Viso encouraged by 12th place

E.J. Viso and the crew of the No. 13 PDVSA HVM Racing car were encouraged with the seventh starting position for the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway - the second-highest of the season.

E.J. Viso Credit: Shawn Payne/IndyCar Series

There was cautious optimism of a top-10 finish through the earlier portion of the 300-lap race on the 0.75-mile oval, which would have been a first this season. In a hard-knock year, two untimely caution periods thwarted the team's efforts.

Viso kept pace with the leaders for much of the race but fell two laps down on Lap 138 when the caution flag flew while the No. 13 car was on pit road for a scheduled service stop. Another yellow flag flew on Lap 248 - while Viso again was on pit road. He ran in the top 15 the remainder of the race, and managed a late pass of Ed Carpenter's No. 20 car to take 12th place.

"Even if it's not the result we were looking for -- especially after the strong pace we had through all the practices and qualifying -- it's something that's going to pump our emotions a bit higher," said Viso, who finished his first race of the season. "We were all a little bit low because we hadn't finished a race so far. Finishing the race means a lot for the team and for me.

"We had a very fast car. I was running at the same pace as the leaders, I was saving fuel all through the race. It's just that yellow came out at the wrong time for us and that put us a couple laps down. I just need to thank the team and everyone that has supported me going through these difficult races. I want to thank them and tell them that I've been working harder than ever to achieve podiums. We've got the potential and we've improved the car a lot."

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