CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
102ND RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVYDRIVER TRANSCRIPT – MEDIA DAY
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

JAMES DAVISON, NO. 33 JONATHAN BYRD’S 502 EAST FOYT WITH BYRD/HOLLINGER/BELARDI CHEVROLET:

AFTER PAST EXPERIENCES HERE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE PREPARED ENOUGH THAT IF IT COMES DOWN TO THE LAST 25 LAPS, YOU’LL BE READY TO POUNCE?
“Yes, I think I was ready last year. I was racing my way toward the front and pulling off some moves around the outside. There is a lot of luck involved in winning this race – track position, not being in the wrong place at the wrong time, being in the right place in the right time and the strategy. We’ve all heard that this race picks the winner. It’s a matter of being in the right situation, having the right car… and we’re working toward having a strong car on Carb Day. It’s crucial to us to get a handle on the car in race trim.”

HOW BIG A SETBACK WAS THE CRASH, AND THEN THEREFORE HOW PROUD WERE YOU THAT YOU MADE THE BIGGEST GAIN OF ANYONE IN THE FIELD FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY?
“It proved to not be the biggest of setbacks, but we were skeptical that it was going to be. Generally your backup parts aren’t going to be as good as your primary stuff, and we were struggling for speed. You wonder what your backup parts are going to be like. In the morning, we only ran 224.5 mph by ourselves and that wasn’t going to cut it. And as it turned out, it was a little quicker than that was going to cut it. To overcome that adversity our team was incredible. We made it into the race against some odds. We punched above our weight to lay down a 227 on pole day and put ourselves deep into the field. It was a great surprise.”