Castroneves pumped for return at Nashville
NASHVILLE, TENN. >> Helio Castroneves exhausted himself sprinting down Indianapolis Motor Speedway in celebration and then tacked on another — a fourth at Indy! — fence climb that left the Brazilian wanting more.
An Indy record tied, Castroneves was ready to party.
But Castroneves didn’t quite spike the 2% milk in honor of his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory.
“I didn’t wake up in the bar or the grass,” he said with a laugh. “It’s not like this guy woke up drunk the next day and had no idea or did something crazy like that.”
If he wants to try something really crazy, he could scale the 72 cables that suspend the bridge deck of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge he’ll race over should he win in his IndyCar return on Sunday.
The 46-year-old Castroneves could have kept the Indy party going well into the early morning ... and a few more mornings into the summer. He had nothing but time once the Indy hangover — or at least some mellow merriment — subsided and it was time to get back to work.
When Castroneves races this weekend in the 2.17-mile, 11-turn and one bridge IndyCar street race in Nashville, it will be his first race in the series since May when he joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as the only drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 four times.
It only seemed like the retired trio have had as much time off as Castroneves.
The Indy win failed to sway Meyer Shank Racing into mixing up its six-race plan for the season with Castroneves, and all his lobbying (“We’ve got to go! We’ve got to keep it going! Are you kidding me?”) couldn’t snag him a seat two weeks later in the Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader. IndyCar then took a whopping 34-day break leading into Nashville, giving Castroneves time to read all his congratulatory messages, moonlight in Tony Stewart’s All-Star Superstar Racing Experience, oh, and parlay that Indy win into a fullseason ride in 2022 with Meyer Shank Racing.
Meyer Shank Racing has yet to name the second driver for 2022 after it declined to bring back Jack Harvey.
Left with an uncertain future after three Indy 500 wins and a breakup with Roger Penske, Castroneves suddenly finds the “Drive for Five” at Indy and a run at his first series championship alive and well.
“That’s one of the reasons I ended up going to this team, because I know they have huge potential,” Castroneves said. “Imagine now if you keep going, with the rhythm. Sometimes the wait is worth is it.”
Castroneves has patience: he waited 12 years to win his fourth Indy 500 and had to ride out the doubts that he could return to that elite level as he cobbled together a part-time schedule with a little-known team. Castroneves has made only eight IndyCar starts since the start of 2018 and perhaps needed to kiss the bricks to guarantee a ride for a full season.
“He’s still doing what he’s always done. He’s always run hard,” Mears said. “He’s always run well, you know? This year’s one of those years where everything’s falling in place, and we all have those throughout our history, good years and bad. And this is one of those years.”