Overall, I'm really happy. The guys on the team did a great job and they stuck with me through the learning process. |
Racing in Canada would be so much fun. |
The race is going to be competitive, ... It's a long race, you've got to be there at the end. But when you start up front, it's a different game. It's a lot more fun, I'll tell you. |
They taught me a lot of stuff and I had a great season with those guys. And they understood racing a lot, actually a lot more than a lot of guys I know. |
This is one of the nicest tracks I've ever been on, but I'm definitely still learning it. The chicane and carousel turns are tricky. It's a high-speed track with banking that helps sustain momentum. The race should be a fun one, with passing on the uphill backstretch. It's long and with drafting, it'll lead to some passing or a chance to take advantage of those making mistakes. We were pretty happy with what we were able to accomplish last week at the test, but I think we can definitely still improve. |
Toyota has really improved the performance of their engine lately, ... For the first time this year, I could keep up with the leaders without relying on race cautions to maintain contact with them. We are still lacking a bit of power to go for the win on a regular basis, but we are getting there. Toyota is really working hard to catch up to Honda. We are going to Watkins Glen next week for a day of testing in order to be more competitive for the penultimate race of the 2005 season. |
We had a car that was much better than a tenth place finish. Overall the weekend has been great. We had gear shifting problems the entire race. It was a lot of work, and it got a lot worse just before that last yellow. It was not going into fifth gear. I just couldn't hold on to that fourth place once all the cars were packed together. But, I am happy. You look and see where we are coming from and where we are going. There were four of five guys at the front that were clearly leading the field today and we were a part of that. So, overall it's not that bad. |
We really struggled to find a consistent car today. Some of that might be due to the weather, but we face a challenge finding that consistency. |