A total of nine Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 powered drivers qualified for tomorrow night’s 248-lap DXC Technology 600 for the NTT IndyCar Series at Texas Motor Speedway.
Simon Pagenaud, winner of he 2019 Indianapolis 500, led the way for Team Chevy posting a two-lap time of 47.0738 seconds/220.250 mph average speed. He will roll off fifth behind the wheel of his No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet.
Spencer Pigot, No. 21 AutoGeek Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, qualified for the sixth starting position
Current point’s leader Josef Newgarden qualified seventh in the No. 2 Fitzgerald USA Team Penske Chevrolet.
Takuma Sato was the pole winner.
NBCSN will telecast the 248-lap race live at 8 p.m. The race will also be broadcast on the NBC Sports Gold INDYCAR Pass, NBCSports.com, INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com, the INDYCAR Mobile app, Sirius 113 and XM 209.
DRIVER QUOTES:
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: “It’s a lot of fun driving at Texas in the DXC Technology Chevy. It’s the highest bank that we see all season long and that’s pure racing. I’ve learned to love it and I think that’s the key there. I enjoy being here, I enjoy driving around this track. You really have to constantly be thinking and constantly be ahead of the tools and the racecar. The car changes balance a lot through the runs and it’s physical, too so it’s everything that I like.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 AUTOGEEK ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 6TH: “It was a decent run! There was a little bit of discrepancy between our two laps, the consistency wasn’t quite where we want it. Overall, we are going to start pretty high up so great job to everyone at Ed Carpenter Racing and Chevrolet for giving me a good car. Hopefully this translates well for tomorrow!”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 FITZGERALD USA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH: “It was an alright day. Not enough speed today. It seemed like once it came time to go fast, we were a little short. The car feels great though and I think we’re going to have a great racecar. The Chevy engine feels awesome in the pack and it’s fun to have Fitzgerald USA back. Hopefully we’ll have a great race for these guys this weekend. I feel confident and I think we’re going to have a great racecar for tomorrow night.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 13TH: “The balance of my car was good, the car felt really good and I was flat. My car was just not very quick for some reason. That run should have been much higher up based on what other guy’s trim levels were and the way the car drove. I am a little confused at the moment, but I’ve struggled here in qualifying before and got to the front, so that’s what we will do tomorrow night!”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVDXC ROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: “The car had a bit of understeer; it was a bit of everything. I tried to go in late but unfortunately the front didn’t work the way I wanted it to, and had a little moment early on during my first lap so I was lacking some confidence for the second. We have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow but we know we have a plan in place to make the Verizon Chevy really strong for the race.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO.23 FLASP CARLIN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17TH: “It was a pretty solid run for the No. 23 FIasp® Carlin Chevrolet. Honestly the car was pretty good when we rolled off the truck yesterday and we were glad to at least get that one run in last night in that truncated session. We worked a lot on our race car today in that first practice, but we really didn’t focus on qualifying much. Going early in qualifying is always tough, especially after that truck qualifying before us, but we’re happy with our qualifying run. The car really feels pretty good and like I said we’re happy with our qualifying, but at the end of the day we’re ready for the race tomorrow night and confident in our race car.”
CONOR DALY, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 19TH: “We tried to trim out a little bit, but to be completely honest with you, I just can’t feel the rear of this car at all and that’s hard. You know it’s just a process and we’ve really only had about an hour to work through everything. It’s just a completely different way that the car feels than what I’m used to, but sometimes different teams work in different ways and there’s nothing wrong with it – it’s just different. The Carlin guys have been great and it’s been very cool to be in the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet this weekend, we just have some work to do. Obviously Charlie can make it work and this is a car that’s he’s comfortable in, but for my driving style it’s just been really difficult to get used to. We’re just going to try and use the race tomorrow night as an extended test session to figure out more things that are better suited for my driving style.”
MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 20TH: “Tough day here at the track to be honest. This place is very intimidating and when you don’t feel very comfortable in the car, it’s just harder and harder and harder. We’ve been struggling since practice and now qualifying was not very good. I’m just a little bit frustrated. We want to do good at this place and do good in front of the home crowd so we’ll work to have a better car for the race.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 22ND: “The car just wouldn’t turn and shot up the track which ended with me brushing the wall. We need to go back and look at the data to find out what happened. Tomorrow will be a long night for us if we don’t get this figured out for the race.”
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