Indy Racing League Q & A - Danica Patrick and Townsend Bell:IZOD IndyCar Series drivers Danica Patrick and Townsend Bell participated in a Q&A session. Below are select quotes from the interview. Danica Patrick

·         28-year-old native of Roscoe, Ill competing in her sixth season in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2010.

·         Drives No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com car for Andretti Autosport.

·         Currently 16th in IZOD IndyCar Series point standings.

·         Has qualified in the top-10 in every Indianapolis 500 start and finished in the top-10 in four of her five starts.

·         First female driver to lead the Indianapolis 500 when she led 19 laps as a rookie in 2005.

Townsend Bell

·         35-year-old native of California hoping to make his fourth Indianapolis 500 in 2010.

·         Will drive the No. 99 Herbalife car for Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports at the Indianapolis 500.

·         Finished a career-best fourth at Indianapolis in 2009.

Q. It's the month of May. That means the Indianapolis 500. I know you haven't gotten off to the start you wanted to in the No. 7 GoDaddy car, but you have to be looking forward to "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, I've had a bad start to the year. You know, it happens. Nothing to say about it. Every now and again I would imagine a lot of athletes have a year where they just aren't where they want to be and I'm not this year. If the answer was as simple as going, 'This is what I'm going to do to fix it,' I would know that and it would have been done already. I have some ideas to take it in a better direction. At the moment, we're all working hard. It's not from a lack of trying.

Q. Getting to Indy should help boost your confidence. You've qualified in the top 10 in all of your Indy 500 starts and finished in the top 10 in four of the previous five starts. What is it with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that suits you?

DANICA PATRICK: I don't know. I guess all I can say is I think it's important to be patient. I think it's important to be fast and be on a good team. I think it's important to really stay levelheaded. It's the longest race the year. You got to limit your mistakes, be there at the end.

I think it's usually from a long, hard‑working month of practice and coming to a good setup in the end, driving for a good team.

I'm not really sure exactly what it is that makes it Indy that has been a place for me where I've done well, but those are the things that I think are important at Indy and perhaps I do them well. I guess I have to say, if you're going to do well as one place, you hope it's Indy.

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Q. The Indianapolis 500 race, last year you finished fourth. This year you're driving the No. 99 car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing. Year in and year out, that program seems to be one of the best one‑off efforts from a non‑IndyCar team. What are your thoughts about working with the organization?

TOWNSEND BELL: I'm fired up. We're hoping it's going to be a fast car. It's been fun getting to know Sam and can't argue with Ganassi's success on the ovals. We're looking forward to seeing what we get.

Q. The car is sponsored by Herbalife. How did all of that come together, especially as early as it did?

TOWNSEND BELL: Well, it doesn't hurt to have a good run like we did in '09. Herbalife is a great sponsor. I've been with them for a few years now. We sat down last fall, they asked me point‑blank, 'What do we have to do to win the Indy 500?' That's music to any racing driver's ears when the sponsor really starts thinking about winning. We put together a program that hopefully gives you a good chance to compete for a win.

I guess having a Ganassi car is going to give us a strong run. We're excited to figure out if we can compete for the overall win. So far it looks good.

Q. Do you think this is just kind of a year where it's maybe just transitional, trying different things to see what works in terms of fan interest, driver and team interest?

TOWNSEND BELL: I think from a fan interest standpoint, it wasn't as if we were practicing in front of 100,000 people, last year when you were in the second week of May and practice was starting. I don't know that there was much demand from the fan side to watch practice. Even qualifying, for that matter.

I think what would be better is 10 days from now on qualifying weekend if we had a much bigger crowd for qualifying because the format is that much more exciting and concentrated. I think that's what we're all hoping for, is this format will get people pumped up about watching qualifying whether it's in person or on TV. I think it's going to be a really good format.

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The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues May 30 with the 2010 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at noon (ET) by ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The race also will be carried on indycar.com. The 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Firestone Freedom 100 on May 28 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway The race will air live on VERSUS.