Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Wrap-up with Kyle Kirkwood, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Scott Dixon, David Malukas, Conor Daly, Robert Shwartzman, Rinus VeeKay, Graham Rahal and Jacob Abel

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 SportsChecker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek, and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit 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. It was prime time under the lights at Worldwide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois for last Sunday night's Bomberito Automotive Group 500. It was the first IndyCar Series race on a Sunday night televised in prime time on a major network as Fox Sports cleared its highly viewed Sunday night entertainment lineup for the stars of IndyCar. The race drew 1,012,000 viewers on the Fox telecast. That was up 88% from the 537,000 viewers for last year's worldwide technology race that was held on August 17th, 2024. It was up 17% from last year's 863,000 viewers for the eighth race of the season at Road America on June 9th, 2024. The race peaked at 1,066,000 viewers from 8.30 to 8.45 p.m. Eastern Time. Through the first eight races of the season, IndyCar on Fox is averaging 2,007,000 viewers, up 27% over last year's 1,577,000 viewers. That includes the 7.01 million viewers that watched the Fox telecast of the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25th. For those fans who tuned in, they saw a wild short oval race under the lights. It was a contest that featured 254 passes for position, which tied the series record for this track with 485 total on-track passes. Christian Rasmussen started 25th and finished third with 62 passes, the most of any driver in the race. There was also an event record 14 different leaders, but in the end it was Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global that took the checkered flag for his first win on a short oval in his career. It was also Kirkwood's second straight IndyCar win to go along with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on June 1st. Kirkwood has won three IndyCar Series races this season, including April's Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Alex Pillow of Chip Ganassi Racing started the season with five wins in the first six races, but since winning the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25th, Pillow has finished 25th at Detroit and 8th at Worldwide Technology Raceway. Palou continues to lead the standings after eight races of the 17 on the schedule this season. He leads Pato Award by 73 and Kirkwood by 75 as the series heads to Road America for this weekend's Xpel Grand Prix. Before heading off to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, let's take a look back at the wild weekend on the banks of the Mississippi River. Here's my exclusive interview with race winner Kyle Kirkwood for Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. It's IndyCar's primetime player, Kyle Kirkwood. Kyle, you won the short oval primetime Sunday night on Fox Sports. First time that's ever happened, a Sunday night race in primetime for IndyCar. First oval win of your career. It's just, how excited are you that it all came together tonight?

Kyle Kirkwood: Yeah, it was a really good day. You know, like, I would have been happy today coming into this race, I would have been happy with the top ten if I'm being honest. And then as the race progressed and we started getting a little better, I was like, you know what, I'll be happy with the top five. And then the car got really, really good after we did some tuning on it, and it's like, you know what, we could win this thing. Easily get a podium, we could definitely win this thing. And played our cards right, got a little lucky on a couple things. Had mega restarts and starts. and put ourselves in a position to ultimately go for the win. And we capitalized and did everything right. And when we did things right, it was the right timing. So it worked out really well.

Bruce Martin: If you could explain the timing, because it really seemed like toward the end, a lot of people didn't know who was going to end up winning the race. You had different strategies going on, yet you picked the right strategy. And how far back in the race do you go to realize when that strategy was beginning to work?

Kyle Kirkwood: We were on the primary strategy from the get-go, and that was going to be, unless something crazy happened, that was going to be the race-winning strategy. And the guys, especially the end, that tried to fuel-save, that was never going to work unless they got a yellow. And if they got a yellow, they would have won the race, which would have been very unfortunate for us, but fortunate for them. The main thing was the last pit stop, the last pit cycle was big for us and that last restart was big for us where we pitted like a lap earlier I think than Dixon and Pato. Ducked in, ran a couple hard laps right in the beginning. Kind of cleared all the people that we needed to. And next thing you know, we're running second on that restart and then got by Pato on that restart, which was kind of the icing on the cake, really, because that was the crucial part to it.

