CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
IOWA CORN INDY 300 PRESENTED BY DEKALB
IOWA SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 11, 2014
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER
WILL THIS CAR RACE AS WELL TOMORROW AS IT QUALIFIED TONIGHT?
“Well let’s hope so. It’s obviously a great day. I think to have all four Ganassi cars in the top seven it’s incredible. Especially for me it’s been a little while since we’ve been on the pole, especially on an oval. We have been close, but all the credit goes to the team. We have been in a bit of a rut right now, but thanks to all my teammates and everybody at Target Chip Ganassi Racing for having a strong run. Tomorrow is what counts. We are starting obviously on the pole and we are going to try to stay there and get a victory for this team. We are winless right now so we have a little bit of work to do. Hopefully we will put on a great show for everyone.”
DO YOU FEEL PRETTY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT YOUR CHANCES TOMORROW GIVEN THIS POLE WIN TODAY?
“Yeah it’s a nice feeling and it’s been a little while which is unfortunate especially for a team like this and still winless. I don’t want to be a downer right now we are sitting on the pole. We are starting at the right end of the field. We haven’t really been in this part. I’m excited for the race. Iowa is a fun track and we have never really had good luck here. We’ve had some great cars and had some great finishes, but hopefully we can put on a fantastic race for the fans tomorrow that is number one on the priority list and obviously try and win it for us.”
YOUR TEAMMATE TONY KANAAN GAVE YOU SOME INFORMATION HE THOUGHT WOULD HELP YOU GET POLE WHAT DID HE SAY?
“Both TK and Ryan (Briscoe) luckily went before us out there. They thought the track had a fair bit of understeer so we were able to make some wing changes to the car obviously to get it to turn a little bit better and it worked out perfectly for us. You never really know sometimes how your car is going to be compared to theirs. Putting more front wing sitting in the qualifying line is not always something you want to hear because it just makes the car looser, but it was definitely the right call. Huge credit to team Target just excited.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TNT ENERGY DRINK CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 2ND
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR RUN?
“Yeah we took what we had and with the Trucks running before us the track is going to get quicker so hopefully we end up up-front. I’ve got to thank my team they did a great job setting up the car. That is the fastest we’ve ever went here. I’m happy let’s see what is going to happen.”
TO PUT THE RUN DOWN YOU DID EARLY IN QUALIFYING ONLY SHOWS HOW STRONG YOUR CAR IS:
“For sure it was a great effort by the Target team to go 1-2. We have even (Ryan) Briscoe at fourth and Charlie (Kimball) at seventh. Great effort. We jeopardized that run a little bit by going early but that is the luck of the draw. When I got out of the car I told (Scott) Dixie that I think it would take a little bit more front wing and he did and ended up beating me. If I’m going to get beat I would rather be beat by my teammate.”
YOU ARE DUE FOR SOME LUCK:
“I wouldn’t call it luck. I think we are due to some focusing on doing our job right. We haven’t delivered yet so tomorrow will be the opportunity to redeem what happened last week.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3RD
HOW WAS YOUR RUN?
“I was fine in Turn 4. I was having issue with Turn 1. Thanks for the Hitachi boys they did a great job again. It was just the first lap unfortunately because it was really good. You’ve got to do two laps here, not only one. Still so far if you are starting up there it is not that bad.”
THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A FANTASTIC SECOND LAP FOR YOU DID YOU MAKE CHANGES IN THE CAR?
“I just trusted the car was tough this morning. The first lap was I was loose like my teammates and the second lap I did some adjustment and went for it. It was a very tough one. Hopefully it pays off in the end.”
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 4TH
HAPPY WITH YOUR RUN?
“Yeah, very happy that is the quickest I’ve ever gone around this place. It was a solid run. We struggled a little bit in practice earlier so we made some changes coming into qualifying. With a little bit of information from TK (Tony Kanaan) it sort of helped us out moving into our run there. Really happy so hopefully we can get all four Ganassi cars up front.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 MISTIC KVSH RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 6TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Pretty good; pretty good. Very happy. We didn’t come and test here. It was a bit of a compromise trying to keep the guys fresh, and keep some money for this winter as well, a little bit. So it was a bit of a gamble because it is only my second time here. Jimmy (Vasser) was confident that the car would be good, so I said okay, your call. We struggled a little bit this morning (in practice), and made some changes in the afternoon and it kind of all worked out in the end. I’m happy for the Mistic crew and the whole KVSH organization. The track just warmed up as the session was going down. Pretty sure it picked up understeer. I was very understeer on my run. We might have been a bit conservative, but we didn’t get any kind of read on the qualie sim (qualifying simulated lap) we did this afternoon because we had the front wing collapse. So we left and said ‘Okay, poker face. Let’s go out now’. A lot of Chevys at the front, so you guys did a good job again.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 LEVEMIR FLEXTOUCH CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 7TH
WALK US THROUGH YOUR RUN:
“We had to work on some mileage for the engine earlier in the day and with the rain we didn’t have a lot of time to do a qualifying simulation. Following what our teammates did and the whole Chip Ganassi Racing team we had a really good test here. We knew we were going to have a good car we just had to see what the No. 83 Levemir Flextouch car could do.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 9TH
“I was a little too loose coming to the green I had a big moment on that lap. I was worried is the car going to stick for me. Made some adjustments and the second lap was not bad. It’s as good as I think we can expect. Hopefully we end up in the top 10 that would be nice.”
ON HIS RUN:
“Coming to the green I had a big wiggle so I didn’t know what to expect into (Turn) 1 so I lifted and adjusted the car. By the second one I was definitely had another moment coming to the checker, but not bad. It was all I could deal with as the car was being the first one out.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 10TH
“It’s not a bad run for here but the car did get a little loose on the second lap or we would have had better starting spot. You always want a better speed when you aren’t on the pole. But it has been a tricky day with the weather conditions. Waiting out the rain and the drying of the track is always tough. I think we have a good car for the race. We’ll have to see how the conditions go after the rubber from the truck race and possible rain. We were fast last year here and I feel like our race setup will be good. The 50 extra laps could prove to be a factor towards the finish. The track could really change throughout the race and you have to be able to adjust to that element.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS KV AFS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 17TH
“We went in to qualifying blind as we weren’t able to do a qualifying simulation during the final practice session. That of course influenced the small lift I had during my run, which really killed the speed at a track where you need to be running flat the whole time. The Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc. – KV AFS Racing car feels great in race mode, very fun to drive and we made a lot of passes during the practice session, it’s just unfortunate that we’re not starting a little further up. We will move forward to tomorrow and with the combination of a good strategy from the team and great pit stops, I’m confident we will have a good result.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 19TH
“I just made some changes and I think we went a little far. We have been struggling a little bit with the unpredictability of the car. The PPG Chevy has been pretty good we just tried a little hard. I went for it and it just wasn’t there. It stepped out and I thought ‘oh this is going to hurt’ and I was happy it came back to be honest.”