The team turned their first laps of the weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca today as Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson make their push for a third consecutive championship for the team.

Practice 1 Results
P1 – Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevy (1:11.4103)
P10 – Marcus Ericsson, No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda (1:12.0803)
P14 – Alex Palou, No. 10 NTT DATA Honda (1:12.3102)
P17 – Scott Dixon, No. 9 PNC Bank Honda (1:12.3911)
P25 – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Carvana Honda (1:13.9251)

The Astor Challenge Cup at Pebble Beach Golf Course

Marcus Ericsson – No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda “I’m hoping it’s going to be a high degradation race. Usually, our team and myself are pretty good at that type of race. The tires seem to degrade quite quickly here. It was the same at the test and here during practice. I think in the race, as a driver, you have to think about how you’re going to get the stint length you want. If you have a car, and a driver that can take care of the tires, I think you can move up through the field. We’ll see how it is on race day when there will be more rubber on the track and a change in the temperature.”

Alex Palou – No. 10 NTT Data Honda “Practice done here at Laguna. Always nice to be back. A bit sad that it’s the last practice 1 that we do this year. We started really good this session. Didn’t really get the lap we wanted on reds but performance on the car is good. Back to how we felt at the test. We’re going to try some stuff for practice 2 tomorrow and get ready for qualifying.”

Scott Dixon – No. 9 PNC Bank Honda “We came with a pretty different setup than what we did at the test. We just wanted to try a few different things. We could see that the 8 car already backed up on some of those, so it looked like he moved in a positive direction. Still, all of us outside the top 10 is not ideal. We’ll work out of here and see make what we can make out of it. It’s going to be a pretty high degradation race.”

Jimmie Johnson – No. 48 Carvana Honda “Certainly not the way I wanted to start the weekend. You’re moving so fast around this racetrack, especially into turn 6, I had a little bobble and I had to catch the car. By the time I caught it the turn was by me and off into the gravel trap I went. Some light contact into the outside wall and barriers. Nothing that’s really going to affect us too much, just lost a bit of practice time. I feel like we made some good changes leading into that outing through the course of the session and look forward to being on track again tomorrow.”

Up next for Chip Ganassi Racing is the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday, September 11 at 2:40 PM ET on NBC and Peacock. You can also follow the action all weekend with the INDYCAR App powered by NTT Data. 
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Monterey  I  California

95 LAPS | 212.61 MILES
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is a paved road racing track used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, originally constructed in 1957 near both Salinas and Monterey, California, USA. The current racetrack is 2.238 miles (3.602 km) in length with a 300 foot (91 m) elevation change. It has eleven turns, including the famous “Corkscrew” at Turns 8 and 8A. The name Laguna Seca is Spanish for “dry lake”. The area where the track is was originally a lake. The course was originally built around the lake, which has since dried up entirely. An artificial pond has since been added.