Andretti Autosport, IZOD IndyCar Series Race Report: Grand Prix of Long Beach James Hinchcliffe, Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, No. 27 Hinchcliffe recorded a career-best finish of third place today on the streets of Long Beach. Today's finish marks the third consecutive week he has finished sixth or better. "It was an eventful race - I know from my seat it was exciting, I bet it was from the outside too. It's cool to see some exciting racing back in IndyCar. Ultimately it came down to the Andretti Autosport guys making the best calls on the pit stand. They've been doing that week in and week out this season and it's great to have such a cool team behind you, supporting you and making those right decisions. That's what makes IndyCar racing so cool; you can start 16th and still have a crack at (a podium finish) if you play the strategy right. We didn't quite have enough (speed) to catch Simon (Pagenaud) or Will (Power) so congrats to them, but the Go Daddy car was strong right up until the end. You can push us Chevy's down but you can't keep us there. I do feel bad for Ryan (Hunter-Reay), obviously I'm (on podium) because of his penalty - we finished fourth on track and sort of only got there because of him. He was punching holes left, right and center and I was just following him through for part of the race. So big thanks to him as well. I'm just happy to be here and hopefully this isn't the last time I get a trophy in this series." Ryan Hunter-Reay, Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet, No. 28 After starting 13th, Hunter-Reay drove a strategic race, conserving fuel until 10 laps to the finish. On the last lap, Hunter-Reay made contact with Takuma Sato, and received a 30-second penalty. The penalty moved his finish from third to sixth-place. "I drove really, really hard all day, and it was a tough race. I had a lot of good racing today with a lot of different drivers. These kind of (fuel strategy) races are hard on a driver because I'm just out there pushing as hard as I can and I had no idea where we're at compared to the guys I'm racing. It's like a book with no ending, and I have to really trust my team. They really had the right strategy and it's always an honor to drive such a fast car. "I feel bad Sato ended up in the tires, but I knew he was saving fuel and I came up on him really fast. He let off early and when I went for the gap, he came across the nose. It's a shame because my team really deserved a podium finish. They did a superb job all weekend. It's frustrating to end on that kind of a note, but we're upbeat going to Brazil (the next race). Points are so critical each week, and we need to just keep pushing hard and scoring well each week." Marco Andretti, Team RC Cola Chevrolet, No. 26 Andretti was not seriously injured in a wild and violent crash on lap 23, when Graham Rahal moved to block the No. 26 RC Cola car. Andretti finished 25th. "I'm good... I'm sore, but OK. We hit really hard and I'm glad I didn't get upside down. That would have been big. It's a bummer because we had moved up to 14th place, our strategy was good and we were flying. We were doing exactly what we needed to do." About the crash: "He just caught me off guard. I was inside of him making the pass and then I took a big hit. It was such a surprise, I was still accelerating while I was in the air. I hate it that it costs us more points. We would have been good."