Bruce Martin: Third IndyCar win of the season. I think I've said to you earlier this year that when you started to win races, it's getting to the point now where you're clicking them off one right after the other. And that's important when you begin a career that could win championships and become a multi big time IndyCar race winner. So do you feel like your career is right on course right now for that?

Kyle Kirkwood: It's going in the right direction, no doubt about it. Still, this year is not everything I could have dreamt of, and I don't think in my racing career I'll ever feel like it's gone perfectly unless you win absolutely everything, qualifying, pole, and everything. Just as a racing driver, you always want more. In some ways, no, but it's going very well. I have to accept that this has been my best year so far. Three wins is the most I've ever had in a season, and we're only not even halfway through, so hopefully there's still a lot more to come.

Bruce Martin: It's also the first time you've gone back-to-back because you won the previous race at Detroit. To be able to get back-to-back wins, how important is that for you?

Kyle Kirkwood: Yeah, it's big. You know, it's momentum. That's everything in the sport. And getting that win, having a week off, and then coming back and winning again is just big for the team morale. It's big for me. It's big for the work ethic that the crew have. And it just builds on top. It's just compound, interesting, hopefully more success. And that's the way it feels.

Bruce Martin: And finally, speaking of momentum, that's key to a championship run. You're now within a little bit of distance of Alex Pillow. Alex hasn't won races the last two weeks, thanks to you. But you have to… It's getting a little bit boring now. I liked it, I liked it. But you still have to see that there's a lot of races left and there's a lot of opportunity left that you could get right back into the thick of the championship race.

Kyle Kirkwood: That is true. There is a lot of races still to go, and that's not to say that things can't go badly for us, too. We gotta do the simple things right, focus on what we've got, get points when we can, get wins when we can, get podiums when we can, and keep taking away at it. That's ultimately the goal.

Bruce Martin: and it's off to Road America. What's your outlook there?

Kyle Kirkwood: It should be good. You know, we led a portion of that race last year, qualified third, had a really good car there. Could have gotten a podium, I think. Could have taken the podium away from Palo if we did things a little bit better. So we're going back there with high confidence, especially after this win or the past two wins.

Bruce Martin: Well, Kyle Kirkwood, you picked up a new nickname, IndyCar's Primetime Player. Congratulations on your win on the Bomberito Automotive Group 500. Good luck at Road America, and thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. Appreciate you. Pit Pass Indy gathered plenty of interviews leading into Sunday night's race, including some quick interviews with the drivers after their qualification attempts on Saturday. First up is Padua Ward of Arrow McLaren after he qualified third on Saturday and went on to finish second on Sunday night.

Pato O’Ward: I was great. I was really happy with my car. I wish I had a little bit more there. to fight for pole, but I'm super happy with my car. Yeah, it's a Penske 124, and we're in a Penske sandwich, so I'm pumped about it. This is one of my best qualifyings here at Worldwide Technology Raceway, and I love racing around here, so I'm looking forward to final practice a little bit later, trying to make the race car go as fast as we can, and I think tomorrow Yeah, prime time, Sunday night, can't get better than that. I like number three. I like number three. That's where we're starting and the car does feel good. I'll know a little bit more later today once we actually get a full stint under the car. But, yeah, I was kind of bummed I didn't get to finish the race last year having a mechanical because I thought my car was, you know, as good as anybody's. So, yeah, that's what we're going to roll off with and see what we got.

Bruce Martin: David Maloukas of AJ Foyt Racing qualified fourth and went on to finish 12th in the race. He led a race-high 67 laps in the contest before he made contact with the Turn 4 wall on lap 195. He was able to continue in the race, but the brush with the wall kept him from challenging for the victory. Here are Maloukas' thoughts after his qualification run on Saturday. Our next guest can't drive 55, but he sure can drive down I-55. It's David Maloukas. We're here at Gateway. Pretty good run for you here. You gotta feel like that first short oval victory is getting closer and closer.

