IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske take in White House experience

IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud and Team Penske visited President Donald Trump at the White House after their Indianapolis 500 victory last month.

Just over one month after Joey Logano and the #22 Team Penske team visited President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate their 2018 NASCAR Cup Series championship, another Team Penske driver and another #22 Team Penske team, the IndyCar team, made the same trip.

Simon Pagenaud, who drives the #22 Team Penske Chevrolet in IndyCar, along with his team, including team owner Roger Penske, made their way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. to celebrate their victory in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 last month.

Pagenaud won this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana after starting from the pole position and leading 116 laps.

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The 35-year-old Frenchman won this race by just 0.2086 seconds over Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, the man with whom he exchanged the lead five times over the course of the final 13 laps.

No driver had won the Indy 500 after starting from the pole position since Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves pulled it off in the 93rd running of the race back in 2009, and no driver had led 116 laps in the race since Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dario Franchitti led 155 laps en route to his victory in the 94th running of the race back in 2010.

Here is what Trump had to say about his visit with Pagenaud and his team, according to Fox News.

"“It’s a great honor to introduce the winner of the Indianapolis 500, Simon Pagenaud. I happened to be watching that one because my friend [Penske] is somewhat involved with racing. This is an incredible machine. The job that Simon did, if you saw that, that was talent and it was a lot of courage – because I wouldn’t do it… even for that trophy.”"

Here is what Pagenaud had to say about his visit to the White House, according to Fox News.

"“As a Frenchman, it’s such an honor to represent my country here today, in the biggest race in the world. Especially, being invited to come to the White House with President Trump, is a phenomenal achievement.”"

Pagenaud gifted President Trump a race helmet as a token to commemorate the occasion and as a gift of appreciation for the invitation to celebrate his historic achievement at the White House.

Pagenaud currently sits in third place in the IndyCar championship standings with 319 points with nine of the season’s 17 races having been completed. He trails teammate Josef Newgarden (367 points) and Rossi (342 points) in the standings.

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This visit to the White House for Simon Pagenaud and Team Penske kicks off IndyCar‘s first off week in over one month, as this past Saturday night’s DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway ended a grueling five-week stretch on the calendar, the busiest five-week stretch of the season.

IndyCar is scheduled to return to action in just under two weeks with the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 23, and the race is scheduled to get underway shortly thereafter at around 12:30 p.m. ET.