As usual, the Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolets have qualified well for the 106th running of the Indy 500, with Rinus VeeKay and Carpenter himself lining up third and fourth respectively on the grid. And Carpenter, a three-time pole-winner, for this race, said that he’s not concerned what type of track conditions they’ll have for the race, just as long as his team makes the right calls in terms of setup.
“I try not to overly worry about what it’s going to be like, more be prepared for whatever the day brings,” said the 41-year-old. “I know as a team we’re prepared for all conditions, we’ve been pretty strong in all conditions, and so it comes down to making the right decision for race day. I think we’ll be able to fight in any of the conditions."
In terms of deciding how to tackle the race tactically, Carpenter again expressed confidence, stating: “It really just depends on how the race is flowing. Some years you see guys who want to push the pace and lead – Simon [Pagenaud] was probably the last guy who really did that to an extreme level successfully [in 2019].
“Mostly in recent years, no one wants to lead, and that keeps the field pretty bunched up. We’ll just see how it comes.
“I feel like we have the ability to run with someone if they want to go stretch their legs, and we have the ability with our Chevy’s economy to save fuel too, so we’ll play it either way.”
Last year, VeeKay and Conor Daly in the third ECR car between them led 72 laps, but it was at times of the race when lap speeds weren’t huge, so it wasn’t obvious whether they would have had the legs to compete with Scott Dixon, had the Ganassi driver made it through without suffering his misfortune, or with the pair that ultimately dueled for the lead – namely, Helio Castroneves and Alex Palou. But Carpenter doesn’t believe his cars were lacking for race pace.
“I don’t think that we’ve really missed anything, to be honest,” he said. “I feel like our racecars have been just as strong as our qualifying cars.
“We had a stall in pitlane on my first stop last year that took us the rest of the 500 miles to get us back to the top five. Rinus had a penalty or something, and Conor [Daly] had his issues [Graham Rahal’s stray wheel damaging his car.]. All three of our cars were good enough to win last year: we just weren’t at the right spot at the right time for whatever reason.
“[This year] I feel probably better about our racecar than I felt about our qualifying car, to be honest with you. So I’m excited.”
Recalling 2018, when he finished runner-up to Will Power in a Team Penske-Chevrolet, Carpenter said: “It’s hard finishing second. It’s probably the worst place to be… You go back and analyze a race like that and… maybe the last pit cycle I could have done a little more on my in and out lap. I encountered a little more traffic than he did…
“That’s why you run the race, and it was a good battle between the two of us, and I’m pretty sure whoever of us came out leading going into that last stint was likely going to be the winner. I did everything I could to chase him down but it was just not enough.”
Describing how a team bounces back from that disappointment, Carpenter said: “You just have to start over and go through the process: just because you’re successful one year doesn’t guarantee success the next. And just because you have a bad year doesn’t mean you’re due for another bad year.
“So I think for us as a team and for me personally, we take what we can learn from an event, positive and negative, and try to get better, and go through our entire process again, maybe focusing on different things to improve. But you have to put in the same work over and over and over again, and each time you add layers to that, to be more thorough and in depth and prepared. So on one hand it’s gratifying that you’re that close, on the other hand, you’re that much short so you have to get stronger – and all the while, other people are getting stronger, too. So it’s a neverending push to continue to improve.”
Carpenter, who is about to make his 19th start in the Indy 500, spoke too of the personal satisfaction he would derive from winning the event at last.
“I do this for me and my family so it would be extremely gratifying for us, because there’s no one in my life who understands how much I put into this, other than them,” he said. “Especially now my kids are getting older, they really see and understand that process a little more than they did when they were little. It’s fun to have them in this dream with me now.”
