TK's been all smiles lately. A good finish at Richmond got Tony back on track, his Twitter competition with the other drivers is going well (but needs your help) and he can't wait for Watkins Glen to start. (LAT)
Hi guys,
Well, for sure it was one of the less exciting races to watch on TV or in the stands, but I did have fun driving my 7-Eleven car. I even passed four cars on the start! For me, I have to say, a part of the race was boring because I was just cruising but I started 17th and I finished sixth. That was big improvement over how my luck has gone lately, wasn’t it!
But like Dixon said in his interview, he did win the race but he passed Dario in the pits. As a fan, I don't want to see that. We all have to apologize to our audience for this So I think the league is fully aware of it, and we realize what we need to do to go back to the exciting races that we used to have. If you saw the change on the rules for super speedways, they’re adding downforce and that should make us race side-by-side more.
The Richmond race worked out well for our team. We went with a split race strategy because Marco and I were at the back and Danica and Hideki were closer to the front. When you have four cars, you have the luxury to do that. Me and Marco struggled in qualifying because I didn't run at all before qualifying. We had a mechanical issue in practice. And Marco struggled because we drew an early number and they run the Silver Crown cars before us and their rubber kind of affected us a little bit so we knew if early in qualifying we’re going to be a little bit hurt. And that's just luck; you draw a number, you get a number in a bag before you go to the drivers’ meeting and they say, “Okay you’re number two,” that's what you draw. So it's like going to the casino only this time the casino won.
We could have finished one, two, three, four (strategy-wise) if it wasn't for those yellows but if, if, if… it’s really easy to say but, again, having four cars finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh and this is good for the whole team. The only team that did better was Ganassi with their one, two.
So we’re stronger obviously. Not as strong as the Ganassis and the Penskes right now; we started the year a little bit behind. But sometimes that's the way it goes. We’re strong as a team -- we know we are -- but we are also very realistic that we have a lot of catch-up to do.
We did the test recently in Watkins Glen and I think this is my opportunity to put myself in the top four in the championship when we come out of this next streak of street courses. That's what I'm shooting for. The test went well. I'm still concerned about our speed; we still have a couple things we need to make it better I believe. I was happy when I left the test but I wasn’t saying, “Oh we can come back here and kick ass.”
I would say we’ll be competitive but I can't say, “We’re going to go and dominate the thing,” because I don't think that's the case. But if you look at my road course results and street course results this year, I have to say I'm in good shape.
So I think I can say that my season hasn’t gone exactly how I’d planned. I think people should realize that when you have tough times like this, that's when you need to come out even stronger and keep your team up, keep them motivated. Everybody's tired, everybody's working 24/7. I'm hurt, I'm recovering. They are rebuilding cars, working until two or three in the morning each day. So that's when you need to keep it positive. That's what we're doing.
But this also makes me say that at the end of the day, I've got to remember that there are a lot more important things in life. Although we take our sport very serious, this is not the end of the world. I'm having an up-and-down season but if you look around the situation in the entire world, to be complaining about that I'm not doing very well in my races, I don't think it would be really fair, you know?
If you look at the situations where people have no jobs and are struggling financially or are having health issues, it's not fair to be crying about how much of a tough time I'm having in my IndyCar...
It feel unfair sometimes really to mention something like that, so please understand I’m only referring to the problems I’m having as a part of my desire for perfection in what I do for a living. I live in Miami, I go to the gym every morning, I have a dream job, I'm making good money…I have to keep life in perspective.
I’m really happy for my ‘little brother’ Hideki. I think he’s the biggest improvement of all four of us this year. The kid is getting better, especially when consider this is the toughest season as far as competition, the kid has improved a lot. And Danica, she's been very consistent. When people look at Danica they say, “Well, when she’s going to win again?” Because that's the only way they judge her. But she sitting fifth in the championship and she's the best car on the team right now in the standings.
Obviously, I’m not going to sit here again and say, “Well, I had three DNFs… blah blah blah.” But it is what it is. Marco, to me, had a brilliant race in Richmond. He had a brilliant start and passed a lot of cars.
On a different subject, Dario was telling me about his trip to Le Mans last month and it sounds like it was incredible. My time driving AGR’s Acura in the ALMS was really fun, just pure racing and amazing battles, but since they stopped that program, I haven’t been back in sports cars.
So what it's going to take to get me back into a prototype? A phone call and an invitation, that's all.
