RACE RESULTS

11th: RINUS VEEKAY No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet
20th: RYAN HUNTER-REAY No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet

NEXT RACE: Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at WWT Raceway, August 27 (NBC, 3:30 p.m. ET)

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 20 BITNILE.COM CHEVROLET

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet, Finished 20th: “I think we had a pretty good start today. I got up into 16th and was making lap time from there. The odd bit was we got passed by one car after that and lost four spots. I didn’t see anyone else all day, no one else passed me, and we finished 20th. I’ll have to go back and look at pit cycles. The beginning part of the race was positive, I just had a hard time on the alternates at the end. I had to make do with what I had to survive.” Photo Courtesy IMS Photo

OF NOTE: 

• Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified 22nd for today’s Gallagher Grand Prix, but started one position higher as another competitor had a grid penalty. On the opening lap, several cars made contact in Turn 7. Hunter-Reay avoided the incident and gained six positions. On the ensuing restart, he dropped back one spot to 16th where he settled in.

• He stretched his opening set of red Firestone Firehawks to Lap 23, when he made his first pit stop. The No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet had cycled up to the 5th position before Hunter-Reay brought it in for a set of black tires. He switched back to reds during his second pit stop on Lap 38.

• Hunter-Reay made his final stop on Lap 61, finishing the race on a set of red tires. Once the entire field had made their last pit stops, Hunter-Reay cycled into 20th. He stayed there for the duration of the event, taking the checkered flag in that position. 

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITNILE.COM CHEVROLET

RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet, Finished 11th: “We had a good race. We were somewhat competitive and we stayed out of the trouble. We did what we do best – race well! I’m pretty satisfied. I couldn’t really hold off (Marcus) Ericsson for a top-10 at the end. I was on scuff reds, he was on new reds. He also had 80 more seconds of overtake than I did! We really gave it all and it played out pretty well for us. Strategy was good – shoutout to the team for that and also giving me a good BITNILE.COM car! It was pretty hard to drive on the first stint but we really made good improvements throughout the race to make it fast on reds. Pretty happy, we did something good and ended pretty good!” Photo Courtesy IMS Photo

OF NOTE: 

• Rinus VeeKay started 19th in today’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, one position higher than where he qualified as another competitor had a penalty. Like his teammate, VeeKay also avoided the opening lap incident and gained six positions.

• Starting on primary black tires, VeeKay made his first stop on Lap 15 for sticker red tires. He cycled back out into the 12th position. He stayed there for the duration of his second stint, pitting again on Lap 38 for another set of red tires.

• On Lap 62, he brought the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet in for another set of red tires. Four laps later, he made a pass that moved him to 10th. A late-race pass by another driver on fresher tires dropped him back to 11th, causing him to narrowly miss out on a Top 10 finish.