'Huge mistake' costs Castroneves in title chase

Saturday, 26 August 2017


By RACER Staff / Image by Perry Nelson/LAT

Helio Castroneves' possible last shot at an elusive Verizon IndyCar Series title likely slipped through his hands Saturday night, and when the 42-year-old got out of the No. 3 Chevy, he knelt by the side of his car with his helmet in his hands.


Castroneves led 52 laps of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and had an almost three-second lead when he pitted on lap 157 during a round of green-flag pits stops. But the car stalled, and when he came out he dropped to fourth behind teammates Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Ganassi's Scott Dixon. And fourth was where Castroneves finished, dropping him from 18 points back in the title hunt to 42 back of Newgarden with two races to go.


"[Stalling in the pit] certainly didn't help," an emotional Castroneves told NBC Sports after the race. "My team did an incredible job, put me in the lead, and obviously when I came in [to the pit] I pressed the neutral button, unfortunately it didn't come in and as soon I released the clutch it was still in first and stalled, so I tried to call attention to it as fast as I could. [The team] did a great job putting me back.


"It was a costly mistake. The car was so phenomenal. Unfortunately with the dirty air it was very difficult to pass. Everybody was very tense, hundreds of a seconds difference from each other, so we tried to come back, but after putting so much fuel probably the other guys short fueled and ended up in front of us. Super disappointed, especially at this stage in the championship. It's not even a small mistake, it's actually a huge mistake. So disappointed. But at least one of the team will end of taking home the championship."