Live from Trackside – Mid-Ohio

Sunday, August 3
6:45 p.m.
Today was a great day for Chip Ganassi Racing, and a huge congratulations goes to Dixon and the No. 9 Team Target crew for getting the first win of the season for the team. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys fought hard all day and came through to get a solid top-10 finish from starting 20th. So much credit for this seventh place finish has to go to the crew of the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet in pit lane. They got me spots on every stop and I just had to go out and go fast. I’m looking forward to our test in Sonoma next week and then the race in a few weekends in Milwaukee.

Ready to go…

“Drivers, to your cars!”

Rolling out!

12:45 p.m.
It’s race day! Last night I spent a little bit of time relaxing with friends at the campground before going to bed early. We didn’t have the best start to warm-up, but after some changes I felt much more comfortable. I am definitely more confident the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet will be fast during the race today, when it counts.

After warm-up, I had the chance to meet two awesome fellow Type 1s, Autumn and Caleb, and give them a quick tour of the transporter and garage area. They’re both active in the Mid-Ohio chapter of JDRF which is really cool.

Tune in to the race on NBC Sports Network at 3 p.m. Eastern!

Pit stop practice during morning warm-up.

Chatting with guests from JDRF!

Saturday, August 2
4:02 p.m.
Obviously our qualifying efforts were really disappointing. The rain threw a wrench into everyone’s day. It’s disheartening especially because practice three was good and we came out with a really good car. I just wasn’t able to get the lap time that we needed. I know some of my teammates struggled as well, so hopefully we can all regroup tonight and see what we need to do to make things right for tomorrow. We’ll do everything we can to get the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet back up to the front where it needs to be.

Green for qualifying.

12:25 p.m.
Hello from a rainy (as in… pouring!) Mid-Ohio! Practice this morning went much better than yesterday. I feel like we made a lot of improvements overnight, and the direction we went was good. We hit some traffic near the end so didn’t quite get our fast lap to finish off the session. But, I think the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet will be competitive both during qualifying later today and during the race tomorrow.

Check INDYCAR Race Control for live timing and scoring during qualifying at 2 p.m. Eastern, and catch the delayed broadcast on NBC Sports Network at 5:30 p.m. Be sure to follow my Pit Lane Reporter (PLR) on Twitter @racewithinsulin for more updates from the track!

Start of practice 3.

Making changes on Saturday morning.

Friday, August 1
3:30 p.m.
It was a good solid day of practice as far as changes went. We tried a lot of different things on the car going from the first to the second practice. With the track heating up and the support series’ rubber going down, the conditions and the driveability of the car changed quite a bit this afternoon. We made a few changes that really didn’t work, but now we know which way we need to go to fix those for tomorrow morning’s practice and qualifying. I have a lot of confidence that the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet will be in better shape for the first practice and ready to go for qualifying.

After a couple of media interviews and a bit more time with my engineers, I’ll have dinner with my sister then hit the sack early tonight!

Practice pit stop during session 2.

11:55 a.m.
Whoa, I can’t believe it’s already August! Time flies when you’re having fun. We’re working hard to make the most of the rest of the IndyCar season… starting with practice today. It was good to pick up from where we left off at the test last week. We made some changes and recorded our fastest time on our last lap. I’m looking forward to the second practice session this afternoon at 2 p.m. (ET) to really find our lap time. We’ll keep learning from our teammates in the meantime. The lap times are tight here, from the top of the chart to the bottom.

Nice job No. 83 crew–winners of the Toronto race 1 Firestone pit stop challenge!

Making changes.

“Send him!”

Back to the orange and blue for Mid-Ohio!

Thursday, July 31
3 p.m.
I’m absolutely excited to be back at Mid-Ohio after scoring my first IndyCar win here last year. That race weekend and its result really embodies everything the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team works toward every day–overcoming challenges, strategic moves, consistency, and teamwork. We had a couple of good races in Toronto and a good test day in Mid-Ohio last week, so I know we’ll be ready for whatever the track brings us this weekend. We know where we need to improve, so we’ll be focusing a lot on qualifying and getting things right as soon as we unload. The No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet will be back in orange and blue this weekend… and hopefully back in winner’s circle!

I spent the morning in Columbus, doing a couple of interviews and media events. Now it’s time to buckle down… engineering meetings and a track walk later today! My sister is in town for the race, so it should be an extra special weekend. Thanks for the support, everyone.

Here’s the race weekend schedule (all times Eastern):
Friday, Aug. 1
10-10:45 a.m. Practice
2-2:45 p.m. Practice
Saturday, Aug. 2:
10-10:45 a.m. Practice
2-3:10 p.m. Qualifying (broadcast on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m.)
4:30-5:30 p.m. Autograph session (in the INDYCAR Fan Village)
Sunday, Aug. 3:
10-10:30 a.m. Warm-up
3 p.m. Race – 90 laps (live broadcast on NBCSN)

Check out live timing and scoring for all on-track sessions, as well as live streaming for practice sessions, via INDYCAR Race Control. My Pit Lane Reporter (PLR) will have more updates for you on Twitter @racewithinsulin!