Live from Trackside – Indianapolis 500

Sunday, May 24
7:15 p.m.
Wow! I’m so happy with today’s result – it means a lot to finish in the top three at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch Chevrolet was obviously fast and we made up a lot of spots throughout the race. Whenever I asked for something with the car, the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys just kept making the car better and better. We’ve had some bad luck this season, so it’s nice to see our hard work finally start to pay off. I’m looking forward to Detroit and I’m hoping we can keep the good results coming.

Thanks so much to everyone for the support… I am truly humbled and overwhelmed with all of the messages I’ve received this afternoon! I wish we could have gotten the win today for the boss’ birthday (yes, Chip Ganassi’s birthday fell on the Indy 500 this year!), but we definitely put everything out there on the track. We put on one heck of a motorsports race today! It just showcases what the Verizon IndyCar Series is all about.

It’s the Indianapolis 500; you do whatever you can to get to the front. Until next time…

Photo via INDYCAR

8:45 a.m.
It’s race day… for The Greatest Spectacle in Racing… the Indianapolis 500! It’s always a long day, but at the same time those 500 miles go by so quickly. Today is a day we work for all year so we’ll savor every minute! I have full confidence in the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team, and there’s no doubt we’ll be fast today.

All that’s left next is the green flag. Tune in to the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at 11 a.m. Eastern on ABC! Also follow my Pit Lane Reporter on Twitter @RaceWithInsulin for some behind-the-scenes photos and insight.

Photo via INDYCAR

Saturday, May 23
4:45 p.m.
Good afternoon… and happy Indy 500 eve! I had a relaxing evening with my parents, a few family members and some friends last night, and then slept really well after a long day. This morning we started out with the autograph session in the Pagoda Plaza, then headed to the Public Drivers Meeting for our “do this, not that” instructions. It was great to see so many fans out at the Speedway for Legends Day!

Right after the drivers meeting we were bused downtown for the 500 Festival Parade. Again, there were so many people out! And I don’t blame them… it’s a beautiful day to be outside! I just got back from the annual Chip Ganassi Racing pre-race event at the shop. It’s fun to showcase the work done there to all of our partners and sponsors.

After a bit of downtime, I’m headed back downtime for a dinner with my friends at Novo Nordisk. Then it’s an early bedtime for the big show tomorrow!

Friday, May 22
4:15 p.m.
I’m happy with our final practice session and I definitely think finishing in the top six is a positive way to head into the weekend. We worked on running in traffic and also allowing the team to make adjustments to the car on track. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys were also able to get in some hot stops in a race simulation.

Overall I’m happy with the No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch Chevrolet and I’m ready to get back out on track on Sunday. After practice, we had a bit of time for engineering before the pit stop competition. As if there’d ever be any doubt, the No. 83 team were quick! Really quick! We advanced from round to round and made it to the finals (even defeating the No. 9 team–the reigning champs). It was really close, but we lost by a hair to the No. 3 team. I’m so proud of the crew, but I think we’re saving the win for Sunday!

Tonight I’m headed to the annual Firestone party then off to a special dinner with family and friends. Thanks for all of the support this week!

Adjustments during Carb Day practice.

Nice job by the No. 83 crew! (Photo via INDYCAR)

Thursday, May 21
3:50 p.m.
Good afternoon… it’s been another busy day out of the race car for me and my Chip Ganassi Racing teammates. We started the morning at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, playing around at the Hot Wheels display. I know, sounds like tough work, right?

After (reluctantly) leaving the museum, I headed to the track for some time with my engineers and crew. They’ve been working hard to make sure we get the most out of our one hour practice session tomorrow for Carb Day. And I’m really confident in the car they’re giving me, so now it’s just up to us as a team to maximize all of that on track.

I also spent some time with my teammates at the Team Chevy display… it was great to see so many fans out despite the chilly weather! After the appearance, we headed to the Pavilion for media day interviews. It’s more or less the last chance for reporters to ask us about our upcoming race before we take the green flag on Sunday.

My parents arrive this evening for the race weekend so I’m going to take them out to dinner at one of my local favorites, Shoefly. Then it will be an early bedtime for tomorrow’s Carb Day session!

