Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Bryant Honda just missed out on claiming his maiden NTT P1 Award for today’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The Swede set a speed of 182.070MPH and starts the race just behind Will Power and speaking following the action he said:
Front row start; my best ever qualifying in INDYCAR with P2. I’m really happy and proud of the No. 8 Bryant Honda and the whole crew. I think we did a really good job and delivered strong cars and tuned things up for qualifying. Of course, you want that first pole when you’re that close, but I’m still happy with our effort and our performance. It’s a really good spot to start for tomorrow.”
Defending series champion Alex Palou in the No.10 American Legion starts the race from P5 and speaking following the action he says:
I’m happy starting top five; it’s always a good starting place and it’s great that we have three cars in the fastest six. We’ll try to get as many points as possible. We’re in that championship fight and it may not be my best track to gain points on the leaders. But starting up front we can make it happen tomorrow.”
Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda starts the from sixth having moved into second in the championship following his victory last time out in Nashville.
It was an interesting day. We came here with a pretty big shift in strategy with how we were seeing the car. It took us a while to sort that out, and then in qualifying we made another big shift, but honestly the car was good. I just didn’t attack enough on my first lap and then second lap I kind of tried to go too deep into turn three and got some understeer. Ideally, I think the car should have been where Marcus was on the front row or second row. But, starting P6 is a good starting point, and we can definitely work from there.”
Jimmie Johnson in the No.48 Carvana Honda starts the race from P21 and speaking following qualifying he commented saying:
We’re building every lap. With only an hour practice session and starting on tires that we aren’t racing on, it’s just a big challenge. I was very lucky to be able to test at Iowa and come back to know what to do. I’m playing catch-up with this very specialized form of racing. The guys know how to get it done on these ovals. While I do have a background on ovals, these cars are very specific to drive on that ragged edge and it does take a certain feel. I’m putting those laps in and we’re looking forward to the race tomorrow.