Live from Trackside – Grand Prix of Sonoma

Sunday, August 24
4:45 p.m.
It’s frustrating the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet finished the race this way here in Sonoma. We’ll look at the fuel system and figure it out. Overall, the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team did a great job. Big congratulations to Scott Dixon and the No. 9 Target team for getting the win here at Sonoma Raceway!

We have the opportunity with a 500-mile race at Auto Club Speedway next week to finish out the year with a win. It’s double the points, double the importance. We ran really well there last year, and I can’t wait to take the Team Chevy power around that 2-mile oval this year.

On the grid.

“Drivers, to your cars!”

Second pit stop of the day.

12:10 p.m.
As a whole,we were pleased with our warm-up session earlier today. We made a couple of adjustments late in the session that put us a bit higher on the lap chart, and were able to gauge how the track could feel for the race. We’ll start on primary tires, see how the strategies are playing out, and go from there!

And the best news of the day? My friends from Novo Nordisk made it to the track safely… after quite an interesting morning in Napa. Glad they are OK and were able to come out to the race.

Brad is a bit giddy about race day…

Awesome views!

9:10 a.m.
Good morning… it’s race day! We had quite a night in Sonoma. We were woken up in the middle of the night with the hotel walls swaying and shaking a bit. Turns out, there was an 6.0-magnitude earthquake here in Northern California. It sounds like the worst hit area was Napa, but thankfully there aren’t any major injuries reported.

There wasn’t any damage to Sonoma Raceway and roads were clear, so the race is on as planned! I’m headed out to warm-up at 10, then it’s a pre-race engineering and strategy session, lunch and driver intros before the green flag. Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 4 p.m. Eastern for the live broadcast! Thanks for the support.

Saturday, August 23
7:20 p.m.
Overall, it was a pretty good qualifying run for the No. 83 NovoLogFlexPen Chevrolet and crew. It was nice to have all four Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top-12 for the first time this year on a road/street circuit. We’re pretty happy with the car heading into tomorrow’s race. The race car’s pretty solid; we’ll make it even better overnight. Eleventh isn’t exactly where we wanted to start, having made it into the top-12. Unfortunately I made a small mistake on my lap and that tenth would have transferred us. But, we made some progress and we’re looking strong for tomorrow’s race.

Ready for qualifying.

Change of tires during round 1.

Focused and ready to go for round 2.

3:45 p.m.
We had two pretty good sessions today. The track conditions definitely changed in the time between the first and the second practice–the air temperature, the amount of rubber on the track, the wind speed. But we were able to make a lot of improvements throughout and I think we’re in really good shape for qualifying at 4:30.

Tune in at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports Network for live coverage!

Pre-practice 1

Changes during practice 1.

Practice 2.

Changes during practice 2.

8:15 a.m.
Good morning! It’s a beautiful (if not a bit foggy) morning here at Sonoma Raceway. I’m about to head to the drivers’ meeting before we get on track at 10.

Yesterday’s visit to Facebook was really cool. We learned a lot about their new app for Fan Pages and got to give them some feedback too. More on that soon! The day was capped off by a nice dinner with friends and family who are coming out to the track for the weekend.

Also, a quick congrats to my friend (and fellow type 1!) Gage, who just won his football game 44-0 with his team, during the opening night of the Sollenberger Classic last night in Las Vegas! Awesome work, Gage! Keep it up–we’ll be rooting for you!

Friday, August 22
9:30 a.m.
It’s hard to believe we only have two more races this season, but it’s two more opportunities to score a win this year and I think the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team is ready for it. Heading into Sonoma, we have recent testing data to use to prep for another good qualifying stint and 85 laps on Sunday. It’s a challenging track–one where you don’t always know what to expect with the elevation changes and turns–but a ton of fun. The No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet will be strong as soon as we unload at Sonoma Raceway, and the crew is always quick in pit lane. I’m looking forward to being back here on the West Coast this weekend and next!

This afternoon I’m headed to Facebook headquarters for a tour with IndyCar. They’re doing some cool things for our driver fan pages… stay tuned! Until then, it’s time to get to work with my engineers at the track.

Here’s a race weekend schedule for you (all times Pacific):
Saturday
10-10:45 a.m. Practice
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Autograph session (in the INDYCAR Fan Village)
1:15-2 p.m. Practice
4:35-5:45 p.m. Qualifying (live on NBC Sports Network at 4:30 p.m.)
Sunday
10-10:30 a.m. Warm-up
1 p.m. GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma race (live on NBC Sports Network)

As always, you can find live timing and scoring for all sessions (as well as live video during practices) via INDYCAR Race Control. Follow my Pit Lane Reporter (PLR) on Twitter @racewithinsulin for updates while I’m on track!