The checkered flag waving over the 106th Indianapolis 500, brought various emotions for each driver and team.
For Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson, there was jubilation and excitement after winning the Indy 500.
Others were left with disappointment.
The DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports entry of Stefan Wilson experienced a mixture of optimism and disappointment.
Wilson on pit lane. (Penske Entertainment/ Doug Mathews)
The 33rd entry built two weeks before practice opened, finished 26th in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Wilson, however, felt that the Indy-only group had more to show for in the race if it hadn’t been for unseen circumstances.
“Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the first pit stop and stalled the car,” Wilson recalled. “That dropped us down a lap. From the get-go, we were moving forward. Started 33rd, obviously, and was running 31st at the end of that stint. I was right on the pack of cars that were essentially like 20th to where I was. It was like a pack of 10 cars that were all running similar speeds. I thought ‘Well, OK, we just got to have some good pit stops here, stay out of trouble.’ I think we would’ve been on for a top-20. Obviously, blew that in the first pit stop, stalled the car. We lost like 20 seconds in that kind of situation right there.
“I take full responsibility for it,” Wilson continued. “I feel really bad that I made that mistake. That dropped us a lap down, and we were kind of fighting all day to get that lap back. Maybe missed a couple opportunities to get that lap back, and that’s it. You can’t afford to make these kind of mistakes in a field that is so competitive like it is right now, and still expect a good result.”
Though the pit-road mistake would cost the No. 25 Chevrolet potential positions on track, Wilson and the team saw a silver lining.
“I was pleased to have finished and pleased to have kept the car underneath me all day,” Wilson said. “I feel like it’s good that we’re disappointed to have finished 26th. Considering where we started the month, and how late it all came together.”
The main takeaway that Wilson noticed, was the growth of Cusick Motorsports in its second bid at the Indianapolis 500.
“For Don Cusick (Owner, Cusick Motorsports) himself, it’s been an education,” Wilson said. “He came into this, was a big fan and very passionate about IndyCar and the Indy 500, but he didn’t know how it all worked. All the goings on, all the business side of it. I think it’s been really fun to see his passion grow even more for the sport and for the race, and also just seeing him learn, and learn about all the intricacies of this sport, the business side of it as well. I’ve definitely seen that, and it’s been fun to share that journey with Don and see that growth in him as well.”
The No. 25 Chevrolet at speed. (Penske Entertainment/Chris Jones)
With a second Indy 500 under their belt, Wilson believes Cusick Motorsports is better prepared for the next opportunity in Indianapolis, and possibly more events in the future.
“I think from a group, we all have a clearer mindset now, at this point, after this 500, than we did a year ago after the last 500,” Wilson said. “We know what we want to achieve, which we knew what we wanted to achieve last year, but we’ve gone through a year of ‘OK, this what we want to achieve, this is how we should go about achieving it.’ Most of those strategies didn’t work. I think we know now, ‘OK, this didn’t work,’ but I think we’ve got a clearer path to a strategy that does work for us, post this second Indy 500 and as we build toward the opportunities for 2023. Whether that’s more races, or just the Indy 500.”
As the NTT IndyCar Series season continues to roll into the summer months, the next point of business for Wilson and Cusick Motorsports is evaluating options for next year.
In the short-term, they’re slated to compete in the final two endurance races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship schedule at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l and Road Atlanta (Ga.). Wilson will co-drive the HardPoint Motorsports entry with Katherine Legge, Rob Ferriol and Nick Boulle.
Beyond those two races, the future remains to be unclear for Wilson and Cusick Motorsports.
“I think at the very minimum, I think Don wants to do the Indy 500 again, and I do as well, that’s ideal,” Wilson said. “That’s the start. That’s the first point of business is trying to get a good situation or a good program to go for the 500. I think at that point there, it’s starting to evaluate ‘OK, what else can we do? What other races? Could we build a six-race package for next year in 2023, and continue this growth, this year-upon-year growth?’ There’s lots of meetings to be had between now and getting to that point of having a clear vision for that.”
Wilson reflected on the present as well, as he saw a tremendous amount of growth out of himself, both in and out of the cockpit during the month of May.
“I think before, the last two Indy 500s, we just plugged into the Andretti (Autosport) camp and it was an amazing experience driving for Andretti,” Wilson said. “Everything is so well taken care of. The program just happens, and they do such a good job of that. This year, it was a little bit more grassroots. I was definitely a bit nervous. I didn’t have full support from all the other Andretti cars and all the Andretti engineers. We were kind of a little bit alone on an island to go and figure this all out. I just felt like I gained a lot more confidence in my own ability, and my own feelings and feedback to the engineers.”
Wilson walking on pit lane prior to Carb Day. (Penske Entertainment/ James Black)
In light of all the changes from his last two Indy 500 appearances, Wilson felt that he had to step into a bigger leadership role, to help propel the startup team forward.
“I had to sort of lead the team a little bit more this year than I have done in the previous years,” Wilson said. “I could always rely on other teammates that had way more Indy 500 experience, Indy 500 winners, (Ryan) Hunter-Reay and (Alexander) Rossi, to sort of try some of these changes, give feedback. We were still making my own changes over there as well, but this year, we had none of those resources available, and had to just sort of take the lead myself.
“It was challenging to begin with, but by the end of it I just felt like I grew a lot and became a lot more confident in what I was feeling in the car,” he continued. “Making changes and feeling out what they were doing to the car, it just gave me a lot more confidence, like ‘I know what I’m doing.’ Not that I ever doubted that, but it was just the fact that we were getting really creative with some of these changes, and at times it was somewhat risky.
“We would make a change and I was able to feel it out and when it was bad, was able to nip it in the bud and go away from that very quickly and not waste too much time, and not put the car in any danger,” Wilson added. “At the same time, we were able to find some good stuff as well and identify that. I felt like I just grew as a driver at the Indy 500. I think you saw that in the last two practice sessions with the progress that we made in the last couple of days of running. That’s definitely something I’ll carry forward and take that confidence.”
Wilson brings that added confidence into a time when remaining patient and steadfast is crucial as he and the Cusick Motorsports team figure out what lies ahead.
What Wilson often refers back to during these times of uncertainty, are words his late brother Justin gave him.
“I think the best piece of advice that I got that I try and remind myself of is advice that Justin gave me several years ago, which is to focus on the things that you can control,” Wilson said. “That’s really all you can do. You can’t worry about what’s happening over there, or ‘Why is this happening?’ that you have no control over, but to just focus on the things that you can control. I try and remind myself of that all the time, because there’s times where you’re waiting on this to happen, there’s all these other pieces of the puzzle that have to fall into place for these one-off deals at Indy.
“To stay patient, you just have to remind yourself that ‘Hey, there’s certain things that you can control, focus on those and the things that are not in your control, you worrying about them is just distracting you from focusing on the things you can control.’”
Keyword: Wilson Remains Steadfast With Uncertain Future