What if I said you can get a sneak-peek of the 2013 IndyCar Series' season finale? If you're in the LA area, come out and watch the test day at Auto Club Speedway tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 24! The test day is free and open to the public. It looks like we'll have great weather for the test... I'm not exactly endorsing a work "skip day" but if you happen to call in sick, sunshine and the roar of engines might do you some good! Click here for details.
I'm really looking forward to getting back in the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car for some left turns on the track, especially after the recent break and a month or so since our last oval. We had a really fast car in Fontana last year so I think with a year of development and this testing under our belts, we'll be in good shape when we return again next month.
Check out a virtual lap of Auto Club Speedway below, and be sure to follow @ACSupdates, @IndyCar and @RaceWithInsulin on Twitter for updates!
It's that time of year again... INDYCAR Nation (INDYCAR's official fan community) is asking you to vote for your favorite IndyCar driver of 2013! Out of those who vote, INDYCAR Nation will choose 10 winners to receive autographed hero cards from the top three drivers in this year’s vote, as well as one winner to receive a complimentary Champion membership.
I happen to know one recent IndyCar race winner who'd appreciate your vote... hint hint: he likes to wear orange at the track (OK, it's me)!
Voting is open through October 7. CLICK HERE to vote today!
I think that was harder work than the Indianapolis 500! Nice to come out of this race in sixth place. A lot of credit goes to the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen team... we just kept digging deep. We would get caught up in other incidents, then get clear and have to fight our way back. And, they did. They just kept giving me the right information and giving me the right calls on pit stops. When it came down to it, we had the speed and had the control. We’ll figure out how to get it better for next year because we had the car; there’s just a couple other things we have to clean up before we’re at the podium. But overall, a good battling day for the No. 83 team!
Now I'm running off to hopefully make a flight home to Indy tonight... Thanks for the support this weekend!
11:30 a.m.
Happy first day of September... and it's race day! We had a decent warm up session earlier. It's always a good time to re-establish some confidence in the car, as well as a bit of sanity after a night to think about (over and over again!) what you can do better.
It should be a really interesting race later today... there are just so many factors in place here in Baltimore, from the chicane to the heat to the overall unique layout of the track. It's like no other track for sure.
Tune in to the Grand Prix of Baltimore at 2 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN! And keep following me on Twitter @racewithinsulin for on-track updates from my Pit Lane Reporter.
Ready to go for warm up.
Practice pit stop for the No. 83 crew.
Saturday, Aug. 31 1:50 p.m.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with a top-10 qualifying position. It’s the third time in a row that we have started a race from within the top-10, which is something we really focused on heading into this season. We were pretty happy with the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car. We made big improvements through the night. We saved a couple sets of alternate tires for tomorrow and we’ll be ready to go racing from ninth position. If the weather does something different, we’ll appreciate having those extra sets of tires. A lot of credit to the No. 83 crew because the car wasn’t the greatest yesterday but we made some big steps overnight.
I'm having a quick lunch then headed to the INDYCAR Fan Village for the autograph session at 2:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!
Getting set for qualifying.
11:20 a.m.
We made progress during morning practice and had a pretty good session. We're more confident after practice than yesterday afternoon and made a couple of steps in the right direction. We'll work hard for a few tenths in a couple of places and hopefully make the top-10 in qualifying again.
Engineers getting set before practice. (Via @CGRTeams)
Morning practice.
Friday, Aug. 30 3:45 p.m.
Overall, we went through quite a few changes during practice today. It was a clean day for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car but we’ll look at things overnight. It’s nice to have teammates; we’ll look at their lap times for comparison. We’ll figure out where we need to get better for tomorrow and be ready for qualifying.
Earlier this afternoon I met a local robotics team... super impressive work by high schoolers! Thanks to Honda HPD for setting it up. Tonight I'm laying low and getting some rest. Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!
Morning practice.
Making adjustments to the No. 83.
Heading back out on track for afternoon practice.
Thursday, Aug. 29 3:15 p.m.
Hello from Baltimore! I've been busy spending some time with my engineers and team today, looking at data and videos from last year to see what we can learn before we get on track tomorrow. We'll see how the weather plays a factor this weekend, too. Could be an interesting race!
Here's a schedule for the race weekend (all times Eastern): Friday, Aug. 30
10:10-10:55 a.m. Practice
2:30-3:15 p.m. Practice Saturday, Aug. 31
9:05-9:50 a.m. Practice
12:00-1:10 p.m. Qualifying (broadcast on NBCSN at 6 p.m.)
2:30-3:30 p.m. Autograph Session (in the INDYCAR Fan Village) Sunday, Sept. 1
10:15-10:45 a.m. Warm Up
2:00 p.m. Grand Prix of Baltimore (live on NBCSN) Check timing and scoring for all on-track sessions here.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@racewithinsulin) for updates from my Pit Lane Reporter!
Wednesday, Aug. 28 3:00 p.m.
Yes, my race weekend is starting a bit early! I'm headed to Baltimore in a couple of hours for some early-morning media appearances tomorrow. I'll be live on FOX 45 at about 8:50 a.m. ET and live on 105.7 The Fan's Vinny & Bob radio show at 10:20 a.m. ET on Thursday. Tune in if you're in the area!
I'm looking forward to getting back on track in Baltimore this weekend. Last year the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team had a really good race there. The streets of Baltimore and the Baltimore Grand Prix always put on a great event and the fans are fantastic. It's nice to be able to run downtown in such an incredible metropolis. It's a great opportunity for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car and the whole team to bounce back from a tough result at Sonoma Raceway. I think we had a very good performance but not the result we wanted as a team. We're looking forward to getting back at it, and hopefully doing anything we can to help Scott Dixon in his championship fight, as well as Honda in their manufacturers' championship quest.
Click on the video below to preview a lap of the Baltimore circuit!
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