Simon Pagenaud would prefer the late-season methodology to which he has become accustomed since joining Team Penske. It’s the process one that helped him win a first Verizon IndyCar Series championship in his second season with the organization in 2016, that pulled him within 14 points of defending it last year.
Pagenaud would have preferred not to enter the final five races of the season – most immediately the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, CNBC and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network) – winless, seventh in the driver standings and a dismaying 144 points behind leader Scott Dixon. But there he is.
If there’s any positive to be distilled from the predicament, it’s the freedom to just go – aggressively – knowing that trophies are not only the best remedy for a lost season to date, but the only way to somehow grind himself back into title viability before the double-points bounty season finale on Sept. 16 at Sonoma Raceway.
“It’s very simple for me: Qualify the best you can and be aggressive, be strong and be authoritative on track. I think that’s what I have to do, and see where we end up,” Pagenaud told IndyCar.com. “That’s the advantage. In the position I am in, I can take some risks, and that’s a very interesting point of view.”
Any driver slogging through the final throes of an unfulfilling season shares that point of view for a while. But after finishing second twice in the last four races – on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval and two weeks on the Toronto street circuit – Pagenaud finally senses a foothold.
“I think if you look at the last five races, basically we’re second in points behind Dixon (in that span),” said Pagenaud, who has won previously at two of the five remaining venues – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Sonoma. “I think we are finally hitting our stride. I feel a lot of momentum within the (No.) 22 team. Also, on the car setup, we’ve really found better stuff, better setup for what I like. I am finding my speed back. It’s good.
“It’s a little late in the season to find the right momentum, but anything can happen. It’s a big stretch. I think we are quite far back, to be honest with you. But the advantage of it is I can drive race by race and be quite aggressive like you saw me in Toronto. And we’ll count the points at the end. I think it’s a very different mentality than the last few years.”
Pagenaud deployed the mindset on Saturday, suffering consequences. Attempting to wring more speed during the final pre-qualifying practice at Mid-Ohio, he lost control in a corner and nosed the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet into a tire barrier. He then failed to advance past the first round of qualifying and will start 17th of 24 entrants in the 90-lap race. He won at Mid-Ohio in 2016 from the pole, the fourth of five victories that championship season.
This season was immediately fraught with what proved to be layers of problems for Pagenaud. An air gun problem during a pit stop helped relegate him to a 13th-place finish in the opener at St. Petersburg. He finished 10th after starting second at ISM Raceway and finished last without completing a lap at Long Beach after being snow-plowed from behind by Graham Rahal.
Compounding matters was a surprisingly slow acclimation, Pagenaud admitted, to the new universal aerodynamic body kit that all teams began using this season. It left Pagenaud and his engineering brain trust struggling “mostly with a lack of feel and lack of rear grip, which we’re just finding out now” on street and road courses. A perennial front-runner the past two seasons, Pagenaud had zero top-five finishes through the first 10 races of 2018.
“When you start a season strong, it really gives you momentum throughout the entire rest of the season,” said Pagenaud, who produced three wins and two runner-up finishes to start 2016. “When you start slow, it is hard to catch up because everyone has that momentum going and you don’t.
“It’s my first time, I would say, ever, that we’ve had such a slow start, but we knew the reasons. We had (air) gun failure, I slide in pit lane in Phoenix being too aggressive, and then I got taken out in Long Beach – and in the first three races we didn’t score (many) points. So, from there you have to climb back.
“Indy GP (on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course), we got taken out again first corner (finishing eighth), but if you look at performance on track I think we have it and I think I am getting to grips with this new car. I think it was a little slower than my teammates getting used to it, but now I think the horizon is getting clearer and the potential is very good.”
As a competitor with a responsibility to his team and crew, Pagenaud won’t concede his chances to win the championship, but realizes the magnitude of the deficit. He has a major role to play, however, by absorbing points – if he continues his recent run – much coveted by Dixon, Team Penske defending series champion Josef Newgarden and third-place Alexander Rossi, the Mid-Ohio pole-winner.
“Where I am at in the championship is super different than the past two years. Where in ‘16 at one point in the season, I totally mirrored (Dixon) in certain situations. When I wasn’t strong, I just mirrored him and tried to minimize the point loss,” Pagenaud said.
“But then when I was stronger, it was all about trying to win races. This year, being so far back (in the standings), it’s all about trying to win races from now on, taking the necessary risks. I don’t think if I was to finish seventh in the championship, I would be happy. If I was to finish third with the beginning of the season I had, I would be content.
“Not thrilled. Content.”
And right now, at liberty to pursue that contentment vigorously.