Thanks for coming out to the Team Chevy stage!

Wednesday, May 20
11:50 a.m.
Good morning! I’m back in Indy after our short day trip to Detroit yesterday. This morning I made a stop at WISH-TV for the Indy Style show, where I talked to Tracy about my month of May — everything from the Grand Prix top-five finish, to qualifying, to the new blue and green Levemir FlexTouch paint scheme. Check it out online here. Always a fun show to visit during the month!

Today is Community Day and this year IMS is trying something a bit different! We’re all headed out to the IPS Field Day to hang out with 9,000+ local students. I’m partnered up with Nine13Sports, a non-profit I’ve worked with in the past that promotes health and wellness to kids through the power of bicycles. I’m sure they’ll get me on their bikes today!

After the field day, I’m going to take some down time before an appearance with Novo Nordisk this evening. If you’re at the track tomorrow, come out to the Team Chevy display in the Fan Village for a Q&A with me and my Chip Ganassi Racing teammates at 1:15 p.m.!

Through all of the craziness the past few days, I’ve been keeping close tabs on James’ progress and it’s great to hear he’s being his usual jokester self! If you haven’t already, be sure to tweet him some support at @hinchtown and #GetWellSoonHinch–I know he’s reading your messages and really appreciates them.

Live on IndyStyle!

Tuesday, May 19
7:10 p.m.
Hello from the Motor City! I’m at the Detroit airport right now, hopefully headed home very soon. Our plane is a bit delayed but we’ve had a good dinner and should be on our way soon.

I spent the day in Detroit with Ed Carpenter and Will Power for #Indy500MediaDay, the annual outing for the field of 33 qualified drivers to different markets around the country. We hit up a radio and TV station this morning before heading to the Belle Isle track for hot laps with members of the media. Never a bad thing to get a preview of the race course!

Live on WJR Radio.

Showing Brad at WXYZ the proper way to celebrate on the podium!

Ed and I helped with the champagne celebration…

Hot laps at Belle Isle (where it was a bit chilly!)

OK, they’re saying our plane has finally arrived! I’m headed home for some rest. Have a good evening!

Monday, May 18
6:35 p.m.
My first thoughts are for James, both as a friend and a competitor. I hope he’s healing up quickly and getting well. You never want to see anything–especially a mechanical failure–like that happen. Other than that, our day went really well with the No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch car. We rolled out with a pretty good race setup, made some changes, found some things to improve and re-baselined at the end. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Team is pretty confident with our race car for Sunday. We were able to run well in traffic today, and I have a lot of faith that Team Chevy will be strong for the race too.

Tomorrow I’m headed to Detroit for the annual Indy 500 media tour day. It will be an early start, but we’ll be taking members of the media on track laps of the Belle Isle course in Chevrolet Camaros… so I can’t complain too much!

No. 83 looking good in the evening sun at IMS!

Sunday, May 17
7 p.m.
4 laps? Check. We’ll start P14 for the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500, with an average qualifying speed of 224.743 mph. Congrats to Scott and the 9 car team on the pole! Well-deserved.

I felt like the No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch Chevrolet had a solid run to put us in the show. I took pretty good care of the car and thankfully we weren’t right on the ragged edge. I’m just really proud of the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys because they did a great job of adapting to everything that happened today and after yesterday was rained out. We’ll start in the middle of the pack, but I think we have a much better race car and we’ll be able to make some moves up to the front.

Thanks again to all of the fans who watched from here at IMS and to those who cheered from home. We’re back at it for practice tomorrow at 12:30. For now, I’m getting some food and lots of rest!

On deck for qualifying!

4 laps: done.

Post-qualifying team photo.

Media interviews after qualifying.

A couple of photos for the fans who stayed with us all day!

12:10 p.m.
What a day so far… And we haven’t even started qualifying yet! It’s been a tough day, not just for the drivers and team but for the fans too. Thanks to those who have patiently waited it out with us here at IMS (and at home).

