Firestone Indy Lights: Milwaukee 100

Topics:  Milwaukee 100

Jeff Simmons
June 1, 2008

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

THE MODERATOR: Jeff Simmons, a former winner here at the Milwaukee Mile. Jeff, tell us about your race today.
JEFF SIMMONS: No, it was a good race. The car was really, really loose on cold tires. But I knew it was going to come back to us because when we got that kind of short early run, the car started to come in. It did that again once we got on the longer run, got those yellows out of the way.
I was just trying to chase down Bobby. He was strong all weekend. I think he led the first two practice sessions, qualified second. Topped the charts all weekend. It was his weekend. We pushed him hard, made him earn it, came up a car length short at the end.
THE MODERATOR: You closed up great in lap traffic. After the last caution, there was a pretty long run where lap traffic played in. Talk about your lap traffic.
JEFF SIMMONS: I mean, every time you see the guy in front of you catching lap traffic, you're hoping it's an opportunity to make up some ground or make a pass. He was running more downforce than we were. I think he actually probably had a little better car in traffic than we did.
But it's hard to say. We would close up a little bit and then he would pull it back out at the next bit of lap traffic. Kind of mattered how you caught it, who it was, what line they were running versus the line your car was working on. You really had to find the spot that your car worked best today. Different places the car would be totally opposite.
It made it a hard race, but I hope it made it an exciting race for all the fans. Really exciting there at the end. We really closed up quick. I think one more lap, we might have had something there.
I'm just happy for Team Moore Racing, Xtreme Coil Drilling. We finally had a really good effort here, had a really strong weekend. Wish we could have got the win for them.
THE MODERATOR: Jeff, a brief confrontation after the race on pit lane with 54, Micky Gilbert. What was going on there?
JEFF SIMMONS: It was the other car. I've had a lot of issues this year, but it wasn't me today (laughter).
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jeff or Raphael.

Q. (No microphone.)
JEFF SIMMONS: The tires held up great. The Firestone tire lasted the whole race. I tried to take care of it early. I had to play with things in the car. I mean, my car was getting looser and looser as the race went on. Like I said, I really had to try to find a good place where my car was happy. Once I was able to do that, I was able to put in some pretty strong laps. I think Bobby was probably starting to struggle a little bit at the end, too. When you catch the traffic, you start working the tires harder.
We made them live. I had found a happy spot again, was really putting in some quick laps at the end. We just needed a little more time.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys.