CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
IOWA CORN INDY 300 PRESENTED BY DEKALB
IOWA SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 12, 2014
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TNT ENERGY DRINK CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 3RD
ON HIS NIGHT:
“It’s one of those things. They took a gamble. It’s such a shame because we dominated the race. I had a lot of fun, but what can I do? It seems like we have been knocking on the door. To win races you have run up front. That is what we been doing. Take the third place and go to Toronto. I can’t thank Firestone for the great tires, Chevy and Target and TNT for the great support. I hope the fans like the race. Probably we led too much so it was a little bit boring, but man we can’t get it right. We will get it.”
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 4TH
HOW DO YOU COME AWAY FROM A RACE LIKE THIS WHERE YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATE TONY KANAAN DOMINATED?
“Sneaky little buggers they are. I couldn’t believe it. Good strategy and credit obviously to Andretti and (Ryan) Hunter-Reay taking the win there. Our Chevy Target cars were fantastic tonight. I just couldn’t believe TK (Tony Kanaan) ran a hell of a race. He must have led God 250 laps or something. We had to work on our car a lot. We just gave them a race there for a little while, led some laps, but I burnt the front tires off my car. Credit to the team, but we just came short there by a couple of spots. Hopefully we will come back at Toronto and get some victories.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 5TH:
“Our Fuzzy’s car had understeer all race and we were just hanging on at the end of the race. We had to pit for tires late and that got us from 14th to 5th in the last nine laps. Ryan (Hunter-Reay) and Josef (Newgarden) and others pitted at the right time for tires. We didn’t get that just right at the end. But I’m happy with fifth tonight. Our crew was spectacular on the pit stops too. I would like to apologize to Juan Pablo (Montoya for the lap 280 incident). I’m sorry that he crashed but I didn’t do it on purpose. I was hanging on with my tires and I didn’t know that he was there. I never saw him up next to me. And we didn’t bump. By the time my spotter (Lee Bentham) mentioned left corner to me, I went low to avoid pushing up towards the wall. I’m sorry that happened. I’ll plan to talk to him about it too.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 8TH:
“The Hitachi Chevy was awesome today. I’m really proud of the team. To be honest, from the first practice session to the race we changed a lot on this car and it was great. We were running in the top three most of the day. Obviously, finishing in the eighth position, isn’t where we deserved to finish. But it was a gamble there at the end. We are leaving here with the championship lead and that is what we need to focus on moving forward.”
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – FINISHED 9TH: “It’s always good to get a top-10 finish, but it’s just disappointing that we fell from our starting spot of fourth down to ninth at the finish. The No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet felt really good throughout the race, but just there at the end we couldn’t hold on after such a long stint. Like I said, a top-10 finish is great but I want to win.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 LEVEMIR FLEXTOUCH CHEVROLET – FINISHED 11TH: “It was a long day for the No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet, but I’ll definitely take a top-10 finish. I have to give a lot of credit to the crew – they were just awesome in pit lane. The stops were right and the strategy was right and we were really fast in clean air. Once the field got strung out, I was running fast lap times but I need to figure out how to run in traffic before I really master short-track racing. I feel really good with that finish and now we just need to put our heads down and get ready for Toronto.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 14TH : “I’m proud of the Verizon Chevy boys. It was a tough call at the end there. Had we went with the new tires we might have been looking pretty good. But a tough day to work hard with the Verizon Chevy doing so well, and then to finish fourteenth just wasn’t where we expected to be tonight. We’ll move forward and look ahead to Toronto.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS KV AFS CHEVROLET – FINISHED 17TH: “Very hard to describe how disappointed I am. This was our day, we had a car that I connected very well with. We were very loose from the beginning but I loved it and I was driving where I needed to drive it. Unfortunately at the end of the third stint, everyone was struggling with grip and my rear tires were extremely worn and I just couldn’t save this “moment” and it ended our day. Tonights result doesn’t show how good a car we had. I want to apologize to everyone who believed in me today, we had this race and I take full responsibility. We have shown that we can do and that we belong at the front, so we will keep digging and head to Toronto next weekend.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – SIDELINED IN A ON-TRACK ACCIDENT ON LAP 280 – FINISHED 16TH
“Our PPG Chevy was really good today. We had some issues during the weekend but we never gave up. Yesterday in qualifying got really loose and we came back today really strong, passing people. I got inside of him (Ed Carpenter) and he was running high and then all of a sudden decided to run low. He had been running every lap on the top. I got a run I got inside of him and he just turned down on me. Very frustrating deal but we have to move on. We’re still in good shape.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 MISTIC KVSH RACING CHEVROLET – SIDELINED WITH ELECTRICAL ISSUES ON LAP 130 – FINISHED 19TH
“It’s just a shame. We were having a strong night. At the start we had some problems and lost some places, but we had a lot of racing to go. When the car came back to us I started to work my way back through the field, passed some cars and was pretty optimistic. Then we started having an electrical problem that eventually shut down the entire car for a good five, six seconds. The second time it happened I just ducked into pit lane because you just can’t take the chance to run under those conditions. It’s a tough break for the Mistic E-Cig crew because the car was definitely very competitive and we could have had a very good night. We have had good cars so far this season, we just have to keep working hard and things will turn around for the KVSH Racing team.”
