{"id":31440,"date":"2020-10-01T19:50:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T00:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=31440"},"modified":"2020-10-03T14:10:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T19:10:55","slug":"rookie-veekay-wins-first-career-ntt-p1-award-at-indycar-harvest-gp-race-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/01\/rookie-veekay-wins-first-career-ntt-p1-award-at-indycar-harvest-gp-race-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie VeeKay wins first career NTT P1 award at INDYCAR Harvest GP Race 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series<\/em><\/p>\n<p>INDIANAPOLIS \u2013 NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie Rinus VeeKay won the NTT P1 Award for his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole position Thursday, Oct. 1 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31442\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"31442\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/01\/rookie-veekay-wins-first-career-ntt-p1-award-at-indycar-harvest-gp-race-1\/_4cj1249\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1707\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Chris Jones&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS-1D X Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1601579032&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;IMSS\/IndyCar&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;28&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0025&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"_4CJ1249\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Rinus VeeKay. Photo by Chris Jones&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?fit=640%2C427\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31442\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-31442\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249.jpg?resize=300%2C200\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=284%2C190 284w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?resize=99%2C66 99w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-31442\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rinus VeeKay. Photo by Chris Jones<\/p><\/div>\n<p>VeeKay, 20, posted a top lap of 1 minute, 9.6903 seconds, 125.992 mph in the No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet in Group 2 of qualifying for Friday&#8217;s INDYCAR Harvest GP presented by GMR. Live coverage of the 85-lap race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course starts at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on USA Network.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was tough,\u201d VeeKay said. \u201cI was not very happy with the car this morning, but (Team Manager) Tim (Broyles) and I sat down and we found some great stuff. A lot of work was put in here. I put in a good lap, so I\u2019m very happy with that. Finally, finally, my first pole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>RESULTS:&nbsp;<\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/click.email.brickyard.com\/?qs=e4bef1d3b2dfaf8a3aa69eaf2b21c4d563f5f30c9111dbdc2e71a4b1200c77740318460aecace547e39c4992b60dcfbd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">INDYCAR Harvest GP Race 1 Qualifying<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Josef Newgarden will line up alongside VeeKay in second. Newgarden, who is second in the point standings, was awarded one point for setting the fastest time in Group 1 with a time of 1:10.4706 in the No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.<\/p>\n<p>Colton Herta qualified third in the No. 88 Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana Honda at 1:09.7048. Will Power qualified fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet at 1:10.5686, and 2020 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge pole sitter Marco Andretti rounded out the top five at 1:09.7140.<\/p>\n<p>The additional point for Newgarden could be beneficial in his quest for a third Astor Challenge Cup. Newgarden has steadily cut into points leader Scott Dixon\u2019s edge over the last month. He entered this event down 72 points and will start Friday\u2019s race with a deficit of 71.<\/p>\n<p>Newgarden locked in the fastest time after a bit of luck.<\/p>\n<p>With four minutes left in Group 1, Takuma Sato, the 2020 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner, went off track in Turn 4 and got stuck in a gravel trap, forcing a red flag. Sato was pulled out of the gravel and refired with 1:20 left in the session. However, with track cleanup still required, that brought an end to the session.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s probably the luckiest we\u2019ve been as far as yellow flags go this year,\u201d Newgarden said. \u201cI just wish we had gotten it in the race, but we\u2019re not going to complain. We were quick on blacks (primary tires). The car felt awesome right out of the box. Some of the issues we were struggling with in practice were gone. You couldn\u2019t see super well in Turn 12 or Turn 13, so you were guessing a little bit coming on to that front straightaway. But it made for an interesting session.