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This was not what Helio Castroneves had in mind for the week after the biggest victory of his career.
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Castroneves spent the past few days celebrating his third Indianapolis 500 win and talking about his next challenge — hanging onto the momentum from Indy and going after his first IndyCar Series championship.
The concrete wall in turn two at the Milwaukee Mile took the edge off the celebration and made things a little more difficult for the Penske Racing driver, who hit the barrier during qualifying for Sunday’s A. J. Foyt 225 and will have to start last on the 20-car grid.
“We tried something different out there in qualifying from what we ran in practice,” Castroneves said. “I just went for it and the car wiggled a little bit. I thought I saved it but, unfortunately, I ended up brushing the wall and couldn’t qualify.”
But Castroneves, still buoyed by the Indy win on top of the fact that he was acquitted in April on federal tax evasion charges that threatened his future, remained optimistic.
“The good news is that Ryan (Briscoe) is starting on the pole tomorrow, which shows that the Team Penske cars are strong,” he said. “Tomorrow, we’re going to look to have good pit stops and score some solid points.”
If Castroneves has a good car, it may not be that tough for him to challenge Briscoe and the rest of the top qualifiers. The Associated Press
Castroneves, riding high after winning his third Indy 500 last Sunday, goes into the race just five points behind IndyCar Series leader Dario Franchitti.
“I just went for it and the car wiggled a little bit,’’ Castroneves said. “I thought I saved it but, unfortunately, I ended up brushing the wall.” San Jose Mercury News
Castroneves likes his odds to win because he usually qualifies well here but can’t finish. He won the pole in 2006 and 2007 only to crash once with teammate Sam Hornish Jr. and the other time when his rear wing fell off.
“The curse, the curse,” he said of his experience with Milwaukee.
Castroneves crashed on his second warm-up lap.
“I just screwed up trying to go too fast too soon,” he said. “We tried to change from practice and we had an unknown car, and I should have known better than when you don’t know what’s going to happen, you have to take it easy.
“I didn’t trust it.”
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Castroneves is confident he’ll be a contender today because he was a tenth of a second quicker than Briscoe to that point and Briscoe wound up with the pole. Indianapolis Star
