Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Preview with Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Christian Lundgaard, Santino Ferrucci, Christian Rasmussen and Sting Ray Robb

Roger Penske:
This is Roger Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indie, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek, and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Fit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental as we continue our fifth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. And a big thanks to Penske Truck Rental for helping bring you the inside stories of IndyCar from the paddock, to the racetrack, to the highways and streets of America. After a weekend off, the teams and drivers head to Worldwide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois for Sunday night's Bomberito Automotive Group 500. It will be the first IndyCar Series race on a Sunday night televised in prime time on a major network as Fox Sports has cleared its highly viewed Sunday night entertainment lineup for the stars of IndyCar. The Fox Telecast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, June 15. It will be the first IndyCar Series race televised by a major network in prime time since Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, June 6, 2020, on NBC. That race was held during the COVID-19 shutdown and no spectators were allowed to attend the event. It was also the first race of the 2020 season after all previous races were canceled because of the nationwide COVID shutdown. This time, however, it's different. Fox Sports and IndyCar agreed to move the race from its original Sunday afternoon time slot to Sunday night. It will be the highlight of a racing day that includes the NASCAR Cup Series at Mexico City on Amazon Prime in the afternoon, the Formula One Grand Prix of Canada on ABC ESPN also on Sunday afternoon, with IndyCar wrapping it up in prime time on Fox. The May 25, 109th Indianapolis 500 on Fox was the most-watched Indy 500 telecast in 17 years, as 7.01 million viewers tuned in, including a peak audience of 8.5 million from 4.15 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., when Alex Pillow was in the closing stages of winning his first Indy 500. Our first guest is a two-time winner at Worldwide Technology Raceway, including 2023. It's six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon also drove to victory in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in 2020. Dixon arrives at gateway 7th in points, 138 points behind his teammate and IndyCar Series Championship leader, Alex Pillow. He is just 2 points out of 5th place, though, currently held by Team Penske's Will Power, with Felix Rosenquist 6th. Both drivers are 136 points behind the leader, but Power gets the position based on tiebreaker. I caught up with Dixon in Detroit for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. Scott Dixon has joined us. He's the man who wants to send teammate Alex Polo on a five-week vacation. Scott, I understand Auckland, New Zealand is probably pretty nice this time of year. Is that where you'd like to send him?

Scott Dixon: No, you know, it's just a bit of a fun joke and obviously getting into the meat of the season, so everybody's looking forward to getting going. Pretty much everybody except for the winner out of the 500 is looking to turn the page and looking forward to getting going here in Detroit.

Bruce Martin: Although we interviewed you last week on the red carpet at the Indianapolis 500, looking ahead to the next race, Gateway, prime time, under the lights on Fox Network. That's got to be huge, especially after that big TV rating came out for the Indy 500. How excited are you with the opportunity?

Scott Dixon: Yeah, looking forward to it. I think what Fox have done, I think the ratings have been a little bit mixed at the start of the year. The 500 was definitely a good jolt in the arm that everybody needed, I think. Hopefully they can continue that success, I think, throughout. I guess we'll have to see how the Saturday night races really go for TV. It can be always a bit of a tricky one, ratings-wise, just because it is a Saturday night. But for us, racing under the lights is definitely perfect. The IndyCars were a lot of fun, and what better place to do it than St. Louis?

Bruce Martin: The previous high network audience to see the Indianapolis 500 was 2008. You won the Indy 500. So in a lot of ways, you have a pretty good connection with both of those big TV ratings.

Scott Dixon: Yeah, I think media in general has changed a lot since 2008. So I think most sports have seen a decline. So I think for IndyCar right now, it's definitely huge and definitely moving in the right direction, which is great to see.

Bruce Martin: And then next race after Gateway, Road America, one of your favorite tracks. You've been a big-time winner there. How excited are you to return there? It's always a favorite for the drivers, the fans, the media, everybody.

Scott Dixon: Yeah, it's a fun spot, you know, especially for people kind of camping and, you know, kind of doing that vibe around, you know, some similar races like Mid-Ohio. So, you know, last year was a bit disastrous for us where we had the tire failure. going to the first set of softs. So hopefully we can avoid any issues there. I think we're on for definitely a great race. And I had some pretty great results there in the past. So looking forward to hopefully a smooth summer.

