What They're Saying: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Day 1
May 18, 2019 | By INDYCAR
ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet): “Spencer Pigot and I have similar cars. The balance is similar. I was hoping that we were going to be a little quicker. The ECR team has done a great job. All of the cars are fast. Chevrolet has done a good job. We'll just have to sit and wait and see how this goes now. We've had a lot of continuity with our team."
FERNANDO ALONSO (No. 66 McLaren Racing Chevrolet): “Well, obviously, we have not been super-competitive at any point of the week. But here is a different issue (tire puncture), so this doesn't help. However, it has been a weak performance already, so let's try to do a couple of more laps later in the day and hopefully avoid the last six. It was not great. I had a rear right puncture. The run was compromised. We were not very competitive the whole week. It has been difficult for us, but small issues do not help. We did the maximum we could do. Unfortunately, it seems we were not super-perfect.” (About windy conditions): “The wind is challenging, but as I've said our performance has been weak all week. And all the small issues, it doesn't help. It is frustrating when you're not quick enough and you have too many issues. In some areas, we were not totally prepared. It is frustrating. Now it's all about getting in the top 30 and have all week to prepare for the race. If not, we'll have a chance tomorrow.” (After qualifying ended): “We didn’t have the speed, so we are where we deserve today. I hope for tomorrow we have another chance to be in the race, and if we can’t make it, we can’t make, and it’s because we don’t deserve it.” (What can you do overnight on the car to find speed?): “Not much, to be honest. I think it has been the whole week. Speed is not really there probably on the car, and we will not find it in one night. We will try to do a good, clean run, and hopefully that will put us in the top three positions.” (How does this rank among stressful moments in your career?): “Not much.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): “It’s funny: The car was a little bit loose in (Turns) 3 and 4 but in 1 and 2 was solid, so actually I was just preparing to dial a bit of understeer in for the north end of the track. I don’t know if we caught a gust or the wind changed or what. When it’s windy and it’s gusty and you’re in low downforce for qualifying, unfortunately that’s the risk you run. It’s pretty much worst-case scenario. It’s pretty much our nightmare. But I have a lot of faith in the Arrow guys. We’ll get one back together, and we’ll get back out there tomorrow.” (More about crash): “I got to (Turn) 2, and it just sort of suddenly snapped on me. I don’t know if it was a gust of wind or what. Worst-case scenario is doing it again tomorrow.” (About backup car): “We’re prepared. Obviously this team is … they’re professionals. They know these things can happen. I’m not worried about getting back out. We just don’t know what kind of pace we’re going to have until we get there.” (Will you run again today?): “I doubt it.” (Are you OK?): “I feel fine. I whacked my knee a little bit. That’s what happens when you hit a wall at 230 mph.” (How do you reset your mind after this?): “Honestly, it’s part of our job. It’s what we do. It’s not the first time we’ve crashed. Probably won’t be the last. So you just have to be able to put these things behind you and close the visor tomorrow and do it again.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet): “It was pretty good. The car wasn’t that bad. There wasn’t enough speed for what we were looking for. The track is going to get warmer and warmer and it’s not going to be easy, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to keep trying.” (About conditions): “Interesting qualifying. From the morning to the afternoon, the temperature is getting warmer. I wasn’t sure why it wasn’t pulling very fast, but the good news is we can go back out there and try again. We’ve got to cool down everything, make some tweaks and try again. That’s the beauty of this format. You’ve got to go back again. You don’t need to take your time off the board, which is good. We’ve got to take another shot, because it doesn’t make sense sitting in the garage. We’ve got to prep the car again.” (About being back at Indy): “It’s awesome. The fans are incredible. Just to be back here and see everybody, it’s incredible. It’s the best time of my life.” (After second run, on being close to the Fast Nine): "The team did an amazing job, everyone to put all this package together. The Pennzoil No. 3 machine, it's strong, obviously. But sometimes it’s one of those things where the gods of Indianapolis, they're like, 'Hey, you just don't have enough speed.' We did everything we could. We trimmed everything out we could. We copied our teammates. But it just wasn't there. But I'll tell you what: It's not where you start, it’s where you finish. I've won a race from that row.”