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the lack of time in Group 1, Dixon was unable to return to the track to set a faster time in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon, who won July\u2019s GMR Grand Prix at IMS, will start 12th.<\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;What They Are Saying&#8217; from the INDYCAR Harvest GP presented by GMR Race 1 Qualifying<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1<\/strong><strong>st<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; RINUS VEEKAY (No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cIt was tough. I was not very happy with the car this morning, but Tim (Broyles) and I sat&nbsp;down&nbsp;&nbsp;and we found some great stuff. Great team. A lot of work was put in here. I put in a good lap, so I\u2019m very happy with that. Finally, finally, my first pole.\u201d (Can you get your first win tomorrow?): \u201cThat would be amazing. Yeah, of course, we\u2019re going for that win now. But anything can happen. This a crazy track. Everyone is super-talented here. So, we\u2019re going to do everything we can, but it\u2019s not going to be easy.&nbsp;&nbsp;What a great qualifying. A pole position, I can check that off my list. The only thing that should follow is a podium or a win. I would like to end the season with at least one of those, too. The SONAX car was fine on blacks (primary tires), but it really came alive on the reds (alternate tires). We made a little wing adjustment and had a great lap. We worked hard in the hours between practice and qualifying, then the car was amazing.&nbsp;I am very happy.&nbsp;Thank you to all of my guys, SONAX,&nbsp;&nbsp;Autogeek&nbsp;and Chevrolet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>2<\/strong><strong>nd<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 1&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Hitachi<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Team<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Penske Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cIt was a good day. Pretty happy with qualifying. Got a little bit lucky with the yellow. But I felt like we were quick on merit. We were quickest in that first group of&nbsp;attempts&nbsp;,&nbsp;so I felt&nbsp;really positive&nbsp;about that. I think we would have had a&nbsp;really good&nbsp;shot,&nbsp;if it didn\u2019t go yellow,&nbsp;to get the pole,&nbsp;too. But a front&nbsp;row start for tomorrow is going to be great. The Hitachi Chevy honestly felt fantastic right from the start,&nbsp;which was a good turnaround from practice. Team Chevy has done a great job. Our&nbsp;straight-line&nbsp;speed looks fantastic,&nbsp;so I feel very confident for the race tomorrow that we can make it count.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>3<\/strong><strong>rd<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>COLTON HERTA (No. 88&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana Honda<\/strong><strong>):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cI&#8217;m looking forward to tomorrow. Obviously, we have a&nbsp;really good&nbsp;&nbsp;starting spot with third. It\u2019s going to be an interesting race tomorrow with how the windows work and all the strategy that\u2019s going to happen with the (primary)&nbsp;blacks and (alternate)&nbsp;r&nbsp;eds. I\u2019m interested to see what tires everyone starts on because I think it\u2019s going to play a huge role in tomorrow\u2019s race. Overall, a great starting spot of third for the Gleaners car,&nbsp;and I think we have a really good shot at a winning and creating even more awareness for the No One Runs&nbsp;On&nbsp;Empty campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>4<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cIt was a good qualifying session. We were looking for more speed on the reds&nbsp;(alternate tires),&nbsp;but unfortunately the yellow came out when our group was on track and ended qualifying early. I think we could have found more speed had we had more time on track,&nbsp;&nbsp;but that\u2019s how racing goes sometimes. I feel&nbsp;really good&nbsp;about my Verizon Chevy for tomorrow\u2019s race. We\u2019re starting up near the front,&nbsp;which is great. We\u2019re racing for wins,&nbsp;so we\u2019re going to give the race tomorrow everything we got and will see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>5<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 98 AutoNation \/ Curb Honda):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cWe were on a pole lap for the second event in a row. Then it just snapped&nbsp;loose,&nbsp;&nbsp;and we lost that tenth (of a second) we needed. It\u2019s a bummer to come that close but a good effort by the 98 AutoNation team, nonetheless. The colder weather is&nbsp;definitely unique&nbsp;with both qualifying this late in the&nbsp;day and&nbsp;racing here this late in the year. It goes both ways:&nbsp;The tires take a little longer to come up (to temperature),&nbsp;&nbsp;but there is so much downforce and grip that is favoring us. It\u2019s actually better than when we were here in July.