Power Wins IndyCar Season Finale at Auto Club Speedway
October 20, 2013
THE RESULTS
MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif. – two-mile superspeedway oval
October 19, 2013
THE RESULTS
No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Driven By Aj Allmendinger
Starting Position: 2
Finishing Position: 16
Staus: Running
Final Series Position: NA
No. 3 Auto Club Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Driven By Helio Castroneves
Starting Position: 12
Finishing Position: 6
Staus: Running
Final Series Position: 2
No. 12 Verizon Dallara/Chevrolet
Driven By Will Power
Starting Position: 1
Finishing Position: 1
Staus: Running
Final Series Position: 4
THE RACE REVIEW
No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
AJ Allmendinger
· Competing in his first IZOD IndyCar Series race since June, Allmendinger ran well throughout the weekend until contact forced him out of Saturday’s race early.
· Allmendinger qualified third for the MAVTV 500 for his best qualifying result in six starts for Team Penske this season. He moved up a position to start second on Saturday night after teammate Helio Castroneves took a grid penalty for changing engines.
· Throughout most of the first half of the 500-mile race, Allmendinger ran inside the top 10 and even raced among the top-five competitors.
· On lap 190, Allmendinger tried to get around a car that was slowing quickly to enter pit lane and the IZOD car made contact with the wall to end a promising race.
· Allmendinger was credited with a 16th-place finish as a result of the contact.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
AJ Allmendinger
ON SATURDAY’S RESULT IN THE MAVTV 500
“That was definitely not the finish we wanted for Team Penske, for IZOD or for anyone. Our goal was to finish the race and obviously we fell short of that. I was trying to avoid going a lap down and someone slowed quickly in front of me to go to the pits and I had too much speed to try and get around him and just made contact. I feel bad that we weren’t able to be there at the end for Helio tonight but it was a great win by Will and the team and awesome for Chevy to win the manufacturer’s title. Thanks again to Roger Penske and IZOD for the opportunity to race here this weekend.” - AJ Allmendinger
THE RACE REVIEW
No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California
Helio Castroneves
· Castroneves entered Saturday night’s race trailing Scott Dixon by 25 points in the race for the IZOD IndyCar Series championship.
· Throughout the weekend, Castroneves demonstrated the speed to compete for the race win and claim the series title.
· After qualifying second on Friday with an impressive two-lap average speed of 219.677 mph, Castroneves and the No. 3 team were assessed a 10-spot starting grid penalty for changing engines before the event. With the penalty, Castroneves started 12th on Saturday.
· From the green flag, Castroneves immediately began to move to the front of the field. He advanced to sixth place on the opening lap and was running inside the top three by lap six.
· After battling hard with Ryan Hunter-Reay for the top spot, Castroneves took the race lead for the first time on lap 82.
· In all, Castroneves led three times for 27 laps on Saturday night as he consistently ran at the front of the field.
· In the later stages of the race, Castroneves had some minor contact with the car driven by Charlie Kimball. Castroneves had to make an unscheduled pit stop to replace the front wing and as a result he fell a lap down to the leaders.
· In the closing laps, Castroneves valiantly tried to get back on the lead lap but he wound up finishing sixth, one lap down and one position behind Dixon, who claimed the series title.
· The result marked the third time in his career that Castroneves has finished second in the series championship (2002 and 2008).
· In a testament to the team’s consistency and performance, Castroneves led all drivers with 16 top-10 finishes in 2013 and he was the only driver to be running at the finish in all 19 races this year.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Helio Castroneves
ON SATURDAY NIGHT’S RESULT
"We gave it everything we had tonight. We certainly tried our best and it was a great effort by the Auto Club team.
I had an awesome time out there, let me tell you. We were going for it and there were a lot of guys doing the same. We knew it wasn't going to be easy and it wasn't. In the end we came up a little short but we have to give credit to Scott (Dixon) and the Ganassi team. They are the champions. What a great win by Will as well. We had a great season, I'm proud of all of my guys and I'm already looking forward to trying to win the IndyCar championship in 2014."– Helio Castroneves
ON HAVING TO REPLACE THE FRONT WING AND FALLING A LAP DOWN LATE IN THE RACE
“It was tough but there was a lot of close racing out there. I think the race must have been really fun to watch because I know from my point of view it was certainly an adventure. That happens when you race hard and we knew if we wanted to try and win the race and the championship we would have to race hard. Even after we went a lap down I still believed I could get it back and make my way to the front again. But, it just wasn’t meant to be.” – Helio Castroneves
THE RACE REVIEW
No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Will Power
· Power began Saturday night’s race from the top spot after winning his third pole position of the season on Friday when he posted an impressive two-lap average speed of 220.775 mph.
· The Verizon car and Power showed good speed all weekend and it continued throughout the race. Power led the first 11 laps and ran toward the front of the field for nearly all 500 miles.
· During the race, Power did endure some challenges. He had a tough race restart on lap 81 as he dropped from fifth to 17th place but he recovered and made his way back up front within about 20 laps. Power also had an issue with his visor and the Verizon crew did a good job replacing it as Power made two stops under yellow on lap 114 and 119.
· Power reclaimed the race lead on lap 134 and he raced among the leaders for the rest of the night. In all, Power led six times for a race-high 103 laps.
· With 29 laps remaining, Power pitted for the final time to take on four fresh tires. He made his way back to the front six laps later and never looked back as he claimed his third win of 2013.
· Power closed the season with a flourish as he won three of the last five races and went from 11th to fourth in the series standings over the final six races.
· Sunday’s victory represents Power’s 21st in IndyCar competition.
· The win also clinched the series Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet for the second consecutive season.
· Power has now finished among the top four in the IndyCar Series standings in each of the last four seasons.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Will Power
ON SATURDAY NIGHT’S WIN
“This is the most satisfying win of my life. I really wanted to close the season strong with a win. It was tough what happened here last year, losing the championship after we went out early. I just really wanted to come back here and show what we could do. We’ve been better on the ovals all year and I knew we could go for it here. The Verizon car was so fast all weekend. We got some great pit stops from the boys and we did what we came here to do – we won it.” – Will Power
ON IMPROVING PERFORMANCES ON THE OVALS
“I really wanted to focus on finishing the ovals and try to get as many laps of experience as I could. We did that and our results have continued to improve. To win a 500-mile race like this, I think it really shows how far we’ve come and what we are capable of.” – Will Power
ON A STRONG FINISH TO THE SEASON
“It was very important for us to have a strong finish to the season. After the way we started the season, to finish fourth in the standings is a good accomplishment. Of course we wish we would have been able to fight for the championship but we definitely did a better job with the race results in the second half of the season. Hopefully we can just build on that in 2014. ” – Will Power
MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif. – two-mile superspeedway oval
October 19, 2013
THE RESULTS
No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Driven By Aj Allmendinger
Starting Position: 2
Finishing Position: 16
Staus: Running
Final Series Position: NA
No. 3 Auto Club Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Driven By Helio Castroneves
Starting Position: 12
Finishing Position: 6
Staus: Running
Final Series Position: 2
No. 12 Verizon Dallara/Chevrolet
Driven By Will Power
Starting Position: 1
Finishing Position: 1
Staus: Running
Final Series Position: 4
THE RACE REVIEW
No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
AJ Allmendinger
· Competing in his first IZOD IndyCar Series race since June, Allmendinger ran well throughout the weekend until contact forced him out of Saturday’s race early.
· Allmendinger qualified third for the MAVTV 500 for his best qualifying result in six starts for Team Penske this season. He moved up a position to start second on Saturday night after teammate Helio Castroneves took a grid penalty for changing engines.
· Throughout most of the first half of the 500-mile race, Allmendinger ran inside the top 10 and even raced among the top-five competitors.
· On lap 190, Allmendinger tried to get around a car that was slowing quickly to enter pit lane and the IZOD car made contact with the wall to end a promising race.
· Allmendinger was credited with a 16th-place finish as a result of the contact.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
AJ Allmendinger
ON SATURDAY’S RESULT IN THE MAVTV 500
“That was definitely not the finish we wanted for Team Penske, for IZOD or for anyone. Our goal was to finish the race and obviously we fell short of that. I was trying to avoid going a lap down and someone slowed quickly in front of me to go to the pits and I had too much speed to try and get around him and just made contact. I feel bad that we weren’t able to be there at the end for Helio tonight but it was a great win by Will and the team and awesome for Chevy to win the manufacturer’s title. Thanks again to Roger Penske and IZOD for the opportunity to race here this weekend.” - AJ Allmendinger
THE RACE REVIEW
No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California
Helio Castroneves
· Castroneves entered Saturday night’s race trailing Scott Dixon by 25 points in the race for the IZOD IndyCar Series championship.
· Throughout the weekend, Castroneves demonstrated the speed to compete for the race win and claim the series title.
