Max Chilton interview: Indianapolis 500 success driving him forward

Max Chilton had his best IndyCar finish at the Indy 500, and he spoke to FanSided about how he’ll use that result to have a strong second half of the season.

It’s a good time to be Max Chilton. The IndyCar star had his best career finish at the Indianapolis 500, and is currently eight positions higher in the championship than he was last year. How will he capitalize?

FanSided spoke to Max Chilton ahead of this weekend’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America to talk about his fourth place finish at Indy, if it’s given him a brighter outlook on the rest of the IndyCar season, and the craziest thing he’s ever driven.

Chilton led more than three dozen laps late in the Indy 500 and wound up just missing out on the podium but still earned a more than admirable fourth-place result. Now almost a month after the fact, has that success on IndyCar’s biggest stage sunk in yet?

“I’m quite happy,” he said to FanSided. “If someone said you were going to finish 4th and lead 50 laps I would have taken it. We’ve had a couple things not go our way, but I’m sure everyone has. The month of May has given me more confidence to try and excel and get on that podium for the first time and get a win. I know we can do that now. It’s an exciting time.”

Before last weekend’s off week, Chilton had run four races in the span of two weeks. Now in his second season driving the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing car, he told us he’s become used to the grind that essentially kicks off the second part of the season.

“It’s a busy schedule. I’ve always known that in IndyCar,” he explained. “But the good thing about it is you get a proper off-season so that’s also a positive. It’s all going well. The Ganassi crew are working well.

“I think [his primary sponsor] Gallagher are very happy,” he added. “The family that own and run Gallagher, they came to their first ever race [at Indianapolis]. Not just for me, but they’ve never been to a motorsport race. They came to the 500 and left, I think, very excited.”

This is the time for Chilton to make his move. He’s lurking just outside the top 10 in the IndyCar championship standings, and the points margins between drivers are so thin that he could vault several positions in one good weekend. So does he drive differently, knowing how small the gap is?

“You have to race the best race,” Chilton said. “I think you think about the points when you’re in the top three. To get in the top 10 you should just go all out. If you can get the best race result, that’s going to give you the best points, so it’s a different way of looking at it compared to if you’re already a title contender.

“I’m not a title contender, we’re not in the championship [hunt] yet. I could be,” he continued, “but at the moment I’m just working on each race as it comes and trying to get as many points as I can.”

One advantage for Chilton is that he’s on the same team with current IndyCar championship leader Scott Dixon, as well as Tony Kanaan, who’s within the top 10. We asked him how much the success of his teammates could benefit his own chances.

“To have Scott leading is pretty helpful,” he said. “There’s no doubt he can win it this year. Tony’s in the top 10 [and] it’d be nice if I can catch him up. But I don’t want to have any bad luck; we just want all four cars to finish. If we can have a good race and that means we can catch other people up in the championship, that would be helpful.”

Of course, if he doesn’t become the next IndyCar champion, he could follow after his brother. Tom Chilton is a British Touring Car driver who’s also well known for his multiple appearances on Top Gear as one of the Touring Car stars who helped Richard Hammond race interesting vehicles like airport stairs and motorhomes.

“I’ve never driven any buses or airport vehicles or taxis or people carriers like he has racing wise, I haven’t done anything as adventurous as that,” Max laughed, “but I’ve driven a number of crazy things. I think driving a big yacht was quite amazing.

“Coming out of Monaco Harbor, I was driving a big 200-foot yacht with a tiny little joystick. I couldn’t believe you could control such a large vessel with such a tiny control stick. But that was a good experience. I’ve driven a lot of farming, agricultural vehicles. I think the bigger, the more daunting they are.”

While the challenge in front of him may not be as unique as racing a motor home, Chilton is more than focused on driving to his first IndyCar victory, and he believes it’s in sight thanks to his efforts and those of his team.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum,” he concluded. “It’s a shame I couldn’t reward them with a win at Indy, but they were very proud of me and we’re working really well together as a team, so [I’m] just looking forward towards the second half.”

Next: Alexander Rossi discusses his 2017 IndyCar season

The Verizon IndyCar Series returns to action this Sunday, June 24 at Road America. For the latest news throughout IndyCar, follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.