MARCUS ERICSSON (No. 7 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): “There’s so much preparation going into this day. There’s so much buildup to it. You practice all week to prepare for it. Then when you’re finally here, sitting in line, waiting, you’re out on your own on the track. For sure, the pressure builds, but I like that. With the high temperatures today, it’s not making it easier for us. The team has done a really good job all week. The Arrow SPM crew has been amazing and has helped me so much to get comfortable. Again today, we had a very good car, a very solid car that I could place where I wanted on the racetrack. We tried to take it step by step and not skip any steps. It’s such a difficult track and my first oval experience ever. It’s been a tough learning curve, but I think the team has helped me so much to take it step by step. I think we showed that today. I’m really proud of everyone and happy.”
TONY KANAAN (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): “It was OK. I thought we were going to have a little more speed, but it is what it is. We were going to use this first run to put it in the show, and it looks like the conditions are going to be a little worse. So hopefully we will have enough, but I was disappointed, I thought we had more. Thanks to the fans. You guys make me feel wonderful, so hopefully we will put on a good race next week. I don't know what we missed. The car felt good but didn't have any speed. We're in the show thus far. I think the conditions are getting worse. This is a very different day than we had all week, so that is what is catching people out.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 18 SealMaster Honda): “The SealMaster No. 18 crew just gave me a fantastic car. Honda was spot on. It was more speed than I could have hoped for, and I threw it away. The car was brilliant. The engine was great. We had a ton of speed, and I just blew it. I made one procedural mistake and almost washed into the wall in Turn 1 and 2 on Lap 3, and that's all on me. I didn't hit the right button, so I'm very sorry for them. I just had a bad feeling that I probably threw away a chance at the Fast Nine. It really hurts. I feel very sorry for the boys." (On whether they will go back out later): "But it keeps getting windier and the track keeps getting hotter, so no way it will get any faster. We had everything going our way. We had the best draw we could hope for, perfect conditions. The car was great, and I blew it.”
SPENCER PIGOT (No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “The car’s fast. I’m feeling pretty confident with the speed we were able to put up. Hopefully, it at least hangs into the top nine. It’s kind of what we were expecting, at least for the outright speed. I was happy with the way we didn’t seem to slow down too much. It was a pretty consistent run. Full credit to everyone at Ed Carpenter Racing and Chevy for a great car.” (About early spot in qualifying draw): “You never know what the weather’s going to do, but it’s looking like an early draw would be the way to go.”
CONOR DALY (No. 25 United States Air Force Honda): (Going back out?) “I think we have to. That was not where we wanted to be and not where we thought we would be. These things happen. You have to take out some downforce out to really nail out, but if you are off by just a little bit, it counts so much. Hopefully we can look at it and watch our teammates go. It is a long day.” (Was there pressure going out first?): “I don’t really think so. Everyone told me it would be great, and it sucked. So, we will see. We just missed it a little bit. Honestly it was just more scrubby than I thought. I really never lifted, and it was just slow. I'm not really sure why. We made an adjustment before qualifying to trim it out, but it didn't work. We had always planned on going back out. We decided to test something.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda): “Well, with the gusty wind, I went into Turn 2 and I had to lift a little, and that cost us a lot, which was unfortunate. That really wasn't a masterpiece of a lap, but the team gave me a great car, and it had a decent pace.” (Trying again?): “I don't know. I will have to speak to the team and see where we are, but nothing is impossible. “So, if the conditions improve, yes, I would like to go back out.”
JAMES DAVISON (No. 33 Dale Coyne with Byrd and Belardi Honda): “It was about getting comfortably in the field. This group has had a phenomenal two or three days. I didn't expect for us as a group to be that good. I just love having a good time with my crew and working as a team. There is nothing that replaces it. I had to work for it out there. I was loose. Everyone was talking about push - I was loose. I was not relaxing until I came through Turn 4 on the last lap. I was having little wiggles out there every lap. I'm super pumped. I don't think I have ever been this pumped at Indy. We're a one-off entry, and we've done a really good job the last two days. We're comfortably in. (I'll) pull the popcorn out and the lounge chair back and watch the drama play out that I was totally in the middle of last year. Screw that. I don't want to be a part of that again - being 33rd on Bump Day.”
