Fort Worth, TX (August 27, 2016) – Dale Coyne Racing and Gabby Chaves were back in action on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway for the completion of the Firestone 600, after an 11-week postponement.
While the first 71 laps of the day race in June was promising for the 19 car of Chaves, the night conditions were a different story.
The Colombian started strong in the opening stages of his first stint of the night, running in the top six, where he started the 248 lap event. However, he then had to deal with a loose car and would fall to 16th in the running order following his first stop.
Chaves had the possibility of gaining spots after his final stop of the night under green but other drivers on the same lap as him took advantage of a caution period to make their last stop and took away any hope of possibly finishing in the Top 10.
The driver of the #19 Boy Scouts of America car went on to take the checkered flag in 14th following a caution filled final 35 laps.
Dale Coyne Racing’s Conor Daly didn’t start of the continuation of the race on Saturday per IndyCar rules, after having crashed out of the race when it first started in June.
The Dale Coyne Racing team will be back in action this coming weekend for the penultimate round of the season at Watkins Glen International.
What they have to say:
Gabby Chaves – #19 Boy Scouts of America
“It was an entertaining race. We were not optimal for the conditions tonight. We had really put everything in the car set up for the day race we had over two months ago, and with the cooler temperatures here at night it didn’t suit us and it kind of went more towards the other cars on the grid. We knew that. We knew that on restarts we’d be sitting ducks and we just had to hang on as hard as we could. We tried to for a while. I thought we had a pretty decent race car, hanging in the top six in the first stint. But then the balance was a little off, a little loose, and we just kind of fought that all night. Obviously not ideal, especially in such a close and tough race like we have here in Texas.”
Conor Daly – #18 Nano ProMT/Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality
(About the incident on Lap 42, June 12th)
“I was the rookie to make the mistake. The car was really consistent. It was fantastic and we were making great progress. I didn’t expect that slide at all. We were consistently running and all of a sudden the rear (tires) just totally lost grip. I felt like I floated all the way through the corner. It was all my mistake. I should have recognized it but it was definitely a rookie mistake. I was trying to stay a little bit lower because I knew Josef (Newgarden) was coming. Maybe by pinching it a little bit, I just put too much load on the right rear. While the car was quite good I was on the edge in (turn) three and four all the time.”
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