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NTT INDYCAR SERIES: IOWA 300July 19, 2019Josef NewgardenWill PowerNewton, Iowa THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Will Power, who won the pole the past two years. What's different about today? WILL POWER: Is it any surprise that I'm second? Is it any surprise (laughter)? It isn't for me. That's just this year. THE MODERATOR: What happened on this run? WILL POWER: No, it was actually pretty good. The car was good. All three cars were good. Yeah, just very, very little amount. Yeah, go down a lap pretty quickly. Start right at the front, worked pretty hard. THE MODERATOR: Warm conditions here, a 6:00, 6:15 p.m. start. How much confidence does this give you knowing you're going to have changing conditions? WILL POWER: I think it's still going to be pretty hot. It's basically a day race. Going to be reasonably hot. A lot of tire (degradation), which is good. THE MODERATOR: How have you felt the racing is here, what you've experienced? WILL POWER: Well, considering there's about a thousand (on track passes) last year, it's pretty good. THE MODERATOR: Is this one of the places you enjoy the most? WILL POWER: I really do enjoy this place, I do. I've been trying to win here for a long time. Would love to win a race here. Would love to win a race this season. Yeah, working hard. THE MODERATOR: How do you catch your breath, relax in a race like this? Seems like your left arm is pulling at the wheel the whole time and you're always in concentration mode. WILL POWER: Yeah, you do get like that. You have to keep in a good rhythm. It's easy to get out of a good rhythm and pull back quickly. It's not as physical as it used to be, just because you're pulling nowhere near the Gs. A lot more fun than it used to be. THE MODERATOR: Extra boost at this race makes a difference? WILL POWER: It's not that big. It's not that big. It's a very small step to the next boost level anyway. Just gets a little bit more power. Yeah, it's not bad. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Will. Q. You mentioned in the past you want to see more ovals where you have to lift to go in the corners. Seems like INDYCAR is moving towards that with the increased boost. Do you feel like it's enough or do you want a little bit more? WILL POWER: No, no, no, no. Basically every oval we lift at now. They've done a great job. Totally in the driver and the team's hands of getting the car right, driving the car right. They got the formula right. Q. The short oval, how big is the problem with traffic? WILL POWER: Well, here you're in lap traffic all the time. Simply have to be good at getting through traffic. That's what it will be all day, all night. THE MODERATOR: We welcome to the press conference Josef Newgarden, who seems to have led about 200 some laps every year we come here, at least twice since 2016. Obviously a favorite track of yours. How do you feel about this qualifying session? A little bit left? JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah. I mean, we're third, so wasn't good enough. Now we'll just focus on tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. For either of you, with the tires and the extra horsepower, do you expect the tires to wear out a little bit more? How many lanes do you expect to see during the race? JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think two lanes. Tire wear will be similar to last year, maybe a bit more. WILL POWER: Yeah, same. Really nice if a third lane opened up. It's just a matter of people going there. Q. The polesitter has failed to win here, failed to finish on the podium. Any reason you know why that would be? JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I'm not big into stats, so... Q. You guys have been on a roll like Simon has. How cool is that when you're on a roll like that? WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, I haven't been on that sort of roll for a long time. I haven't felt that. But it's amazing when it just goes your way, yeah. I don't know how you get it or why it happens, but it happens, and it's awesome if you can get that. If you're listening, please give me a chance, give me one, please (laughter). Q. Josef, talk about the difference between the morning and the qualifying session. Was there something that changed in your car or just didn't improve as much as you'd like? JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Conditions were similar, so I don't think it changed much. Just obviously we didn't nail it, so we got to nail it tomorrow. Q. Do you have a particular corner that was troublesome? JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, (Turn 1) was probably the tough one for us. We didn't have the balance that we needed through there. But the car was good. I think the Hitachi car has been fast. Chevy has done a tremendous job. We should have what we need, I think, for tomorrow. Q. Josef, the car, the extreme heat affect the balance of the car JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes. It tends to amplify understeer, especially in qualifying when it's hotter. It amplifies tire wear, too. That's the biggest thing. I think our practice two tonight will give us a really good read of what we're going to have for tomorrow's race. Q. From here on out, the style of the racing with the slicker tracks all that, what is the best way to approach tomorrow night's race? Is it going to be one where we see the leader lead a lot of laps or... WILL POWER: Depends. Sometimes people have a great car and they just smoke everyone, put everyone a lap down. I think as a team, our cars are all pretty similar. It still doesn't matter. Depends how tire degradation goes, all that sort of thing, where you run, how the traffic is. There will be a lot of passing, as it always is, yeah. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Will, Josef. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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