Charlie Kimball's Blog

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
RESULTS
Warmup: P21, 1:50.9018
Race: P7

IN CK’S WORDS
“I’m really proud of the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew for what they’ve done this weekend. All the way from the problem in the first practice to qualifying in the top five and then battling back all day today. We didn’t have the best restarts today and part of that is on me and part of it was being light on downforce. I’m proud of the guys, but I think they deserved more. The car was probably a little better than seventh – I think we could’ve been in the top five. I just raced a couple of guys harder than I needed to at that point of the race and with 10 laps to go I was just about out of push-to-pass. That made it a little harder to make up spots at the end, but like I said these guys never gave up and I’m just really proud of them.”

RACE STATS
Finishing position: 7th
Starting position: 5th
Pit stops: 4
Average speed: 118.552 mph
Cautions: 4 for 9 laps total
Lead changes: 8 among 6 drivers
Championship standing: 17th

FROM PIT LANE

Click here to view more photos, courtesy of LAT Photo USA and INDYCAR.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
RESULTS
Practice 3: P10, 1:23.4600
Qualifying: P5, 1:22.8081

IN CK’S WORDS
“We had some electrical issues with the engine yesterday that put us a little behind in terms of getting up to speed out there, so I think it says a lot that we were able to come back out today and qualify in the top six. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys did a great job getting the No. 83 fixed before final practice yesterday and then gave me a really good car to go out and qualify today. I’m definitely happy with our run. I think anytime you can finish within a few tenths of a second of Scott Dixon at Watkins Glen, you know you’re doing well. I have a lot of faith in our race car and hopefully we can move forward in the field like we did last year when we came from 14th to sixth and get our first win of the season.”

FROM PIT LANE

Click here to view more photos, courtesy of LAT Photo USA and INDYCAR.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
RESULTS
Practice 1: P21, 6:44.2572 [Note: the No. 83 car experienced an engine electrical issue and made an engine change during practice 1, ahead of the scheduled change after practice 2]
Practice 2: P7, 1:23.3871

IN CK’S WORDS
“This afternoon was a nice recovery after the morning session. We had an electrical issue that kept us from running during practice one, but the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys did a great job getting it all fixed up and tuned up. We were able to get a few good laps in this afternoon. I’m pretty happy to be inside the top-10, but obviously tomorrow we’ll be aiming higher for the Firestone Fast Six. We need to make the car a little bit better, handling-wise and setup-wise, but I think we’ve got a good direction heading into tomorrow’s sessions.”

FROM PIT LANE