Power takes opening round of 2014 Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “It’s a great result for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team did a great in the pits and calling the strategy. They really gave me the opportunity to get it done out there on the track. The last few laps were definitely a bit frantic, but it was great to come away from the first race of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit with a ninth place finish. We learned a lot in today’s race and our momentum should be really strong going into the second race tomorrow.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “I guess we never really ended up in the right position. It was just one of those days for the Target team unfortunately. We had a decent car but that long yellow toward the end of the race just killed us. I’m not sure why it took so long to get back to green. At the end my tires were falling off really bad so we had to pit for tires just to have a chance. We’ll talk about it tonight and be ready for qualifying tomorrow.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 17 KV AFS Racing Chevrolet): “It was a disappointing result to be honest. The race was long with a lot of battles and apart from when we were on reds, the KV AFS car was strong. Unfortunately we had to save a lot of fuel and eventually ran out on the last lap which cost us three positions. We need to move on and focus on tomorrow and lets hope for a good result tomorrow.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): “The car was handling good, it just became a fuel race. I wanted to be turned loose so bad because we had the pace when we were able to go, but the (Firestone) Reds were tough, the (Firestone) Blacks were okay. I feel bad what happened with Ryan at the end – I’m not really even sure what happened – I hope he knew I was saving fuel, I couldn’t brake any deeper or I would have ran out of fuel.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): “The car was great. The guys did an awesome job in the pit stops – we just didn’t have the cautions fall our way. At the end of the day, Helio (Castroneves) and I were on the same strategy. In my mind, that was the race for the win. If it had gone green, or if the yellows had fallen a bit differently, that was the guy we were racing. We definitely had a top three car….we just didn’t have the luck of the yellows to capitalize on it. Again, we take comfort in the fact that the car was quick. The United Fiber & Data guys did a great job in the stops, and we’ll try to come back stronger tomorrow.”

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda): “We finished the race seventh; I think it was great points for the championship especially after we had to come in to change the front wing. I think I improved a lot, line-wise, too. Hopefully we’ll have better luck with the yellow flags and the safety cars during Race Two. I’m really happy with the good points, especially with the rookie championship, so tomorrow is another day.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Hartman Oil/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): “It’s my fault really I just messed up. I locked up the rear brakes and I couldn’t catch the thing into the corner. It caught me off guard I didn’t lock up before that and then all the sudden I got a big one from the rear side and I was sliding all the way through the corner. It’s on me it’s a silly mistake that cost us today. We had a great car and were doing a great job. We didn’t really have any complications so days like that you want to finish strong and do a good job overall. I feel like I let everyone down, I feel bad for everyone on our team. They’ve done a great job this weekend, especially coming off of Indy with the long stretch that they’ve had. They’ve been working flat out. I hope we have a good day tomorrow. We get another chance to qualify and race so hopefully we can do a better job there and I’ll try and do better for the boys.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “We had a rough day overall. Strategy wasn’t working for us and we kept losing spots on pit lane, losing spots on track.. and it was just a tough day. At the end, I’m not really sure what happened. Marco (Andretti) seemed to be struggling on fuel and I got inside of him and just lost the rear of the car.”

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “Great strategy by the team. We just had to be quick where we needed to be, save fuel when we needed to save fuel. Tough day. But you’ve got to play it how you’ve got to play it. From 19th to 4th, something was going on in that race. We were up and back and then up and back. The guys did great pit stops. We did quite a few of them. That gives us something to work with and we’ll come back tomorrow and try and qualify a little bit better and start close to the front.”

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): “Really tough race today. In the early part of the race we had an issue with the drivetrain so we had to replace the gearbox, fortunately we were able to fix it but we lost four laps. We used it as a test session because we have tomorrow’s race. The car was pretty good in quite limited circumstances. On the primary tire, the car worked well especially when the track rubbered up in the middle part of the race. At one stage the car came altogether and it was pretty strong so that was encouraging. We still have some work to do.”