David Malukas: Yeah, it was a good qualifying for us. You know, I mean, nice to get a pull. I don't know, that first lap, I made a mistake. That second lap was perfection. If I did two laps of that second lap, then I'd think, okay, we have this. But, you know, with that, I'm not too sure. But, very happy. We had a good car. Guys did a good job getting it where it needed to be. But, also the track keeps getting cooler. So, it'll get better and better. But, very happy with that result. They used to say on the A-team, I love it when a good plan comes together. Do you feel that was the case with your car today? Oh, 100%. As soon as I finished that run, I told the guys I love that car. They gave me a fantastic car, and I was able to capitalize as much as I could from it. Obviously, like I said, I made a little mistake myself on lap one, but very happy.

Bruce Martin: And it seems like not only are you rising to the occasion, it also seems like Santino is also rising. So across the board on the team, it looks like it's really working well right now at AJ Foy Racing.

David Malukas: Yeah, I mean, the team, the morale is high. I think, you know, in that start of the season, a lot of new guys had a lot of work to do. And we've we've managed to do a good job getting it all connected together. And yeah, the second half of the season hopefully is going to be really good for us.

Bruce Martin: How important is it to start up front here at Gateway?

David Malukas: I mean, as long as you're in that top five area, that's where you want to be. I mean, from there, this race is chaotic from what we've seen in the years past. So as long as we're there, we're going to be in the window.

Bruce Martin: And for you personally, back-to-back races, Gateway and St. Louis, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. For a kid from Chicago, those have got to be two very important back-to-back weekends.

David Malukas: Oh, 100%. Yeah, this means a lot for me. So I'm very excited for these next few weeks. Thank you. We'll catch up with you later. Thank you.

Bruce Martin: Alex Pillow qualified ninth on Saturday and finished eighth in the race on Sunday. He continues to hold a huge lead in the standings. Here's a quick interview with Pillow from Saturday. Hello, Alex. I guess in some ways qualifying on a short oval is still something you might need to work on a little bit. How do you look at your starting performance for Gateway?

Alex Palou: Yeah, no great. I mean, I knew that we were not fighting for pole probably, but I thought we had enough speed to be like top five. So yeah, kind of made a small mistake in turn one and two on the first lap. And yeah, just not enough.

Bruce Martin: But this is a track where you've got plenty of time to race your way up toward the front. How do you feel, what would be a good finish for you here?

Alex Palou: Oh yeah, I think when it comes to race it's very different. We saw how many overtakes we had and how much action we had during the race last couple of years, especially last year. So I think it's going to be even more tomorrow during the night just because of the amount of grip we're going to get. So yeah, racing should be good. I'm not really worried about our race pace. I think we can move up front. I don't know how much, but I think we should be fighting for the podium.

Bruce Martin: And it also helps the fact that your nearest competitor is 90 points behind you. Each race pays 50 points.

Alex Palou: Yeah, it helps. I mean, it's still very early on and we saw last weekend, well, two weeks ago at Detroit that 30 points or 40 points go by like this quick if you have an accident. So, yeah, we're still focused on trying to get as many race wins and as many points as we can and the only way to do it is to finish up front always.

Bruce Martin: And also the fact that Chevrolet has the first four positions.

Alex Palou: I guess that kind of shows like they've woken up a bit. Oh, did they? I didn't see. Yeah. I mean, they are strong here. They've been really, really strong, I would say, the last couple of years here. But yeah, it's tough. We need to do a little bit of catch up from the team side, driver side as well. So yeah, hopefully tomorrow will be a lot closer.

Bruce Martin: And finally, you see an old pro like Will Power get another pole. He's the all-time leader. In some ways, that's cool, if it can't be you, a guy like Will Power.

Alex Palou: Yeah, I mean, he's dangerous. When he starts up front, he tends to finish up front. So I mean, yeah, obviously, it's super cool. It's the person that has more poles in IndyCar, right? So it's pretty cool that he still does it at any given day.

