After posting a one-two finish in the Honda Indy Toronto, CFH Racing was hoping to carry the momentum through the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway, posting a strong finish for both of their cars. However, that wouldn’t be the case as a crash at lap 158 took both cars out of contention.
While running in the midst of the pack, Ed Carpenter would get loose and start sliding up the track, hitting his teammate Josef Newgarden and taking him up into the outside barrier with him. Both drivers were uninjured in the incident.
“I got into three with a pack of cars and didn’t really want to get in the second lane but got shoved down there,” Carpenter said. “There are just guys racing like crazy on these restarts. I would’ve left more room there if I knew someone was coming. It’s pretty unfortunately. Not much worse than getting in the a crash and taking out of my teammate.”
“It’s racing,” Newgarden added. “The only reason we got together was because we were next to each other at that moment. I could’ve lifted, too, but I had a full head of steam and didn’t want to get out of it.”
It marks a continuing trend of struggles on the ovals this year for the organization. Engine issues took the pair out of contention at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this month. Then last month in May, both drivers were involved wrecks before the Indianapolis 500 that saw their cars leave the ground. The biggest race of the season didn’t go much better as Newgarden finished ninth while a wreck took Carpenter out of the Indianapolis 500.
Carpenter stated after the event at Texas that their performance is an “embarassment” and they need to sort out the issues that they’re having, moving forward. With another two ovals over the next three weeks, that is even more apparent now after the troubles on Saturday.
