CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
GOPRO GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 24, 2014
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: ON THE LAST STINT, DID YOU THINK YOU HAD HIM OR WERE YOU WAITING UNTIL RAHAL CAME IN BEFORE YOU WENT AROUND CONWAY?
“It was tough because there were so many strategies going on and they were just slightly off and I didn’t know who could make it and who couldn’t. Conway I think pushed hard to start with but I think he had to save some fuel at the end.
“So excited man, this is big for our team. We have had a rats year so far but strategy was perfect, a bit mixed up but so happy. We have a huge amount of Target people here this weekend,robably about 400-500 people who are in turn seven, so a big shout out to them.”
YOU WEREN’T FEELING THE BEST THIS WEEKEND, BUT ARE YOU ALL BETTER NOW? “Yeah, a bit under the weather but as you said, some people actually do better when they are not feeling well. But we were close all weekend, as soon as we rolled off the trailer. The Target team has been so strong and I am just so happy. So happy to end on this note and so happy for all the fans out here this weekend. It’s a big race for us this weekend in Wine Country and we love coming here and just hope everybody is safe after that big rock-n-roll last night.”
MIKE HULL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CHIP GANASSI RACING: YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO COME FROM LAST THIS TIME, JUST THIRD: “No, it was great and as you know we had an early wake-up call this morning about 2:30 this morning so we had plenty of time to think about it. Hopefully all the people in the Napa area are okay. Man it was an exciting race for everybody I hope. It was certainly exciting for us and its really terrific that we have a world-class driver like Scott that gets in the Target car like he is able to do and makes it happen for us.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH: “It was a good weekend for the Verizon Chevy. I knew we had a really good car and that’s why I was a bit upset that we weren’t able to start up front yesterday. If we could’ve been in the top five, even in the top 10, I think we could be talking about a different result here today. But, unfortunately, I put us in a bit of a hole in qualifying. This Chevrolet was really, really fast today. I passed a lot of people and had a blast. We are no longer in the title fight, but we are going to Auto Club Speedway next weekend with one goal and that’s winning the race.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: ON THE RACE AND THE SPIN: “It took me by surprise when I spun. Thankfully I kept if off the clutch when it happened. That’s just racing. I tried to save fuel towards the end there with no over take so I could make it to the end there, just going for points. Would have liked to had a better finish but the Verizon Chevy Team will look to Fontana working towards the Championship.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 TEAM HYDROXYCUT KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH: “It was a pretty difficult day for the Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing team. The start of the race was messy. Everybody went for it and braked real late. Cars got shuffled around and were going in every direction. I ended up sideways, hit Briscoe and lost the engine. I got re-fired, but the car was really banged up and difficult to drive. We still had good pace and the team came up with a really good strategy. Things were looking pretty good, we were moving up. Then on one of the restarts I got a run on the inside of my teammate (Sebastian Saavedra) and then Helio (Castroneves) came on the inside of me to make it three wide. When Sebastian turned in, there was enough room for me, but not for both me and Helio. I was in the middle and got sandwiched. At that point all the damage on the car started to pile up, but I was still running okay…as weird as that sounds. At that point I was back to last, which is a shame, because we were on a good strategy. We moved up when some guys pitted for fuel, then we picked up a couple of places at the end when some guys ran out of fuel, but ultimately 11th was all we could salvage.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13TH: Chevrolet: “We just tried to play a little bit with our strategy to see if it was going to work and unfortunately it didn’t turn out in our favor today. It was a gamble, and if it would’ve worked we could’ve been up there celebrating with Dixie. I’m really happy for the guys on the 9 car, especially with all of our Target guests here. It was just one of those days for us that you just have to take and move on.”
MIKE CONWAY, NO. 20 FUZZY’S PREMIUM ULTRA VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROET, FINISHED 14TH: “I was doing all I could keep Scott (Dixon) and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) behind me. The team knew that Graham (Rahal) had to pit for fuel. I could see that the boys behind me were a little quicker and I was trying to save as much fuel as possible too. It was tricky but I thought I was making a good job of it. I was hitting my fuel number through the last stint. I thought it would be good but I suppose the lap when I used the overtake button to keep back Scott came back to cost us. There wasn’t much more I could do at that point and I thought I could hang on for a podium g sh. But when I got to turn 10 on the last lap, the engine just died. It picked up a little into turn 11 but finally just shut off in the corner. It was a tough way to finish the year with the Ed Carpenter Racing team with the Fuzzy’s Vodka car. I really want to thank Ed and his guys, the Fuzzy’s boys., Chevrolet and our suppliers for a great year. It was a very good year. Two wins for me and one for Ed so far. I would love to see Ed win it next week in Fontana too.”
ED CARPENTER, TEAM OWNER, ED CARPENTER RACING: “We had our strategy down when we made a couple of top off stops in the middle of the race and the yellow fell right for us. Then Mike made a great move around TK (Tony Kanaan) and he was saving fuel and stretching the lead. At the end, we felt Graham had to pit and we knew that Scott and Ryan were on similar strategy as us. We just missed on the fuel mileage by a little. Maybe the extra overtake pushes might have cost us. It’s hard to say. Scott and Ryan are great in those situations. Mike drove a terrific race today. A tough break for Mike and the team not to take home a good finish today.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH: “It was an interesting race from the back. I had a great start and managed to avoid a big incident in turn two and then gained nine positions. I was pretty happy with the Automatic Fire Sprinklers – KV AFS car and the crew did a great job. Unfortunately on the restart I got in a bit of an accident with my teammate, when Helio Castroneves pushed him out, and that’s something that really hurt my race as I was fighting for a top-10 spot with Pagenaud. Coming from the back, I had some great passes, we just needed one more lap as a lot of cars needed fuel and I could then of had a top-five, but that’s racing and I look forward to getting back on track and doing it again next weekend.”
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH: “Well, that was a really unfortunate finish here at Sonoma. The No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet was just so fast all weekend and we were so strong coming into this race. That incident on the first lap that caused us to have to change my rear wing just completely screwed up our whole race. It’s frustrating for me and I know it’s frustrating for the whole NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing team when we have these types of days. On a more positive note, I’m so happy for Dixon and his win today.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH: “It’s a pretty disappointing finish, to be honest. The Hitachi Chevy was really fast all weekend and to get hit so early on in the race was really tough. That certainly put us behind, fixing the damage in the front and back of the car and it was tough to recover. So now, we are 50 points behind in the championship heading to the finale at Auto Club Speedway and with the double points there anything can happen. We are not giving up. We will keep on it and give everything we have next weekend to try and reach our goal. We are still in it and we know what we need to do now over the 500 miles.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 NOVOLOG FLEXPEN CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST: “It’s frustrating that the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet finished the race the way it did. I think there was some error in the fuel system or something just wasn’t right on that last stop, but we’ll figure it out. Once again, the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys did a great job and a big congrats to Dixon and the 9 team for getting the win here today. We’ve got an opportunity next week with the 500-mile race at Auto Club Speedway to finish out the year with a win. We ran really well there last year, and I can’t wait to take the Chevy power there this year.”