Santino Ferrucci earned the best result of his eight year IndyCar career on Sunday, claiming a second place finish at the end of a wild Detroit Grand Prix.
A combination of pit strategy and luck helped the 27-year-old move up the order and place AJ Foyt Racing on the podium for the first time in two years.
Ferrucci was quick to praise his crew for making the decisions that helped make his climb from 21st on the grid possible.
“It feels great,” said Ferrucci. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me.
“Mike and Adam, C.J., they all made great calls on the stand to pit us when they did and got lucky with the yellow when it came out, cycled us to the front action.
“I had no idea I was the leader because there was cars going around the pace car in front of me, and then they stopped me, and I was like, ‘Oh, well, this is a pleasant surprise.’ So it was pretty cool.
“But yeah, I just couldn’t hold off Kyle [Kirkwood] in the end.”
Late podium battle
Ferrucci was embroiled in a three-way battle with Colton Herta and Will Power in the closing laps.
He won out among the feuding drivers thanks in part to a late red flag period that reset the battle.
The last time AJ Foyt Racing earned second place was at this same event in Detroit 10 years ago.
Ferrucci is still dreaming of the day he can get a win of his own and break his team’s winless streak on road and street courses that stretches back to 2013.
“All I did was push the pedals and turn the steering wheel” reiterated Ferrucci. “We weren’t going to finish on the podium today without them and without their help. Like I said, it was more their podium finish than it is mine.
“[After the race I was] just congratulating them on an amazing job and pit lane on the stand, and a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling. It was pretty cool.”
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