You can read INDYCAR’s official statements regarding today’s events at IndyCar.com. Here’s today’s revised schedule:

Sunday, May 17th (all times Eastern):
1 -3 p.m. Live on ABC and ESPN3
1:30 – 2 p.m. – Group 1 practice
2 – 2:30 p.m. – Group 2 practice
*Note: No guaranteed green flag time
3:15 p.m. – Indianapolis 500 qualifications begin (all cars, one time through)
30 minutes following conclusion of qualifying – Group 2 qualifying (Pos. 31-33 and unqualified cars)
*Note: There will be no Fast Nine Shootout
*Live timing and scoring via INDYCAR Race Control

The one thing I do know… the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team will be ready to go!

Lots of waiting in the garage.

Saturday, May 16
2:35 p.m.
I feel really bad for the fans that came out to watch for qualifying today, with it being postponed for tomorrow. The weather conditions looked like they were going to be OK but then the rain rolled in. The radar just doesn’t look good for the rest of the day, so they made the right call.

The No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch Chevrolet was pretty quick in practice this morning. We were really happy with it and knew what we had rolling into the qualifying line. All of the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys have done a great job this month, and we were looking forward to having the opportunity to go out with our best attempt and try to end up inside the Fast 9. The nice thing is, we get to reload and and do it all again tomorrow. Hopefully we have a good practice in the morning and get in a good qualifying attempt.

Thanks for the support, everyone! It was cool to see lots of fans in and out of the garage area, despite the weather. Hope to see you all back here tomorrow.

Here’s the updated schedule for Sunday’s qualifying sessions. All of today’s activities, procedures and times have been canceled and deleted.
Sunday, May 17th:
8-8:20 a.m. Practice – Group 1
8:20-8:40 a.m. Practice – Group 2
10 a.m.-1 p.m. Qualifications – All cars 1 time through
1:45-2:30 p.m. Fast 9
3-3:45 p.m. Group 2 Qualifying – Per Rule Book

Ready to go for pre-qualifying practice.

Photo via INDYCAR

7:50 a.m.
Good morning! It’s day 1 of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500… four of the most stressful laps we’ll take all month! We’re currently on a hold to dry the track for group 1 of practice (I’m in group 2) but it sounds like we’ll get started here soon. We’ll have to wait and see how much the weather plays into everything today. That’s one thing we definitely can’t control!

Click here for this weekend’s schedule, and click here for a cool graphic from IndyCar on the qualifying format, in case you need a refresher!

Friday, May 15
6:32 p.m.
It was kind of a frustrating end of the day. Other cars kept coming out of the pits in front of when we were looking for a clear track for qualifying sims. But I think the Levemir FlexTouch car is pretty good. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Team has worked really hard all week, and I think we have the opportunity to put ourselves in the Fast 9 and look at a shot at the front row for the race on Sunday.

We still have a bit of practice time in the morning before qualifying begins. The No. 83 team drew 47th (primary car) and 42nd (T car) for qualifying line order, so we’ll have some waiting and watching to do before we get out there. Click here for the qualifying weekend format, schedule and tune-in info!

After some time with my engineers, I’m headed to the annual Indy 500 Club Casino Night Party with my teammates, then it’s an early bedtime for me!

Heading out for my first laps of the day.

Happy Hour practice.

11:20 a.m.
Good morning! It’s that time… time to turn up the boost! Today is Fast Friday, which means the boost level is increased from 130 kPa to 140 kPa for today’s practice session and for qualifications this weekend. The change in pressure adds about 40 horsepower to Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engines. So you’ll see some quick speeds out there today!

This morning we had our annual Chip Ganassi Racing Teams press conference, so we were able to talk a little bit about our week and of course the exciting yet nerve-wrecking week ahead, too. We just finished up a team meeting so I’ll grab some lunch, and hopefully we’ll head out close to noon.

Check out live timing and scoring as well as video via INDYCAR Race Control, and follow my Pit Lane Reporter (PLR) on Twitter @RaceWithInsulin for more at-track updates!

Presser with my CGR teammates.

Chatting with Indy’s WISH-TV 8.

Thursday, May 14
6:40 p.m.
We spent time working on some qualifying runs earlier in the day. Team Chevy has done a great job with the aero kits and giving us a few options. We came back this afternoon and ran some heavier tanks and older tires, and got some race running in traffic. We found some things right there at the end that I think we’re pretty happy with. I’m looking forward to see what this weekend has to bring for the No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch Chevrolet!

