Patrick Carpentier Quotes on Cars (4 Quotes)

We had a car that was much better than a tenth place finish. Overall the weekend has been great. We had gear shifting problems the entire race. It was a lot of work, and it got a lot worse just before that last yellow. It was not going into fifth gear. I just couldn't hold on to that fourth place once all the cars were packed together. But, I am happy. You look and see where we are coming from and where we are going. There were four of five guys at the front that were clearly leading the field today and we were a part of that. So, overall it's not that bad.

I went out there and wasn't nervous at all. We had nothing to lose coming in. We were happy with sixth, so we just went for it. We knew our car was better in the long run, so it was a really fun ride. I have never done a lap like that in my life. For us, it was by far the fastest time we've accomplished here by more than a second and a half. During my top lap, I missed the apex of the last turn by about 10 feet, so I left a little bit out there. Other than that, I got everything I could out of the car. The team and Toyota did a great job giving me a great car for this weekend. Starting in the top three is fantastic. The race is going to be very competitive, but when you're starting up front, it's a whole different game. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

It was a great day for me, but I'm definitely sorry about what happened to Alex. You always hate it when these things happen, and he's just ended up in the wrong place a couple of times this year. For me, it was very fun racing today. Things were a bit crazy at the beginning, but the guys calmed down and made the car a lot of fun to drive. This was by far my best race on one of these fast ovals. It was the first time that we were able to stick with the leaders, but it's not going to be the last.

I'm very pleased with this result. Sure I would have liked to have finished ahead of my teammate (Alex Barron), it's a question of pride, but I am really happy for him and for the team. We had a good weekend. Qualifying wasn't that great, but we got it back during the race. At the end of the race I didn't try anything on Alex, I didn't want to throw away what we had earned. Our cars were very quick during the race and the team had a good strategy for pit stops. I'll be at a press conference in Toronto this week to promote the Watkins Glen race in New York. After that I'll head home to Las Vegas.