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>6<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; JACK HARVEY (No. 60 AutoNation\/SiriusXM Honda):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s definitely unfortunate that we never got an opportunity to get a lap on red&nbsp;(alternate tires)&nbsp;because I really think we had the pace for pole today. For this to have been our worst qualifying effort in three starts here isn\u2019t so terrible. I\u2019m&nbsp;really proud&nbsp;&nbsp;of everyone at Meyer Shank Racing for continuing to work so hard because the thing I was worried about coming here was that people expect us to be good here. And everyone on the team worked so hard to put the No. 60 AutoNation \/ SiriusXM Honda as far forward as possible. Hopefully we\u2019ll have a good race tomorrow and work through the field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>7<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; FELIX ROSENQVIST (No. 10 NTT D<\/strong><strong>ATA<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Chip Ganassi Racing Honda):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cI\u2019m a bit disappointed I didn\u2019t piece together my last lap in the NTT DATA car out there. We\u2019ve been good in qualifying this&nbsp;year,&nbsp;&nbsp;but I just missed it this time and didn\u2019t really nail it. I was just off the pole time,&nbsp;but P7 is roughly where we\u2019ve been starting on the road courses,&nbsp;and we know we can win from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>8<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 27&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>NAPA AUTO PARTS&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>\/ AutoNation&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Honda):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cI\u2019ve got to be honest: For the first time in five years around here, I feel like we have a pretty good car. I\u2019m&nbsp;really happy&nbsp;&nbsp;about that. The team did a good job. This (IMS road course)&nbsp;has been a big weakness for us. The NAPA \/ AutoNation Honda was good. It was unfortunate that we didn\u2019t get to do reds (alternate tires) because of the red flag rules, but I think the car is really good and I\u2019m excited for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>9<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; MAX CHILTON (<\/strong><strong>No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cIt was a super positive qualifying for the Gallagher Chevrolet that could\u2019ve been exceptional. It was unbelievably close out there. I knew it was going to be close because the group before us didn\u2019t get a red&nbsp;(alternate tires)&nbsp;run in,&nbsp;&nbsp;and they all were within half a second of each other. I made a slight mistake at&nbsp;Turn 4, but in general I was&nbsp;fairly happy&nbsp;with my lap. I need to look at it on the overlay to see if that mistake cost us compared to the next lap. Regardless I extracted a lot out of the&nbsp;car,&nbsp;and we worked&nbsp;really well&nbsp;&nbsp;as a team today considering we only have one car and one practice session before qualifying and the races.&nbsp;Overall,&nbsp;we had a&nbsp;really strong&nbsp;day today,&nbsp;and I think starting ninth tomorrow puts us in a good position to move forward for a solid result.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>10<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; PATO O\u2019WARD (No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cHonestly, the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet improved quite a bit from practice to the little time we got in that qualifying session. That was&nbsp;definitely a&nbsp;positive,&nbsp;&nbsp;but it was unlucky to get caught out by that red flag and we didn\u2019t get any running on the red alternate tires. I think the car would have been strong on the reds. We will have to see what we can do tomorrow. We will have an extra set of reds since we didn\u2019t really use them in qualifying. It should shake up pretty interestingly in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remainder of Drivers (alphabetical \u2013 with&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>qualifying<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;position):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (<\/strong><strong>16<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cA challenging day,&nbsp;just like we expected, maybe a bit