Information By: ASHLEY KELLER / CHEVROLET – LEBANON, TN
- Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet, capped off the 2024 season with Team Chevy finishing on the podium in second and third, respectively.
- The Bowtie brand finished the 206-lap, 267.8-mile season finale with five in the top-10, including O’Ward (second) and Newgarden (third), as well as Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin (fifth), AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci (sixth), and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly (10th).
- Team Chevy combined for 107 of 206 laps led during Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, with Newgarden leading the most for the Bowtie brand with 54.
- The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action on the Streets of St. Petersburg live on FOX Sunday, March 2, 2025.
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
2nd Pato O’Ward
3rd Josef Newgarden
5th Scott McLaughlin
6th Santino Ferrucci
10th Conor Daly
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“A really tough race today. I think the grid penalty hurt me more than I initially thought, but we fought really hard all day to keep the 14 Sexton Properties Chevy up front.
The crew was awesome in the pits, incredible stops. We had a great strategy. Everything really kind of went our way to get another top five, and we just kind of fell short there right at the end. But overall, incredible day. We locked ninth in the drivers’ championship. Just really great execution these last few events, to do what we’ve done as a team. Really proud of our guys.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“After yesterday‘s qualifying, we were very hopeful. We thought we had a really, really good race car. In qualifying, we would’ve been top-10, if we didn’t have the issue with the fuel pressure dropping out. So today was going to be a good day but food poisoning last night was a difficult thing to deal with so unfortunately, we were dealing with that today. I feel like we somewhat maximized the event but it wasn’t quite enough. Overall, I think we learned a lot this year. This team is definitely on the rise and I think that they’re gonna be one of the winners consistently next year.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“The team did an unbelievable job, and I was pushing. I was pushing, pushing. We really took these tires to the limit to what they’re capable of. I don’t know if we could’ve made two or three more laps. Bummer there we got stuck with traffic which gave Colton (Herta) a run. That one stings a little bit. Got taken from us pretty late. It was a fantastic race and a really good way to end the season.
“It’s a great end to the season. The momentum will roll into the offseason, but we’ve got work to do. We’re going to put our heads down, make the cars go better, and challenge for the championship once again next year but hopefully we’ll be coming out on the top end.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“We had an alright race today. We were on the back foot after missing most of Practice 1 and Qualifying yesterday. I spent the first stint getting comfortable, and ultimately by the end of the race I think that our pace was quite good. We just didn’t have track position because of the situation we were in yesterday. It’s kind of a bummer to finish the season like this, but the No. 6 NTT DATA crew did an incredible job this weekend and all year long. I’ve really, really enjoyed working with the Arrow McLaren team, and I am motivated for next year. It has been a year of growth, and I feel like every weekend, we have gotten better and gotten closer to fighting at the front. That is where we expect to be next year. There have been so many people that I have learned from, including Pato, Alex and, of course, Tony, so having teammates like that have really helped me grow. We’ll get to work and focus on a big 2025.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“This was a pretty disappointing outcome. We knew this was going to be hard work obviously, starting from the back. The race was going quite well up until the last 20 percent. I think there was some confusion as to who the actual leader of the race was and whether or not we needed to pit or not. Unfortunately, that took us from a top-six position to be a lap down finishing 15th. It’s a hard pill to swallow in my last event with the team. I’ll look back on the positive memories and not let this taint the bigger picture. It’s been great to be part of this organization, and now I’ll look toward my next step.”
Gavin Ward, Team Principal, Arrow McLaren:
“I just want to say thanks to Alexander (Rossi) for his dedication and help over the last two years. We wanted to finish on a bit higher note than we did today, and frankly, I don’t think we were very happy on the timing stand with how we ran the race. It probably limited his ability to run a top-five race. Pato (O’Ward) did a great job to hang on with tire vibrations and could hardly see where he was going at the end there. That cost us the win today. We struggled on the softer alternate tires, so that is something to learn from. Nolan (Siegel) learned a lot today and just got better and better as the race went on. That’s the whole point for him, to finish all the laps. Overall, I think it was a season of highs and lows. We won three races, more than the team had done before, but consistency held us back from fighting for the championship. I’m pretty excited to take a break and then hit it hard to get ready for next year.”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“I felt like today’s race for me was really up and down! Throughout a lot of the race, I really didn’t know where we were as the field was so mixed. Once we got kicked loose and I didn’t have to hit the fuel number anymore, we had a lot of pace. We basically put a lap on the car we needed to in a very short time. We were flying! That was super fun. There was one objective today – to make Leader’s Circle – and we did it! Good day!
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“We opted to start on the red tires and just get them out of the way, knowing they had more degradation. That took us off the leader’s strategy, which was unlucky, but then it felt like every time we pitted it went yellow! All the cautions worked against us, but we had a really, really good car. I would say if things went the right way, we could have beat anyone! It was an awesome car. Finishing 12th isn’t bad, but there was so much more available. Kind of sums up the season as a whole! We did so many things right, but so many things didn’t go our way. But the team never gave up and I thank them for all the work they did all year! Time for the offseason!”
Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“The season is over and P16 today. I think we got a bit unlucky with the yellow, but that happens. Fantastic job by the team the whole season. Happy that they worked hard for some great races until the end. It was great to be here for the first podium for the team, so I’m excited for the team as a whole.”
Conor Daly, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“The start was ok, but the red [tires] at the beginning were a challenge for us. We held station for a little bit and was happy to get off those tires, but then we got killed with the first yellow and that put us two laps down so it was really hard to come back from that. But we did – the car was good, and the team was good. We put ourselves back on the lead lap which was nice. I had to save a crazy amount of fuel to get to the end. It was difficult – I hadn’t done a race like that in a long time. Thankful to be in the top 10. It feels like we have been really competitive all weekend so that was really, really satisfying.”
Ricardo Juncos, Co-Owner of Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“Really happy with the results. The goal was to get both cars inside the Leaders Circle and we did that. P10 with Conor Daly with an amazing recovery so I want to thank him again, he drove an amazing race. Same with everyone on the team – the pits stops, the strategy – everyone did an amazing job, so I want to thank them for that. Romain Grosjean and the 77 as well. A big team effort the whole year, so I’m really pleased. I thank all of the team members, drivers, our sponsors and fans. We are looking forward to next year already and are focusing on continuing to grow as a team in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“I’m really happy. Obviously, Team Chevy got us the goods all season. It was a pretty fun race to finish it off. We got the Biggest Mover Award so that’s always a good thing, but we had a heck of a race there. Finished third in the championship, so that’s a great thing two years in a row.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“On the lap belt, I’m like ‘man, that was weird.’ It felt kind of loose in the car. Came out of turn two and I’m feeling around, and I felt the end of the belt as it goes in. I thought ‘Man, my belt just fell off, we’re going to have to pit.’ It took five laps to… It could’ve happened a second time at the race. We learned how to do it quickly. If we’d known that… That’s a very abnormal thing. I just don’t know what went wrong. We’ll have to send it back to the manufacturer. Very strange failure. I do wonder if I hit the wall and if it did break, if I was going to have a real bad situation, but never have that before. You have (other issues). Disappointing, but big congrats to Alex (Palou). Tough guy to beat. Ganassi did a great job this year. Been fun racing those guys this year. We dropped back to fourth (in the championship) because of this day, but man, if you don’t win it doesn’t matter. But happy with the season. The whole team won about half of the races. We did well. I want to win that championship, so I’ll come back fighting next year.
We did a great job (all season), winning the Indy 500, winning the most races of any team. Obviously, stoked to win three races this year. It’s a tough series. Very difficult to win. Have to thank Verizon and Chevy. Those guys have been fantastic. I only used four engines this year, so the reliability was great. We’ll come back fighting next year.”
PATO O’WARD, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and JOSEF NEWGARDEN, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet – Podium Press Conference:
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Wrapping up not only the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, but today’s race.
Currently joined by Pato O’Ward. The second podium in the last three races, sixth podium of the season, 26th of his career.
Josef Newgarden also joins us. Sixth podium of the season, 58th career podium.
THE MODERATOR: Pato, obviously crazy finish at the end. What did you see out of your rearview mirror trying to hold off Colton?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I wish I could have done it a little bit harder on him. Sting Ray facilitated that. A bit of a stinger to lose it that way. I would have liked to have at least fight him for a little bit more.
No, it was a pretty hectic race for our 5 car, to be honest. I had no idea where I was the whole race till the end. Guys are starting to pit and you are leading. That’s great. I just tried to continue pushing.
Oh, my God, those reds at the end, I couldn’t see straight with so much vibrations. Could barely talk to the team with just how much was going on in the car. Yeah, pretty gnarly in the end.
Congrats, Colton. I think one more lap, Josef would have gotten me for sure. I was dying.
THE MODERATOR: Josef, another podium for you to wrap up the season. Your thoughts on being back in Nashville and a chance to win today…
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, good to be back. I don’t know what we made up there in the last 25 laps, maybe 12 seconds or something. We’ll digest that next week. Going to be a tough pill to swallow, but one we’re going to have to swallow.
Yeah, great to be here. I thought the race was incredible as far as ease-ability. It’s what we wanted, to put on a good show. I think it was very possible to do that today.
Thankful to Nashville and the surrounding areas, Scott Borchetta, everybody that put this on. A big event. Congrats to Colton on a good win.
Yeah, hard to not be pissed. Really got that wrong.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions.
Q. Josef, you’re another hometown driver. To have finished on the podium, considering the way the season went, how does it feel to get another podium finish?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It seems fitting for this year, I would say, the way this one shaped up for us. I’m going to be happy to leave all this in 2024. We’re going to reset. Team did a great job today. They put a good car on the track, a great car. We’re going to come back next year and hopefully have a little different cadence would be nice.
It’s great to be here at this facility. I just want to say again everything that Scott has done with Big Machine to make sure we maintain this event on the calendar I think was really, really important. We had an incredible crowd for making the shift year over year. Everybody’s efforts should be applauded. We should be super thankful for what everyone has done. It should be on the calendar.
So happy we were here. If nothing else, great to end the finale in the Nashville area.
Q. In 2018, last race of the year, you guys step up to INDYCAR the next year. Six years later, you guys have lived up to the Stars of the Future potential. What is it like to be here together?
PATO O’WARD: I think it’s really cool. At one point I actually thought we were going to be together in Formula 1. That didn’t work out (smiling).
We’re here. Well, we’ve got some work to do to catch up to the 10 car with Ganassi. I think they’ve really set the bar where they’ve been leaders in that in terms of consistency. Us as a team, we have a lot of work to do to be in the conversation, to be fairly honest.
We’re going to work for that and try and just truly be there to fight until the end ’cause I think this year we fell a little bit short like we have the last couple years. I’d love to see that take a different place next year and really give them that fight.
I’m sure Colton, Josef, you can never count out all the Penskes, Ganassis, hopefully a couple McLarens. Obviously Andrettis are going to be in the fight. Like 10 cars for the championship.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.