Video: Scott Dixon post-race Q&A
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with our Verizon IndyCar Series postâ€'race press conference. We are joined by our race winner Scott Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. This is Scott's 36th career win, fifth in the allâ€'time win list which breaks a tie with Bobby Unser, also his first win at Long Beach in nine starts. I know this race was particularly important to you, had some bad luck in the past, but how great does it feel to finally get on top in Long Beach?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it feels amazing. It's been a tough track as you mentioned, and one that, yes, we've had some bad luck, but we've also had the chance to get the job done properly. This team, Team Target, has had great results here in the early years, and not too long ago obviously with Dario, as well. It was nice to start the weekend strong, qualify strong in the car, and those conditions have been very good. Today, good start. Juan sort of crowded me a bit on the left, which sort of gave me an opening to go around the outside of him into Turn 1, which was definitely the key there, and the first pit stop exchange with TK and Helio, obviously opened up the position for me to try and pass Helio in the pits. Probably need to buy TK a beer. Obviously he didn't do it on purpose, but that's the way it happens, and it definitely helped out the scenario with our race.
I think the 3 and our car were very close as far as speedâ€'wise. The gaps were kind of open and closed just depending on kind of what fuel mileage you were chasing and different scenarios and trying to breathe a bit to try and get some clean air. But yeah, it feels spectacular to win. It was a big weekend for Target with a lot of vendors and partners here, a couple hundred probably, so yeah, it was a good deal to obviously be in the winner's circle and the first time for me after nine starts. I finally got it right, I guess.
THE MODERATOR: As you mentioned, another win for Target. This is the 110th win for the Target race program across many series. You've also had some luck in different series in 2015 so far and it feels like every time you come in here you're talking about breaking records and ties with some fairly notable racers. Does that hold significance for you?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it feels amazing to even be on a list with a lot of those names. It's a real privilege. But for me, I think stats are something that I've said it before, that you look back on I think when you're done with your career, and hopefully you're happy with them. But right now we're fifth. I think we'd definitely like to build on it, and the only way we're going to do that is to win races. I'm very lucky to be with a team like Team Target. All but one win has been with this team, so a huge amount of credit goes to them as a team for enabling me to take it to the winner's circle a lot of the time. Yeah, just thankful for the position I'm in.
Scott, any flashback to last year when you were leading the race but you didn't have enough fuel to hold on to it?
SCOTT DIXON: Last year was a longshot. We were having a pretty bad day and tried to lock into a situation that was a little bit better. So I did actually have a fuel light come on with two laps to go, but it must have been a glitch in the system. I quickly went to yellow map again and tried to slow down and the team came on the radio promptly and said don't worry about that. We saw it. There's no issue with fuel here. You're good to go to the end. Same as Midâ€'Ohio last year, once we got the lead and knew we could maintain the gap, I didn't burn fuel, I just kept saving fuel because you're going to look like a complete idiot if you run out with a lap to go. Yeah, there was not a huge amount of stress on fuel. The Chevy engine was getting great fuel mileage today.
The other guys were asked the same question. What about the racing today? We came off of some highâ€'contact events to be polite, and this one was clean. Was that intentional? Was it brought up in the drivers' meeting? Do you think everything just lent itself to a much cleaner race today?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it's amazing what happens when guys maybe up their game or pay attention. Obviously the conditions were pretty difficult at NOLA. St. Pete was first race of the year, people were trying to make big moves, and I think in the past we've had some really robust cars, cars â€'â€' single seaters shouldn't hit each other, but the way the DW12 was initially built, you could actually get into people and break it. So I think Honda and Chevy have done a good job with trying to make the aero kids a little stronger, but in hindsight we shouldn't be hitting each other. I haven't seen the race so I can't really comment on it. I heard there was some good racing action going on, a little bit back there, and yeah, I have to wait to see the race, but to have one caution at Long Beach, you know, is pretty good.
It's early days obviously as far as the championship, but at this stage of the game, Penske are obviously looking very strong. They have been in the first few races. You're looking strong. It's looking like you're certainly going to be able to battle with them. With this year's new package, what do you reckon your strengths are? What are your strengths with your team, as well, and do you have any kind of speculation looking ahead to Indy in particular and the ovals?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, you know, I'd say our weakness is probably street courses right now, so today was exceptionally good for us. You know, we did a lot of testing, I think, out of the days that we had at the start of the year. Six of them were â€'â€' five or six of them were at New Orleans, and that didn't work out for us. The car was really fast when it was a dry track with dry practice, when you really got to run properly in the wet at any point in New Orleans until it got rained out. So I'd say right now we did almost zero testing on the streetâ€'course car. I don't think we actually did a test this year with the streetâ€'course tire. The majority was at Barber and NOLA. So I think the road courses are kind of our strong suit right now. We have to see how that plays out obviously with Barber and Indy coming up.
The oval stuff is a bit of an unknown. The shortâ€'oval mile stuff, the packages aren't even set in stone yet for what IndyCar is going to allow us to run, and then Indy has been â€'â€' nobody has really shown what we have yet. I haven't even seen a finished speedway kit. The first test I think in two weeks' time, on that Sunday, on the 3rd I think it is, is going to be the first time we get a gist of that. For us Indy is the marquee event and the one that we want to all go and win, especially this one is early in the season. Fingers crossed, Chevy has done a hell of a job with the aero kit so far, but fingers crossed that we can be dominant at Indy.
- You saw TK right in victory lane? What did you say, if anything, and did you touch base on his pit stop at the first stop?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I spoke to TK, he said I need to buy him a beer, even though he doesn't drink. I'll drink it for him. (Laughter.)
You know, it was the same scenario actually at St. Pete with me and Juan, and it happened two times in a row actually where he was going to leave and I was just coming in. It's unfortunate with how the races play out sometimes that when you're leaving you're going to have the competitor in the next pit stop trying to come in, and there's nothing you can do. If you go you're going to crash into him and break the car or you just wait and maybe lose a position, and that's what happened. Obviously a bit of luck for us today to get to that position. Who knows how it would have played out. Would we have had enough speed? We were able to maintain the gap on used red tires with eight, 10 laps on them to the new ones at the start, so I think we would have been really competitive at the end anyway. Yeah, but that was definitely a game changer for us in the race.
- As consistently good as you guys have been over the career, is it kind of â€'â€' are you kind of surprised that you finally came through here?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, here and St. Pete have been tough ones. You know, I don't know, you kind of gel with tracks, and I've never really been in a position to where â€'â€' I think our best finish here previously was maybe a fourth, and I don't which race that was â€'â€' we've had strong races here but we've kind of been just to the top three, never get to the lead and look at it that way. I think it's a big breakthrough for myself. I'm going to enjoy coming here. I love Long Beach, but as a track and one that you want to come and do well at, it hasn't been on the top of my list, but now it's obviously changed, and I think we found some things that have enabled me to adapt to the circuit. It's just a shame it's taken nine years.
- You mentioned that you're on the moreâ€'used tires at the beginning of the race compared to Helio's, but had he have gotten out of the pits after that stop in front of you, do you have you would have had something for him?
SCOTT DIXON: You're always going to say yeah, of course, and he's going to say no, I wouldn't. It was one of those situations. I think our car was exceptionally good on blacks. We really didn't have to push, we just maintained the gap and got fuel mileage. That's all we did towards the end, and I know Helio was pushing very hard. He was burning a lot of fuel. He was using all of his overtakes to try and get to us.
I was confident that our car was fast, but had it been that situation, I'm not sure we would have had enough to go by him.
- Prior to today you've won basically every big thing you can in IndyCar racing except the Long Beach Grand Prix, so just how huge is that to you to kind of round out your accomplishments?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, you know, it obviously ranks very high. The history and the different kind of races, different formulas here with Formula 1 and IndyCar and CART, and I didn't even know they did like the face thing here in victory lane here. It's the first time for me to be there today, actually standing on the podium, so it was very cool to see those.
Yeah, it's always been a race I've wanted to win, but I think that's similar to a lot of the ones you go to. This one is definitely a standout just because of the history and the prominence. But Long Beach is still one of our great races. Today, even yesterday in qualifying, the grandstands were packed. It's hard to get from the media center to the trucks. There's so many people. That's what IndyCar racing needs. For me this weekend I kept saying to people, man, I can't believe how many people are here. It was just a fantastic weekend. Hopefully we can build on other races to a similar level to what everybody has done here with the Grand Prix.
- And also you've now surpassed Bobby Unser in career victories, so the next time you see him are you going to be able to give him driver advice?
SCOTT DIXON: No, I would never do that. No, you know, it's â€'â€' yeah, it's different eras, different racing. You know, those guys I've always looked up to and enjoyed watching replays of their races, whether it's him or AJ or Mario or Michael. We'll keep trying to do our job and see if we can build on this, but that list is not our focus right now.
- Scott, with 35 wins over the course of the last 15 years, at the end of the day you're still only 35 years old. That being said, you've got a lot more wins at this point in your career than a lot of people that have ever won in IndyCar. That being said, do you think that the best is yet to come of you as time goes on?
SCOTT DIXON: I hope so. Dario's return I think was pretty stout when he came back at the age of 35. I think I turned 35 in July, and when he turned 35 I have no idea. I think I'm 34 right now.
You hope that that's going to be the case. I hope that I can still be with this team, hopefully it's a career team, and I think with that combination, we could win a lot of races. Obviously we want to win championships and Indianapolis 500s. Dario has a few more Indy 500s than we do right now, but it's â€'â€' I think, as I keep saying, it's something I look back on, but I hope maybe we can hit a different stride here and definitely knock some out. It would be a lot of fun.
- In regards to the aero kit, does the car feel different than it did from last year?
SCOTT DIXON: Definitely feels faster. The braking zones are getting much smaller. I think typically into 1 you brake at the 400, in qualifying you're going to be on the 300. The braking zones are definitely shrinking. You're carrying a lot more speed through the corners. I think the biggest thing for the drivers and at least for me with the DW12 and the past configuration, it was very hard to tune, if you like a really positive front end, you always maxed out a front wing, but with the Chevy body kit, it has a lot more adjustability. It's a lot easier to get the setup to your liking.
Yeah, it's not what it could have been. I think IndyCar with the changes took over 700 pounds of downforce out of it with the underwing and things like that. It could have been a lot faster than what it currently is. But they did a great job on the safety aspect and trying to maintain things mechanically as a series.
- So you did win here before in 2000 in Indy Lights.
SCOTT DIXON: Oh, yeah, yeah. Doesn't count. Nobody ever got excited about a win â€'â€' yeah, I'm like, I won Indy Lights here.
- Talk about over that span of time, of course you have to be with a great team to be consistently in the winner's circle, but talk about from your standpoint your mental, physical, all the preparation that goes into having you be so successful over all this time.
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, you know, I think as I keep saying, the team is a big credit to that. I've been able to work with so many great people, whether it's been teammates. There's been a lot of teammates throughout the years. And every â€'â€' I think the biggest thing, and it's the same throughout the team, is that every day you're learning, and that's the exciting part for me. Even with Saavedra this weekend, it's another guy, and he does something different, and it's kind of cool to see, because you talk to a lot of drivers and you see them quick at some point throughout the weekend or quick at different tracks and you kind of wonder what they're up to, but to me that side of it is very interesting, but yeah, a lot of credit goes to the team for the consistency that we've had, and for me I think at a place like this, Dario was a big help this weekend. It was a track that he's always been very strong at. He was able to give me a few little tips and tricks here and there in troublesome areas, but also with Charlie and some corners in like Turn 6 and TK in Turn 1 and Saavedra was exceptionally fast in 5, so all that data sitting there, so it's kind of fun to go through and work out how they're doing it and get the most out of it.
An Interview With:
HELIO CASTRONEVES
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, who finished third in today's race, our points leader by three over Helio Castroneves. Talk about the race today, warm conditions, and another very strong race for you today as a points leader.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It was okay. I had a really good start. I had a bit of a jump on Helio. I tried to get a run there outside of the start/finish line to get inside of Turn 1 and he kind of blocked me so I went to the left and Dixon got the momentum and passed us there. But after that it was good. The tires started going off. The red tires for me were going off, and I started losing a bit of pace, Simon passed me, and on blacks I was really good, I started to back off, and it seemed like my car was really good at the beginning of the stint, not so good at the end. It was tough. In the last run we had a really good pit stop and a good out lap on cold reds and I got to Simon and passed him on cold tires, and I drove away, got to Helio and I backed off thinking, oh, it's good, just wait and see if he makes a mistake, and the tires went off again and I was kind of surprised, because normally at the beginning of the race, the tires will go off and at the end they don't and for me they went off again.
THE MODERATOR: Also joined by Helio Castroneves, driving the No. 3 Automobile Club of California Chevrolet for Team Penske, finished second in today's race. This is his 37th career secondâ€'place finish which ties him for second with Bobby Rahal. Mario Andretti holds the record with 56. He's also the only driver to also lead a lap in all three races this season. It was a really warm, hot race out there with very few yellows. Talk about the physicality of the race and how it worked out for you.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: It was actually nice. The weather obviously in California is always very nice. Certainly the track was constantly changing. For those not understanding, every time it gets more new tires, red versus black, and things like that, it's about two hours of racing, the track changes quite a lot for us and constantly changes a little bit of the driving style because sometimes one lap is good and another one was different. The Firestone tires were actually pretty good for me. My AAA car was awesome. We were pretty good all the way, but to see lap times, it's so cool. Very difficult. So obviously it's a chess game, and those circumstances that happened for us, it was a little bit of a â€'â€' the guys did a great job in the pits, and especially the incident between me and Ganassi. It was just me. Better to be safe than sorry. But it was a great job overall for Team Penske.
Helio, you talked about the track changing. As the tires are going off and as the track is changing, are you changing your turning points and things like that because the tires are sliding more?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Depends. For me it's just my car was actually consistent, but sometimes it's just the braking points, when you're thinking you can brake a little differently, try and take a chance and the tires start going off and those things, but you play a little more conservative instead of trying to push it. For me personally I was pushing really hard and trying to get Dixon, but the guy with his experience was really hard. I knew it would be really hard for him to make a mistake, and today second place is not bad.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: For me the tires had gone off pretty bad and lost a lot of pace there at the end, but we did it in the first run and the last run. That's what it is. You've got to adapt to what you have.
From the monitors in the media center, it seemed at the end of the race Simon was attempting to make a pass but never got close enough at any time. Did it really worry you that you might get close enough to make a pass?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: He had a little less rear wing. So I was actually â€'â€' to be honest with you, I was surprised my tires were going off and not his. But mine went off, and I mean, I saw him coming, and it's still about not making mistakes and make sure I come out of that last corner and he was a little quicker down the straight. So just pay attention how close he was when he was in the bus and stuff like that. He was never really that close, you know what I mean? He got close, maybe his nose to my rear tires but that was about it. He never got next to me or anything. I thought it was the move I made on him was crucial. I was pretty happy with that.
Juan, I know you're thinking this year more in terms of the championship than you were last year. Was today a good championship today, third place?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: That's why I didn't let Simon run by. Third or fourth place, yeah, great, we got a podium, but it's more points, you know what I mean? It's about being consistent and being smart, and as long as I don't have to risk the car to protect third place, it'll be fine, and it worked well.
Just so we're clear, when they held you in the pits, was that because other traffic coming right behind you and you didn't want to run into them?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah. It was close. It was definitely close. But yeah.
Helio, if that hadn't have happened in the pits, if there was no one in front of you and you were able to go when you were ready, do you think Dixon would have had enough to get by you because I assume you would have been out in front of him?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Again, he was so close. All three cars, four cars actually, but he was much better being in front. I don't think he would be able to get by. After the race was over, we were just talking between ourselves and we can see that he was very consistent, but I have moments of very good and maybe some moments, some laps maybe would be terrible. But in the end of the day, it was â€'â€' it would be very difficult for him to pass.
For either of you, were you surprised by the lack of yellows and did you think everyone raced differently today knowing we were coming off of two cautionâ€'strewn races?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, we all raced hard, and it is what it is. It showed the level of drivers that are on the grid to be honest with you. The conditions were ideal, and even being a street course, I think the experience of the guys allowed not too many mistakes or anything. It was pretty good.
For both of you guys, obviously you were very strong here the first three races, the whole team. We haven't had any speedway races yet so we can't make any judgments, but could both of you talk about the strength you have of the team and your hopes for the championship and the Indy 500? At this point you guys are the favorites, but could you talk about how the chemistry is working, what the strength is and what your hopes are for the 500 and the season?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: We have no chemistry here. It's terrible. (Laughter.) Listen, a French, a Colombian, a Brazilian, and where is the other one from, Australia?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I think that's why we have the chemistry because we don't understand each other.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: One of the amazing things about having the four of us being so competitive is you do a great lap in practice, you finish practicing, you look at the data and they're still kicking your butt somewhere. They are. There's always corners where they're better than you so you always find ways to better yourself, and I think that's more than the cars running better or whatever it is, I think the group of the four drivers is making a big difference.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, it's like I said yesterday, the level that we have in our team, it's not only as competitors but as people, as well, it's just awesome. It's great to have that kind of data because when you go back, and he just said it, we go look and it's like, man, how does he do this. You try and work together. With that, the biggest benefit is the team, and when you have the team winning, you have Roger happy, and that's when we all feel like we want to win for the team.
(No microphone.).
HELIO CASTRONEVES: We don't know yet. We did only one test I did in Texas.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: He's got an advantage over everybody.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I hope so. I hope I have an advantage on everyone. But again, we don't know yet, and when was the first test?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Why did we give you an advantage? You needed it?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: You guys gave me a head start and I'm going for it. I'll take any opportunity.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah, we all do, don't worry about it.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I feel that hopefully we're going to work as hard as we work in the street and road course, and we're going to show as well at ovals, but we don't know yet.
Juan, when you got out of the car, I think you and Simon talked, you put on a great show. Can you tell us a little bit about what you guys said to each other?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Just said great race. It's cool being teammates, and we run really well together, so that makes it fun.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Why are you guys looking at me? What happened? (Laughter.)
I want to follow up a little bit more. You are four very different people, different race car drivers. How does that dynamic work in making it easier to get along with each other because you're both South American but you're not even close to being similar.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, I mean, he dances. I can't dance.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Thank God. I actually want to see you dance, man.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No. Put it this way, I haven't seen myself dance.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: That's right.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: To tell you the truth, we're all mature enough, we've done this long enough that I think it makes it easier. Because when you're young, you're really gritty and you don't want to help anybody. And something at Team Penske, the No. 1 thing is the team and the benefit of the team, and we understand that and we all help each other.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, it was for me or for him? I agree with Juan Pablo. We've been here for long enough in this business, and yes, we want to win, we're still young inside that we want to win everywhere â€'â€'
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Inside and outside.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yes, but the point is we want to go for it, but at the end of the day, we understand that some days are not our days, and we have maturity enough to understand, and being on this team for such a long time, it's about team, and you know that even sometimes you don't win, you contribute with a good performance, and you feel proud of it.
For either one of you, the trucks ran 40 laps ahead of yours. I know you mentioned your tires going off. Did their type of rubber affect the performance of the first laps at all?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: No. No.
I don't think Will Power had a very good race today. Can you do anything to kind of cheer him up?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: To be honest with you, I was asking somebody on the way here what happened to Will, and I have no idea. I saw the car parked on pit entrance. Did you notice that?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I saw him in the pit entrance.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah, he was in front of you for a while.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yes, I know that very well.