· After qualifying second on Friday with an impressive two-lap average speed of 219.677 mph, Castroneves and the No. 3 team were assessed a 10-spot starting grid penalty for changing engines before the event. With the penalty, Castroneves started 12th on Saturday.
· From the green flag, Castroneves immediately began to move to the front of the field. He advanced to sixth place on the opening lap and was running inside the top three by lap six.
· After battling hard with Ryan Hunter-Reay for the top spot, Castroneves took the race lead for the first time on lap 82.
· In all, Castroneves led three times for 27 laps on Saturday night as he consistently ran at the front of the field.
· In the later stages of the race, Castroneves had some minor contact with the car driven by Charlie Kimball. Castroneves had to make an unscheduled pit stop to replace the front wing and as a result he fell a lap down to the leaders.
· In the closing laps, Castroneves valiantly tried to get back on the lead lap but he wound up finishing sixth, one lap down and one position behind Dixon, who claimed the series title.
· The result marked the third time in his career that Castroneves has finished second in the series championship (2002 and 2008).
· In a testament to the team’s consistency and performance, Castroneves led all drivers with 16 top-10 finishes in 2013 and he was the only driver to be running at the finish in all 19 races this year.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Helio Castroneves
ON SATURDAY NIGHT’S RESULT
"We gave it everything we had tonight. We certainly tried our best and it was a great effort by the Auto Club team.
I had an awesome time out there, let me tell you. We were going for it and there were a lot of guys doing the same. We knew it wasn't going to be easy and it wasn't. In the end we came up a little short but we have to give credit to Scott (Dixon) and the Ganassi team. They are the champions. What a great win by Will as well. We had a great season, I'm proud of all of my guys and I'm already looking forward to trying to win the IndyCar championship in 2014."– Helio Castroneves
ON HAVING TO REPLACE THE FRONT WING AND FALLING A LAP DOWN LATE IN THE RACE
“It was tough but there was a lot of close racing out there. I think the race must have been really fun to watch because I know from my point of view it was certainly an adventure. That happens when you race hard and we knew if we wanted to try and win the race and the championship we would have to race hard. Even after we went a lap down I still believed I could get it back and make my way to the front again. But, it just wasn’t meant to be.” – Helio Castroneves
THE RACE REVIEW
No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet
Will Power
· Power began Saturday night’s race from the top spot after winning his third pole position of the season on Friday when he posted an impressive two-lap average speed of 220.775 mph.
· The Verizon car and Power showed good speed all weekend and it continued throughout the race. Power led the first 11 laps and ran toward the front of the field for nearly all 500 miles.
· During the race, Power did endure some challenges. He had a tough race restart on lap 81 as he dropped from fifth to 17th place but he recovered and made his way back up front within about 20 laps. Power also had an issue with his visor and the Verizon crew did a good job replacing it as Power made two stops under yellow on lap 114 and 119.
· Power reclaimed the race lead on lap 134 and he raced among the leaders for the rest of the night. In all, Power led six times for a race-high 103 laps.
· With 29 laps remaining, Power pitted for the final time to take on four fresh tires. He made his way back to the front six laps later and never looked back as he claimed his third win of 2013.
· Power closed the season with a flourish as he won three of the last five races and went from 11th to fourth in the series standings over the final six races.
· Sunday’s victory represents Power’s 21st in IndyCar competition.
· The win also clinched the series Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet for the second consecutive season.
· Power has now finished among the top four in the IndyCar Series standings in each of the last four seasons.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Will Power
ON SATURDAY NIGHT’S WIN
“This is the most satisfying win of my life. I really wanted to close the season strong with a win. It was tough what happened here last year, losing the championship after we went out early. I just really wanted to come back here and show what we could do. We’ve been better on the ovals all year and I knew we could go for it here. The Verizon car was so fast all weekend. We got some great pit stops from the boys and we did what we came here to do – we won it.” – Will Power
ON IMPROVING PERFORMANCES ON THE OVALS
“I really wanted to focus on finishing the ovals and try to get as many laps of experience as I could. We did that and our results have continued to improve. To win a 500-mile race like this, I think it really shows how far we’ve come and what we are capable of.” – Will Power
ON A STRONG FINISH TO THE SEASON
“It was very important for us to have a strong finish to the season. After the way we started the season, to finish fourth in the standings is a good accomplishment. Of course we wish we would have been able to fight for the championship but we definitely did a better job with the race results in the second half of the season. Hopefully we can just build on that in 2014. ” – Will Power