Tony Kanaan Leads Team Chevy with Podium Finish at Iowa Speedway; Helio Castroneves Takes Sole Possession of the Lead in the Driver Point Standings
NEWTON, Iowa (July 12, 2014) – Tony Kanaan, No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, led the way for Team Chevy with a podium finish in the Iowa Corn Indy 300 at Iowa Speedway for the Verizon IndyCar Series. His third-place finish topped a total of six Chevrolet IndyCar V6 powered drivers finishing in the top-10 in the 300-lap/262.5-mile race that was red-flagged for a 26 minute rain delay. The race resumed on lap 29, and completed the full distance with seven caution periods for 68 laps.
Kanaan started on the outside of the front row next to teammate Scott Dixon who was the pole winner. He was credited with leading three times for a total of 247 laps before having to settle for third in the final order.
Dixon, No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Chevrolet, was fourth and Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, was fifth.
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, finished eighth and takes sole possession of the lead in the Series’ Driver Point Standings. Ryan Briscoe, No. 8 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, finished ninth and Charlie Kimball, No. 83 Levemir Flextouch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet finished in 10th position.
Next on the schedule is the final doubleheader of the season on the Streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 19th and 20th.
An interview with:
TONY KANAAN
THE MODERATOR: We’ll begin with our Verizon IndyCar Series post race press conference. We are also joined by our third-place finisher Tony Kanaan of Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
THE MODERATOR: Tony, fifth year in a row on podium here at Iowa Speedway. Tell us about your strong result.
TONY KANAAN: Strong result? Well, it was a good one. What can I say? We had a good day. I mean, we lead 247 laps out of 300. I think we showed them what we had. At the end there sometimes strategies and gambles play out. We got played. Fair enough.
I’ve won races like that, too. I lost today. It’s just hard to take it. But I think to win races we got to run up front, and that’s what we’ve been doing in the past three races. We just got to keep doing that. There’s nothing I can do about it.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Tony, you just said you led 247 laps. Looking back now, was it maybe not better to do it a little bit more slowly and not be so stressful for the tires?
TONY KANAAN: C’mon, there is no way. I was actually running slow. I’m not going to brag about it.
Q. Just the tire wear.
TONY KANAAN: You can’t compare new tires to a 20-lap tire or 30-lap tire. I couldn’t have done anything different unless I pitted like they did. To do that leading the race, it would have been the craziest move on earth to do it.
So, no, I could not.
Q. You stepped into a difficult situation with Ganassi this year having to replace somebody like Dario. You were talking about how it would take awhile for things to gel. Are you starting to feel like you’re there now?
TONY KANAAN: Of course. I mean, you know, it always takes a little bit to get a bunch of guys to synchronize and work together with a big change like it was. The driver is definitely the most important piece that holds the whole team together.
So I feel comfortable now. They feel comfortable with me. I think I gained their trust. I think I proved we can win races.
We’re slowly making big progresses, and I’m extremely comfortable there now. I hope I can give Chip his first win of the year so far because it hasn’t been as good a year as we thought it was going to be.
Q. Tony, despite the disappointment the last two races, you have to feel you’re a force again in this series. You have to leave here, as far as the competition that you’re doing on the track, you’re a force again.
TONY KANAAN: Oh, for sure. I always try to look at the positives. I mean, it’s not going to do me any good to dwell on the strategy last week and the strategy this week.
We dominated the last two races. For one reason or the other, we didn’t win. But to win a race, you got to be up front. That’s what we’ve been doing.
Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to say I’m extremely happy about it, but I am extremely satisfied with the way we’re doing things in the team. A win is around the corner, for sure.
We’re going to Toronto, a race that Dixon dominated last year, both doubleheaders. We have high hopes there, trying to finish the season on a high note.
Q. Is it better going right to another race next week as opposed to having more time to think about something like tonight?
TONY KANAAN: Like I just said, by tomorrow morning, it’s not that I don’t care, but I try not to think about it.
I like we have another race next weekend. If we didn’t, I was going to take a week off and go to the beach with my wife and do something else.
I think I’ve done everything I could today. We didn’t leave anything on the table. For some circumstances, we didn’t win.
So no, not really.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll see you in Toronto.