Q & A with Team Penske

PENSKE: Well, you know, he's been a fabulous tool, you know, in our toolbox from the standpoint as a driver. He met all those criteria almost on day one. Obviously I think the proof of his excellence is the fact that he could go through what he went through a year ago, you know, bounce back as he did, come back here and win the race. I think that he's gotten off to a good start. Obviously his experience here – it seems when he comes to Indy, there's a second light that goes on because I think he's got a lot of confidence and he's got a great engineer in Ron. And, to me, these other two guys want to win this race, too. I don't want to take anything away from them. If he could win his fourth, I think that we will certainly be sure we have a car for him to try for his fifth.

Q: Helio and the other drivers as well, given the short week of practice, the new format and all that sort of thing, would each of you address your mindset as you get ready to compete tomorrow perhaps for the pole for whatever the best finish is going to be? What are you thinking about?

CASTRONEVES: Certainly, you always want to have a little bit more time as a driver, you want to go out there and maybe you should do a little bit more and maybe do a little bit here and there. But at the end of the day, thank God, the incredible team of engineers that we have and the entire team, when the car came out of the truck, the car was pretty much well set up. We seem to go into it starting with a great situation. But, again, we are still going to continue. We feel that we prepare – it's going to be new, this format, new to everybody, you know. I just am going to go and drive. Whatever this guy tells me to do, I'll go for it. I'll be prepared, and I'm sure Ryan and Will, we all prepare here. So we have three cars that have a chance to be on the pole position.

But, again, we can't take just for granted that we know Ganassi, Andretti and possibly even other teams, new teams might as well take a chance. So we've got to be ready for any unexpected situation. We've got to be ready and I think this team is well prepared for that.

BRISCOE: You know, I've really enjoyed the new format so far this week. I've never had so many consecutive days in the racecar at the track. So it's been really good. I think we've really planned it out well and done a lot of race work when we've needed to. I think we've here and there tasted what we've got for qualifying, not really found the limits yet at all, but I think we're in a really good position as we're moving forward toward Pole Day, and really our last sort of practice day before the race, I think we're prepared well and I'm real excited about it.

I think the Team Penske cars are as strong as we've ever been here. It's a huge opportunity for me to get my first, for him to get his fourth. We're all feeling really confident at the moment.

POWER: Yeah, I've felt really comfortable all week, hardly changed the car. I think that's the advantage of having three cars, you know – each of you can try something different and all come together at the end for the ultimate setup. So, I'm real confident. I wouldn't care if we didn't run at all today and went straight into qualifying, you know, my car feels that good. So I'm looking forward to the new format tomorrow. It's not a big change for me because I've never really been in the position to challenge for pole. So I think it will be exciting for the fans.

Q: Helio, you made that incredible pole run in the wind several years ago. What is the pressure tomorrow where you may have to do it twice within maybe 45 minutes or something?

CASTRONEVES: I just hope the wind is not the same as that year. I would not be able to do it twice. You've got to feel the car, you've got to know what you have. But in the same way, we've got to watch our competitors. We don't want to take an unnecessary chance just to do it.

But in my view, as long as it would be well explained to the fans and everybody, it will be very exciting. You not only have to make once statement, but you've got to make twice, and that's tough to do it. As Rick was saying, you're always trying to find the limit, but you've got to make sure that you're all completely four laps, too. We're here, you do what you've got to do, and we're ready.

Q: Ryan and for Will, when you both come to Indianapolis, I mean when you have all these legends and their accomplishments that they've done, do you just kind of sit back and try to absorb everything that goes on that they've done here and try to apply that to what you want to accomplish?

POWER: Yeah, I mean you just lean on them, get some information. You know, it's great to have those guys around. It really helps. They've got so much experience and they know how to win this race and be on pole and all the little details that count. I think that's a big advantage in this team is having those guys.

BRISCOE: I think that's absolutely right. You know, it's easy to come here and sometimes you think you know more and you have lots of ideas, but it's best to sit back and listen to the pros and just absorb and try to keep learning because it is a huge learning curve, this track, you know, what goes into it, the preparation and all of that. You're always learning so much and the best thing you can do is it absorb it all and go out and be ready to go fast when the time comes.