PIPPA MANN (No. 39 Driven2SaveLives Chevrolet): ““We had hoped for a little more speed than that in our qualifying run. Hopefully, we won’t have to run again to stay in the Top 30, but with the track conditions the way they’re trending, hopefully, that will be enough to stay in the Top 30. We’re a one-off team running our first Indy 500, with a one-off driver. After everything last year, that’s what we’re interested in right now.” (About conditions): “It’s definitely making it tough out there. You’ve got changing handling conditions all around the race track. Lap to lap, the car changes pretty significantly. The wind is fairly strong and fairly gusty. It’s kept us on our toes.” (At end of qualifying): “For a moment there, when we were sitting in line and the weather conditions changed and the track was getting faster, I thought we’d made the wrong decision. I thought I was staring down last year again. I am so proud of this Clauson Marshall Racing Driven2SaveLives team. We made it! We’re locked in! We made it! Thank you.”
MAX CHILTON (No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet): “It was a bit of a handful. The wind is definitely getting stronger run by run. I'm pretty happy with the job I did. We did a great job of getting the balance good. It was the most trimmed we've been. We were committed. I felt like I got the most out of what we got. I was flat every corner apart from one corner on Lap 3 where the wind just took out the front end. Apart from that, I'm happy with my run. It's not easy conditions so fingers crossed it's enough to get us through, because if this wind carries on, I don't think it will be possible to go quicker later on." (On his comfort with the track versus his rookie year.): "It's never comfortable, this place. You've got to treat it with respect because it bites if you don't respect it. I felt like I was taking a little bit of a risk in that run, but you have to in qualifying. If you're not taking risks, you're not going to get through. I'm just hopeful that's going to be enough to get through.” (After second run): “Not where we want it to be at the moment. I think I drove it well, I was flat. We were more trimmed in the morning, and we were flat. Sometimes you have cars that just don't have the speed, and at the moment, it doesn't. We will probably have another crack at it, and if not, we will be back at it tomorrow morning.”
JACK HARVEY (No. 60 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda): (It looked like you had a moment from here. How was it in the car?): “It was the same in the car. I thought the first lap we had some pace, I don't know if it got gusty out there or it just shifted. We anticipated some understeer, but we it ended up that we had quite a bit of oversteer. Not a nice balance to have. We will talk with the engineers. It is not a nice feeling going that fast with the wind gusting. We had big oversteer on the exits, and it is not a nice feeling. I anticipate having to go out again, but we hope people are slower than we are so we don't have to go out again.”
BEN HANLEY (No. 81 10 Star DragonSpeed Chevrolet): “It’s been an amazing experience. We’ve been pretty quiet, keeping to ourselves, just trying to work through this place. Some days, it’s nice when it’s calm and still, and the balance stays equal. Even the first half-hour, it was pretty still. Now, it’s getting a bit more blustery. It was altering the balance a little bit. We did a good first two laps. Then unfortunately I got stuck in sixth gear, and I wasn’t able to downshift. We lost some momentum there. As the grip from the new tire dropped a little bit, we weren’t able to keep it in the right range for all the power. We’ll probably run again. We’ll figure out what the issue was with the downshifting. Conditions are going to get worse. They already changed from the start to when we ran, in 40 minutes. It’s a lot more blustery. The wind’s picking up. That’s going to make it a lot trickier. Hopefully it won’t hurt us too much.” (After second attempt): “Everyone has been pretty calm. Like I have said, we know we are new, and we know we don't have the experience as probably any other team out there, but we are a tight group. We work hard and really trust each other.” (Looking at all the adversity over the season): “Yeah, it has been difficult, but we have a great group of people. And one of the reasons we have made it is because of guys who aren't here. It is a massive team involvement, and we all understand it, and we want the same result, which is to perform the best we can. That was a pretty good run, the car felt the best it has been all week. Maybe I took a little risk on the last lap. I saw the run was pretty consistent, and I really needed to nail that last lap to pull it together.”
