In the Menards Infiniti Pro Series Cleanevent 100, Thiago Medeiros became the first Indy Racing League driver to win four consecutive races as he led all 77 laps of the event.
“The team did a good job,” said Medeiros, who leads Paul Dana by 96 points. They gave me a great start this weekend. We were quickest in all the sessions that we had here. I think I did the easiest part, I just drove the car around.”
Medeiros set the series record for most wins from the pole position and also equaled the series record for wins in a season.
Dana and rookie Jesse Mason finished second and third, respectively, to equal their career-best finishes.
CLEANEVENT 100 POST-RACE QUOTES:
THIAGO MEDEIROS (No. 11 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “The race will be on my birthday next Saturday, so I'm looking forward. The team did a good job. They gave me a great start this weekend. We were quickest all the sessions that we had here. I think I did the easiest part, I just drove the car around.” (About his 173 consecutive laps led): “That's a results that everyone's done together. I think the team has been working really hard at the shop. I have been working very hard myself, working out a lot. I'm just ready. I'm looking for an IndyCar Series seat next year, so I still have to do my best everyday. The other thing I like to do, I like to be on the edge.” (Are you ready for the IndyCar Series?): “Pretty much. I'm still taking my time. I know it will come. I just keep trying to do my best every day, and know that it will come soon. My focus in my life right now, my priority, is still the championship in the Menards Infiniti Pro Series. As soon as we get it, we can start to think about the IndyCar Series.”
PAUL DANA: (No. 91 Ethanol Hemelgarn Johnson Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “The second-to-last restart, I nailed it and we had a race. We were side by side in (Turns) 1 and 2, and I had (Thiago Medeiros) pinned on the bottom. I thought I could start working the high side, and we had a yellow, again. I kind of messed up the last one, and that was it. The Ethanol car was strong. We’re proving that. At least we were able to keep (Medeiros) honest. Just a little bit short again.”
JESSE MASON (No. 3 Segway Human Transportation Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “It was a good race. Coming in, I thought we might struggle a little bit because of our showing at Kansas, but we worked on it all weekend. We were slow in the beginning, but we worked away. (Chief Mechanic) Mo (Larsen), (engineer) Doug (Zister) and all the guys at Brian Stewart Racing did an amazing job to get the car ready for the race. The car was really good in qualifying. Everybody's so close that it was kind of a toss-up between second (place) through fifth. We qualified good, and the car was good in the race. I've got to thank all the guys. We were fighting a bit of a push, but it looked like the other guys were, too. It's too bad we couldn't give Paul (Dana) a run for his money on the last restart, but we'll get them at the next one. I think we'll be really, really good in Milwaukee.” (About racing in Nashville): “I have a lot of hope for that race. I've got to thank the fans, got to thank everybody in Nashville. We did an autograph session last night, and it was unbelievable. It's great down here. Nice weather, and everything's good.”
AL UNSER (No. 2 Western Union Speed Team Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “We have just been struggling all week here on the concrete. We just can’t find the grip. We’ve been fighting a push all weekend. I think we finally overcame it in warmup yesterday. We finally got the push out, but I wanted to go a little bit further. I was hoping we could get something better, but it made the car a little loose. We had that spin early, but we were able to come back. I’m glad the Western Union car finished today.”
ARIE LUYENDYK JR. (No. 5 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara/Infiniti/ Firestone): “This whole weekend, we've had a car that's almost undriveable. In qualifying, it just hung on, and we qualified sixth, but the car went backwards right away, and I just can't drive this thing. You go into Turn 1, and the thing has a lot of push, loose in the middle and push coming off. It's doing both things, so it's hard to adjust the car. I can't do anything with the bars and the weight jacker. It's just embarrassing to be out there more than three seconds off the leader’s pace, and I'm a danger to everyone that's out there. I'm infuriated with the car's setup, and it's something that we need to work on. Obviously, my teammate has it figured out, but two drivers can't drive the same car. I drive a different car. Once my engineer figures that out, we'll be good, but for now, we're just sucking wind, I guess.”
LEONARDO MAIA (No. 33 Skip Barber Racing School Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “We had a great car, and we were running a solid third. I think we would have finished there, maybe. I was just taking it easy on the tires and hoping that with about 20 (laps) to go, the leader’s tires would fall off, and we would be able to close the gap a little bit. The car felt really good. Brian Stewart Racing did a great job with the Skip Barber Racing School car. I'm just real disappointed. There seemed to be some sort of electrical malfunction, some sort of short circuit. While I was coming into the pits, it may have lit the seat on fire, and it just sort of flamed up when I was coming into the pits, so I stopped it. I tried to put out the fire as soon as I could and got out.”
ROSS FONFERKO (No. 22 Western Union Speed Team Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “Coming around Turn 2 on the restart, we had a good run going. I was just hoping to finish the race in the position that we were in, in fourth, and maybe make a run at third. I don't know if we had the stuff for second or first, Thiago (Medeiros) or Paul (Dana), but it seemed like Little Al (Unser) might have gotten a little close under my wing, took a little air off, and that was it. It went around. It just seemed like the rear end wasn't there. I tried to get into the throttle a little bit, give it a little bit to the rear, also turn into the slide. I just couldn't collect it back. There was nothing on the wing to get any downforce back.
BILLY ROE (No. 42 Team ISI Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “I think we had a good race. We had a lot of carnage going on in front of us, and we were able to miss it. The Feeding Children Worldwide Dallara just did a great job. I'll tell you, (chief mechanic) Mark (Olson) did a great job putting the car together after we crashed at Kansas last week. We have a new paint job, so kudos to (the crew). They did an excellent job. I'd like to thank Kenn Hardley and Ken Peterson, he's the guy who brought the sponsor. I think we had a good race, the best race the team’s ever had as far as finish, so we'll go on to Milwaukee and see what happens there.”
BRAD POLLARD (No. 64 Team XBOX/Pollard Racing Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “We think we lost fuel pressure. We're not exactly sure what it was, but the car just died on the restart. We can't say enough about XBox and the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team. We really had a strong run going. We thought we had fourth place pretty easy because we were closing in on the guy, but I think it was a fuel-pressure problem. We will go back and figure it out, get back next week and get after it.”
***
The next IRL IndyCar Series event is the Menards A.J. Foyt Indy 225 at 3:30 p.m. (EDT) July 25 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be broadcast live on ABC and the IMS Radio Network. The next Menards Infiniti Pro Series event is the Milwaukee 100 on July 25 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be broadcast by ESPN2 on a tape-delayed basis at 1 p.m. (EDT) on July 27.
