CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
ABC SUPPLY 500
POCONO RACEWAY, LONG POND, PENNSYLVANIA
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING QUOTES
SATURDAY AUGUST 20, 2016
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2ND: “We rolled out with one thing and I was pushing my guys to do something different. It’s a team decision, whether it’s their decision or mine, but I feel like I was pushing a little hard for something that wasn’t the right thing. But we were close, we just needed that little bit! I think where we rolled out with would have been enough. It’s my fault that we changed it. I’m disappointed about that; you always want the pole! We have a great chemistry and group with our people, but sometimes I mess up! Congrats to Mikael, great job by him! We didn’t have enough today but tomorrow is what counts.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH: “I’m very happy with the result. The Hitachi Chevy was good this morning and that continued into the afternoon. We did get some luck with the cloud cover that cooled the track down. We haven’t had a lot of good luck this year; maybe it’s starting to change. I wasn’t really expecting fourth, but I’ll certainly take it. Now, we’ll get some more work in later at practice.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET QUALIFIED 8TH: “The car has been loose and we’ll have to make some adjustments for tomorrow’s race. On the other side, the Verizon Chevy is really fast, but just a matter of getting the handling right. Just not connecting when we go into the corners, so practice tonight and making some adjustments should help.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 9TH: “I think we took a conservative approach today for qualifying with the NTT DATA Chevrolet. We knew that we were going to have a challenging session based on the feedback from my teammates that went out before me. We didn’t want to take any chances. It’s a long race – 500 miles – and I think we’ll have a good car for the race.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH: “It’s a tricky day. The conditions are a little different, especially with the wind, from when we practiced. That’s when it’s hard to be early in the line. I think teammates are going to help teammates as the qualifying line moves through, so we’ll see where we end up. It is tricky, there’s a lot of different downforce levels. I wish I could have got that first lap back! After I got the tools in the car adjusted to where I wanted them, that second lap was pretty good. I wish I could have had a couple of those!”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14TH: “I was fighting an understeer situation in the Menards Chevrolet which made it difficult. Going out early didn’t really help, either. We’ll continue to work in practice later to get the car in a little better place for tomorrow. It’s a long race and a lot of things can happen. I have a ton of confidence in my team. They’re the best.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PENSKE TRUCKING TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: “I think we did the best we could in qualifying. I had a moment there in Turn 1 on the first lap so it was good to make it through OK, especially after this morning. It’s a shame because I think we had a really good car here earlier and we were just trying to push too hard on cold tires in the practice and hit the wall. What a great job by Team Penske and the No. 2 team to get the backup car ready for qualifying so I have to say thanks to them. We’ll be working in the practice tonight to get the car dialed in so we’re ready to race tomorrow.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 TRESIBA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 16TH: The No. 83 Tresiba® Chevrolet felt really rock solid, so I think I definitely could’ve gone a little bit harder. I cracked the throttle in Turn 1 in two laps, but I think that’s fairly understandable after what happened this morning. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys and really everyone on the team worked so hard to get me ready for qualifying – I really appreciate everyone’s efforts. The 83 car felt good in qualifying though. We’ll put some more downforce in it and work out a few more things tonight in practice to make sure we’re ready go for tomorrow.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 8 GALLAGHER CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17TH: “I can see why they call this place the Tricky Triangle because this track is totally different from when we tested here a few weeks ago. It’s definitely a tough place to figure out. I was adjusting the car and trying to get the most out of it, but I didn’t have the confidence in the car for qualifying.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 TEAM HYDROXYCUT KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 18TH: “I knew qualifying would be tough, but it turned out to be quite a bit harder than I expected. The Hydroxycut machine started with a big understeer, so I backed down on the tools. Then as soon as I got to turn one the car was loose. The rest of the run I just kept going between understeer and oversteer. I could never get the balance right in any of the corners. Basically no grip just sliding around. The track temp went up about 20 degrees from this morning and we don’t seem to deal with that very well. It is double difficult when you don’t go testing, but we will try and put on a better showing in the race tomorrow.”
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 19TH: “It wasn’t great out there in the Target car today for some reason. The car was extremely loose and we had quite a few issues this morning. We did a little bit of race running in the practice session but we lost a lot of track time with the crashes this morning that others had. I just don’t think we did a good job rolling off the truck this weekend and we paid for it in qualifying for sure. We have a lot of work to do before the race.”