Front
Row Pals Gregg, Camara Return to Power
Sam
Schmidt Motorsports Owns Front Row At Nashville
LEBANON, Tenn. -
Sam Schmidt Motorsports racers took to Friday's qualifying
session for the Cleanevent 100 at Nashville Superspeedway,
determined to regain their ownership of the front row.
Jaime Camara and Travis Gregg, the team's fastest entry
through the day's practice sessions and the team's slowest
entry, respectively, locked down starting spots one and two.
After a strong
run in the Menards Infiniti Pro Series first round practice,
Jaime Camara struggled with the #1 CELG/Goias Sam Schmidt
Motorsports race car during the second practice. The woes
were forgotten when he took to the track and won the pole
position with a lap time of 26.1362 seconds (179.062 miles
per hour). Travis Gregg did his best to unseat his teammate
and steal the pole again, but he missed by just less than
three-hundredths of a second. Gregg starts second in the #7
Lucas Oil Special Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry after his
lap of 26.1651 (178.864 MPH). Atlanta, Ga., native Chris
Festa qualified the #19 SpacePak/CareCentric Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry eighth with a lap time of 26.6426 (175.659
MPH).
Camara, a
24-year-old Brazilian native living in Miami, smiled with
relief after qualifying. He worried that teammate Gregg
might be able to take the pole from him as he had done at
Phoenix, Homestead and, along with his other teammate Festa,
had done at Texas.
"I was just so
nervous when Travis was on the track," Camara said, unable
to keep from smiling. "I ran good laps, but I still made
some mistakes so I was worried that Travis could make up
time where I had lost it. This is so good for our team. We
had a good practice session this morning, and then the track
felt kind of different when we went out for our second
session. My engineer made the right changes and told me
what to do and I did it. I'm very excited to have my
teammate starting outside on the front row with me. It's
great because we have respect for each other and we know we
will race very clean. I'm ready for the race. I want to
win the guitar (track trophy)."
For Gregg, the
start of the race will be comfortable. He is hoping the end
of the race will be a fun battle with his teammate for the
win.
"We tried out a
lot of different changes during practice to see what our car
would be like in different conditions. When it came time to
qualify, I knew what had to be done, I just put the pedal to
the floor and trusted that the car would stick. I know this
is an opportunity for me to make ground or lose ground in
the points race, and getting a good starting spot is a big
part of the battle. It's great to know I'm starting up
front with my teammate, hopefully we can race together like
Chris and I did at Texas. I'm excited about the race and
I'm looking forward to a strong finish for the Lucas Oil
Special," said Gregg.
Festa, the
19-year-old driver who will enter his second year at Florida
State University this fall, is anxious to get the race
started after today's on-track sessions.
"My crew teased
me that I'm just trying to get another FedEx Hard Charger
award," smiled Festa. "I can't get that award if I start on
the pole and win, that's for sure, but I'm pretty sure I'd
like to add an SWE Pole Award to my credit sometime soon! I
know I left a lot out there when I made my laps, I know
where I missed some things and I'm ready to get out there in
the race to show what I can do here. Nashville
Superspeedway is a tricky track. I've learned a lot about
concrete oval racing today and I'm looking forward to
putting it to use tomorrow to make up some more spots in the
points race - if I get a hard charger award for it, that'll
be fine, too."
Owner Sam
Schmidt is anxious to see how the weekend turns out for his
race team.
"After today's
practice sessions, we were pretty confident that Jaime's car
could win the pole. Travis did an awesome job out there,
basically he didn't breath for his two laps and just drove
it flat out, but we have a lot of work to do to get Travis
and Chris' cars where they need to be for the race. Our
team has a lot of good experiences here at Nashville and
we're looking forward to good things tomorrow."
Saturday's
77-lap race begins at 4:45 p.m. (EDT), and will be televised
on a tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m. (EDT), on July 21st
on ESPN2.
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION: Williams Company of America, Inc. (704)
660-0796
;