PATRICIO O’WARD (No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet): “I think it's just important for us right now to just keep in on the track. We're just slow. We're just plain out slow. Obviously, it's not good to be slow at a place like this. This is a new car. Not every car is going to be the same. We're just not that fast with this one. We're struggling. We will see what we have. We have to be progressive and keep getting better. A good day for us it to just make it into the show.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 98 U.S. Concrete/Curb Honda): “The car wasn’t bad. The balance was good, but the opposition seems pretty fast right now.” (About hot conditions): “That’s what’s been forecasted. We’ve been ready for it. That’s the beauty of this place. It seems to change by the hour, not the day.” (About run): “We kind of wrung it out what we had. We didn’t leave much on the table. Having said that, we’re only .1 behind a few guys. If the pace slows down, I doubt we’ll run again. But if we think we can improve, maybe we can jump up a row or two. It’s 500 miles. If we don’t have enough for the top nine, I don’t care where we start.”
ED JONES (No. 63 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet): “Obviously, it was a good first lap, We didn't quite hold on to the car at the end. We lost speed each lap. I'm a bit bummed that we didn't get to run earlier on. The first five cars had a massive advantage with the conditions. If we were running then, I think we would be on top. I should be happy with where we're at at the moment, but I think the most frustrating thing is that it's going to rain tomorrow. If it does, then we don't get another opportunity. Still a good effort by the team, Scuderia Corsa Ed Carpenter Racing, but you always want more. I had an idea it might rain today, so we wanted to optimize as much today as we could. After I saw my draw and where Spencer (Pigot) and Ed (Carpenter) were early on, I was pretty frustrated. There's only so much you can control yourself in racing, and that's not one of them. Hopefully, we'll get another chance tomorrow in the Fast Nine.”
SAGE KARAM (No. 24 DRR WIX Filters Chevrolet): “I've been struggling all month, but then I got in my comfort level yesterday afternoon, feeling good. We thought we had a pretty good package coming into today, but I guess we just underestimated the wind. It really threw a curveball at everything. I'm not worried. I skimmed the wall, and I knew at that point the run wasn't going to be good enough. At that point, let's just bank four laps in case something else happens and we somehow do get in with just those four, but I doubt we will. Get it back to the garage, make the necessary downforce adjustments and setup changes we need to make, get back out here, and we'll be good. The car's good. The car's plenty fast. I did 226-eight, I think, it was the lap I brushed the wall. The car's good; the car's fast. We just need to make the necessary adjustments, and we'll be good. I'm not worried at all. The car's in one piece. We'll get it back out and all good.” (At end of day): “No idea; I don't know what's wrong. I was flat for four laps. It just won't go quicker. It's just slow; we don't really know. It's not that much different from our teammate (JR Hildebrand), who just got it in the show. I don't know. It's not looking good for us right now.”
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet): “It was a good run. I could have used a little more, obviously. I'm happy to be in the game. I just didn't get that first lap big number. We'll get back in line if we feel good about it. If people start to go slower, maybe we won't. I was very happy with that run. It sounds like it is going to get more windy. There's a chance that today is it, depending on how wet it is tomorrow. We'll look at the weather for tomorrow with the conditions tomorrow and make that decision. It feels better being here all together (as the defending champion.) Once you experience winning in Indianapolis, you want more. You want another one. We're working hard at it.”
