Dixon posts historic last-to-first run to victory at Mid-Ohio

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): “Man I hate it for all the guys on the No. 3 Hitachi Chevy team. At first, I thought the throttle issue was a quick fix because as soon as they started the car for ‘gentlemen, start your engines’ I knew there was something wrong. Then, during the parade laps, I noticed that it was stuck. That could be a big problem and cause a big crash. When we came back down pit road we figured out it was a bigger problem. There was just a bit of a mistake in our fuel mapping. It was a tough race, knowing that I was on a lap by myself the entire time. We will just to rebound from this. We might have been knocked down but we will get back up. On to Milwaukee!”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): “That start was pretty crazy. Going down into Turn 4 there, it was like the seas parted in front of me. I felt bad for the guys that got involved in that wreck, but it allowed us to get up there a little bit. The car was really fast, we were running off some really good lap times there. We got caught behind a couple of guys. At some point we might have been able to pick one more spot up. I’m really proud of the United Fiber & Data guys. Great in the pits. Awesome car. Fun driving with Sebastien (Bourdais) there in the end. Obviously, big congrats to (Scott) Dixon. I don’t know why they don’t just give him the trophy when we get here on Thursday. Good job to those guys.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): “Today’s crash was just a victim of being in the back. Obviously there was a lot of carnage, but as soon as, I think it was Hinchcliffe, in front of me made an evasive move, I was right on top of Tony (Kanaan) and I didn’t know he was backwards. I could have used a spotter there, that would have helped. That’s what happens when you qualify back there. I need to improve on that.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “It was one of those days we really needed to capitalize. I don’t know what happened with the pit lane speed situation. I don’t know if I double clicked the button or what, but I hit it the first time and we ended up violating the pit lane speed. We had to come through for a penalty and that put us back in the field. I had a spin there. We recovered from that to put the DHL car in 10th, narrowed the points margin to the points leader, but not enough. We’ll have to get pretty creative here the rest of the year.”

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda): “I think it’s a great finish since that first corner when Tony (Kanaan) spun around. I lost a lot of positions. We got them back, but we ended up losing the third position in our last pit stop. I’m really happy with the Cinsay car – it was really fast out there, so I’m happy with fourth. Last year I also finished fourth, in Indy Lights, now I’ve finished fourth in IndyCar and it’s great points for the championship and for my rookie championship. Three more races until the season is finished and each time I’m more and more comfortable.”

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “We started eighth and shuffled our way back to 15th. In Turn 1 there was a crash and I managed to avoid it all, but the whole field passed me while I was avoiding it. I had to use a little grass. It was just the typical wrong place, wrong time again. Then we tried to get off sequence so we could get some clear track and run fast and a couple of cars jumped out ahead of me. We seemed to really struggle in traffic so after a couple of laps I ran off my tires and lost some pace again. It was just a tough day. We gambled on the last pit stop trying to pit early and pray for a yellow, which never came. It was very tough. We were going so slow trying to save fuel that the brakes were cold. There were a couple of times when I went to use the brakes and nearly crashed it because there was nothing there – the brakes were just stone cold. It’s frustrating. I understand the strategy that we were trying to do, but it’s just a frustrating end to what had been a good weekend.”

MIKE CONWAY (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “I got a good start, but I was forced to the outside with the crash there. I had to avoid it and went on the grass and when I came back on the track I think I tagged the back of Ryan Briscoe. That bent the front wing. So we struggled with that most of the race. We kept adding front wing to see if it would help. It was hard to tell how the strategies were playing out and I was just pushing hard to the end. It was a tough day as it can be at Mid-Ohio. It was hard to move forward throughout the day. The first stint the track just didn’t have much grip at all and that made it hard. We tried the black Firestone tires to see if things would improve. But it was much better. Now we just have to gear up for the Sonoma track later this month. It’s a track I really like.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 8 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “It feels good to get back up there with a top 10 result after a few disappointing finishes and I couldn’t be happier for Dixie and the Team Target guys. We had some issues early in the race with the front wing after the incident with Tony and Marco on the first lap and we decided to stay out on the damaged wing for a while longer. We finally came in and changed it and then worked really hard to move through the field from the back. The No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet made some awesome passes to get up there and the team did a great job getting me back out there after the wing change. I still think NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing is knocking on the door of a win, so we’ll keep our heads down and get ready for Milwaukee.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet): “Today was a great day for Chip Ganassi Racing and a huge congratulations to Dixon and the No. 9 Team Target crew for getting the first win of the season for the team. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys fought hard all day and came through to get a solid top-10 finish from starting 20th. So much credit for this seventh place finish has to go to the crew of the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet in pit lane. They got me spot on every stop and I just had to go out and go fast. I’m looking forward to our test in Sonoma next week and then the race in a few weekends in Milwaukee.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 Glad Chevrolet): “I went on the inside of Newgarden and it was really tight for both of us and I don’t know if he saw me or not. I was all the way alongside him and then toward the middle of the corner he was actually a little bit ahead, so there was contact there and he touched my front wheel and I spun. I was in a tough position there. Marco didn’t see me unfortunately and I feel bad for Marco, and I feel bad for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing boys. We had such a great streak of podiums and this was going to be a great race but it’s just one of those things.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 17 Automatic Fire Sprinklers KV AFS Chevrolet): “We couldn’t catch a break. We’re still trying to figure out what happened. We haven’t slept trying to put (this thing) together. Unfortunately it was not our day.”

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