harder than I wished it would have been. Happy to be back in the game and get to work with the AJ Foyt Racing crew. It\u2019s a&nbsp;pretty steep&nbsp;&nbsp;battle. We were trying to do the best we can; the first run on blacks&nbsp;(primary tires)&nbsp;was&nbsp;pretty reasonable. Had a massive lockup with the rear going into Turn 1, which fell a bit on me, but still managed a good fourth lap so that put us in the window in the top group. And then we never got a read on the reds&nbsp;(alternate tires),&nbsp;which is good&nbsp;&nbsp;and bad because we just don\u2019t know what the car\u2019s going to feel like on the Firestone red tires. Good because we have two sets of&nbsp;brand-new&nbsp;tires to go in the race. We\u2019ll see how it checks out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>HELIO CASTRONEVES (<\/strong><strong>1<\/strong><strong>9<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cI have to thank everyone from Arrow McLaren SP, they did such a great job to accommodate all the little bits that a new driver needs to make everything&nbsp;OK&nbsp;, which is difficult. Everyone, including Robert Wickens and Oliver Askew, were working together to try to maximize the time we had the best we can because of the way the schedule is so compact. For me,&nbsp;it was great. It\u2019s not fun to start in the back, but to this point, it is great to be back. Let\u2019s go for the race;&nbsp;we are going to learn a lot,&nbsp;for sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>CONOR DALY (<\/strong><strong>1<\/strong><strong>4<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; No. 20 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cWe made some great improvements from practice to qualifying. The U.S. Air Force Chevy was so much better.&nbsp;It was a shame we&nbsp;weren&#8217;t able to&nbsp;&nbsp;run on red tires. Our time on black tires was&nbsp;actually better&nbsp;than our teammate&#8217;s, which is really encouraging because Rinus&nbsp;(VeeKay)&nbsp;has always been strong on the black tires. We had so much of a time gain on the reds when we were here on July 4th;&nbsp;&nbsp;we were really wanted to see what we had this time. It is what it is,&nbsp;though.We know we have a good car.&nbsp;We made some great improvements. Tomorrow should be a lot of fun and we&#8217;ll go to the front.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>SCOTT DIXON (<\/strong><strong>12<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No.<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cI think for whatever reason the PNC Bank No. 9 car just wasn\u2019t as strong on the black tires this morning. Once we went to the red tires,&nbsp;it got going quite a bit&nbsp;,&nbsp;and we got into the top four or five. That\u2019s just the way it goes&nbsp;sometimes,&nbsp;I guess. We didn\u2019t do anything wrong. Maybe we should have tried something different with balance, but at the end of the day we&nbsp;have to&nbsp;keep going. The fight will still be on until someone locks up the championship,&nbsp;&nbsp;so you have to keep digging deep and moving forward the best you can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>MARCUS ERICSSON (<\/strong><strong>15<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m pretty disappointed with today,&nbsp;to be honest. I think in practice today it was a bit challenging,&nbsp;&nbsp;and I didn\u2019t get the feeling out of the car I wanted. It still felt like we had potential for qualifying,&nbsp;and it just didn\u2019t happen. It\u2019s not where we want to be or should&nbsp;be,&nbsp;but we\u2019ll work hard to improve the car for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>SANTINO FERRUCCI (<\/strong><strong>20<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; No. 18&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>SealMaster<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Honda):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cThe&nbsp;SealMaster&nbsp;Honda would have been much better on the red (alternate) tires, however INDYCAR&nbsp;&nbsp;decided not to extend the session after the red flag. We lost a lot of time during the practice session earlier today,&nbsp;and unfortunately that hurt us in the cold weather during qualifying. The race tomorrow should be super exciting because of the fans that are here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (1<\/strong><strong>8<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; No. 26&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Gainbridge<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Honda):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cIt was an up-and-down day for us.W&nbsp;e still haven\u2019t managed to set a single lap on the Firestone&nbsp;reds&nbsp;(alternate tires). We got a red flag in practice at the wrong time,&nbsp;and in qualifying, I&nbsp;tried something on my last lap on the black&nbsp;(primary)&nbsp;tires just to know if it was going to work on the reds&nbsp;,&nbsp;and I was on a lap that would have probably put us sixth in our group and then we didn\u2019t get the chance on reds. I\u2019m a little disappointed to be as far back as we are.