Yahoo Autos Ferrucci sets 2024 record for most passes at Milwaukee
Santino Ferrucci’s been having one hell of a close to the season in the No. 14 Chevy, underscored Sunday at Milwaukee when the A.J. Foyt Racing driver set a record for the most passes by an NTT IndyCar Series driver in a single race this season.
The spirited American ripped through the field on multiple occasions after starting 12th, charging forward and falling back, and performing a total of 63 passes on his way to fourth-place for Foyt. Combined with his run to fourth on Saturday, and the pole the previous weekend on the Portland road course and holding 10th in the championship — the best for the team in decades this late in the season — Ferrucci has been one of the breakout performers of the year.
“Pretty stout weekend overall,” he said. “Obviously rough to miss the podium twice, but we’ve been working really hard at it, and it’s just so hard to be competitive and be in the top five in this series. Everything needs to be so perfect. It’s awesome for points. I’ve got my own personal goals of being on a trophy hunt by the end of the year and we’ve got one more race to make it happen.”
Once a liability, the Foyt team’s pit crew have been making significant annual gains in speed and consistency. Separate from his daredevil passes on short ovals like the Milwaukee Mile, Ferrucci credited the No. 14’s team — led by crew chief Didier Francesia — for making the 63 passes possible.
“The crew’s done a great job all weekend,” he added. “It’s really, really tough, especially in these quite tight turnarounds. Great job on [pit] stops all day. We only had one bobble all weekend, but considering we did probably 10 or so pit stops under pressure, they did a great job. Engineering did a great job; all around hard to beat.”
