AJ Foyt Racing’s Kyle Kirkwood in the No.14 ROKiT Chevrolet says the team had an exceptional race in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach as the Florida native came from 12th and finished the 85 lap event in tenth place and speaking following the action he said:
The race went exceptional for us at A.J. Foyt Racing. It’s a sweet win for us because we’ve had a couple of finishes we didn’t want with the pace we had. Today we had the pace and we were able to show that. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make some passes happen but we got into the top-10. We were absolutely solid on the red tires. I felt like we could make some passes but everyone was a little too bunched up in the first stint to make that happen. Once we went to the black tires, we were able to run with everyone else who was in front of us but it was a bit of a fuel-saving game so we were all kind of sitting in limbo. The restarts here are just so tough because you come out of the last corner and it’s a massive accordion effect. You can’t make passes happen into Turn One. It’s so tight between the walls to make the passes anywhere else. It’s just so difficult. We’re right there with the big dogs and we’re right there with the big teams. We were quick today and we showed that. All we did was go forward. It was solid points for the team. I’m super happy and everyone is smiling. We’re look forward to going testing at Indianapolis here in a couple of weeks.
Dalton Kellett felt that he got a little deep onto the brakes into Turn 1 which is why he was forced to retire from the race due to contact with the wall and speaking following the race the Canadian commented saying:
I got a little deep into the brake zone for Turn One and carried too much speed through the entry to the corner, got wide and hit the barriers. I was trying to shift into fuel-saving mode and kind of misjudged it on the brakes.
Tatiana Calderon in the No.11 ROKiT Chevrolet made great progress in the race as she made up ten places in the race to finish in 16th and speaking following the event she said:
I’m really happy with the steps have we made since St. Petersburg. I feel much more confident in the car, even on pit stops and making little adjustments and learning how to deal with the tires better. I’m really thankful for the team. They did a fantastic job. Of course we want to be fighting more people in the next couple of races. The steps we took were huge and I’ll carry that confidence into Barber.