Carpenter continues to set bar high for team

Ed Carpenter is a constant in an ever-changing Verizon IndyCar Series and the only current owner/driver has continually high expectations for himself and his team.

While Spencer Pigot’s offseason promotion to a full-time ride in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet is a welcome opportunity after driving the team’s No. 20 Chevrolet on road and street courses for two years, he realizes the boss wants to see that other car in the championship hunt.

Is that unrealistic to expect so much entering Sunday’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg?

Carpenter mentions how Josef Newgarden probably wasn’t considered a contender in 2016 before finishing fourth and parlaying that performance into landing a ride with Team Penske. Newgarden, now the defending series champion, proved ECR was capable of being in the championship conversation.

“If you were forced to handicap the odds, there’s going to be some people with better odds than us,” Carpenter said. “At the same time, the year Josef went into (the season finale at) Sonoma vying for the championship, I don’t think he was on many preseason prediction lists to be there, either. You’ve got to be prepared to be competing at the highest level all the time. Is that what we talk about every single day? No. But ultimately that’s the expectation.

“Spencer is in a little bit different position because he’s gotten to this point with a fair amount of experience the past two years. He hasn’t raced a lot of ovals, but he’s finished two Indianapolis 500s. For him, it’s more just because he hasn’t done anything (on ovals) except Indianapolis. He’s tested at Phoenix and Texas with us now. That part will come. If I’m more confident in him than he is, that’s OK. I know guys generally are going to put more pressure on themselves than I’m going to put on them.”

Pigot, who’s driving with Autogeek sponsorship at St. Pete, earned the ride after JR Hildebrand finished 15th in the 2017 points. Hildebrand had two podium finishes in the No. 21 Chevy, but failed to produce a top-10 result in 14 other starts.

Pigot was 21st and 20th in the points the past two years, which in addition to his ECR ride included two starts in the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Juncos Racing as well as two other races for RLL. Three of his five career top-10 finishes came last year in 11 races with ECR.

“The whole idea behind it is that we’re running at the front and challenging for podiums and wins,” Pigot said. “That’s really the only option, to be higher up than we have been in the past and continue to improve and get better. Yeah, it’s an important year for the team and myself.”

In February’s open test at ISM Raceway near Phoenix, Pigot finished 14th out of 23 cars on the speed chart, whereas Carpenter was 21st of 23 cars. The last session was particularly important as Pigot turned the ninth-fastest lap.

“Obviously it’s very different, Indy compared to pretty much everywhere else we go,” Pigot said of driving on ovals. “That’s one of the biggest challenges, trying to figure it out quickly.”

Carpenter hired British rookie Jordan King to take Pigot’s old job driving the No. 20 on road and street courses. The newcomer will make his series debut this weekend.

Now 36 with three career wins in 162 starts, Carpenter is still as intense about his driving as ever before.

“I’ve definitely not seen a dip in his determination or enthusiasm,” Pigot said. “He’s always fired up to go to the track. He’s always itching to get back into the car. Especially at Indianapolis, he’s going to keep going until he wins that.”

Carpenter is always asked about how he places so much importance on winning the Indy 500. The Butler University graduate who practically grew up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has always been candid about the ultimate goal. ECR recently confirmed that Danica Patrick will drive one of its cars this May, which will boost the team’s profile.

“It definitely gets easier to get up the closer we get to May,” he said. “At this point in the year, I don’t want it to seem like we’re not focused on everything else because we put in an incredible amount of effort each and every race we go to, but everybody is always focused on Indianapolis.

Carpenter sounds confident his team will be stronger this season.

“You come into each season a bit rejuvenated, the scoreboards are all zero and everyone has got the same opportunities to go out and get started off strong and set the tone for the year,” he said. “That’s important for me, starting strong, showing the team is prepared, that we did good work this offseason. I know as drivers that we’re prepared, the amount of time we spend together, but I’m equally as confident that the team is prepared as well.

“I’ve always felt like the offseason is really when you get better and improve and address weaknesses that you had the year before and implement new things, whether it’s processes, people, whatever it may be. I think in most cases, what happens over the course of the season is largely determined by how good your work was in the offseason.”

Carpenter will get an early barometer when 24 cars take to the track for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this weekend to open the 17-race season. Practice sessions are set for 11:20 a.m. and 3:10 p.m. ET Friday, as well as 11:10 a.m. Saturday. Verizon P1 Award qualifying begins at 2:20 p.m. Saturday. All of those sessions will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.

Sunday’s 110-lap race airs at 12:30 p.m. ET on ABC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.