Scott Speed was quick to dispel internet rumors he walked away from his IndyCar Series team hours before qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.
“I have no idea honestly how those rumors were started,” the former Formula One and NASCAR racer told FOXSports.com. "I read it on Twitter and just laughed. It was pretty funny.”
Friday afternoon, rumors began swirling around Indianapolis Motor Speedway that Speed walked away from Dragon Racing, an outfit owned by Jay Penske.
Speed admits that he’s struggled early on with the new team. The deal was announced May 3 and Speed’s team has played catch up ever since. After seven practice sessions, Speed was 46th on the speed chart with a lap of 222.546 -- over six miles per hour behind Helio Castroneves who posted the fastest time at Indy.
“We‘re starting way behind the 8-ball, that‘s true,” Speed said. “We have two cars -- Ho-Pin (Tung, teammate) and I -- and they handle completely differently. The whole thing came together totally at the last minute. Ho-Pin‘s car is running real similar to last year, but my car is really loose. We haven’t been able to hone in on anything yet and I‘ve been trying to be really careful not to wreck the car because I think we have just one back up car between us.
“We’re trying to do what we can with the situation we have. We’ve scratched our initial game plan and starting over. We still have practice in the morning to get the car dialed in. We think we’ll be alright.”
