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Qualifying report

Top 10 drivers quotes from qualifying at the Iowa Speedway

Qualifying Saturday for the Iowa Corn 300 Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway

Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet

Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet

IndyCar Series

Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Race winner Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

1 – Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet) 185.855 Mph: "That's pretty cool isn't it. 500 [poles for Penske Racing]- how cool is that.  It is just qualifying and we still have a lot of work to do this weekend but it certainly is a great stamp on the work the No. 22 team has been doing, as well as the whole Penske organization. We work, all four of us together, with Helio (Castroneves), Juan (Pablo Montoya) and Will (Power) makes it really nice to go to work in the morning. We manage to make the car better together and it shows on the race track.  Super proud of everyone with the Menards team. It is fantastic to accomplish success this year. But again, this is qualifying and the big prize is tomorrow when the points come. It is such a gamble for the engineers in this situation. You only get two laps. Conditions from this morning to the afternoon changed. It is fun.When you get the car right like this on an oval. This Menards car is beautiful. It has been super close all weekend.

Super proud of the No. 22 team. Chevy has been incredible giving us so much power and such a good aero kit it's been comfortable and a lot more to my driving style. The biggest statement we want to show is we are strong on ovals as well and want to win. I'm super happy about that. I'm super happy we can show some speed. We were fast at Indy as well, but a mechanical took us out of that.  It's great to be here. It is great to show so much strength. I'm the lucky one who got to win the 500th pole for Team Penske; a Frenchman and on an oval."

2 – Josef Newgarden (No. 21 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet) 185.639: "You always wish you had a little more when you're sitting second! That's the beauty of hindsight. We did everything we could with our information. It was tough because I didn't get to test, but J.R.(Hildebrand) did such a great job for us last week at the test. He got the car in an awesome place, we just missed it by a whisker there. We have a great racecar and we really have an opportunity to make something happen. We've had two good races here over the past couple of years, I think we've got another shot to get a win this time."

3 – Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) 185.433: "The Hitachi Chevrolet is really good. We're talking about a few hundredths of a second and when you have incredible teammates and we're all going out right in a row, whoever goes last is probably going to get the best end of it. Simon did a good job. The 500th pole for Team Penske. I'm proud to be part of this team. I'm happy for him getting the pole position. Now tomorrow I'm going to go for the race win."

4 – Max Chilton (No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) 185.419: "The Gallagher car was really strong today. It was loose, probably too loose, but when I qualified here last year on the pole in Indy Lights I was too loose. I think that's the just the way it is around here. You have to be on the limit, especially in qualifying. I think in the race you need a car that you're confident with, but in qualifying you just have to go for it."

5 – Charlie Kimball (No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet) 184.489: "It was reasonably slippery out there. I was surprised at how low grip it actually was, but the No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet felt pretty good regardless. The first couple of laps it was pretty free and I was sliding a lot, but I made some adjustments to my tools and took a really big swing at it and had to pedal it a bit. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys started this morning with a good car after learning a lot from Max after his test here last week and Scott's tire test early in the year. I haven't seen this place since last year, but it's probably a good thing with how the bumps have changed. We're happy with the fifth-place starting spot and ready to do some work on the race car in tonight's practice."

6 – Tony Kanaan (No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet) 184.430: "It's safe to say that I left everything I had out on the track for that qualifying run. The car felt really loose and honestly it felt like I was close to crashing a few times, but we'll take a sixth-place starting spot for the race tomorrow. This track really suits me and I came from much further back when I won here in 2010. The No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet's race setup is really strong and I'm feeling confident in the race car."

7 – Ed Carpenter (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet) 184.339: "I'm a little disappointed, to be honest! I thought we were going to be a little bit better than that. We had a little too much balance in there. I was hoping for a top-five starting spot, but we've just had a rough year. We had a great car this morning in our long runs, which is really good. I just came out here thinking we were going to be a little better than 7th."

8 – Will Power(No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) 183.984: "For qualifying, we wanted to be a little conservative and the goal was to just be up in the front.  We didn't qualify quite where we would have liked.  The track can be quite slippery here and that can have an effect. But I'm feeling good about the Verizon Chevy and we'll just work on what we need for tomorrow's race to finish out strong."

9 – Mikhail Aleshin (No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Honda 182.754: "I think we had a decent qualifying run and I'm happy to be the fastest Honda. Top ten is a good position to start tomorrow in the SMP Racing car and the race is very long. It's going to be very difficult and it's hard to say what to expect but I think we'll be okay."

10 – Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) 182.647: "Going to the green flag lap I had a bit of a moment and nearly lost it. I had to downshift and that really hurt our momentum. I was a little bit timid after that, but we have a good Target car and will be ready for the race come tomorrow here at Iowa."

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