NTT Data IndyCar Series driver, and 2019 Indy 500 winner, Simon Pagenaud paid visit to the ARCA Menards Series garage area immediately after winning the pole for Saturday night’s Iowa 300 at Iowa Speedway.
Pagenaud, who drives the No. 22 Menards Chevrolet for Team Penske, toured the seven-eighths mile D-shaped oval in 17.8976 seconds which translates to a 180.073 mile per hour average speed. For reference, the pole speed for the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona, set by Christian Eckes, was 183.001 miles per hour.
Pagenaud took a very quick tour of the garage area and visited with ARCA officials before heading back to the IndyCar paddock.
“I love what the ARCA series does with young drivers,” Pagenaud said. “I watch a lot of the races and to see the young drivers get the chance that ARCA gives them is fantastic. I wish the schedules lined up so I could come and run a race or two. It looks like a lot of fun.”
Pagenaud will be watching closely during the Fans with Benefits 150 in hopes he learns something for the Iowa 300 tomorrow night.
“You can get a lot from watching where the stock cars run,” Pagenaud said. “The stock cars run a higher line though. We have a lot of downforce, so we run a lot shallower line. The stock cars run in the middle and higher. If we get out of our groove like that, we get into the marbles and we could have a pretty significant crash so we don’t want to do that too often.”
Pagenaud has three wins so far in 2019, including the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the Indy 500, and last week’s Toronto Grand Prix. He has 14 career IndyCar series wins and is the 2016 series champion. His Indy 500-winning spotter, Mike Ford, is the brother of Debbie Ford-Meier, who oversees the ARCA Menards Series mobile office trailer at each series event.
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