Bruce Martin: All right, man. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Will Power: 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. Graham Rahal made his 300th IndyCar Series start on Sunday night and finished 22nd. The Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan driver completed 253 laps in the race, but on lap 143, he passed a milestone by reaching the $1 million mark in the Turn for Troops powered by United Rentals program. United Rentals and Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing partnered on the Turns for Troops program in 2016. For every lap Graham Rahal completes, United Rentals donates $50 to Turns for Troops. The money is donated to support military veterans and their families. Early efforts include raising money for eco-skeleton suits that help paralyzed veterans stand and walk. In 2018 to 2019, United-Reynolds also included laps completed by teammates Takuma Sato in 2018 and 2019, Oriol Servia in 2018, and Jordan King in 2019 at the Indy 500. For Rahal to reach the one million mark on his own, he is 872 laps from that milestone. In addition, the Riding With Rahal campaign raised almost $70,000 for veterans during the Indy 500. Here's a quick interview with Rahal after his qualification attempt.

SPEAKER_14: I don't think I nailed turn one and two, but I don't think it was like, there wasn't a lot more to lean on and the feel in the car, it was sliding and You know, I'm not really sure. I'm a little baffled as to, you know, the speed. But, sadly, I mean, it's nothing new to us on ovals, and particularly, you know, the last few years. So, you know, we just, we're gonna try some more things this evening, and see if, you know, see if we can just make a better race car. And we really gotta get this high line to work. I mean, it's so critical to this race. But if we can do that, then we'll be okay. Yeah, I mean, I thought we were going to be better than last year. I think we will be better than last year. But, you know, because coming out of the Milwaukee test. on Monday or Tuesday, like we made the car considerably better than what we had there last year. So I had high hopes, let's put it that way. Again, like I said, the car's not doing anything evil. That's the disappointing part. It's just not, it's not very quick. And you know, three and four, I need to be flat, like I said, and I got a little too much understeer. So I burbled the throttle, maybe that hurt, but it didn't hurt half a second or three tenths. It hurt a tenth, maybe, maybe, you know? So we've got a long ways to go. Well, I've been fortunate, you know, to be in some good teams over the years. You know, it's a race race for some good people and meet a lot of great people, frankly. So that's what it says. I think I've been very fortunate to build a lot of great relationships and hope I got a few more good ones left in me.

Bruce Martin: Speaking of great relationships, business-wise, Gateway in St. Louis, Road America in Elkhart Lake, those are both two big venues for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with their sponsors. How important are these back-to-back races for the company?

SPEAKER_14: Well, I mean, every race is important. I don't think we, you know, can say this one or that next one's any more important than the others. I mean, they're all important for us. But, I mean, look, we just want to be a lot better than we've been, and that's what we're focused on doing.

Bruce Martin: And finally, how much do you look forward to going to Road America? That always seems to be a highlight for you.

SPEAKER_14: Yeah, I'm pretty pumped about it. I can't wait to get there for sure. Thank you.

Bruce Martin: Connor Daly of Noblesville, Indiana started 15th and finished 6th in the Bomarito Automotive Group 500. Daly led 36 laps in the race. He talks about his short oval skills in this quick interview on pit lane after qualifications on Saturday. Hello, Connor. We're back here on a short oval. How did it go for you?

Conor Daly: Honestly, that was really awful. But it's really my fault. I mean, I shouldn't have listened to what Stingray said about it. Honestly, we're in such a different situation, I think, Just might have overreacted a little bit to that, but no fault of his own. We just tried to maybe over-adjust on that, and that's my fault. But honestly, the track being covered in oil dry in 3.4 is just such a shame. I don't know why we run something that can just blow up and destroy the qualifying session like that. It's just such a shame, because it completely ruins qualifying for a lot of people. But it is what it is. And I'm just upset about it, because I think we could have got more out of that.

Bruce Martin: Do you think that one of the things about having a series like USAC here is maybe some of their things should be after IndyCars already completed?

