CHEVY INDYCAR AT INDIANAPOLIS: Team Chevy Recap – Day 2 Practice for Indianapolis 500

CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
102ND RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DAY 2 PRACTICE RECAP
MAY 16, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS (May 16, 2018) – Relative to true speed, Tony Kanaan in the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet stood out during the second day of practice for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.

Negotiating the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval without aid of a tow is a key component in determining the car’s balance and generating horsepower as Verizon IndyCar Series (VICS) teams and drivers work through their on-track test programs for the May 27 race.

Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner in a Chevrolet, recorded the best lap without the benefit of a tow of 35 drivers who combined to log 3,349 laps with a time of 40.3501 seconds/223.048 mph. Overall, he posted the sixth-best lap time of 39.8688 seconds/225.740 mph.

Team owner/driver Ed Carpenter, driving the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet, registered the second-best no tow lap of 40.4033 seconds/222.754 mph. He was eighth overall on the time chart at 39.9709/225.164.

All 16 Team Chevy competitors turned laps behind the wheel of the Dallara chassis powered by the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged direct-injected V6 Chevrolet engine, led by Charlie Kimball at 39.8430 seconds/225.887 mph in the No. 23 Fiasp Carlin Chevrolet.

Danica Patrick, who will seek to qualify for her eighth Indy 500 to close out her motorsports career, completed 85 laps with a best of 40.0766 seconds/224.570 mph in the No. 13 GoDaddy Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.

Practice continues from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ET May 17. ABC will telecast qualifications live at 4 p.m. ET May 19 and May 20. The 200-lap race will be telecast live on ABC at noon ET May 27.

CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
102ND RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DAY 2 PRACTICE TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MAY 16, 2018

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “It was a good, productive day with the team. We all worked together really well. I think all of us put in a lot of work on many different tires, which is good because it looks like we’re going to have rain on Friday. We’re still trying to make out race cars a little better. We still need a little bit of work but I think we’re close, and the Verizon guys are working hard. I’m happy about that.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “We continue to develop a strategy to run in traffic with our Pennzoil Chevy. Obviously still trying to understand the new car working together with our other teammates. That is what happens – one day might be a good day and then comes a challenging day. Today was one of those challenging days.”

MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “We learned a lot today as a team and we got through quite a few items on our to-do list. We did our first bit of qualifying trimming to the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet and we worked on race preparation as well. I’d say we still aren’t where we want to be in terms of a qualifying or race setup, but we are getting closer and we were able to achieve exactly what we set out to do today at practice.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “We have our car in a good window. It’s definitely tough to get exactly right. We think about it again tonight and see what we can find tomorrow.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 13 GODADDY ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “It was another productive day for the GoDaddy team. I think the main area that was improved was just my comfort level in traffic. I ran in traffic virtually all day. I feel like that’s going to pay off in the long run. We still have to make the car better, but me getting more comfortable is also going to help that process. So, all in all, it was another good, productive day.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “Today was a productive day. We took today to learn different things about how the car is working, tried a few different things. It’s just another day at the Speedway, really just going through the motions. We trying to put together what I call “our cookbook.” Throughout the month, you put together a cookbook. Then, on race day, you go through your cookbook, and see what recipe suits you the most. We will continue to move forward from here. All in all, today was a good day.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “I’m starting to like what I’m feeling in the Fuzzy’s Vodka car! We’ve had two good days, we haven’t gotten it perfect – not everything that I want – but everyone is working really hard right now to try and get that feel out of the race car. For me, I feel like we’ve had two productive days, we’re inching our way closer to the feeling I want to get out of the car. I’m happy with where we’re at, feeling good with the speed we have in the car; I’m just looking for that last little bit to make me feel good. I would like to feel pretty content by tomorrow night as to where we’re headed with an actual race car into Memorial Day weekend. If we could have another day tomorrow like we had today, I think we’ll be pretty close!”

SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 PREFERRED FREEZER SERVICES ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “We made a lot of changes today. Some of them helped, some of them not so much. Our main focus is just trying to build a better race car; we know what we need from the car, we just have to try and pick the right changes to get it. Once we are able to do that, we should be pretty good!”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: It was an interesting day; we’re learning a ton. This new car is quite a bit of a different animal than what we’ve been used to. There’s still a lot to learn to get the car where we want it to be for the race, but we’re getting there.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 FIASP CARLIN CHEVROLET: “Another solid day for the team and the No. 23 Fiasp Chevrolet. This place is just such a challenge because you don’t always know where you are, relative to others speed-wise. Most of the big numbers come from big tows, but at the same time, we were pretty happy with our pace and speed out on our own. Going into the next couple of days I think we have a solid plan of what we need to work on and on Friday we’ll have an eye toward Saturday with the high booster level and qualifying spec. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll work on that. This afternoon, we did some race stuff. We have some ground to cover and could make some progress there, but I know that we’ve learned a lot. We’ll apply it tomorrow morning and start looking at the weekend’s setup in the afternoon.”

SAGE KARAM, NO. 24 WIX FILTERS DRR CHEVROLET: “We were just going off of what we had yesterday and trying to improve it. We made some improvements throughout the day, but we still need to come a ways a bit. Still seems like everyone is struggling a little still running in traffic. That’s what we did mostly today. We didn’t do any qualifying stuff today. We focused on our race car and we still have some improvements there to do overnight and see what we can do. It’s not as comfortable as I want for a race car yet, but we’re making progress and going in the right direction. It’s still early in the month and we’re doing well with two solid days. Same game plan tomorrow as well. I think our qualifying speed when we run alone is good. Just going to focus on the race car for now.”

KYLE KAISER, NO. 32 NFP/JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET: “It was a pretty solid day. We got a lot of work in and got to make a lot of changes to the car. We worked in traffic and on qualifying set ups, so overall it was a productive day. I am looking forward to continuing the progress we made today for tomorrow. We will probably have a similar program and we will just keep nipping away at it. I know there is still some ground to be made up, but I am really happy with how the team is working and the progress we have made up to this point.”

JAMES DAVISON, NO. 33 JONATHAN BYRD’S 502 EAST FOYT WITH BYRD/HOLLINGER/BELARDI CHEVROLET: “Today was a challenging day for the team. We really set out to try and achieve balance in traffic, as hard as we tried we just weren’t able to. We threw probably ten to fifteen things at the car and never got to where we wanted to be. Tonight is going to be a big debrief and regroup to get on top of it. Hopefully we will come out of the gates strong tomorrow.”

MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET: “We learned a lot today as a team and we got through quite a few items on our to-do list. We did our first bit of qualifying trimming to the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet and we worked on race preparation as well. I’d say we still aren’t where we want to be in terms of a qualifying or race setup, but we are getting closer and we were able to achieve exactly what we set out to do today at practice.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 66 SALESFORCE DRR CHEVROLET: “It’s tough. We are still coming to grips with the car, just as everyone else is. Seems like everyone is fighting the same problems, so it will be a race to see who can make the right set of changes the quickest. To address what I think is a common handling problem, I think here at Dreyer & Reinbold, our cars are fast and I look forward to doing some qualifying prep tomorrow. I think we will be able to show how great of a job these guys have done in the off-season. I know for me I wouldn’t hate to have another day for prep and to continue to make the car better.”

GABBY CHAVES, NO. 88 HARDING GROUP CHEVROLET: “Day two of practice was great because we worked through a lot of things and got a lot of track time. The car was pretty good and progressed a lot and we learned a lot throughout the day. We’re still working through our program and we found a few really positive things that can help us come race day. Now we work on expanding upon that and look forward to day three of practice.”