ORIOL SERVIA (No. 77 MotoGator Team Stange w/ Arrow SPM Honda): “The conditions are super hard. It's hot and windy. I was impressed with my engineers. I didn't have to make one adjustment to the car during four laps. Honestly, that is how good the car was. The car stayed very consistent. Just from the wind, the car changes so much every lap. But overall, I'm very happy. The whole effort the whole month has been very good. I'm really looking forward to the race."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 2 Shell V-Power Nitro Plus Team Penske Chevrolet): “It was OK. I think you want to be a little bit quicker. Where we are in the heat, though, I think it was a decent run. It was a good day. Our car was fast for the time we ran. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully we can maintain with what we did there. It's just hard. We want to go early in a day like this, but you have to take what you can. It was a good run. I was really happy with the Shell V-Power car. Chevrolet's done a nice job, so we'll see how it holds up. I wish we could've gone earlier, but it's the luck of the draw. If we can just maintain, we can go for the pole tomorrow. I feel so lucky. We've got great teammates, great drivers that they put in the seats. I feel so lucky to get to learn from them, and hopefully they learn from me. We're all together right now, which is a good sign.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 United Rentals Honda): “Unfortunately, yesterday in the heat we really struggled, too. So we actually added a lot of downforce, so it should have been pretty stuck, but that is one of the reasons we were slow. But my God, man, coming to the green and you have to be flat, and I almost lost it in (Turn) 4 and had a big lift, and I was pretty sideways. So that was pretty much it. That ruined the first lap, and from there, you are just trying to recover. So, I think the second lap was a little better than the first. But the car and balance between (Turns) 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 was massive, the difference between the two. We will be OK, but we will have to wait. The conditions are awful, just god-awful. So we will just wait a bit.” (So will you go out later?): “Yes, but everyone is going to wait for that. I mean Dixie (Scott Dixon) was a little quicker than us yesterday, and I see he is not a lot quicker than us right now. So, I can see him going out, (Takuma) Sato and other guys. I feel like we could crack into the top nine, or maybe it just isn't our day. But we aren’t 23rd, either.” (After second run, last run of day): “It was a gutsy call. You could go out and something happen, and you're trying to do this Sunday. We should have been higher than we were (earlier). I knew we could be a lot better than we were. I was glad that it finally all came together, and we were able to put a good solid one in there.” (About adjustments): “There was a lot of stuff going on in there (cockpit) that you have to remember nowadays. Honest, I had a moment; a brain lapse, I guess (on last lap). I need to go back and review the tape.” (About new qualifying format): “I don't know what the fans thought, but there was plenty of intensity down here, plenty of intensity. Guys running who didn't need to run just to improve a little bit … it was intense.”
BOBBY RAHAL (Team co-owner, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing): “Oh, man. I'll tell you that I would like to take credit for it, but that wasn't me. That was our guys. I think a lot of it was based on the confidence in the car, and obviously the confidence in Graham. We were very disappointed in the first run today. Yesterday we ran 229. I'm sure that everyone was a little shell-shocked that we went back out in really tough conditions and went quicker. It's amazing. We're talking between 2 and 3 miles per hour between fastest and slowest (in qualifying.) It's never been that close here. It’s a shame that we had the little hiccup on the last lap, but hey, we're 17th now, and we were 30th. It was a good pickup.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “Yeah, it was a pretty good run. I was hoping for a little more ultimate speed on that first lap, but we have been struggling on that a bit, getting speed out of this car. What we can focus on is minimizing that fall-off. I think that will be a strong suit.” (Will you go back out?): “Yes, sir.”
COLTON HERTA (No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda): “Now I wish I had those clouds some guys had in the morning. The car was really good. The guys have been working so damn hard this whole month. It all paid off. That is a really good time and to have the fastest Honda; I'm really happy. I don't want to say it was easy because it wasn't, but there is definitely a little bit more in it. Maybe we could trim a little more and do something more with it.. I heard Dave (Calabro) up there say he didn't think anyone could crack the top nine now, so that gave me a little extra motivation. I had to try it.” (After second attempt): “I don't know if we can go any faster than that. We were pretty on edge. I don't think we need to go any faster.” (Will you sleep well tonight or be nervous?): “No. I think we know what we have, I'm pretty confident we will stay in the top five.”
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda): “We need to understand why there is a performance deficit from Friday. It’s very disappointing (because) we didn’t change anything. We’ll go do our homework and figure it out. We know there is more in the car. I was out there in really good conditions; the speed wasn’t there. The one good thing about qualifying for the ‘500’ is that we can qualify as many times as we want. It wasn’t uncomfortable; it was just slow. I guess that’s better than being scary and slow.” (About experience here): “You learn something every time you’re in a race car here. I have more knowledge about this place than I’ve ever had before. We had the car to beat Friday. The car has been good all month. It won’t take a couple of hours to diagnose it. You have to attack it (track) and go for it today (Saturday). It was a situation that wasn’t in our favor.” (More about qualifying run): “Turn 2, ever since I have come here, has been the demon corner. We have seen that this weekend, just how the wind affects that corner, how it is exposed. We were close a couple of times coming out of 2, but we made a step forward from this morning, which I think given these conditions is pretty big. Decently happy with that, but I still don't think we quite have the pace from yesterday, but we are still trying to diagnose why that is.”