Conor Daly: I think after qualifying, yeah. I mean, it's just when you go out there and try to put these cars on the limit of what we do. I mean, it's just, you gotta be perfect. So, you know, it is what it is. It's, you know, it's a shame. We're not gonna start where we wanna start, but we're gonna go after it in the race.

Bruce Martin: And as far as racing here, you've had some good races here. So how do you feel about it? You got plenty of time to get the car ready for tomorrow night.

Conor Daly: Yeah, I mean, we're happy with it. I mean, I just didn't get the most out of it. Like it's just, it's a matter of being out of place as soon as we see the oil dry and then, you know, trying to figure out how to navigate that. So yeah, it was just a tough one for us. Thank you. Yeah, thanks.

Bruce Martin: Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing led 43 laps in the race. He started 11th and finished fourth. Here is a quick interview with Dixon from Saturday.

Scott Dixon: The car felt pretty good. The car is quite a bit different than what we had last year. Just to try and make it a little more driver friendly but all in all I think, as you said, a little hard to tell because of the fragmented session earlier but it felt decent, we'll just have to see what tomorrow night brings. Obviously with different portions of the weekend and how yellows can fall, it can definitely switch some things up so last year we had a grid penalty as well which made it pretty difficult. Had to go a long ways back, but yeah, I think as long as we can, you know, kind of start at the top, you know, 10 or 12, we should be in a decent spot to win. It would be awesome for, you know, anybody that's a father, obviously, but no, we just wanna, we wanna win no matter what.

Scott Dixon: It doesn't change too much. I think once you get, you know, the darkness, maybe the second lane kind of opens up a little bit more too. But, you know, during the race, a lot of that depends on how much you get to run, you know, before it goes caution or, you know, how dirty the high line gets. So, you know, it kind of depends on a few things. But it's, I think it's fun for the fans. It's great for, you know, the drivers. The cars look cool under the lights. And, you know, I think a Sunday night primetime hopefully works out really well.

Bruce Martin: Hey, look ahead to next week. That's one of your favorite tracks. You're a former winner at Road America. How much do you love that place?

Scott Dixon: Yeah, definitely looking forward to it. You know, I want to get through this one first and, you know, love St. Louis, but, you know, Road America, we had a great car there last year as well, and then unfortunately had that tire issue, which kind of put us, you know, at the back, and then there was never no yellow. So, you know, we were kind of stuck with where we were. So, yeah, I can't wait to get there, man. Looking forward to it.

Bruce Martin: And finally, how cool is it that IndyCar has preempted Family Guy in the Simpsons. What do you mean?

Scott Dixon: That's the Sunday night lineup on Fox. Oh, OK. Yeah. Well, hopefully it works well, man. I didn't know that was how it was planned out.

Bruce Martin: I'd like to think that Will Power is probably Homer Simpson.

Scott Dixon: I don't want to get into that, man. He gets angry. Thank you.

Bruce Martin: Rhenus VeeKay is another driver who advanced his way through the field as the driver from the Netherlands started 18th and finished 7th. Here is VeeKay after his qualification attempt. Rhenus, we've entered the short oval portion of the schedule.

Rinus VeeKay: How do you like it? I like it a lot. Yeah, it's… It's a fun track, always. Gateway, I think, especially as a night race, is a cool one coming up. Yeah, and my first short oval race with Dale Coyne Racing, so I was excited for this. I think we put a pretty good two laps down for qualifying, so.

Bruce Martin: Two completely different tracks, but is there anything you can learn at Gateway that you can translate when we go to Iowa in July?

Rinus VeeKay: I'm sure there is. We actually tested in Milwaukee on a mile earlier this week. We brought a few things we learned there over here. So yeah, we are actually incorporating some of those things. But yes, they are different tracks. But with Iowa being this smooth now, I'm sure we'll take some stuff from here to Iowa.

