into the Fast Six, moved up a few spots through the race, and got a bit of everything this weekend. Nice to have that momentum rolling into May.

My Southwest pilot texted me he's holding the plane.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Good job. Thanks, man.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: You too.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Does that mean me too? Sweet, cool. Thanks, guys. I wait until I'm dismissed.