Live from Trackside – Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Saturday, May 9
6:35 p.m.
Phew! So glad to finally get that top-five finish this season! The No. 83 NovoLog Flex Pen Chevrolet was just really fast today and I was consistently hitting the fuel numbers they were giving me. I have to give a lot of credit to the guys on pit lane – they’re just so consistently fast. They’ve been so good all season and we just ran into bad luck in those first four races. Today we took advantage of the fact that we had a clear pit-in, and we had some really fast in and out laps. Considering the car was so quick, all I really had to do was hit the number they were giving me.

We’ll definitely take the momentum from this solid finish into the rest of the month of May.

No. 83 ready to race!

Photo via INDYCAR

Post-race interviews.

Post-race debrief.

9:40 a.m.
Good morning… it’s race day!! It looks like the weather will play a part in today’s race. It’s just overcast now, but there could be rain this afternoon. It could switch up the strategy–which is always fun!

I’m headed out to the drivers meeting now before our last practice session at 11:30. Tune in to ABC for the second annual Grand Prix of Indianapolis at 3:30 p.m., and follow @racewithinsulin for on-track updates from my Pit Lane Reporter!

Kimball_TwitterTunein

Friday, May 8
4:55 p.m.
I’m obviously disappointed that the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet didn’t transfer into the second round and make it into the top 12 for tomorrow’s Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Despite that, I think we’re in good shape for tomorrow. We missed out a little bit today, but we just need to go back tonight and see where we missed those few tenths and figure out how to get them back.

I have a lot of confidence in the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys and the Chevy aero kits, and if we just keep continuing doing what we’re doing and being consistent we’ll make our move to the front!

Focused for qualifying.

Thursday, May 7
5:45 p.m.
It was a good first day of practice on the road course at IMS for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing and the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet. I didn’t have a great connection with the car in the first practice, or even the beginning of the second practice, but we were able to work with the car to make it better and end up in the top 10 at the end of the day. We were pretty happy with the way the day ended, but we have a little ways to go to make the car better before qualifying tomorrow. It’s nice having teammates like Dixon at the top of the charts, so we can debrief and really see what we can learn from them.

I’m heading into engineering now, then I’m hoping to have a relaxing evening before getting back at it tomorrow for qualifying. Thanks for tuning in today!

Ready for practice 2.

Photo via INDYCAR

2:10 p.m.
We were pretty happy with how we finished the first session today. We didn’t run a lot of laps due to the tire allotment and the long session, and we didn’t put on new tires like many teams did at the end. There were some things we tried toward the end of practice that didn’t work, but we were much more pleased once we went another direction. I think we have a bit more work to do to to get the car better, but we’re definitely headed in the right direction!

We’re back on track at 3 p.m. for the second practice, a one hour and 45 minute session.

Start of practice 1

A couple of changes for the No. 83.

8:40 a.m.
Good morning! It’s a beautiful day at the Speedway. The sun is shining and it looks like we’ll have a warm day for practice. The forecast is a bit more wet for the rest of the weekend. We’ll see if that sticks.

I’m off to the drivers meeting. We’re on track for our first session at 11 a.m. Eastern. Tune in via Race Control! Admission is free today so while I’m not exactly encouraging anyone to skip work, I do hear there’s some sort of bug going around… and racing is good medicine, right?

Morning sunshine on the No. 83!

Wednesday, May 6
1:45 p.m.
Hello from IMS! It feels like we were just here… oh right, we were! No complaints, though. After the oval test on Sunday, I had dinner with the No. 83 crew. It was great to spend some time with them away from the track, not worried about lap times or fuel numbers.

I’ve had the chance in the past couple of days to talk Indy with media (yesterday on various radio stations and today with ESPN/ABC). Obviously any race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is exciting, and the second annual Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis is definitely one I’m looking forward to. We had a good race here last year, ending up in the top five. We’ll be able to apply some of things we’ve learned at both Barber and New Orleans this year to the Indy road course. The NovoLog FlexPen car has been quick; we could do with a little bit of luck! But I know the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys–all of Chip Ganassi Racing, really–have been working really hard so I feel like we’ll be in good shape when we get on track tomorrow for practice.

I’m headed into engineering before our track walk this evening. Click here for race weekend tune-in information, and be sure to follow @RaceWithInsulin on Twitter for on-track updates!