Bruce Martin: Speaking of Milwaukee, we're going to Wisconsin next weekend, or it should be this weekend. Road America, everybody loves that track. What do you love about it?

Rinus VeeKay: What were we talking about? Sorry, I was distracted. Road America. Oh, Road America. It's my favorite. I love that track. So I had my first ever win in cars in Road America with Pabst Racing in the USF 2000. So really excited to go back there. And yeah, it's always a treat to be there. And I hope we can have a great car to make it a treat on the racetrack too. Bratwurst or cheese curds? Oh, so I went to Culver's for the first time on the way back from Milwaukee. The cheese curds hit the spot, so I'm going to have to say cheese curds. So that's one vote for cheese curds.

Bruce Martin: I would imagine you, being a professional athlete, probably got to watch bratwurst. You probably can't have too many of them if you want to stay fit.

Rinus VeeKay: Oh, same with cheese curds, though. I think both of those are cheat day material. I have to say, after a full day of testing on the short oval, you know, in the end of the day, you kind of deserve a bag of cheese curds. Well, not only that, but you've burned off the calories. Exactly. All right, Remus, we'll catch up with you down the road. OK, yes, thank you.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Scott McLaughlin: Hi, I'm Scott McLaughlin, driver of the number three team Penske Chevy, 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 two rookies in the NTT IndyCar series, including Indianapolis 500 poll winner, Robert Schwartzman of Prema and Jacob Abel of Dale Coyne racing. Schwartzman started 24th and finished 10th in his first short oval race of his career. He talked about his excitement entering the race on this exclusive pit pass Indy interview.

Bruce Martin: Robert Schwartzman is joining us. Robert, you won the poll for the Indianapolis 500. That's a big track. How does a short oval at Gateway feel to you?

Robert Shwartzman: It's completely different, honestly. Everything is different in terms of how small and short it is. Unfortunately, we didn't have much running time. We just had 60 minutes and straight jump in quali. So I was struggling a bit with the car balance today, and we still struggled. We improved a bit for quali, but still not good enough. It is what it is. Also for me as a rookie, in order to get some confidence, it was not easy. But yeah, well, we did what we could and let's just, you know, we have another practice and then we have a race tomorrow. So we'll try to do our best job there.

Bruce Martin: And how prepared are you for the style of racing that happens on a short oval? Because it's a little bit of a close quarter deal.

Robert Shwartzman: Yeah, for sure. It's going to be a different different way of racing here. I'll need to learn. Again, I'm a rookie, so it's going to be, for me, it's like a first actual oval race because Indy is something exceptional, something different. So I don't believe there is much from Indy that I can bring in here. So it's going to be quite significantly different. So tomorrow is going to be my first, let's say, small oval race. We'll see how it's going to go. Let's try to do our best. And that's it. Some drivers say they feel the speed here more so than they do in Indy. I don't know. For me the speed is still in the Indy 500. It's all about speed, all about the crazy speed, I would say. Here it's a bit more just like getting the car in the right balance and just control that movement. And yeah, obviously they have a lot of experience and a lot of confidence. I still don't. So whenever the time comes and I get there, I'm sure it's going to be a different story.

Bruce Martin: And how much are you looking forward to Road America? That's a track that everybody seems to love in the United States.

Robert Shwartzman: Yeah, honestly, I've done it a bit in the sim and it seems like a really cool track, like a very European style in that way, like quite long with a lot of corners, straights as well. Honestly, I'm really looking forward for Road America. It seems like a really cool track.

Bruce Martin: And have you ever had a bratwurst before? Because that's a big deal in Wisconsin. The food in Wisconsin is pretty filling, so I imagine an athlete such as you probably still has to watch what you're going to eat. Yeah, for sure.

Robert Shwartzman: That's our job as well to keep the diet right.

