Live From Trackside - Fontana

Saturday, Sept. 15
11:00 p.m.
It’s nice to finish out 2012 with a top-10 for the whole Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew. They deserved better than that tonight. We had a much better car but I made a mistake in the pits and it took me too long to figure it out early in the race, but I know that the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car is going to come back stronger next year. We got this figured out. We’re ready to go figure out the rest of our short-comings. We’ll be stronger next year, and more importantly, faster.

500 miles of racing... a good way to finish off the season.

Visting the Novo Nordisk FlexPen Tunnel in the afternoon.

What does a helmet look like after 500 miles? Like this!

Friday, Sept. 14
7:30 p.m.
It's hot... No other way to describe today! It made for a long day but I think we made some progress on track, so I can't complain.

I’m pretty happy with the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car. It was pretty quick. Especially when the sun goes down, that’s what will really matter. With a 500-mile race, you can go front-to-back a few times, so it’s more about the racecar than it is qualifying here. The temperature is going to be so different for the race. When the sun goes down, it can drop 10 to 15 degrees and that’s going to be a factor in tomorrow’s race.

For now, I'm headed off to dinner with some Cali friends. We have a huge group coming out to the race tomorrow (more than 90 friends and family!)... Looking forward to putting on a good show for everyone. 

The 2012 Honda drivers.

Practice pit stop for the No. 83 crew.

Thursday, Sept. 13
3 p.m.
Well, it's here... the last race weekend of the 2012 IndyCar season. I'm looking forward to showing what we can do with the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car here at Fontana, and hopefully we'll finish off the season on a high note! Make sure you come by the Novo Nordisk FlexPen Tunnel on Saturday if you're at the track!

I started out the day with a Twitter chat with fans via @NBCSN (NBC Sports Network). Check out a recap here. Through @racewithinsulin, I'll be their "Twitter reporter" for the race weekend at Fontana (@ACSupdates)... providing a "behind-the-scenes" look at the INDYCAR World Championships. Be sure to follow to see some fun pics and video!

Here's a quick run-down of this weekend's schedule (all times local/Pacific). As always, live timing and scoring for all sessions is available here.

Friday:
10:45 am-12:15 pm  Practice
2:15-3:45 pm  Qualifying
5:45-6:30 pm  Practice

Saturday:
1:45 pm  Appearance at the Novo Nordisk FlexPen Tunnel (in the INDYCAR Fan Village)
2:30-3:30 pm  IndyCar Autograph Session (in the INDYCAR Fan Village)
4:30 pm  NBC Sports Network coverage begins (local listings here)
5:45 pm  "Drivers, start your engines!"