Bruce Martin: Enjoy the off weekend. Say hello to the family. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

Scott Dixon: Thanks, mate. Cheers.

Bruce Martin: Our next guest is Andretti Global Driver Colton Herta, who finished third to his race-winning teammate Kyle Kirkwood in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on June 1st. Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing was second, making it an all-USA podium. Hurta enters the Bomberito Automotive Group 500 ninth in points, 154 behind the leader. Hurta's best finish at Gateway was fourth in 2020. Here is my exclusive interview with Hurta for Pit Pass Indy. Colton Herta, Andretti Global has joined us. Colton, you're the one driver at Andretti Global that was able to have an unimpeded Indianapolis 500. All in all, when you look at the race last Sunday, how would you assess the way it went for you?

Colton Herta: We did have an impeded Indy 500, we had a brake failure, which caused us to speed down pit lane. Yeah, it was, I don't know, pretty poor from us.

Bruce Martin: But at least you were not penalized, and I know that's been a bit of a downer on the team, other than the speeding on pit lane. But as far as the month of May, a lot of high hopes and expectations didn't quite turn out the way the team hoped. But I see Andretti Global has really picked up the speed and looks pretty competitive.

Colton Herta: Yeah, I mean, this is a good one for us. We have been really fast here in the past. We had a good opportunity to win here last year, had a good poll. So it fills me with confidence coming back here.

Bruce Martin: Indy 500's over, now you turn the page, rest of the season, what's your goals and outlooks? Some pretty good tracks coming up for you, Gateway and Primetime, also we're in America.

Colton Herta: Yeah, I look at the end of the season and I don't really see anything that is worrying to me, or a place where I think we need to work on. I think every track from here on out has a good chance for us to win, and there are a lot of places that we've had a lot of success in the past, so it fills me with a lot of confidence.

Bruce Martin: And also, how much are you looking forward to that weekend off? Because it's been pretty brutal here since the middle of April.

Colton Herta: Yeah, but, you know, I like what I do, so I wouldn't mind if we raced again this next weekend. You know, I like being in the car, I like racing.

Bruce Martin: We like what you do, too. So Colton Hurley and Dreddy Global, good luck the rest of the way. We'll catch up with you later, hopefully when we have some more time. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy. Thanks. Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing is having a great stretch of the season. He was second in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix one week after finishing fifth in the 109th Indianapolis 500. But Ferrucci arrives in St. Louis 14th in points and needs to keep it going to crack the top 10 in the standings. Here's a quick interview I had with Ferrucci for Pit Pass India. Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Racing has joined us now. You've kept your streak alive at the Indianapolis 500, never finished out of the top 10.

Santino Ferrucci: How do you do it? Man, just, it's a race that to finish first, first you must finish, and uh… We had a good race car regardless of all the challenges we had throughout the month. We got up front pretty early and we just kind of stayed there. You know, if we came in the last stop, we had a bit of a bobble with the redhead, but can't control that. We would have probably come out right behind Palou and been fighting for a top three at the end, but hey man, I'll take fifth.

Bruce Martin: Little Dave is your teammate, David Maloukas. How great do you feel seeing that he finished second in the Indianapolis 500?

Santino Ferrucci: Because that really boosts the team. Yeah, I mean, I first came into the team, we finished third. We had a hell of a run from everything that we've been doing and challenging. So, you know, and been back in the top 10 ever since. So for two cars to be in the top five, it's great.

Bruce Martin: So we turn the page now, Indianapolis 500 is over. Now it's on to the rest of the season. So how do you feel your outlook is for bigger and better things here during the 2025 IndyCar Series season?

Santino Ferrucci: Yeah, man, I just want to get back into that top 10, top five train and pick up where I left off. We've had a little bit of a challenge throughout the start of the season. So hoping Indy is where we turn it around.

Bruce Martin: Tracks coming up here. Gateway's always a good one. Also Road America. How do you think you'll do on those two circuits?

Santino Ferrucci: Oh, very well. I mean, we did very well the last few years there. Gateway last year was a bit of a bummer. We were going to end up in the top five, but we had an issue with the pit lane control on the car, so we ended up speeding in the middle of pit lane, which is unique. But that happened, and just excited to get back there and better those results, too.

Bruce Martin: How happy was everybody's hero, AJ Foyt, after the Indy 500 to see both drivers have great races?

Santino Ferrucci: Man, very. It's just, I think he's thrilled with the team. I think he's enjoying where it's going. So happy to put a smile on AJ's face.

Bruce Martin: Well, Santino Ferrucci, you always put a happy smile on everybody's face. Good luck the rest of the year. We'll catch up with you later down the road. Thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy. Perfect. Thanks, Bruce. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Josef Newgarden: Hey, everyone, this is two time Indy 500 winner, Josef Newgarden, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Our next two guests are a couple of drivers named Christian. The first is Arrow McLaren star Christian Lungard, and the second is second-year IndyCar driver Christian Rasmussen of ECR. Lungard is fourth in points, 106 points behind the leader Alex Pillow. He finished eighth in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on June 1st, seventh in the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25th. His worst finish of the season was 16th in the Sanzio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 10. Lungard began the season 8th at St. Petersburg and followed that with two 3rd place finishes at the Thorough Club and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. He was 2nd to below at Barber Motorsports Park on May 4th. The driver from Denmark is having his best season in IndyCar and could be a threat in the second half of the season. Here is my exclusive interview with Christian Lungard for Pit Pass Indy. An old pal has stopped back in. It's Christian Lungard, Arrow McLaren Racing. We're in Detroit, but it's never too late to take a look back at last weekend's Indianapolis 500. From your point of view, how would you assess the month of May and your weekend?

Christian Lundgaard: Yeah, I think we all know it's always a long month and you get to race day and you're ready for it to be over. I think at the end of the day we had a great month. I don't think we had much to kind of fight with, even though that I think at the end of the day we, you know, we finished seventh post the penalties, but I think we just raced our race. The car wasn't really good in the beginning of the race. I couldn't see anything from the oil spray from the cars ahead on the reconnaissance laps, and kind of that first stint was just survival. I had to drive with my visor open just to see where I was kind of going, and we pulled the tear off often. I could see where I was going and it kind of just changed our race from there onwards. But at the end of the day, I feel like we left Maine in a good spot. We're still third in the championship, Paddo's second, so I think we have a good package for the rest of the season to fight with.

Bruce Martin: It was a very strange and sloppy start to the Indianapolis 500. Because of spotty showers, you were strapped into the car and had to wait about 30, 35 minutes before they finally gave the command to start engines. Then Scott McLaughlin crashed at the beginning of the pace lap, so you go around a few more times. Finally, they throw the green, and your part of the track made it out of turn two before the yellow light comes back on, because Marco Andretti had crashed in the back of the pack. Was that really frustrating from your point of view. As an athlete, you get yourself worked up for the start of the biggest race of the year, and it just seemed to take a while to really get the race going.

Christian Lundgaard: No, I think it was expected. You think about race cars driving around at 200 miles an hour, and you think about rain, it doesn't work out. And it's cold conditions. Yeah. I mean, regardless of the cold conditions, it's I think the Andretti accident was very different. It was due to contact, but at the end of the day, the Scotty Mac incident, I told the team over the radio the lap before that the main straight was slaked. It was the only part of the track that wasn't dried, and it's where the grandstands are covering the track. I'm not going to say it was meant to happen, but something was going to happen, and I don't think it changed the mindset, because I feel like that was the mindset.

Bruce Martin: So once the race got underway, what would you say was your best moments of the race, and what were some close calls for you?

Christian Lundgaard: I would say the best moment was finishing the race. We didn't really have much to fight with. I felt like we weren't really a sitting duck, but we were just following pace, following traffic. We couldn't really pass anyone. We made the car a lot better throughout the race. I feel like we started a lot further off than where we had been any other day throughout the month. Disappointing in that sense. I don't really feel like we had any close calls as we were just kind of driving around and making sure we did the 200 miles.

Bruce Martin: From an Errol McLaren standpoint, your teammate Pato Award, another strong performance for him. On the other side, Nolan Siegel ended up crashing on the final lap and also Kyle Larson, the great NASCAR Cup Series driver, had a crash on a restart. So in a lot of ways from looking at it across the team, some really good finishes and some disappointments also. How would you assess all that?

Christian Lundgaard: Yeah, you know, Paddo finishing third at the end. Nolens is unfortunate, he hit the apron and kind of paid the price for it. His first, obviously it's, I don't think it's fatigue, I think it's just a moment of losing focus in a sense. I think he can answer that question much better, but at the end of the day I feel like Kyle was, was fast all month, also made a lot of mistakes. And I think that's the consequence of the hybrid this year. You know, driving it last year was very straightforward. This year, a lot more to keep track of. And I think there was a lot of distractions from the outside, from his side. So I don't know. I feel like we had four fast cars. We didn't really get four good results. But at the end of the day, we had two cars that are fighting for the championship that had good results. And I think that's the most positive part for us to take away.

Bruce Martin: As I've said before, your start to the 2025 season, you'd be the big story of the year if it wasn't for Alex Palou winning five of the first six races, including the Indianapolis 500. It's a new part of the season now. Indianapolis is over. You turn the page. There's a lot of races left. How confident are you that as the second half of the season nears, you can start that charge and make it a real fight.

Christian Lundgaard: Well, same confidence as it was prior. It's focusing on the things that we can control and get the results that we can get and we'll take it from there.

Bruce Martin: Christian Lundgaard, good luck in the rest of the NTT IndyCar Series season. We'll catch up later in the year. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. Thank you. Our second Christian is also from Denmark. It's Copenhagen's Christian Rasmussen of ECR who arrives at Gateway for his first race on the 1.25 mile oval. The highlight of Rasmussen's brief IndyCar career is a sixth-place finish in the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25th. He led eight laps in the No. 21 Chevrolet, as all three ECR drivers led the Indy 500, including Alexander Rossi's 14 and Carpenter's one lap on lap 43. Here is my exclusive interview with Rasmussen for PitPass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental. Christian Rasmussen of ECR has joined us. Christian, I go back to the Indianapolis 500. There was a portion of the race where all three ECR drivers were running one, two, three. That had to be a big thrill, not only for yourself to be part of that, but also for team owner Ed Carpenter.

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, I think so. If we could have just ended the race right then and there, I think we would have been pretty happy. But no, I mean, it was obviously because we stayed out on that yellow where the people ahead of us came in, and then we found ourselves out there in front. But yeah, it was cool. It was cool running up front. I was sitting second on the restart and was thinking to myself, well, I'd probably be smart to just stay second behind Ross. He saved a little bit of fuel here and there. I just could not help myself. And Storm passed wanting to lead the Indy 500 for the first time. So, yeah, we were switching back and forth a little bit, and yeah, still ended up having a really good day.

Bruce Martin: That had to be a big thrill for you, especially being a new driver into the series.

Christian Rasmussen: Oh, it was for sure. It was super cool. The lap count of leading laps is obviously still wrong, but we'll work on that for next year.

Bruce Martin: And also, it seemed to be a pretty good race for Connor Bailey and some other drivers like that in the field. Connor's not your teammate. He's a former teammate at ECR, so in a lot of ways, there was a lot of ECR influence in the Indianapolis 500 this year.

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, I guess you could say that. Yeah, the two other cars didn't have the greatest of days. We got it for Alex, obviously. Ending the race like that is not cool, especially when you have a competitive car, which we all did. So, that was a shame.

Bruce Martin: There was a scary moment with Alexander Rossi when the pit fire happened. His fueler was burned. He's okay, but he did suffer some burns. And we saw how upset Alex was because he had one of the fastest cars on the track. When were you aware of everything that was going on with that pit fire?

Christian Rasmussen: Well, when I was running behind him, I could see that the car was smoking. So I already had an idea that it probably wouldn't go his way today, unfortunately. But it wasn't until after the race, obviously, I figured out that there had been a fire and all this and that.

Bruce Martin: You're fairly new to the Indianapolis 500, so I'm going to ask you this. The conditions were pretty cold for race day, and also there was the lengthy delay, 35 minutes where you're strapped into the car waiting for the spotty showers to stop so they can give the command. How stressful is that when you're sitting there You're really not getting much information, you just have to sit and wait.

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, no, I was pretty calm. I think like a lot of the other drivers, we all had to pee. So that definitely seemed to be a theme. But no, I was able to keep my head fairly level and I was pretty calm.

Bruce Martin: At least you didn't tell the world like Connor Daly did at the Victory Awards ceremony that he decided to just go in the car. Yeah, I guess that gives new meaning to the term seat fitting. But anyway, looking ahead to the rest of the season, you're showing some good progress here. So you're going to finally get an off weekend next weekend. But looking ahead to the rest of the season, how do things shape up for you?

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, I'm excited. I think we have I think we have good momentum as a team. I think we're Just slowly progressing, getting better and better. I think for me, a big focus for the rest of my season will be on qualifying. That seems to have been kind of our Achilles heel this year. We've been racing fairly well, we've been moving forward, have had some decent finishes, but it makes it a lot harder when you're starting back there. So yeah, we'll try to improve that, and then I think the even better results will follow.

Bruce Martin: Well, Christian Rasmussen, ECR Racing, go get them. We will catch up with you later in the season. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you, Bruce. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

SPEAKER_04: This is Will Power of Team Penske, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. We wrap up today's show with Stingray Rob of Juncos Hollinger Racing. The driver from Payette, Idaho, has a very interesting backstory, leading off with the town's most famous athlete, who is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Harmon Killebrew. Learn more in this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview with Stingray Rob.

Sting Ray Robb: Harman Killebrew is from our town. He's our notable alum for sure.

Bruce Martin: Did you ever have any experiences with Harman Killebrew or was he a big celeb in town?

Sting Ray Robb: Harman passed away before I got a chance to meet him. His wife Anita though I have met and she is an amazing soul. We love Anita and we love the impact that the Kilbers have had on our community just because it's an inspiration for young athletes trying to compete at a high level in the future. So it's nice to have someone like that to come from a place like Payette.

Bruce Martin: So everybody thinks of Idaho. They don't think of potatoes. They think of fishing and hunting. Did you do either?

Sting Ray Robb: Oh yeah, I did a lot of it. I've spent my fair share of time in the outdoors. I used to go duck hunting on my lunch breaks with my best friend in high school. And then we would go fishing all summer. We have rivers that are great fishing spots. And then obviously the high mountain lakes are great for fly fishing as well.

Bruce Martin: And do you get a lot of tourists in that area? Because as I said, Idaho is well-known for its hunting and fishing.

Sting Ray Robb: I think we can. It seems like there's been a big influx of out-of-staters in Idaho as of the COVID era, just because people are flooding in from the larger metropolitan areas, trying to get away from that into more of a rural setting. And Idaho pretty much has everything that you could want, whether it's outdoors or events or just different things that you can have fun doing. I always like to joke that there's not too many pro athletes from Idaho because they're too busy doing all the other things. So snow skiing, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, hunting. We got it all.

Bruce Martin: So at the Victory Awards celebration, you told the story about your parents' supermarket. If you could go into a little more detail about that. How big a store was it? How soon did they put you to work?

Sting Ray Robb: I mean, I was working at that store probably from the time I was seven. I was pushing grocery carts in and trying to help out where I could just because I'm going to be at the store, so why not do something to keep me busy? So yeah, my parents, they owned the grocery store from about the time I was born up until a few years ago. And it was an old Safeway supermarket, if anyone knows what that is, and it had been converted into a privately owned grocery store before they had purchased it from the previous owner so it was right on the Idaho-Oregon border and it was definitely a highlight in the town because there was only a few grocery stores in the Oregon side that had no sales tax so it made us quite busy during the year and so I worked pretty hard with my family there over the course of the last years.

Bruce Martin: You also brought up the point that when you were stocking shelves before you got taller, it was difficult to stock the top shelf. What are some of the things that you did at the store?

Sting Ray Robb: I mean, I threw freight for quite a while. That was probably the biggest thing that I did. Pushing grocery carts was another thing. On our big sale days, we'd have hundreds and hundreds of people come through our store. We'd sell truckloads. of food and other products. And so the parking lot was definitely my area, my territory to take over. And so I did that and I also bagged groceries and just tried to be helpful where I could. What was your favorite department in the supermarket? Probably the freight throwing. I think that I love doing that. But my favorite one to go visit was definitely the deli. We had a great smoked meat section there. And so I was always the test dummy. They got to try all the fresh smoked meats. And so I was like, no, no, no, that's not good. I'll just take the rest of that from you and go from there.

Bruce Martin: Who doesn't like smoked meat?

Sting Ray Robb: There you go.

Bruce Martin: I think by taking a look at me, you can see my favorite department is the meat department. There you go. Get your counter. That is one reason why I need to go on a diet. Were you aware of the fact that Simon Pagino's family owned a big supermarket chain in France?

