Interview: Does Simon Pagenaud Think He'll Win The Title?

Simon Pagenaud tells Beyond the Flag how his 2016 season hasn’t sunk in yet, the key to his success and if he believes the hype about him being the next Verizon IndyCar Series champion.

Simon Pagenaud is having the kind of season they make movies about. The Team Penske driver has four wins, six Verizon P1 Awards and has led the championship all season long. But when he spoke with Beyond The Flag this week, he said he’s still pinching himself.

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“Absolutely,” he laughed. “Especially at the beginning of the season, at Long Beach, I stopped in front of the podium with my engineer and he asked me, he said what the heck is going on? I said I don’t know. It’s just flowing.”

Pagenaud is quick to point out that he’s not conquering IndyCar alone.

“My crew is a big part of the success,” he continued. “These guys have made no mistakes on pit lane this year. They have so much dedication to our team and such determination, it’s really cool to see. Ben Bretzman – my engineer – and myself, we’ve been working together since 2010 and it’s really coming to fruition and Kyle Moyer, our strategist, is working really well with the group now.

“I just think, personally, being in the hunt for the championship, it gave me even more drive,” he added. “Even more determination to push further. I found limits, and I pushed those limits even further away than I thought I could. It’s a state of confidence I’ve never been in, so it’s working pretty good!”

But for all the success he has right now, Pagenaud isn’t treating 2016 like a one-season wonder. He told us that we wouldn’t be seeing Simon Pagenaud the championship leader if we hadn’t first met the Simon Pagenaud of 2015 who struggled to find results during his first season with Team Penske.

“I think last year was tough,” he reflected. “Mentally tough, physically tough too. We were expecting something better of course, and it was difficult every weekend. We had a lot of bad luck and it was hard to explain.

“Everybody thinks that you’re in the best car, you’re with the best team, maybe things should flow, maybe things should work fine,” Pagenaud continued, “but unfortunately, like every sport, some years you don’t have luck and it doesn’t go your way. It’s just like a poker game sometimes. Last year was a good adversity kind of year. It gave me even more desire, even more hunger to do better.”

Pagenaud is not on board with the general consensus that he’s already won the Astor Cup, in part because his chief competition is his Penske teammates, Will Power and Helio Castroneves. Power is on a Pagenaud-like tear at the moment and Pagenaud explained the double-edged sword that is battling your co-workers.

“We all get the information. It’s like a complete open book between us,” he explained. “Whatever they have, I have and they have. It’s basically finding your own growth, which is why what I try to do is just focus on myself. If someone beats me, then I need to do a better job because I have all the keys in my hands to do it.

“That’s why it’s going to be such an interesting championship,” he pointed out, “is because we have the exact same equipment, the exact same tools to do the best job. So if I do my job well, there’s no reason not to win it.”

So how does he honestly feel about his chances to take home the Astor Cup in September?

“I feel good about my chances,” he said. “I think we’ve been the strongest team in the 22 car. We’ve been the strongest team all year. We’ve shown the most performance in qualifying with six poles, but also the most race wins.

“I feel strong on every kind of track. I think the next two ovals coming up [Pocono and Texas] are really good for us, and then we’ve won many races on road courses and the last two are road courses. I feel very confident. I feel there’s nothing to worry about. Stay focused on your job and we’ll see how it goes. I’m not really trying to overthink it.”

While Pagenaud is a beast on the racetrack, something that many IndyCar fans may not know is just how personable and funny he can be off track. Pagenaud’s quick wit is easily apparent, such as when we asked him what he first thought of that neon yellow Menard’s paint scheme on the No. 22.

“I don’t think that car would be stolen. It’s too visible,” he quipped.

But seriously now: “I loved it right away,” he told us. “It’s not like any other car on the track. It’s great to see John Menard back in IndyCar; John’s done so much for the sport, I’m proud to be the guy driving that livery. It’s got so much history in IndyCar. It’s great to be that guy. And then I’m in a Penske car, too, so that’s two big names in racing and I’m the lucky driver.”

He also reaffirmed that no one should ever ask him to help them move:

But if he had to be stuck in a moving van with another IndyCar driver on a cross-country road trip, who would he want it to be?

“That’s an easy one,” Pagenaud laughed. “I would take Hinch [James Hinchcliffe]. Hinch would be a lot of fun. We get along too much. Hinch would be fun, and Will, we’d have a lot of fun too. Helio is the best teammate to have. But with Hinch, we’d have too much fun I think on the road. We’d stop too many times.”

Next IndyCar offseason, we need another web series – Simon & Hinch’s Big Adventure. Just give them a Penske van and a road map and see what happens.

But first, Simon Pagenaud has to win himself the 2016 IndyCar championship. And so far the odds are good that he’s going to do just that.

The Verizon IndyCar Series returns with the ABC Supply 500 on Sunday, Aug. 21.

Interview: Does Simon Pagenaud Think He’ll Win The Title?

By Brittany Frederick | Aug 20, 2016

Simon Pagenaud tells Beyond the Flag how his 2016 season hasn’t sunk in yet, the key to his success and if he believes the hype about him being the next Verizon IndyCar Series champion.