Matt Brabham completed his final practice before Miller Lite Carb Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway today with the focus being on getting him into the heavy traffic packs that were the feature of an intense three and a half hours of practice.
The PIRTEK Team Murray rookie completed 96 laps of the circuit, however much of the late afternoon running saw him in packs of 10-plus cars.
Throughout the day, he had the chance to run and dice with Verizon IndyCar Series veterans such as Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Sunday’s Pole Sitter, James Hinchcliffe.
The #61 PIRTEK Team Murray Chevrolet appeared comfortable in traffic, with the team working hard on the race day setup.
Brabham now goes into an intense media and event schedule - including his Rookie commitments - as the buildup continues towards Sunday’s 100th Indianapolis 500.
The youngster will start the Indianapolis 500 from position 27.
The Warner Bros. Home Entertainment/Chris Kyle Frog Foundation CK Crew shared a special moment this morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, when Mario Andretti took the time to catch up with the rookie team of veterans and first responders.
The CK Crew (named after American Sniper, Chris Kyle) have been training twice per day to prepare themselves for the Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge this coming Friday on Miller Lite Carb Day.
The team was thrilled to meet Mario and the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner had some great words to say about the PIRTEK Team Murray program and the CK Crew concept.
QUOTESMATT BRABHAM - DRIVER - #61 PIRTEK TEAM MURRAY CHEVROLET“Today was good out there in the traffic, the car felt really solid.
“The more experience I get running with people, the better I am going to get. The PIRTEK Team Murray crew had a good solid session working on the race setup getting ready for race day.
“I felt quite good in the pack, but it’s never perfect. You have to keep working hard at it so when you go out for the race you’re as best prepared as possible, knowing that you’ve worked hard to get to the point you’re at.
“We made some improvements and progressing, I felt way more comfortable, we have to keep pushing now to ensure those improvements continue and we are still heading down that direction.
“There’s a lot of things we need to work on, I actually felt like going and doing another session as soon as that one finished!
“It’s a busy couple of days ahead with some media and other events, obviously I would like to be in the car for more practice, but we’ll be out and about having a bit of fun and then we have to prepare ourselves for Miller Lite Carb Day on Friday and of course the Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge, which our team has been working really hard towards.
“After that it’s race time and the Indy 500. I can’t wait.”