Sting Ray Robb: I was, yeah. I remember when he won the 518, was it? I remember that.

null: 2019.

Sting Ray Robb: 2019, yeah. 2019 when Simon won, that was a big storyline for him. So like, oh man, a fellow grocery kid. So that was fun. So what does Stingray Rob like to do when he's not racing? Being in Indianapolis now, there's not as much outdoor activities as there is in Idaho. But I still like to do anything pretty active. I love rock climbing. It's something I've been doing as of late as a hobby. But to be honest, our schedule during the racing season is quite busy. So I try and do as much as I can in between. But golfing is about the extent of it. My wife's a runner as well, and I try and keep up with her. But there's no chance of that.

Bruce Martin: I know one activity they could do in Indiana.

Sting Ray Robb: Highway repair, road repair. That'd be great. Seriously needs it. I need to pick that up as a hobby. Help the city out a little bit. Favorite type of food, favorite restaurants? Oh man, I'm a foodie. I love food. So for me, I can't really pick a favorite type. If I had to choose one for the rest of my life, I'd probably choose Japanese. Favorite restaurant though, if we're going chain, I'm going Texas Roadhouse. If we're going privately held, I mean, I like kind of diner, not diner, sorry, little holes in the wall. People that aren't local won't know about it. Somewhere that I can't get when I'm out on the road.

Bruce Martin: I've seen you quite often in the month of May at the Garage Food Hall. That way, you can try a little bit of everything when it comes to food. That's right. Is that a favorite spot of yours?

Sting Ray Robb: It is. It's not too far from where I live, so if we have a big group of people going, I like to pop over there because you have so much variety. One person can get a crab roll, the next person can get a gyro. I mean, you name it, they got everything.

Bruce Martin: And you're known for having a pretty big entourage. That's right. How many people are part of the Rob entourage?

Sting Ray Robb: Oh, man, so many. I mean, I had seven or eight people staying at my house besides my wife and I during the month of May. And then we have plenty more to go along with. That's just our skeleton crew, if you will, to get us going.

Bruce Martin: Goals for the rest of the season, it appears that Juncos Hollinger Racing has finally been able to put together a team that's got some pretty good chemistry. You get along well with Connor Daly. Both of you seem to get along well with Ricardo Juncos. Do you feel that the team's finally hit on the right chemistry and you've got some big goals ahead of you this season?

Sting Ray Robb: Yeah, I think so. I think that we've had a good car at different times. It's just a matter of capitalizing on it. And to be honest, we're strongly in the mid-pack now. It's just a matter of moving forward in that mid-pack. And little things make a big difference. So I think for us, our goals are to get a few more top 10s, move up in the standings, and hopefully keep the qualifying performances going. Because we've been qualifying better and better every weekend, it seems like. And so our goal is just to keep executing on that. And when you do that, you just give yourself a better chance during the race weekend.

Bruce Martin: 7.01 million viewers watched the 109th Indianapolis 500 on Fox. How big a deal was that for you, with a peak of 8.5 million at the end?

Sting Ray Robb: It's awesome. We need that, and we need more of that, to be honest, because this is a marketing, media-driven industry, and if we don't have that side capitalized on, we're not going to be able to sustain it. So, for us, it's great to see, it's very encouraging, and we have a lot more hope for the future.

Bruce Martin: And also there were a lot of Fox Sports executives that wanted to know the Stingray Rob story. So if there's a chapter you'd like to point out, what is it?

Sting Ray Robb: Well, I mean, the name is probably the biggest, the beginning of the story, if you will. So that's always the first thing that people like to talk about. And you can look at that on other interviews as well as you'd like. But I think for me, the chapters I've enjoyed the most, obviously coming to IndyCar, leading the 500 last year was a big highlight for my career. finishing second in the next championship and then winning the Indy Pro 2000 championship back in 2020.

Bruce Martin: Well, Stingray Rob, good luck the rest of the season. We'll catch up later and thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you. And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. We want to thank our guests, Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, Colton Herta of Andretti Global, Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing, Christian Lungard of Arrow McLaren, Christian Rasmussen of ECR, and Stingray Rob of Juncos Hollinger Racing for joining us on today's podcast. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways, and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.

null: Thanks for watching!