Five drivers who had to perform at Texas: Did they?
You may remember Christopher DeHrade's story on five drivers who had to perform at Texas. Well, did they?
Photo by: Chris Owens
Before the Firestone 600, I listed five drivers who needed to perform well at Texas. Now that the race has been run and the hardware has been handed out, the question remains, did they? Time to find out...
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Hunter-Reay had a mechanical failure, so ultimately he wasn’t able to perform. He fell in the points, hindering his chances to get another championship. He wasn’t the only Honda to have issues, so it wasn't just him.
Graham Rahal
Rahal had a rough qualifying effort, but was able to get a finish just outside the top 10. He’s proud of the result, considering where he started.
“Overall I felt like we did a good job, and I’m proud of the team, but clearly we expect better, we want to win races, we want to be up front,” Rahal said.
He feels like the team is starting to get better and better with their setup packages.
“We’re getting closer. Have we turned the corner fully? No, not yet, but I think on our street course package we’re close, our road course package we certainly have some work to do, not a ton, but some, and then the oval package seems to be what we’re lacking. We’ve got a couple of tests coming up, they're going to be big days, [so] we’re going to have to do a good job and see how much we can improve,” Rahal said.
He’ll get an Incomplete rating tonight.
Jack Hawksworth
Hawksworth didn’t have a good night. It was only his second oval race in IndyCar but he was able to drive the car onto the trailer, so that’s what matters most for him and his mechanics. He didn’t perform up to his expectations however.
“Our goal was to do better than we did, I mean we wanted to finish higher. I did better as we went through the race so that was good and by the end of the race we were reasonably competitive so it was a disappointing results, but we’ve got all four wheels on the car,” Hawksworth said.
Hawksworth will be rated that he didn’t perform, but at least he brought the car home.
Will Power
Power finished second, so yes, he certainly performed. Power led the most laps, so he got the bonus points available for that and the pole. That being said, he was able to extend his lead in the championship battle. Power was glad to just get back to second place after a late-race penalty.
“It was satisfying to get back there because I felt so bad for the team to just throw it away again for the drive thru,” Power said.
Justin Wilson
Wilson was involved in a wreck with Sebastien Bourdais, so in terms of finishing, he did not perform. Of course, it was really out of his control. He will be looking to get his momentum back at Houston to get his season back on track.
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