Harvey Charges Back From Early Setback to Take Eighth in Harvest GP Race 1

Indianapolis, Ind. (2 October 2020) – Hoping to capture his second NTT INDYCAR Series podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, Jack Harvey fought back to an eighth place finish after a setback in pit lane sent him down the order.

The pace that the team had on race day for the first of two events on the weekend gives the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM IndyCar crew confidence heading into the second half of the double-header weekend. Qualifying 2 (10:20am ET, NBC Sports Gold App) and Race 2 (2:30pm ET, NBC) are both set for Saturday for another busy day for the MSR squad.

The eighth place result at Indianapolis Motor Speedway comes just hours after Meyer Shank Racing announced that Liberty Media will make a minority equity investment into the team. That announcement was another bit of good news from the team, which announced its IMSA Acura DPi program for 2021 last week and then broke ground on its new 43,000 square foot Pataskala, Ohio shop on Wednesday.

Despite not getting to lay a lap down on reds during qualifying due to a red flag on Thursday, Harvey still placed the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda on the third row in sixth for the start of the 85 lap race.

An aggressive start saw Harvey in the middle of a three wide battle coming out of Turn 1 and into Turn 2, but the Brit confidently planted his Honda to remain in the fray. Starting on Firestone alternate tires, Harvey showed his true speed once building temperature and reeling in the pack of cars ahead.

Mike Shank called Harvey into the pits on lap 13 for his first stop for a set of Firestone primary tires, fuel and a front wing adjustment. But a small misjudgment into the pit box prevented the fuel from properly engaging, delaying the pit stop for an additional few seconds.

But a clear minded Harvey returned on track 21st and soon advanced himself into the top ten by lap 25. The final stint displayed Harvey’s perfect execution on track as he dwindled an 11-second gap down to a 0.3-second gap within 11 laps. Running ninth with just two laps to go, Harvey slid past one car ahead to move into eighth as he crossed the line.

“I made a mistake in the pit lane and was a little bit too far to the left and we weren’t able to flow fuel,” said Harvey. “We’ve never had something like that happen before so that was a shame. I definitely thought that we had good speed that we’ll take with us tomorrow. There’s really no reset needed, we’ll just get the job done tomorrow.”

The final day of on track action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will stage Qualifying for Race 2 at 10:20am ET o Saturday. Race 2 is set for 2:30pm ET with coverage on NBC. SiriusXM Ch. 205 will also hold IndyCar radio coverage.