Bruce Martin: Well, Robert Schwartzman, good luck. We'll catch up with you later this year. Thank you. And now let's wrap it up with Jacob Abel of Dale Coyne Racing as the driver from Louisville, Kentucky joins me for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. Jacob Abel, I guess if you wanted to take the circuitous route, you could have probably gotten here from Louisville if you'd taken the boat up the Ohio, but then you'd have to come up the Mississippi. So that's probably not the right way to go.

Jacob Abel: Yeah, no, no, definitely not. You know, I think we got we've got some work to do. We got to figure out the right way to go around this racetrack, too. So, yeah, a little bit of work to do for us for sure. But, you know, hopefully we'll make some strides this evening and have a good car tomorrow.

Bruce Martin: But from one river city to another, how cool is it now to be on the short oval portion of the IndyCar schedule?

Jacob Abel: Yeah, it's cool. I've always been a big fan of short ovals. Love everything about them, to be honest. Always in the IndyNex series, I always had good success on the ovals and felt very comfortable on them. So just need to make the adjustment for the IndyCar. We had a really good test at Milwaukee, so already excited to go there. I think that's one of my favorite tracks. sort of a little bit behind here, but yeah, still trying to work on it, make strides.

Bruce Martin: Two completely different types of short ovals, but do you learn anything here that you can use at Iowa next month?

Jacob Abel: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think any oval experience is great for me. You know, I haven't raced an IndyCar on an oval yet, so yeah, I think tomorrow will be important just to gain as much experience as possible and try and build on it later this year.

Bruce Martin: You coming from the Indynex by Firestone series, you didn't really get a chance to run a lot of oval races in that series. How much do you think that is a detriment to when you do step up to IndyCar?

Jacob Abel: Yeah, you know, I think it's tough, but I think there's more ovals now than there has been in the past, you know, few years in the Indynex series. You know, I've probably had north of 20 oval starts in my career. So yeah, I feel pretty comfortable on them, just need to adapt to the new car. How would you gauge your rookie season so far? It's tough to say. You know, we've had kind of so many issues that it's been tough to really have a lot of opportunities. I think Detroit was a great start, kind of on the upward trajectory for us. I think we had a great, great weekend start to finish. Unfortunately, I had a lot of damage in the race, wasn't able to show our true potential. But yeah, just trying to trying to kind of take everything in stride. I'd be lying if I say I wasn't disappointed with it, but yeah, just trying to keep working forward.

Bruce Martin: But you go from a short oval to the longest road course on the schedule at Road America. All the drivers love racing there. What do you love about it?

Jacob Abel: Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, it's a long lap. You know, you only really get one shot at it in qualifying with that being the case. It leads itself to racing really well with the long straightaways. Every corner there is pretty much high speed, which is super awesome. It's one of my favorite tracks. And then after that, it's Mid-Ohio. How do you like that track? Another one of my favorite tracks, for sure. Mid-Ohio has always been sort of a home track for me, personally, just because that's sort of where I grew up racing. I actually used to instruct at the school there. Spent a lot of time at that place. So definitely another one of the classics, another one of my favorites.

Bruce Martin: And before you go to Road America, do you stop off at Dale's shop there in Plainfield to check it out some? Because you don't get that many opportunities to be near the race shop.

Jacob Abel: Yeah, it's tough during the season. Renas and I have made some road trips up there together. But yeah, definitely spent a little bit less time there being in Illinois and not in Indianapolis. Well, Jacob Abel, go get them. We'll catch up with you later this season. Thank you.

Bruce Martin: 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: And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. We want to thank our guests, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, Pat O'Ward of Errol McLaren, David Maloukas of AJ Foyt Racing, Alex Pillow of Chip Ganassi Racing, Graham Brayhall of Brayhall Letterman Lanigan Racing, Connor Daly of Juncos Hollinger Racing, Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, Renas VeeKay of Dale Coyne Racing, Robert Schwartzman of Crema, and Jacob Abel of Dale Coyne 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. We'll have a special bonus edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental later this week as we look ahead to this weekend's XBEL Grand Prix at Road America. So be sure to check that one out. 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.