CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEEDWAY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE DAY ONE RECAP WITH DRIVER QUOTES
AUGUST 12, 2020
INDI
INDIANAPOLIS – Day one of practice for the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 is in the books and 16 of the 17 of the Chevy powered teams all reported successful results from the 6 ½ hours available on-track. The schedule was broken up to give rookies their own time, as well as a session for veterans refresher and then open for all drivers.

Fernando Alonso posted the quickest time for Chevrolet with a lap at 223.238 in the No. 66 Ruoff Arrow McLaren SP Chevy. Ben Hanley will make his first laps in the No. 81 Dragon Speed Chevrolet tomorrow.

Practice continues from 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday for all drivers, with live coverage on INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Cars will receive increased turbocharger boost – generating extra horsepower and higher speeds – on “Fast Friday” practice in preparation for Crown Armed Forces Qualifying Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, which will set the field for the race Sunday, Aug. 23.

DRIVER QUOTES:
NO. 1 JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SHELL V-POWER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“We had a good day for the No. 1 Chevrolet. I felt like it was nice to get back out on track and getting through the processes. It is great to be back here at Indy. So thankfuI that we are able to run. I think we are going to put on a great show next weekend. That’s what we are working on, trying to make our race car drivable ins traffic. It is interesting to see who is fast out of the gate, who’s not. We have a long process here. This is a good starting point for us. See if we can get the Shell car fast enough for qualifying and then work on the race after that.”

NO. 3 HELLIO CASTRONEVES, PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“Obviously big credit to the team. Everything was exactly as if I had not left. It was absolutely the same which makes it much better for me to get comfortable right away. Great combination. I can’t thank Pennzoil, Chevy and Roger for making this happen. I am excited, really excited even though we have less days. I wish the race would be tomorrow.”

NO. 4 CHARLIE KIMBALL, TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVRLET:
“I think it was a really good start to on track activity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The car felt really good right away. I was pretty comfortable. The guys have obviously done a great job preparing. There was some uncertainty about when we’d get on track so I’m glad we were able to get some miles in today. The weather looks pretty good for the rest of the week but we’ve got a lot to do in a condensed schedule. It’s nice to start with a good foundation. Something we can always come back to as needed, but we’ve got to find a little speed – we’re always looking for speed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – but I’ve got a lot of confidence in the Tresiba Chevrolet team to find that as we get into Fast Friday. Ideally we’re looking to qualify in the top nine and race into the top one!”

NO. 5 PATO O’WARD, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:
“I think it was a solid first day for the entire Arrow McLaren SP team. I think we still have some work to do but I think we are in a good spot. Today was about running in traffic and trying to create the best package for us for race day. We have to keep chipping at it and working at it. We will start off tomorrow where we ended today and keep improving. Thank you to everyone on the team and at Chevrolet for giving us a good starting point.”

NO. 7 OLIVER ASKEW, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:
“First day here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an Indy car is pretty special for anyone. It’s great to feel the magic of the place again and to be around other cars. An extra 20-30 mph compared to an Indy Lights car is quite a big difference at those speeds. It’s a bit daunting at first, but as I got used to it I got very comfortable by the end of the day. I’m looking forward to more running tomorrow and to turn up the boost on Friday. Everyone at Arrow McLaren SP and Team Chevy have being doing a really good job so far. The car feels really nice in traffic, and we will continue progressing in all areas.”

NO. 12 WILL POWER, VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“It was actually a pretty good day. I feel like the cars are a little harder to drive now. I feIel like the balance of our car is really good now, really good. I feel like we are right in the window right now. We will work on some different philosophies tomorrow. We are in a good spot so we will try some other stuff to see if we can get it better.”

NO. 14 TONY KANAAN, ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
“Good first day. I think if you’re gonna hear everybody’s quote it’s everybody’s glad to be back here. It took a lot of effort from a lot of people in the Series, in the teams to be here. That shows how important this place is. A lot of mixed feelings this morning driving in and not seeing anybody. Sitting in Garage 1 at this point in the day today, it would be probably 40 people waiting for A.J. outside. So kind of odd day. But as far as track time it was awesome. WE had plenty of track time. We had a little bit of an issue at the end of the day but it didn’t hurt us and we were getting ready to stop. I’m pretty pleased with the car. It was definitely one of our best opening days that we had. The team came really well prepared and I’m happy so, obviously still a longs way to go but it’s good to be back.”

NO. 20 ED CARPENTER, U.S. SPACE FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:
“It was an interesting day, I wouldn’t say that it was the day I’ve dreamed of! We have a lot to learn about this car here at this track with the aeroscreen on. It’s really changed the dynamic. It’s very, very difficult in traffic but it seemed like everyone was struggling. It’s always this way the first day, you have to figure out what you need to improve on and go from there. I can’t say we found all the answers today but I’m ready to get the U.S. Space Force Chevrolet back out there tomorrow!”

NO. 21 RINUS VEEKAY, SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:
“I had a really good first day! I built it up slowly, but we had a lot of time. Especially on my own, the SONAX Chevrolet is amazing. We needed to do some work in traffic, but we made some really good steps and I’m very confident for the coming days. We’re heading in a good direction with a really strong car and a really strong team!”

NO. 22 SIMON PAGENAUD, MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“It is just great to be back at the Speedway. Today was like Christmasl It is just an amazing place. Super excited to be back in the Menards Chevy. We worked on two different packages today. I think that we know what direction we want to go now. Which is great, we were able to check off the list one of the important items for our program. So very excited about that. I think tonight we are 100% sure on the decisions we are going to make tomorrow. So that is a big leap forward. Excited about tomorrow and qualifying on the horizon. So far we have been working oIn the right space. I got my timing sorted with passing and comfortable aound the big speedway here. Just very excited to be in Indianapolis again this year. Hopefully we can repeat.”

NO. 24 SAGE KARAM, WIX FILTERS DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET::
“Today was pretty good for our DRR WIX Filters Chevy today. It was much more solid than last year on the first day of practice. We did a lot of good things today as I did a lot of traffic running. We got in some big groups and went with the good teams like Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. No one was doing anything different from what I could do in traffic. That was very positive. Now we have to find the next step with mechanical grip to move to the next level with this car. Obviously, passing will be very tough, just like last year. Qualifying will be at a premium. Pit stops will be huge, but this DRR crew is always fast on their stops. So I feel good about that aspect. It feels good to be back on the oval. The road course was a good, little challenge for us. It was good for everyone today. Me to get more seat time and the team to get in a few live stops. It is so much fun around this place when the car is working well. We look forward to Thursday.”

NO.41 DALTON KELLETT, K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RAC”ING CHEVROLET:
“Finished up rookie orientation so it’s good to have that box checked off. I did a baseline run at the end on new tires and got a bit of running around some other cars in the draft so the speed’s getting up there. We started very conservatively and we’re working through it, taking understeer out of the car. We were taking small chunks out so it took us a little time to get through everything. I think that analytical, progressive process is going to help us in the end. It feels good to be out on track, the car feels great. The feedback from Tony and Charlie is that everyone’s pretty happy all around. First day at the Speedway, it’s an amazing place to be, I’m really excited. I couldn’t be happier to be here so I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

“The experience of the first lap is hard to put into words. It’s such a magical place — the feeling of being out on track and you want to take the moment but you also want to focus on what you’re doing. The first slow stages give you time to get up to speed. The car felt great and I was just grateful and happy to be here and loving every minute of it.”

NO. 47 CONOR DALY, U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:
“Obviously, Cole (Pearn, engineer) and I had a lot to learn today, so it was good to get a full day under our belt with the U.S. Air Force Chevy. We ran a lot of laps, right up until the checkered flag which was my goal so I can get used to this car. It definitely has a different feel to what I’ve had in the past, but that’s always the case when I jump in a car for the first time! I think it was a good day. We went through a lot of thing that we wanted to and I think we have a decent amount of speed. We just have to see making it faster and faster, one day at a time!”

NO. 59 MAX CHILTON, GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET:
“We just finished our first day back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and we’ve got two more days of practice to get the car ready for qualifying. We had a really productive day out there. We were able to work through our oval refresher program and get the speeds that we needed fairly easily. Once we got through the refresher we did some race running and had a few issues with the balance, but we were able to get there in the end and the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet felt good at the checkered flag. We obviously have more to work through before we’re qualifying and ready, but I’m really looking forward to the next couple of days now.”

NO. 66 FERNANDO ALONSO, RUOFF ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:
“Today was good. I think we had the day that we wanted, which was a clean day with no issues and trouble-free. In the morning, we got up to speed with the refresher and in the afternoon we cut it a bit short to work on the car. We may have potentially missed one run in traffic but it’s nothing we can’t make up tomorrow. We are working step by step, improving the car a little bit each time. We are working on the balance and getting used to the speed again, more in my case than the team. The team is was maybe more ready than me on this first day. We will grow together and got some good mileage today. We have a good understanding of the car and will hopefully have a good setup ready to go tomorrow.”

NO. 67 JR HILDEBRAND, SALESFORCE DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET:
“I felt good with the aeroscreen right away. Sitting in the pits you can tell it’s a little warmer but not once you are on track it’s no problem. I felt good in the car. Our DRR team came into this year with a clear perspective with what we needed to do to be competitive in the race. And what we have done so far with our adjustments to the car have checked out. That is good so far. We were focused on trying to answer some of those questions from the last couple of years. Sage (Karam, DRR teammate) worked in traffic more today than we did. He was running in more traffic situations than I was. We don’t have a lot of time this year. And we are moving the right direction with the cars already. Thursday will be a very busy day. So we are prepared to work hard with the cars.”

NO. 81 BEN HANLEY, DRAGON SPEED USA CHEVROLET:

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