Helio Castroneves took the hits at Daytona, and he wants more!

At 49 years, Helio Castroneves certainly didn't expect to experience such an eventful week at Daytona! The Brazilian took part in three races from Thursday to Sunday, starting with the qualifying round for the Daytona 500. The #91 Chevrolet ended up in the wall, with Castroneves unable to do anything to avoid an accident. On Saturday, it's in ARCA, the fourth division of the NASCAR, that he continued to get his hands on the particular driving of a stock car in a pack. Involved in two incidents at the start of the race, the one who is also a minority shareholder of Meyer Shank Racing nevertheless found himself at the forefront in the last laps. Fifth at the finish, he went into the wall… after the checkered flag, pushed by AJ Moyer, deprived of radio and not knowing that the race had just finished!

At the start of the Daytona 500 this Sunday, Castroneves wanted above all to finish, and there again it was factors beyond his control that prevented him from doing so. On the 70th of the 200 laps of the race, the Brazilian was sent into the wall following the slowdown caused by the mechanical problems of Joey Logano (Ford). Game over for the man who never lost his smile at any time despite a more than tough learning curve.

"I don't know what happened! Everyone slammed in front of me, and Truex Jr. hit me pretty hard in the back.", he explained as he left the medical center. “But that’s not what caused my problem, someone coming from the inside hit me on the side and it broke the rear axle of the car. I’m obviously disappointed because I was learning a lot, it’s incredible to see how much each lap increases my knowledge of the slipstream, what the others are doing, whether they’re saving fuel or not. There were some hot moments, but it’s a real shame. I would have liked to still be on track because there was still a lot to learn and I was starting to feel comfortable with all the processes.”

Want to do it again?

Qualifying under a new NASCAR rule that allows a driver from outside the championship to enter as the 41st car on the track, Castroneves enjoyed the unique experience, as he has only the Indy 500 as his other race on the calendar. After becoming the 64th driver to compete in both events in his career, "Spiderman" hopes to do it again, perhaps on a road course.

“That’s it, I have to thank NASCAR for allowing me to participate, and now I’m going to focus on the Indy 500! They’re two different shows, there’s an incredible energy here, at the Indy 500 there’s a lot of people, both races are really incredible. That’s why I wanted to do this race, and do the Indy 500 too. I would like to do other races, especially on road courses, now that I understand a lot more, that my seat is ready too! I was really having fun on the track. Every time a driver gets in a car, he never wants to get out before the checkered flag, unfortunately that didn’t happen for me, but I can’t take that for granted. I have to thank Justin Marks and the whole Trackhouse team for allowing me to have this incredible opportunity.”

The one who had experience of racing in packs during the early years of the Indy Racing League, nevertheless had a new experience, and the images seen from the outside do not do it justice according to him: “It was a roller coaster!” I just had my vitals checked, everything is very consistent so it shows that I am in really good shape! The fans have also been very good to me, I can't thank them enough. It's an experience I will never forget. It's very hot, it requires you to be very attentive at all times! It's always difficult to explain what is really going on, the TV doesn't do justice to the madness that is these races. I was starting to understand a little bit more about everyone's plans, the fact that they were taking their foot off the gas to save fuel etc. I was storing this information while driving so I was hoping it could last."

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