&nbsp;I genuinely think we have more pace in the car. It\u2019s tough jumping into a series that\u2019s so competitive with so little track time. We\u2019ve got 85 laps tomorrow to get the&nbsp;Gainbridge&nbsp;Honda to the front,&nbsp;&nbsp;and that\u2019s where we plan to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>RYAN HUNTER-REAY (<\/strong><strong>13<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No. 28 DHL Honda):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cToday wasn\u2019t a straightforward day. We started the day with a setup that just wasn\u2019t clicking for us,&nbsp;&nbsp;and we had to bail on that for qualifying. I had to learn what this setup would give me as qualifying went on. I had the car snap loose on me coming out of Turn 13,&nbsp;and otherwise that would\u2019ve put us at least in the top six or seven. The conditions are tough in the cold. Tomorrow will be interesting with cold tires;&nbsp;that\u2019ll be a hotspot for everyone. I\u2019m looking forward to working this 28 DHL Honda to the front.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>SAGE KARAM (<\/strong><strong>21<\/strong><strong>st&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>&#8211; No. 24 Dr<\/strong><strong>e<\/strong><strong>yer &amp; Reinbold Racing Chevrolet):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cQualifying was better than in July. I would love to be better. I thought we might be&nbsp;better,&nbsp;&nbsp;but we had a fuel pressure issue in practice.&nbsp;That cost us almost&nbsp;three-quarters&nbsp;of the session.&nbsp;We never got to run on the Firestone&nbsp;red tires, so it was a blind shot going into qualifying. The car felt good in&nbsp;qualifying,&nbsp;&nbsp;but I was a little frustrated. I would try too hard and miss a bit of a corner. I\u2019d say, \u2018Rats, it cost me a tenth here and a tenth there.\u2019&nbsp;Unfortunately,&nbsp;with the&nbsp;red tires, you get one shot for a good lap. Not having the ability to run in the full practice session really hurt us. It\u2019s a doubleheader weekend,&nbsp;luckily,&nbsp;&nbsp;and we learned from this qualifying. We\u2019ll be ready for Saturday qualifying now. Friday\u2019s race is longer than Saturday,&nbsp;and it gives us a different strategy.&nbsp;In July, our race car was&nbsp;good,&nbsp;and we had some bad luck with the yellow flag session. I think we have a pretty good race car after our runs during the July race. We hope we get a few breaks for Friday\u2019s race,&nbsp;too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>DALTON KELLETT (2<\/strong><strong>5<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; No. 41 K-Line USA \/ AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cI don\u2019t think we quite hit the nail on the head in qualifying, just lacking a bit of rear stability, struggling a little bit and didn\u2019t quite get everything out of the reds (alternate&nbsp;tires). Unfortunate that we\u2019re not starting further up the&nbsp;&nbsp;grid,&nbsp;but I think we&nbsp;definitely learned&nbsp;some stuff in&nbsp;practice,&nbsp;and I think we\u2019ve got a solid race car. We\u2019ve consistently had better race pace than qualifying pace this year,&nbsp;&nbsp;so we\u2019ll be looking to make spots on track and in pit lane, make some smart moves, get some passes done early on and the No. 41 crew will be solid in pit lane.So,&nbsp;hopefully we can jump some spots and move up for the race. For Saturday\u2019s qualifying,&nbsp;we\u2019ll be having a look at what&nbsp;Seb(Bourdais)&nbsp;&nbsp;and Charlie&nbsp;(Kimball)&nbsp;were doing today and see if we can learn anything and if we can all get better as a team. I think there\u2019s definitely some potential there,&nbsp;so looking forward to seeing what we can learn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>CHARLIE KIMBALL (<\/strong><strong>23<\/strong><strong>rd<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No. 4 Tresiba \/ AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cIt was just a really frustrating session for the No. 4 Tresiba Chevy. We had some&nbsp;really good&nbsp;pace, I think, earlier at times in practice, and even in qualifying, in similar laps to the competitors&nbsp;.We were a little more competitive in that fifth-sixth range,&nbsp;or so. Overall, for me, on that last lap when everyone seemed to take a big step forward and we got stuck at a lap time, we need to figure out what\u2019s going on with that because it seems to be a bit of a frustration we\u2019ve had all year. I know these guys will be&nbsp;really good&nbsp;in pit lane on the pitstops tomorrow&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8212;&nbsp;that\u2019s never a question in my mind. The A.J. Foyt crew works harder than anyone I\u2019ve ever worked with, especially on the pit stops, so we\u2019ll go forward in the race tomorrow and then re-evaluate what we need to do for qualifying on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>SIMON PAGENAUD (<\/strong><strong>22<\/strong><strong>nd<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet):<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cIt was a real shame that the session was truncated.