Carpenter claims victory in Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway
IndyCar, IndyCar News/Releases, INDYCAR PR — By More Front Wing Staff on June 8, 2014 9:33 am[Source: IndyCar press release]
*
FORT WORTH, Texas (Saturday, June 7, 2014) – Ed Carpenter held off Will Power and three other drivers during a restart shootout in the final three laps to win the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway by 0.5247 of a second.
It was the third career victory for the owner/driver and second for Ed Carpenter Racing this season. There have been six different winners, including Carpenter’s teammate Mike Conway, in eight races.
“I just felt like we left some on the table in qualifying, but it made me extra motivated,” said Carpenter, who qualified fifth in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. “I think we were for sure the car to beat at the end. I have loved this race track for a long time and had a lot of bad luck here. I have really always wanted to win here, so I’m super excited.”
Carpenter, who led only a single lap in his previous 12 starts on the 1.455-mile, high-banked oval with a previous best finish of fourth, led 90 laps.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished a season-high third place in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske car and Simon Pagenaud was fourth in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car. Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon placed fifth in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, followed by teammate Tony Kanaan.
Power, the Verizon P1 Award winner in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, led more than half of the 248-lap race, but was issued a drive-through penalty because of a pit lane speed violation with 35 laps left.
He was sixth when the final yellow flag was shown on Lap 242, and race strategist Tim Cindric called in Power to pit two laps later for fresh tires. Following the restart, he overtook three cars to gain back most of the points he would have lost because of the penalty. Power has a 39-point lead over teammate Helio Castroneves in the championship heading to the doubleheader in Houston.
“I was really disappointed by (speeding) again, but what an awesome call by my team. It would have been a good battle there at the end, but to get the Verizon car second was just an awesome last lap,” said Power, who has three runner-up finishes to complement his two victories this season. “One more lap and the guy with the tires is going to win.”
Following the conclusion of the race, Verizon IndyCar Series officials reviewed the results and penalized #8 Briscoe, #17 Saavedra, #67 Newgarden and #83 Kimball 30 seconds for failing to follow the direction of Race Control (Rule 9.3.1.7). Per Verizon IndyCar Series rules, lapped cars must fall to the rear of the field for restarts within the final 15 laps and all lapped cars were instructed to drive through the pits on Lap 244. #8 Briscoe and #67 Newgarden failed to drive through the pits and #17 Saavedra and #83 Kimball drove to the pits, but took service.
FIRESTONE 600 POST-RACE NOTES:
– This is Ed Carpenter’s first win of 2014 and the third win of his Indy car career. He previously won at Kentucky in 2011 and Auto Club Speedway in 2012.
– This is Ed Carpenter Racing’s second win of 2014 and its third win in Indy car. It won with Mike Conway earlier this year and with Carpenter at Auto Club in 2012.
– Will Power finished second, his sixth top-five finish of the season and 60th career top-five finish.
– Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, his first podium of the season and his third top-five finish of the season. It is his best finish at Texas Motor Speedway in all racing series.
– Simon Pagenaud finished fourth, his fifth top-five of the season.
– Scott Dixon finished fifth, his fourth top-five finish of the season.
*
NEXT PAGE: Quotes from much of the field following the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway
Tags: Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, Texas Motor Speedway
REPORT CARD FOR THE FIRESTONE (METRIC, NOT MILES OR LAPS) 600
Racing: B+ the tire degradation at least forced the drivers to actually drive the cars. I don’t know why Firestone is trying to emulate Pirelli in F1 unless IndyCar is insisting on inconsistent tires to stir up the pot.
Drivers:B. with the exception of Power, Newgarden and Bourdais everyone did a pretty good job. Power needs a nickname and I nominate “Tin Man” (“If I only had a brain”). Newgarden once again underachieved. I couldn’t from the broadcast whether the pit crew let him down but finishing a lap down with a front row car is a definite disappointment. Apparently Bourdais needs to have his prescription ground into his mirrors.
Officiating: incomplete – at least they stayed out of it during the race. They could hardly ignore Power’s brain fade 100mph pit entry. As usual there was post race enforcement of the “IndyCar Big Book Magic Spells”.
Broadcast: D- (because I never give an F): Technical glitches, numerous missed hand-offs and the usual pit lane inanities and interviews when things are actually happening on the track. Next year guys leave the guns at home!
The Cars: F (as always, and because there is always an exception to the rules): When will the racing gods free us from these ugly ass spec racers.
The Crowd: C- looked a little slim for Texas, probably smaller than the Truck race – haven’t seen TV rating but I’d bet they were not good.
While estimating crowd sizes is the most inexact of all of the sciences (whether on television or in person, as I was), I thought the crowd was comparable to last two years, and significantly larger than the one at Friday night’s Truck series race.
I have decided to give myself a F in accuracy. While editing my post for “Through the Catch Fence” and consulting the “Complete Works of Frank Baum” I came to the realization that Power should actually be known as “Scarecrow”. Alas, it is me who needs a brain.