CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEEDWAY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE DAY THREE FAST FRIDAY DRIVER QUOTES
AUGUST 14, 2020

DRIVER QUOTES:

NO. 1 JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SHELL V-POWER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“Tricky day for us from an ultimate speed standpoint. I think we still have a good opportunity to show well tomorrow and fight to get in the last part of the fast nine. I think a pole run will be toough for us, but we have to put ourselves as far forward as possible. Then we have to work in the race car and I think we can make anything happen in the race. I have a lot of confidence in Team Chevy and all of our partners. i think we’ve got what it takes to have a solid performance tomorrow and like I said, put ourselves in good position for the race.”

NO. 3 HELLIO CASTRONEVES, PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“It was a very rough day today for the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevy. We definitely will continue looking at our teammates setups and continue work for tomorrow. We’re going to keep fighting and we’ll see what happens.”

NO. 4 CHARLIE KIMBALL, TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
“Well it’s Fast Friday and that means we get to go fast. It was pretty challenging I think for everybody today. The track temps came up, the ambient temps came up, the wind picked up and when you’re hanging and Indy car out at over 230 miles per hour it’s a handful, it can be around here especially, but the No. 4 Tresiba Chevrolet team here at A.J. Foyt Racing I think did a really good job to maximize the car we had. We had some pretty big challenges early in the day but we made some big improvements and came out better at the end of the day so as a team I think we have a little more confidence going in to tomorrow, but tomorrow’s just the first battle. It’s next Sunday we’re really working towards.”

NO. 5 PATO O’WARD, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:
“Today was even more of step forward than yesterday for the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Today was all about qualifying running to get ready for tomorrow. The goal is obviously going to be to get into the Fast Nine. I think we have made some good changes and we are very happy with where we are at to start the day off tomorrow in qualifying.”

NO. 7 OLIVER ASKEW, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:
“I don’t think we were able to show our true pace today. We did most of our qualifying sims in the heat of the day which isn’t ideal but we expect the conditions to be the same for tomorrow’s qualifying. Really depends on where we get in the random draw for where we go out tomorrow. That’s going to dictate a lot of everyone’s performance for their first run tomorrow in qualifying. I think we rolled out with a really good car this weekend. We haven’t really changed much so that shows all the hard work from the Arrow McLaren SP team is paying off so far. Looking forward to laying it all out tomorrow and showing everyone what we really have.”

NO. 12 WILL POWER, VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“I think we found a better setup at the end so I feel a little more comfortable going into the first run of qualifying in the Verizon 5G Edge Chevy. It’s going to be very tight. I really hope we can make it into the top nine but there are so many fast cars, it will be difficult.”

NO. 14 TONY KANAAN, ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
“Difficult day. I was really hopeful that yesterday, since we had such a great day, that today with the increasing of boost we were going to be competitive and we struggled today. I think a lot of the teams did, too. I think the temperatures didn’t help but we have a lot of work to do tonight. Still an awesome day to be at the track, still an awesome day to run 230 plus miles per hour. I mean it had been a while that I haven’t done that so, we’ll see what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s going to be interesting. We have a lot of work to do.”

NO. 20 ED CARPENTER, U.S. SPACE FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “Today was not the day I was hoping for, to be honest. I felt really good yesterday in race setup and with our speed. The conditions were very tough today. I was hoping we were going to be able to contend for the pole in the U.S. Space Force car. I don’t know if that’s in the cars this year, but we’ll certainly give it our best shot. The good thing is Rinus (VeeKay) was fairly happy. Those guys were clearly the best in the ECR stable. He was completing more four-lap runs than I was and was a little quicker too, so we’ll lean on what they did. We’ll put out best foot forward. One thing I do know, conditions are going to be tough tomorrow. I saw a lot of people struggling today and it’s definitely going to come down to the fourth lap. I’m going to rely on my experience and hopefully put us in a pretty good spot, knowing that we still do have a good racecar.”

