Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 28 DHL Honda
– Captured back-to-back victories at Barber Motorsports Park – his 12th career win
– The first American Verizon IndyCar Series driver to visit victory lane in 2014
“With the rain and the wet conditions on how we started out there, it was tough. Then we went to the Firestone reds, and man – on wet surface, that was just really tough to keep the car on track.
Once we got out front, though, we started checking out and it was a dream to drive the DHL car. I can’t thank the team enough – we got the No. 28 DHL Honda to victory lane at the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama…how cool is that.”
Marco Andretti, No. 25 Snapple Honda
– Captures his first podium finish of 2014 with second place
– Overcame radio problems and moves to sixth in the championship points standings
“I just put my head down and looked forward; awesome job by Andretti Autosport. The Snapple car didn’t have much for the DHL car so we definitely need to hit the drawing board and see how he (Ryan Hunter-Reay) kicked my butt today… heck of a team effort.
I was driving blind today – didn’t have a radio, so the only way I knew when to pit, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Ryan stop and thought ‘I guess I’m coming in the next lap’. It was definitely a blind race, but I just had my head down and tried to hit my marks.”
James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda
– Started today’s race from the second position – his second front row start at Barber Motorsports Park
– Recorded a seventh-place finish moving the Canadian to 18th in points
“That was probably the most difficult race I’ve run maybe ever… at least on a road course. Having to do that first restart on slick tires on an 80% dry track was a big ask. But, that’s why they pay us the big bucks. We were holding third there pretty well in that first stint in the rain. We came in for the first stop under caution, and unfortunately could not get the fuel probe in and just lost a bunch of time there and track position.
If that caution had been under green we may have been alright with the gap we had, but under yellow we lost too many positions. That puts you back in the restarts in the mess a little bit and we lost another spot or two… the United Fiber & Data guys made a spot back in the second pit stop, so credit to them for that. It’s a track position race especially with these conditions, and unfortunately that’s what we lost on that first stop.
We got some points on the board, though, and we’ll just move on to Indy, and hopefully this is the start of an upward trend.”
Carlos Munoz, No. 34 Cinsay Honda
– A spin following first pit stop brought left front suspension damage to No. 34 car
– Cinsay crew repaired the car and put Munoz back on track for eight laps
– Rookie shown as finishing P23 but remains highest placed rookie – 12th in points
“We had just put on the slick Firestone tires on and I don’t know. Everything happened so fast, but I just stepped on the throttle, and I don’t know… I spun around and couldn’t do anything. I don’t think we went to slick tires too soon – everyone was on them at that point.
Maybe I made a mistake and was too aggressive. Thank you to my Cinsay Andretti Autosport crew for working hard to get me back out to run a few more laps.”
