INDYCAR: Kanaan learns new tricks from old friend

We wouldn't dare say Tony Kanaan is an old dog, but the 2004 IndyCar Series champion, who turns 42 in December, does admit he's trying to learn some new tricks. The Brazilian is enjoying a season of renewed effort and solid results, and credits his dear friend and driver coach Dario Franchitti for finding areas of improvement.

Entering his 19th season in IndyCar competition, Kanaan closed 2015 with a handful of decent results, but finished a disappointing eighth in the championship standings. Through eight races this year in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevy, Kanaan has been inside the top four on four occasions and stood on the podium at the most recent round in Road America.

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That second-place finish behind Team Penske's Will Power was close to becoming a win, and thanks to the significant points haul, Kanaan is up to sixth in the championship entering this weekend's race at Iowa.

"Dario, he pushes me to the limit every time, and he's always looking at my data," Kanaan told RACER. "He has so much time now that he is always on my toes. .. you have to do this better, you have to do this better, you are pretty good here but look at here where you aren't.' That is coming from a guy that understands exactly – he's not an engineer, but he's a driver – what is happening inside the car when I drive and what it translates to on the track. The information he sees comes out even better; it's more translatable coming from him."

So where has the added pace and competitiveness been found?

"Like everybody, like in any profession, you have your bad habits," Kanaan continued. "Driving is the same thing. With this car, with the tires the way they are now, I had to slowly start to change the way I drive. I'm old school, right? So the way to drive as far as old school, I drag the brakes into the corners too much.

"In these cars because of the downforce, you make all the speed in the corners. I'm used to 1000 hp. It goes fast as you can and then you brake as deep as you can, slow down as much as you can, and off you go. That is not the case anymore. It's been quite hard for me to develop the technique 100 percent, but we've been working to make the corners more continuous for me. You need the momentum in these cars, so I have to break that habit of slowing too much into the corners."

And where is Kanaan in fully adopting the new driving technique, which applies mostly to road and street courses?

"I do the right way about 80 percent of the time, but then you fall back to the old way," he said. "It maybe sounds easy to do; just don't brake as much or as long, but this is going against something I've done my whole [IndyCar] career. So Dario, he's always there, reminding me. And that is the biggest challenge I still have."

If fighting against his natural tendencies inside the car has been an ongoing process, one where he's yet to fully achieve a place of comfort, Kanaan says everything within the rest of the No. 10 program is operating at a high level.

"We've been building all year," he added. "If you look at the past 10 races, we started in the top eight. We haven't been able to make the most of every chance we've had to get the best possible finish, but there's great momentum for us going to Iowa, which is a place that I do pretty good. So I am excited.

"And the championship is a lot closer now. It's the closest I've ever been in the past three years. I'm confident, the team is working really well, and I'm working extremely well with my engineer Todd [Malloy]. I like where things are going for us."