&nbsp;Definitely not&nbsp;where I want to start. I\u2019m not happy at all. The DXC Technology Chevy was&nbsp;OK&nbsp;. Just need to get on the red tires and put a good lap together. We\u2019ll start in the&nbsp;back,&nbsp;but we\u2019ll go forward. No question about that. These weekends are just too short. It\u2019s been very difficult to adjust. It was a big disappointment today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALEX PALOU (<\/strong><strong>17<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;No. 55 Guaranteed Rate Honda)<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8220;The&nbsp;No.&nbsp;55 Guaranteed Rate Honda was really strong in practice earlier&nbsp;today,&nbsp;&nbsp;so I was optimistic&nbsp;heading into qualifying this evening.&nbsp;So,&nbsp;I&#8217;m disappointed with our qualifying result:There&#8217;s not much to say. The car felt&nbsp;OK,&nbsp;but the speed wasn&#8217;t there. The engineers are looking into it. I&#8217;m confident we&#8217;ll come back strong on the race tomorrow.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>G<\/strong><strong>RAHAM RAHAL<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;(<\/strong><strong>11<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No. 15&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>United Rentals&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Honda):&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8220;To say I\u2019m disappointed with qualifying is an understatement. We ended up sixth in our group by only one-tenth-and-a-half or two-tenths of a second. It\u2019s hard to swallow. You think about all the places that maybe you lost one-tenth (of a second). One-tenth (of a second) would have moved us up to second or third,&nbsp;so it\u2019s a hard one to swallow. Coming from&nbsp;11th&nbsp;place tomorrow is going to take some work,&nbsp;&nbsp;but we\u2019ve started in the back and finished third here before,&nbsp;so we can do it again. We just&nbsp;have to&nbsp;have good strategy, be able to get by some of these guys and hope our fitness comes into play and go from there. But when you look at the data, there\u2019s two corners in the snake \u2013 Turn 8 and 9 \u2013and literally that\u2019s our loss to everybody ahead of us. We are quicker in every other part of the&nbsp;racetrack&nbsp;&nbsp;but Turns 8 and 9,&nbsp;so I\u2019ve got to figure it out and we\u2019ve got to get the car a little better. We\u2019ll try to get this United Rentals car up front tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>TAKUMA SATO (<\/strong><strong>24<\/strong><strong>th<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>No. 30&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>ABeam<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Consulting&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Honda):&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cThe car was reasonably good in practice. After the session,&nbsp;&nbsp;we felt we made good improvement. In qualifying, we were fifth in our group on black (primary) tires after the first run. It was great, but it was better than practice. On the second run, the tire wasn\u2019t up to temp, and I was on the curb and lost grip and went off track. On the red (alternate)&nbsp;&nbsp;tire, maybe I was relying too much on them and their grip. We lost a set of reds because of that, which is huge, because in the dry race, the red tire was more durable and faster.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series INDIANAPOLIS \u2013 NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie Rinus VeeKay won the NTT P1 Award for his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole position Thursday, Oct. 1 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. VeeKay, 20, posted a top lap of 1 minute, 9.6903 seconds, 125.992 mph in the No. 21 SONAX [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":31442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[421,22,672,790],"class_list":["post-31440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-indianapolis-motor-speedway","tag-indycar","tag-ntt-indycar-series","tag-rinus-veekay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/4CJ1249-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-8b6","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31440"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31444,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31440\/revisions\/31444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}