Charlie Kimball's Blog

Saturday, July 18
10:50 p.m.
It was a shame for our night to end like that. I had been running the high line pretty well. I felt like I went in on the same line I had the lap before, but the No. 83 car just caught an extra marble or two and it went up the track. Once you’re up there in the marbles, it just took off. I feel badly for the guys, but overall the car was pretty good and we made progress with the NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet.

Pre-race

Green, green, green

4:10 p.m.
That was interesting… a tough two laps for sure. The car was a bit loose, so I didn’t go into and through turn one how I wanted to. We’ll start P16 here today. But first, I have a drivers’ meeting, a couple of meet-and-greets, and a team strategy meeting. Be sure to follow my Pit Lane Reporter on Twitter @RaceWithInsulin for updates during the race!

Ready to qualify!

1:45 p.m.
Good afternoon… it’s race day! And it’s another hot one here at Iowa Speedway. I started the day off with a public appearance at a local grocery store, and I have to say, it was great to meet so many local fans! There were a few from out of town as well, camping at the Speedway for the race weekend. I’ll be back out at the Hy-Vee/Mercy Live Up mobile unit here at the track at 5 p.m., located near ticket booth 2 just north of the INDYCAR Fan Village.

I just finished up with the IndyCar autograph session so I’m grabbing some lunch now before a pre-qualifying engineering meeting. It will be interesting to see how the track handles for us during qualifying after the Road to Indy cars run earlier this afternoon. It will definitely be a balancing act–getting the right amount of downforce while not sliding too much in these hot temps. With so much traffic out there during the practice sessions yesterday, it was hard to get a good read on qualifying simulation runs but I think the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team is in good shape.

You can check out qualifying live at 3 p.m. Central via INDYCAR Race Control or later on NBC Sports Network at 5:30 p.m. Central. Then stay tuned for the Iowa Corn 300 live at 7 p.m. Central!

Friday, July 17
7:20 p.m.
Overall I feel pretty good with where the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet is after two practices today. I feel like we made a lot of progress throughout the two practice sessions. All four of the Chip Ganassi Racing Team cars are strong this weekend, and our stable is definitely competitive leading into the race. It’ll be interesting tomorrow with our first on-track run being qualifying, but we’ll get it done and hopefully start tomorrow’s night race in a good position.

Here’s some light reading for your Friday evening… a great article about the assistant engineer for the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team, Kate, in ESPNW, and a piece I contributed to The Players’ Tribune on racing with diabetes. Enjoy!

A look down pit lane. Photo via INDYCAR.

Photo via INDYCAR

Sun is shining! And it’s hot!

Making changes during practice 2.

Thursday, July 16
10:15 a.m.
Hello from Iowa! I arrived late last night from Texas, where I was doing some training earlier in the week. The team from Indy just landed, so I slept in a bit today and will head to the track soon. And of course it’s been raining… what would an IndyCar race weekend be without some rain this season?! At least the forecast looks better for the on-track portion!

Iowa Speedway is definitely a physically and mentally demanding track–but I think that’s one reason we enjoy the challenge of it. I’m looking forward to racing under the lights Saturday with Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing. We were strong in qualifying last year and really had it together in the pits with stops and strategy. I know the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet will be fast in clean air but we’ll just need to work on running in traffic to make sure we can stay up front.

I’ll be doing a few appearances this weekend, both at the track and away from the track, so be sure to come say hi if you’re around! Click here for details. Whether you’re at home or at the track, click here for the race weekend schedule and tune-in info. Thanks for the support!

Photo via INDYCAR