Ed Carpenter is known as an oval specialist. His two consecutive pole positions at the Indianapolis 500 - in 2013 and 2014 - solidified his reputation. He acknowledged it himself when he stepped out of the Ed Carpenter Racing No. 20 Chevrolet in 2014 in favor of Mike Conway on road and street circuits. In 2015 Ed is following a similar path with teammate Luca Filippi at the newly formed CFH Racing, a combination of Ed Carpenter Racing and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. CFH means a couple things for Carpenter: two full-season Verizon IndyCar Series entries and three confirmed for the Indianapolis 500. Carpenter will be joined at the 99th Running by Josef Newgarden in the No. 21 Chevrolet and JR Hildebrand in the No. 6 Chevrolet.

On Wednesday, April 29, Carpenter sat down with INDYCAR’s Arni Sribhen and members of the media for a question-and-answer session covering some of the hot topics heading into the Month of May: aero kits, his new team, Josef Newgarden’s first win, and more.

Looking Forward to the Month of May

With Carpenter running only ovals in the No. 20, the May 3 promoter test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will mark his 2015 debut. Following the test, the next track time for Carpenter will be Indianapolis 500 practice beginning on May 11. He was asked about his level of anticipation for the month of May.

“Yeah, absolutely, getting a little bit more excited each and every day as we inch closer to the start of the month of May, at least with one day to kind of get our feet wet with the new aero kits and all the new parts,” said Carpenter. “It's really exciting, and it's going to be a long wait from the 3rd to the 11th again, but at least we have other on track activity to distract me.”

Carpenter also addressed the issue of running three entries at the Indianapolis 500 and what it means to have three sets of data.

“We have three great cars and I have two really good teammates to lean on,” said Carpenter of his teammates Newgarden and Hildebrand. “I ran with JR last year, and Josef has been strong at the speedway the past two years, as well, being in the fast nine and racing against him there. You know, so we have three strong combinations in the team, and certainly that should work to our benefit.”

Thoughts on Aero Kits

Carpenter was asked several questions around the upcoming speedway aero kit package from Chevrolet which will see its first public track time on May 3. On whether he’s seen the design:

“I've seen everything now,” Carpenter said. “We have everything in the shop for our cars, and some cars are nearly done, others are midway through. But we're getting there in a short amount of time, but I think they look good.  It's different, different than the road course package slightly. I think I like it a lot. It's a clean looking car. It looks fast to me, and hopefully we can prove that it is here on Sunday.”

Carpenter was asked several follow up questions regarding aero kits, including his thoughts on how they’ve affected the level of competition in the series.

“Well, I don't think it's necessarily hurt competition,” said Carpenter. “I think that we've had in particular the race this past weekend at Barber was as good of a race as I ever remember at Barber, both manufacturers in the fight and with a chance to win. You know, I don't think it's hurt competition. I think it's taken us some time to get used to the cars and learn about them, and the more we do that, the racing will continue to get better.”

“I think it's too early to say whether or not they're worth it,” Carpenter said in response to if the aero kits are worth the investment made by Chevrolet and Honda. “I think there's some people that probably think it is and some people not, but I do know that it's very important to Chevrolet, this whole process, and along with the engine specifications that we use now and the aero kits, it was a big part of them wanting to come back into IndyCar racing after an absence of a few years.”

The notion that the superspeedway kits seen in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway may be different from those seen later in the season at Texas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, and Pocono Raceway was also brought up, as well as a possible return to “pack racing” at Texas.

“I think there's a few parts that won't be available at TMS that we'll run at Indianapolis that are kind of speedway centric,” said Carpenter. “But the bulk of the car will look very much the same at Texas as what you'll see throughout the month of May.

“I get pretty annoyed when we talk about pack racing, to be honest. I think it gets overblown a little bit. I started racing at Texas in 2003, and to me the last pack race we had there was probably in 2005, you know, with the old car, so we ran it another six years with what I would consider to be not pack racing. I do hope that it tightens things up a little bit. The formula we've had there the past couple years has been good for me. I've found some success. But I'd like to see a little more downforce come back and get things tightened up to put on an even more exciting show.”

Aero kit parts being somewhat scarce has been an issue throughout the first quarter of the 2015 season, with some teams resorting to sharing parts when necessary in order to keep a car on track. Carpenter was asked if a parts shortage during the month of May might lead to more conservatism than has been seen in the past.

“No, I don't foresee that,” Carpenter emphatically responded. “I mean, it's the Indianapolis 500, and there's only one reason to be there, and that's to try to win, and you can't do that and be conservative.”

On Josef Newgarden’s First Victory

The off season was one of choices for Josef Newgarden and Carpenter reflects that in his comments on the young driver’s first win in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

“Oh, it was great,” said Carpenter. “We're one big team now, and any time any part of your team wins, it's a win for all of us. You know, I was really, really happy for Josef when the merger happened, and it was unknown if he was going to be coming back at that point. He had another offer, and spent a lot of time talking to him and trying to sell him on how we can help him, and to be able to go out and get a win early in the season, I think makes him feel good about his decision and validates the belief that we all have in him and his abilities.”

Looking Ahead

After the promoter test on May 3 which Carpenter will participate in, attention turns to the fifth race on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule: the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 9. Luca Filippi will resume his responsibilities in the No. 20 before turning it back to Carpenter when Indianapolis 500 practice begins on May 11. Qualifications are scheduled for May 16 and 17. The green flag will drop on the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 24 airing on ABC.