“It’s such a tough race to win. Track position has gotten to the point where it’s everything at Indianapolis. Indy just isn’t what it used to be in 2004 and 2005, even in 2006. I came from the back in 2004 and during the last half of the race you could actually pass pretty easy when you had a good car. You could run the outside lane or the inside. Now you have about two inches and if you miss those two inches in the center of the corner, you really have to be watching behind yourself because you’re probably going to get passed. It’s still a race I really want to win because it has so much history and it’s how I got all of my racing going. I watched all of the races there for Formula 1, IndyCar and NASCAR and I also raced all around the Indy area for three straight years.
Kasey Kahne on racing at Indianapolis
“I haven’t had a whole lot of success there at all really in anything from XFINITY races that I ran to the last two Cup races. Just haven’t been very sporty. It’s a tough place. We had a good test there last year and went back and didn’t really see any of that same success. Jimmie (Johnson) tested there this year, so hopefully he learned some good things that we can take back.”
Chase Elliott on racing at Indianapolis
“Indy no doubt is a special track. It would be so special to get a fifth win there. That track has shown me the high of highs and the low of lows in my career. We tested there in April and it was a challenging test session. The cars will be very loose into the corner. I feel like we were the best car at the test session so I hope when we unload on Saturday it's an advantage for this Lowe’s team.”
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Indianapolis
“We have to win, so we have to gamble when we can. That (last weekend’s race at New Hampshire) is not the last time you’re going to see that kind of gamble from us before the playoffs. We’re going to Indy this weekend and that’s what we’re working on in the simulator this week. This is not a long-run sport anymore, so you have to have that early speed to be able to get anything done and get up through the field. You’re not going to get those long green-flag runs to take advantage of a long-run car.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on No. 88 team strategy heading into Indianapolis