NO. 21 RINUS VEEKAY, SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:
“A good day! The SONAX car is doing pretty well in qualifying trim. Most of the best times were this morning, but we actually improved in the hottest part of the day when the track temp was over 130 degrees. I think that shows good speed. We seemed to be one of the most consistent cars out there. I also drew a good starting position. I was super nervous, I haven’t been that nervous in a long time! Qualifying number four! Tomorrow’s going to be different, you never know what’s going to happen. I know one thing, I’m going to have a good car. ECR’s known for that.”

NO. 22 SIMON PAGENAUD, MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
“Tough day today. It was really hot and really slick out there. It’s not really showing our pace because we got on track late, and the temperature was already up. I think we have more pace than we are showing on the time charts. Certainly not what we showed in race pace. It is good to have a good car for race day, that is reassuring, but I am going for pole position. I want to be fast and we need to find some speed.”

NO. 24 SAGE KARAM, WIX FILTERS DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET:
“Conditions deteriorated as the day went on. But it’s the same for everyone and Saturday looks to be similar weather. Looks like Honda rolled out a pretty good unit for qualifying. I still feel really good about our race pace right now. I know Chevy will do everything they can overnight, but it looks like the Honda cars might have a bit of an edge right now. From our perspective, I feel very good about how the team has worked together. Sage and I have been communicating well too. We haven’t found the ‘sweet’ spot for qualifying and we’ll try some things in the morning. It will be tough for everyone and I will try to stick the best number I can when it’s my turn.”

NO.41 DALTON KELLETT, K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
“Just finished up my first Fast Friday. I feel like I can finally breathe now. It was a long day of qualifying runs. Felt like we have a pretty good car in us for the four lap average. We played around with various trim levels and we were working on mechanical balance, so I think we’ve got a good compromise between outright speed and also just having the car for the entire four laps. It’s my first time going into qualifying at Indy. With my previous experience in (Indy) Lights in the Road to Indy it’s only two laps for qualifying so that four lap run does feel like it takes a long time and you really have to work your tools, work your weight jacker during the run to stay ahead of whichever way the car is going but the team’s been doing a good job and we drew third for qualifying order tomorrow so looking forward to getting on track early.”

NO. 47 CONOR DALY, U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEEVROLET:
“Results wise, today looks great. We’ve had a really consistent week up front in the Top 10, which is nice. Today was a struggle though, for sure, especially in the afternoon. It’s tough to see where each engine manufacturer ended up and who had what in the chamber. We’re obviously going to work with our Chevrolet guys and give it the best shot we can. Hopefully, we can all put our heads together and come up with something great for tomorrow. We want to give the U.S. Air Force car a good run!”

NO. 59 MAX CHILTON, GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET:
“It was another day of our speed not properly reflecting where we feel we are in terms of the time charts. The guys did a great job getting a new engine in the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet late in the day yesterday and because of that we had to spend most of the morning, which was when the track was at its quickest, shaking the car down and working through our setup. Once it got so much hotter later in the afternoon, we just couldn’t get the car where we wanted it no matter what changes we made. We found a little more speed again at the end of the day and were able to close out the session on a decently high note, but just with all of the variables going against us we weren’t able to show the true speed of the car.”

NO. 66 FERNANDO ALONSO, RUOFF ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:
“Today was a good day. I think after yesterday’s issue, the team did a very good job overnight and the car was ready in the morning. So, we maximized the number of laps we had available today and the number of sets. Because we saved some in the previous day so we had more today so it was a very good test day for us today and useful information. Let’s see tomorrow what the speed of the car is.”

NO. 67 JR HILDEBRAND, SALESFORCE DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET:
“Conditions deteriorated as the day went on. But it’s the same for everyone and Saturday looks to be similar weather. Looks like Honda rolled out a pretty good unit for qualifying. I still feel really good about our race pace right now. I know Chevy will do everything they can overnight, but it looks like the Honda cars might have a bit of an edge right now. From our perspective, I feel very good about how the team has worked together. Sage and I have been communicating well too. We haven’t found the ‘sweet’ spot for qualifying and we’ll try some things in the morning. It will be tough for everyone and I will try to stick the best number I can when it’s my turn.”

NO. 81 BEN HANLEY, DRAGON SPEED USA CHEVROLET