SANTINO FERRUCCI (No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda): “The car was pretty on edge; I’m still shaking a little bit. I was focused on what was right in front of me and be as smooth as I can be. The car was a little loose; unfortunately, we couldn’t go any faster. We have a solid race car. My engineer wants to call it a day. There’s no chance risking the car. You don’t want to wreck your race car when you qualify. We’ll have to suck it up; we’re stuck in back. It looks like we’ll have to pass a lot of cars on Race Day. I feel more confident about the race. I’m just glad qualifying is over.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “We were very loose. You could stay flat, but every time I turned in, you could just feel the rear sliding and just scrubbing speed off. Conditions and the draw made a lot of difference. If you went out early, the conditions weren’t as bad. It was 30 degrees cooler, and the wind wasn’t as bad. We had gusty winds, and the track temperature went up. We needed cloud cover. We’re sitting in the top 20. We’re in the show. We are safely in, but that’s not why we turn up here. We’ve had good speed in race trim, but qualifying speed we didn’t have. Going out later was not good. We found some changes Friday, but a lot of the guys have struggled except for Josef (Newgarden). It was a good effort. There were a few things we could have done better. This field is really compact. Had we run earlier in the day, we would have been a lot better off.”
JORDAN KING (No. 42 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): “It was mostly the car; you set the car up to just do one run. I’m not really happy that we get sent out and then it goes yellow flag. If you think it needs to be yellow, then don’t sent the car. That put us on the back foot. We should be a lot quicker than that, really.” (About wind): “When it was gusting, it changes the car balance, but there wasn’t one particular moment.”
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet): ““The wind picked up, so I didn’t have a push down the back straightaway. The balance of the car was phenomenal. I think this will be enough for the Fast Nine. If we get to do the Fast Nine, due to the weather, Sunday, we’ll have a shot (pole). It’s amazing, such an adrenaline rush, to be in that position. Qualifying is never easy, but we have had an amazing hot rod all month. The car has been phenomenal all week. We are on the limits all the time with these cars.” (About qualifying conditions): “That made it even trickier. It raises your heartbeat and keeps you focused on the job.”
JR HILDEBRAND (No. 48 DRR Salesforce Chevrolet): “We're a little disappointed with that run, for sure. We didn't have the pop on that first lap that we should have. We need to look at that. I'm happy that we're in the race, but I don't want to start 23rd. I'm happy that I'm in the race, but we're here to be near that Fast Nine. We have the car that is capable of doing it.” (About conditions): “It's just the sun; the track temp is up to 125 degrees. And that's such a pain. You have guys going out at 11 o'clock when the track temp was 90 degrees. Us, in the back, we went out, and it was 125. You lose all sense of grip. We have a pretty good car. We just need to make it work.” (After qualifying ended): “We knew we had the speed in the car from the first run. It was just a matter of getting the conditions right. My engineer was adamant that we were going to stay at the same downforce level and just kind of tweak on it, and I was starting to be like, ‘Ah, come on, man: Let’s throw a little more at it and go stick a run.” Sometimes you need a little of that in your ear when the situation starts to get stressful. Happy for the boys and happy for the Salesforce crew to get that stuck in. Now we’ll go back and do whatever we can do to get the 24 (teammate Sage Karam) dialed in tomorrow.”
ZACH VEACH (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda): “I think we are in the show. We have a reasonable time, but we want to be closer to that fast time. I think the car definitely is capable. It is just one little tweak away and a better job from me on that opening lap that I kind of messed up. There's a little more speed just waiting for us to grab. I think everything we need to know, we already do. Andretti gave us great cars; it just comes down to execution.”
FELIX ROSENQVIST (No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “The laps went OK. I picked up a little understeer on the car. There wasn't anything I could do at the end. I didn't want to crash. I just wanted to bring it home. I'm very disappointed.”
MATHEUS LEIST (No. 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): “We did what we needed to do. You just have to take it step by step. It was a solid run. I didn't have any big moments. We need to keep working on it.”