Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dominates Miami

Gregg wins 100; Camara Second; Festa Nearly Completes Trifecta

March 6, 2005

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Maybe it's too bad Florida hasn't already passed its proposed slot machine law. The way Sam Schmidt dominated everything else in South Florida this weekend, it could have been pretty profitable.

With Travis Gregg of Camden, Ohio, leading every lap and taking the win - and teammate Jaime Camara, a Brazilian native now living in Miami in second place for every lap before finishing there - Sam Schmidt Motorsports took the first two finishing positions in Sunday's Miami 100 Menards Infiniti Pro Series race at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway. Teammate Chris Festa, the 19-year-old from Atlanta, Ga., would most likely have finished at least third before a mid-race altercation ended his race early.

 "This type of finish is our goal every week," said Schmidt, whose cars also started on the front row for the race. "We want all three drivers up front, then they can decide themselves what the finishing order is. Travis and Jamie did a great job, and Chris did really well working up through the field like he did."

For Gregg, it was his first Infiniti Pro Series victory in just his fourth start but the driver of the #7 Lucas Oil Special was coming off a second-place finish in his last race - the 2004 season-ender at Texas Motor Speedway. Gregg's pole on Saturday set his average career starting position at 1.5 - two poles and two outside poles.

"The guys gave me a great car," Gregg said. I just had to not make any mistakes out there and run smart. I knew (Jaime) was going to work with me and we ended up one-two. It feels great to start the season like this."

Gregg drafted with teammate Camara, driving the #1 CELG, Goias, Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry, the entire race. The two dominated the field by working together and drafting together, leaving everyone else behind. By the 10^th lap, their lead was 3.6 seconds over third place, and up to 6.4 seconds by the 20^th lap. At the 34-lap halfway mark, Gregg and Camara led third place by 11.03 seconds.

A caution bunched the field up just past halfway but the two pulled away again. Though racing each other the final three laps with Camara trying the outside, the pair were able to maintain a sizable lead, beating third place by 6.9 seconds.

"Travis was very fast from the beginning till the end of the race," Camara said. "I was trying to work on a best line to make a move on him on the last three laps. His car was good on all the lines, and our cars are pretty much the same. I tried to force him down and maybe the low line was not good for him, but it was good for him. I couldn't make the move."

That caution at the halfway point involved the third Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry, Festa and his #19 SpacePak, CareCentric car. Festa was pinched on the backstretch and left with no room as the cars entered the third turn. He held on for a while but by the fourth turn could no longer, and was crashed.

"It didn't leave me with much room or even an angle to get through the turn," Festa said. "It was a shame because we were moving up through the field and we had a good car."

Most observers felt Festa was a lock on no worse than third place as he roared through the field. Driving a backup car and starting ninth, Festa did a tremendous job belying his 19 years by methodically working his way through the field. He was well into fourth place and cutting time off third place when he was pinched at the halfway mark.

Schmidt said he was impressed with the maturity Gregg and Camara showed on the oval, and expects plenty of three-car battles throughout the season.

"Those are two really competitive guys but it's impressive that even though they are so young, they had enough patience to race clean and smart.

"We worked together a lot this week to make our cars better than anybody else's and let then them settle it in the race," Schmidt said.

Said Gregg, "Chris, Jaime and I knew going in we all had to work together the best we could. And we did work together. The last three laps, though, it was every man for himself. We were going to race clean but we were going to race hard - and we did."

"It was a very good race; I gained a lot of experience," said Camara, who was making his Pro Series debut. "It was difficult to make a move on him, though my car was really good. His car was really good, too."

Camara attempted to pass Gregg on the inside coming out of Turn Four on the final lap, but didn't have the momentum and finished .0736 of a second behind.

"Travis was very fast from the beginning till the end of the race," Camara said. "I was trying to work on a best line to make a move on him on the last three laps. His car was good on all the lines, and our cars are pretty much the same. I tried to force him down and maybe the low line was not good for him, but it was good for him. I couldn't make the move."

The Miami 100 was televised nationally on a tape-delayed basis. The broadcast is scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, March 17, on ESPN-2.

The next Menards Infiniti Pro Series race is the Phoenix 100, Saturday, Mar. 19, at the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:  Williams Company of America, Inc.  (704) 660-0796