Live from Trackside – Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit

Sunday, June 1
6:35 p.m.
Wow, what a weekend! We ran a strong race today. I’m proud of this team and the work we did. We had a good NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet and our hard work paid off today–from starting P20 to finishing third! It was a fierce race and we were able to contend when it counted. There were some interesting moments out there at the end of the race over the last two restarts but we held our ground and got a podium finish. All the credit to the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi racing guys. From the setup, to the strategy, to the pit stops, they were there for me all day.

Thanks for all of the notes of support and congratulations! I can’t wait to read through each and every one of them.

Photo via @TeamChevy

11:15 a.m.
Happy race day… again! And just like that, May is officially over. I’m glad we ended it on a high note with a top-10 finish yesterday. Unfortunately this morning’s qualifying sessions didn’t go quite as well. We’ll start P20 again today for race 2. But as we showed yesterday, the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team can and will move up the field. It’s all about making smart moves, both on the track and with strategy.

I’m off to a meet and greet with some special guests (including a fellow Type 1!) then I’ll be at the INDYCAR Fan Village at noon for the driver autograph session and the Team Chevy Q&A session. After that, we’ll have our team strategy meeting. I’ll take some downtime by myself before we go out for race 2. Tune in at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC!

Saturday, May 31
6:45 p.m.
It’s a great result for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team did a great in the pits and calling the strategy. They really gave me the opportunity to get it done out there on the track. The last few laps were definitely a bit frantic, but it was great to come away from the first race of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit with a ninth place finish. We learned a lot in today’s race and our momentum should be really strong going into the second race.

Thanks for all of the support–can’t wait to do it all again tomorrow!

Ready for morning qualifying.

Thanks to the No. 83 team for quick pit stops!

12:15 p.m.
Well, qualifying didn’t go quite as expected. We struggled to get a quick enough lap during round 1 and didn’t advance, so we’ll be starting P20 today for race #1. We had a fast car during yesterday morning’s practice session… we’ll be working hard to get the No. 83 car to the front.

After qualifying, I had a team engineering meeting and Sir Jackie Stewart popped in to the office! It was pretty cool to meet him, a living legend of the sport. Before the drivers meeting, I had a meet and greet with Firestone guests. As IndyCar drivers, we’re lucky to be able to run with reliable tires each and every race weekend.

Tune in to ABC at 3:30 p.m. Eastern for live race coverage!

7:40 a.m.
Good morning… it’s race day! But before we get to race, we’ll qualify at 8:35 a.m. This morning’s qualifying is the traditional knock-out, Firestone Fast 6 session. I’m in group 2 for round 1. Follow Race Control for live timing. It’s a clear and sunny day here in Detroit, so we’ll have good conditions for qualifying (no rain like last year!). We’ll be working tire strategies and the traffic to get a few clean laps in, shooting for the Firestone Fast 6.

Friday, May 30
4:45 p.m.
Overall I think today’s practice sessions went pretty well for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet, finishing in the top-10 during the first session. It felt good to get back in the car after the disappointing 500 we had. We don’t have a ton of time to prepare for doubleheaders, especially when we come straight from the 500 so we made sure that we worked everything out today that we needed to. We have a really good car, and I’m very confident about our chances here.

All ready for practice at Belle Isle.

Practice 1.

Pit stop practice.

Almost set for practice 2.

9:30 a.m.
Good morning! It’s a beautiful morning in Detroit–almost a bit chilly, actually. We had our drivers meeting earlier so the next thing on the agenda is practice! I’m looking forward to getting back into the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car today and seeing what we can do on the street course.

Check INDYCAR Race Control at 11:20 a.m. Eastern for live timing and scoring during our first on-track session, and follow @racewithinsulin on Twitter for updates from my Pit Lane Reporter (PLR).

Thursday, May 29
4:50 p.m.
It’s been a busy but productive day! We just finished up the track walk here at Belle Isle. There are very little changes, layout-wise, from last year but they did fix some (not all!) of the bumps for us drivers. It’s really great to see so much partner support around the track, especially Team Chevy!

Earlier today I made a visit to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan with Racing for Kids. It was nice to meet some young, new IndyCar fans. I also made a trip out to the Autoweek office, appropriately headquartered here in Detroit. Tonight I’ll grab a quick dinner before heading to bed early. It will be a long weekend, with the two races… time to rest up!

Photo via @CHMFoundation

Wednesday, May 28
12:35 p.m.
Hello from the Motor City! I arrived earlier today for a media day which started with a Detroit Free Press fan chat. Thanks to all who submitted questions! If you missed it, you can check it out here.

I’m headed the track for a tech forum at 2:30, then I have a quick phone interview before a presentation with Novo Nordisk this evening. We have a group of first-time race attendees from Novo Nordisk this weekend… I can’t wait to show them what IndyCar is all about!

After a tough month in Indy, we’re looking forward to resetting as a team and fully focusing our efforts on the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix this weekend. With it being our first double-header last year, it was really just a learning experience with not a lot of track time before the race one. This year, we go into the two races with data and first-hand knowledge under our belts. We were really able to work the strategy well for the second race last year for a top-10 finish, which could easily come into play again. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team has the right people and tools to make it a good race weekend; we just need to fit all of the puzzles pieces together.

Here’s our race weekend schedule (all times Eastern):
Friday, May 30
11:20 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. Practice
3:20 – 4:05 p.m. Practice
Saturday, May 31
8:35 – 9:35 a.m. Qualifying #1
3:30 p.m. Race #1 (live on ABC)
Sunday, June 1
10 – 10:30 a.m. Qualifying #2
12 – 1 p.m. Autograph session (in INDYCAR Fan Village)
1:15 p.m. Team Chevy Q&A (in INDYCAR Fan Village)
3:30 p.m. Race #2 (live on ABC)
Live timing and scoring for all on-track sessions is available via INDYCAR Race Control.