INDYCAR SERIES POST-PRACTICE QUOTES (Drivers who have yet to qualify):
ORIOL SERVIA (No. 17 The Rahal Letterman DAFCA Special): "It's been a crazy last three months. Everyone has been asking me today if there's any pressure being a last-week and reduced program. I haven't felt this relieved in a long time. Finally I am in a car, and I know I'm going to be in the race. I'm in a great team, and there are great people around me. I felt great right away from the first lap. We want to take one step at a time, but right now, I'm really excited and happy." (About showing speed so early): "When you are driving for Rahal Letterman, you better step on it. They won this race in 2004, and honestly, the car felt great the moment I stepped into it. That makes the job of the driver a lot easier. It's only our first day. Hopefully, we have another dry day tomorrow, so we can prepare for qualifying and just keep the focus on the last lap of a 500-mile race. It's probably the most important race of my life, so I'm very happy with the way things have started."
E.J. VISO (No. 13 PDVSA HVM Racing): "Today we had a productive testing day. We started working on the race setups and longer runs and with traffic and more fuel, and so far things are going pretty well. Our car feels pretty comfortable in traffic, and that's important for this race."
ROBERT DOORNBOS (No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing): "It was good to get back in the car, get back to work. It was horrible watching other drivers play and have fun while I was in my bus. Unfortunately, we had a bad day today. We seemed to be going the wrong direction with the setup a little bit, and I haven't been enjoying driving the car. The wind condition was a bit tricky today, as well. The speed is definitely in the car. This is the same car that we did good things with during Rookie Orientation, and over the next days we proved to be in the top 11. Now we just need to show it again, it's somewhere in the car. We're trying to find the sweet spot for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We have another day tomorrow. We're going to work hard overnight and should have a good day tomorrow."
NELSON PHILIPPE (No. 00 i drive green HVM Racing): "I'm just really uncomfortable with the car. I've never been so scared in my life. I think when the guys put the car back together - I think something is wrong. They already checked it out, but it feels like something is wrong. And if there is nothing wrong, then I guess I need to get my (act) together. It's just really frustrating. It's very hard. It's the first time in my life and in my racing career that I asked can I please get out of the car. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. The steering wheel is very light. It feels like I have power steering, which is really bad, because I don't know what the car is doing. And when I actually do feel the car, it's pointing too much, so the rear is getting loose. My fastest lap was 205, and I'm just scared to go faster than that."
BUDDY LAZIER (No. 91 Hemelgarn Johnson): "Today was an interesting day. Our first day was one of the slowest days I believe of the month just in terms of a slippery racetrack. I guess that is good and bad. It is good, because it helps us work on our race setup, but it is bad because we can't really see what we have got for speed. Hopefully the qualifying days will be fast."
MILKA DUNO (No. 23 CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing): "We continue to work on the car and make it better. We hoped to go a bit faster today, so I'm a little disappointed. We keep making a lot of changes, and we will try again for tomorrow, and hopefully we will be a little bit faster."
MIKE CONWAY (No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing): "It was good to be back at the circuit to see the guys and catch up. It was also good to have Davey (Hamilton) get a run in my car and make sure it's good to go for tomorrow if we are allowed out. I feel fine and back to normal now. For the last couple of days, I felt a bit sore and achy, but that's to be expected at that speed and impact. I'm raring to go now, so let me at it. I have to get the all clear tomorrow, and then I'll be ready to go."
TOWNSEND BELL (No. 8 Herbalife-KV Racing Technology): "It was a good day. The team's very strong, and we're happy to have the Herbalife car running pretty respectably on the first day. I'm really thrilled with the general balance that we have. People on this team are great, and that makes it really easy for me to do my job in the car. I think we're going to continue to improve. Things weren't all there, but mostly there, so we just have to continue to tweak it. I hope we can be the 23rd qualifier in terms of being the fastest of the guys left to get in. I think we've got the car to do it. I'm just keeping my head down right now, really just focused on the race setup, and we'll worry about qualifying as we get closer to that day."
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 21 Vision Racing): "It was another really frustrating day for the 21 team. We rolled out with the same settings on the 20 car in our backup car, the 21T. Ed (Carpenter) drove the car and confirmed some of the things that I had been reporting to the team. Then I drove the car, and I wasn't satisfied with how it was feeling given some technical issues. We threw a lot of big changes at it today, and those take time to implement, so that's why we only had 22 laps on the day when others were getting in 100 laps or more. The good news is at the end of the day we were able to do a full-throttle, 10-lap run, and the car handled it. We topped out at 218 mph, so we've got a speed gap there that we've got to close, but we'll back at it tomorrow to keep working on it."
ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 34 Rexall Edmonton Indy): "We were struggling all day. I don't know if we weren't chasing the track right. There was a lot of wind today. You feel like you're underestimating yourself or second-guessing yourself. Maybe it's a question of confidence. But we didn't have the stability in the back of the car to go around. Then at the end, we made a huge change on the setup, and bang. I had one lap where I did a 219, and that put us in 22nd place. The guys made a really nice change, and then all of the sudden the car went back to where it felt good for me."
STANTON BARRETT (No. 98 CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G Racing): (On practice): "Not too bad. We're just trying a bunch of different stuff with the car. We changed some things over the last three days - geometry, which took a whole different setup than what we running before. We're getting a lot more top speed out of it down the straightaways. The wind was affecting people, and the hot temperature today at the track, and the speeds were down for everybody, and we've seemed to maintain the speeds that we've been running. I think we've picked up a little bit. This morning was really bad from a steering standpoint. We made some good headway and are just trying to piece it together and get it back comfortable with this new geometry and pick some speed up. It's not too bad considering where people were running time-wise today. Just got to try and get a little bit better and try and make some longer runs and get the feeling better, and we'll see where we end up." (On where he stands in the next three days): "Just keep working on it. Work on setup and get stability and grip and speed. That's all we've been working on in different combinations. We spent the first week in one direction, and we switched that direction over. We had three days off, so we had to learn kind of what it takes. We made a lot of progress today. Just the same things. Try to stay patient and not try and do anything too quick or fast. Go in our steps. Do we have to speed it up a little bit and be a little more aggressive in our changes? We're taking the necessary steps. The guys see some real promise. They work really hard in the off days doing some aero stuff and reducing drag. It made a big difference. I've just got to get the handling back and better, and we'll look to setting a lap on Saturday."
