INDIANAPOLIS — After Simon Pagenaud’s thrilling and dominant month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway including winning Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, team owner, Roger Penske, was asked about the status of the French driver’s return to the team beyond this season.
“What do you think?” Penske said. “Absolutely!”
“I don’t think that I said anything to the media about Simon,” Penske said. “He’s on our team. He’s one of our drivers. You’ve seen that. That was scuttlebutt. I think that’s a good word for it.
Early in the Indycar season, Simon Pagenaud was struggling to find his footing on the track and this season and it brought doubt into what his future was going to be with powerhouse Penske Racing. The up and down results mixed with bad qualifying had onlookers commenting on what would happen next.
May was the perfect antidote for Pagenaud and his team dominated the “World Center of Racing” from start to finish.
First the beginning with the Grand Prix of Indy, Pagenaud chased down defending series champion Scott Dixon from a distance as much as 7 seconds with 10 laps to go to win the event. This served as his reminder to the rest of the paddock what the 2016 Indycar champ was still capable of while also breaking a 22 race winless streak.
The following weekend Pagenaud continued to flex his muscles by qualifying on the pole for the 103rd Indianapolis 500 in impressive fashion beating out defending pole-sitter Ed Carpenter. Pagenaud’s dominance of May was far from finished though little did everyone know.
In the previous 7 Indianapolis 500 mile races that Pagenaud had competed in he had led a mere 36 laps, on Sunday he led a race high 116 En Route to a victory that may have saved his future with his team.
The victory did not come easy with Pagenaud leading he was burning more fuel than his competitors because of the car working harder leading a 220+ mph wind making the car working harder than others.
With a mix of breaks of catching a tow from teammate Josef Newgarden and a red flag and caution with 20 to go, Pagenaud was given full confidence to go all out and battle with Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi to the finish. The two swapped the lead back and forth for the final 13 laps with Pagenaud making the final pass with 2 to go.
“It’s a dream come true. A lifetime trying to achieve this,” said Pagenaud. “The milk motivated me. I was just focused on the job, man.”
This month-long effort at the 2.5 mile track may have quieted job security rumors, but it also cemented his legacy besides the greats who won the illustrious race before him.
