Gregg
Back on Pole, Festa Outside
Schmidt
Gets
1-2-3
But Really Wants It Race Day
FORT
WORTH, Tex. - Sam Schmidt Motorsports maintained its
monopoly of the front row in the Menards Infiniti Pro
Series, backing up a 1-2 start at Indianapolis with 1-2-3
start at Texas Motor Speedway.
That was the result of pole qualifying Friday night
at the 1.5-mile speedway.
"This
is great! It's just like
Phoenix
,"exclaimed Sam Schmidt while en route to do the SWE Pole
Award photo-shoot with driver Travis Gregg, pole winner for
the third time this season.
Schmidt is a true competitor, and while grinning
wildly about the start of his three full-time cars at the
head of the field, he's acutely focused on the big prize.
"We're starting
1-2-3
, but I really want it tomorrow - you can quote me on that.
I want
1-2-3
when that checkered flag waves."
Gregg
is getting pretty comfortable with the pole-position
ceremonies, following his third pole out of five races this
season. Gregg
ran 187.517 miles per hour (27.9335 seconds) in his first
lap of qualifying in his #7 Lucas Oil Special Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry. Chris
Festa starts his #19 Western Union/CareCentric, Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry outside his teammate on the front row with
a qualifying time of 28.0366 (186.827 miles per hour). Jaime
Camara, pole and race winner at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway two weeks ago, put the #1 CELG/Goias, Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry third on the starting grid with a fast lap
speed of 186.753 miles per hour (28.0478 seconds). P.J.
Abbott, in Sam Schmidt Motorsports #11 entry will start 11th
after persistent fuel system problems halted his qualifying
effort before he took the green flag.
"Qualifying
went pretty well," said Festa, a 19-year-old student at
Florida
State
University
. "We decided to run an identical setup to what Jaime ran,
and it worked because Jaime and I ran pretty identical
qualifying times. Today
we had some trouble trying to get the car to pick up RPM
down the back straightaway, we were kind of scratching our
heads on it but we got it figured out.
We're happy to start second, we'll be putting the
race setup back up in the car and go out to race looking to
win but not get carried away too soon in the race."
"The
car was very good," said Camara, a 24-year-old Brazilian
native living in
Miami
, of his race car for this afternoon's qualifying.
"It's no different to qualify here than in
practice, the car feels the same.
Our car was very good."
Gregg,
27, of
Camden
,
Ohio
, was excited about the pole and obviously focused on
one-upping his previous finish at Texas Motor Speedway -
second-place last fall to Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate
Thiago Medeiros.
"It's
great to win the SWE Pole Award," said Gregg after winning
his third pole of the season.
"I ran this race last year and I started second and
ran second to Thiago all race.
This time, it's my turn to be on the pole and I'm
looking forward to the race.
It's kind of hard to believe that I'm here at
Texas Motor Speedway, running with such a great team like
Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
Sam is an inspiration, for sure.
His [race team's] success is from dedication.
He travels over 140 days a year, it's incredible.
He's always around at the track to talk to for
advice and when you see what he does, it definitely makes
you want to work harder and it makes you want to win even
more."
Driving
the fourth car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports this weekend, P.J.
Abbott, the Texan making his second start with SSM in the
MIPS.
"This
is the highlight of the season for me coming back.
The fans here are great, it's the local track,
we're just glad to be here," said Abbott, a local from
Grand Prairie
. "We've
got qq local businesses helping sponsor us this weekend and
we're filling up the grandstands with friends, family and
sponsors. [About
our troubles today with the car].the good thing about this
is.it is my home track and being an instructor here for
the NASCAR and Panoz driving schools, I have a lot of laps
on this track. I
ran this track last year [in MIPS]. We know there's a good
car here, Sam [Schmidt] always gives us the best opportunity
and equipment. Are
we disappointed with the day, yes, but is it going to stop
us from making a good run tomorrow, absolutely not - it'll
give the cameras some good shots."
| FIRESTONE
100 QUALIFYING MENARDS INFINITI PRO SERIES RESULTS |
| Pos |
No |
Driver Name |
Best
Time |
Best
Speed |
Best
Lap |
Total
Laps |
| 1 |
7 |
Travis Gregg |
27.9335 |
187.517 |
1 |
2 |
| 2 |
19 |
Chris Festa |
28.0366 |
186.827 |
1 |
2 |
| 3 |
1 |
Jaime Camara |
28.0478 |
186.753 |
2 |
2 |
| 4 |
33 |
Wade Cunningham |
28.1327 |
186.189 |
2 |
2 |
| 5 |
20 |
Jay Drake |
28.2363 |
185.506 |
1 |
2 |
| 6 |
21 |
Nick Bussell |
28.4124 |
184.356 |
1 |
2 |
| 7 |
3 |
Arie Luyendyk Jr. |
28.4800 |
183.919 |
1 |
2 |
| 8 |
4 |
Marty Roth |
28.6089 |
183.090 |
1 |
2 |
| 9 |
24 |
Jeff Simmons |
28.6781 |
182.648 |
1 |
2 |
| 10 |
11 |
P.J. Abbott |
-0.0001 |
0000.000 |
0 |
0 |
| 11 |
6 |
Jon Herb |
-0.0001 |
0000.000 |
0 |
0 |
Saturday's
Firestone 100 from the Texas Motor Speedway begins at
6:10 p.m.
(EDT), and will be televised June 21st at
5 p.m.
(EDT) on ESPN2.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION: Williams
Company of America, Inc.
(704) 660-0796
;