Tomorrow is a big day for the teams–Fast Friday always brings a boost (literally) to the speeds, and we really get to see where we are for qualifying this weekend.

Thanks to all of the fans who have come out to the track this week! It’s been pretty cool to see lots of No. 83 gear in the stands and garage.

The No. 83 from Turn 1.

Making changes late in the afternoon.

Wednesday, May 13
6:20 p.m.
The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team worked on the overall race car today. The No. 83 car was decent in traffic, but we worked a lot on making the Levemir FlexTouch car faster. We ran a couple of qualifying simulations this afternoon. I think we have a direction to go that way when it’s time to turn the boost up and get ready for Fast Friday.

Photo courtesy of LAT Photo USA.

11:15 a.m.
Good morning… it’s a beautiful, sunny (but chilly) day at IMS! We’re hoping to get out right at noon today, so I’m having some lunch now. Tune in via INDYCAR Race Control. On today’s agenda is a bit of work on the car, then some real race-type laps!

Thanks to Riley’s Child Life Zone for having us out for their annual Indy 500 party last night. We had a great time with the kids!

Photo via @IMS on Twitter.

Tuesday, May 12
6:40 p.m.
I think we can describe today with one word: windy! We spent most of the day working on the race car and its overall balance. We needed to close the loop on some things and find some grip but also find a little better balance. It was a tough day with the wind and it gusting pretty hard at times, but if we can run well in the wind we should be able to run well in traffic.

I think we made the car better and gave ourselves a little bit of margin and direction to take the No. 83 Levemir FlexTouch in for the rest of the week. We were really smart today with tires and were able to put ourselves in pretty good standing for the rest of the week with tire allocation. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to fill it up and actually do some race running!

I’m off to Riley Children’s Hospital for their annual Indy 500 party… one of my favorites all year! Thanks for following along.

Ready to roll for today’s practice!

Making changes to the No. 83 late in the afternoon.

All done for the day… time to debrief!

Monday, May 11
7:50 p.m.
It was a pretty good day for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing, running at the first practice for the Indianapolis 500. The new livery for the No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® looks really good and it was fun to debut the new colors out here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We definitely have a little more speed to find, but thankfully my teammates are finding that speed so we can learn from what they’re doing and make the most of it leading into qualifying this weekend.

Photo via INDYCAR

Debuting the green and blue!

A couple of changes during our limited track time today.

2:55 p.m.
Well, clearly we were a little too optimistic (and perhaps eager!) that we’d get out for practice at 2 p.m. After ROP ended, a pretty decent rain storm came through so the track dryers are out now. I’m seeing sunshine from here in the transporter… hopefully that’s a good sign!

While we wait, please help me congratulate our second winner of the #CKsCrew Month of May takeover, Kerrie Fairburn! You’ll see her photo on my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram page all this week. Thanks for the support!

TakeOverWinner2

1:15 p.m.
Good afternoon from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Although we’ve already spent one day on the oval this month, there’s definitely still a bit of electricity in the air about being on track later today. But as the boss says, there’s no need to break any records on the first day out. We’ll save that for qualifying this weekend!

The Indianapolis 500 is always a highlight of the season for all of the IndyCar drivers and teams. For me, I’m especially excited for the 99th Running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. I think we can learn from the challenges we had last year. I have a lot of confidence in the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team, and I think we can take the No. 83 car to a good result. Obviously we have to focus on the race car during practice, and toward the end of the week we’ll start to see what the Team Chevy aero kit looks like in qualifying trim. We’ll be working to put ourselves on the starting grid in the top-10, and from there have a strong 500 miles and come away with a good result.

The crew worked long hours from post-race on Saturday to today, as I type, to switch the primary and back-up cars from the road course to oval setup. And… we have a fancy, bright new livery for the Month of May! Check it out below. I’m looking forward to seeing how the green and blue looks on track.

We’re hoping to get out for the full-field session right at 2 p.m. We’ll see if the rain holds off! Bookmark INDYCAR Race Control for live timing and scoring and follow my Pit Lane Reporter on Twitter @RaceWithInsulin for more on-track updates all week.