IndyCar Media Conference
Friday May 25, 2018
Scott Dixon and No. 9 Pit Crew
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Maybe the second biggest day of the year for the crews, of course the big one coming on Sunday, but we have the winning team here from Ganassi Racing.
Scott Dixon, just from a procedural standpoint, how do you think the three runs went, what a great crew means on race day?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for the drivers is just try not to screw it up for these guys. A lot on the line, this team and many others work very hard on these pit stops. For me, I'm able to get the benefits in the race throughout all these weekends that we come across during the season. They put in a big effort. They're a hugely talented crew, work effortlessly throughout the season.
I'm always grateful for what they're able to achieve. For me, yeah, I think I went long on maybe two of those stops there. It's hard, especially going from the left lane to the right lane, wasn't too sure how it was going to be. They still did the job.
It's a big deal to show just how much of a team sport this is. It's never just one single person. It's many trying to achieve the same objective. Some days I'm able to make a couple passes on track, but most of the time these guys are able to make it a lot easier for me and the team by gaining places in these pit stops.
It's a good leadup for the weekend. I think it's cool obviously to have this pit stop competition. I think a big thank you to Rocket who puts a lot of effort into raising the funds for this and the prizes for these guys that work so hard. Put on a great show for the crowd.
THE MODERATOR: Kevin Blanch, Blair Julian, Kyle Clark, Mike Le Gallic, Jason Beck, Dave Peña on the air jack.
Do you want to speak to any trouble spots today, things you're worried about or addressing as a group for the race? What are the important parts for the race? Tell me how you're preparing.
JASON BECK: Biggest thing we to best, we're not always the quickest, but most consistent. Last year we won seven of the pit stop awards during races, more on consistency than it was just trying to be outright fast all the time. I think we constantly make spots up in the pits nine out of ten times. We've had a few issues here and there.
THE MODERATOR: Can one of you speak to the pressure of the last pit stop, how important that is.
BLAIR JULIAN: I think every pit stop is about the same amount of pressure. Obviously the last one is sort of ramped up a little bit. I think we've all been doing it enough time we can do it. Try to make it clean and get out.
Q. With the repavement of the pit lane itself, does that change your strategy coming in, coming out?
SCOTT DIXON: It's only really just added some growth. To go back to the pit stop competition, I think it was a nice job they did of trying to even that out. Normally when you get to the finals, you're in the right lane, you're going to be out to lunch, being second to all the other teams. It's nice to have those two big shootouts beforehand, then get lane choice from that. Credit for them changing that up.
But yeah, I don't think it's going to make too much of a difference to be honest. It's a little more grippier than what we had last year. The Speedway always does a phenomenal job of the upkeep of this place.
THE MODERATOR: Let's tell how long you've been with Ganassi, how long you've been with Scott's car.
JASON BECK: I've been at Ganassi my fifth-year, with Scott all five of those years.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is my sixth year, and I've been on Scott's car for two years.
DAVE PENA: This is my 16th year, and I've been with Scott on and off since 2003. I think I have worked on everybody's car at Ganassi at one point or another.
UNIDENTIFIEDSPEAKER: This is my ninth year, my second year on Scott's car.
BLAIR JULIAN: I've been at Ganassi for 16 years. With Scott for 20 years.
Q. How many teammates have you had?
SCOTT DIXON: I have no idea. That's a very good question. Quite a few. Quite a few. Especially in the early days, it was a bit of a revolving door going on for a while.
Chip is a lot nicer now, gives you a little more time to get settled in.
Q. Any good Dan Wheldon stories?
SCOTT DIXON: Probably not that I can talk of. There's plenty of good Wheldon stories. Everybody has quite a few, I think. Yeah, just a hell of a guy. Lots of fun times I had with him.
Q. We know in NASCAR we've seen a lot of problems with the guns. Tell us a little bit about what you feel in terms of confidence in your equipment here compared to the problems NASCAR has been having with their guns.
BLAIR JULIAN: Fortunately we don't have to deal with a lot of those issues. We have a group of guys back at the shop that spend a lot of time on getting these guns up to spec, tune them up regularly, engineering staff that do a lot of development. Pretty lucky to have a lot of support from Chip to provide those tools to make everything carefree.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Get some money and some prizes, so forth. A big congratulations to all of you. The important first step moving into the Indy 500. Not necessarily a guarantee, but great that you're consistent. Let's win a race now.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #2 by #392 at 2018-05-25 19:52:00 GMT
