Kimball finishes 17th at Texas 550

FORT WORTH, Texas – Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing (NNCGR) driver Charlie Kimball finished 17th in Round 8 of the IZOD IndyCar Series in the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team showed strength early in the weekend when Kimball qualified eighth and marked the highest oval qualifying effort of his IZOD IndyCar Series career.

Charlie Kimball, Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Rolling off the grid from the outside of row four, Kimball advanced to seventh within the first of 228 laps before a caution was displayed on lap five.

During the nine-lap caution period, he would report that the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Honda felt good with exception of slight understeer in turns three and four. Following the restart, the No. 83 passed the No. 67 on lap 15 to nab the sixth spot.

The car seemed to go off a little from there as the majority of the field slid back due to lack of grip and loss of down force over the long runs on the 1.5-mile oval.

On lap 48, the team took to pit road from 12th position to make adjustments accordingly, taking tires, fuel and a turn of front wing. Shortly after on lap 54, a caution was displayed that caused several cars in the field (that made pit stops previous to the yellow) to fall a lap down, including the No. 83 in 16th.

On the restart, Kimball passed the race-leading No. 1 car to regain his spot on the lead lap and produced his fastest lap of the night. The NovoLog FlexPen car remained on the lead lap until lap 98 where several cars came to pit lane. Through the remainder of the race, the team worked on down force and tire strategy while running through the lapped cars.

With 29 laps remaining, Kimball came in for his final pit stop of the night from 15th and exited the pits 18th before a pass on the No. 7 took him to 17th three laps later. The team held 17th for the remaining laps until eventually crossing the finish line.

With the result in Round 8, Kimball moved from 10th to 11th in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings with 162 markers, -97 points behind leader Helio Castroneves.

Honda is second in the manufacturer point standings with 57 points, trailing Chevrolet with 63.

Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing