JOLIET, Ill. - Sarah McCune made a grand entrance into
the Menards Infiniti Pro Series Saturday, capturing the
pole at Chicagoland Speedway in her Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry. Teammate Travis Gregg, second in the
championship race, qualified second for Sunday's
100-mile event.
Perrysburg, Ohio, native McCune, who resides in Los
Angeles, Calif., finished fourth in her first MIPS
practice, second in her second and put the #8 Trick My
Truck Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry on the pole in her
first-ever qualifying attempt in the Indy Racing
League. Her lap time was 187.795 miles per hour
(29.1382 seconds). Gregg, a graduate of Miami (Ohio)
University, put the #7 Lucas Oil Special Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry second on the grid with a time of
29.2981, (186.770 MPH).
Jaime Camara and Chris Festa had never been on-track at
Chicagoland before Saturday but still ran well. Camara,
a 24-year-old Brazilian native living in Miami,
qualified sixth with a time of 29.5654 (185.081 MPH).
Festa, of Atlanta, Ga., qualified the #19 SpacePak/CareCentric
Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry eighth with a lap time of
29.6420 (184.603 MPH).
"I feel good that I followed up my fast (practice) times
with a fast qualifying time and I'm just thinking about
(Sunday) and focusing on winning," smiled McCune. "It
feels good to back up all my test sessions with the
strong times today, but now I've got to focus on the
race. As a driver you are always setting goals for
yourself, so when you meet one, it's just kind of
straight onto the next one."
Gregg, another Ohio native who still lives in Camden,
and is anxious to get the green flag in his second race
at Chicagoland. He is currently second to Wade
Cunningham in the chase for the championship.
"I ran this race last year, so I knew what to expect
after the ARCA cars raced on the track," said Gregg.
"We picked the setup and went with it. I guess I kept
my streak of front rows on ovals alive. And we're a
couple spots ahead of the points leader - my main focus
is to get as many points as I can on Sunday."
Jaime Camara is fifth in points heading into the
Chicagoland 100.
"Our car is pretty good for the race," said Camara. "I
think we might have made the wrong gear choice for
qualifying. We're just going to setup the car for
tomorrow and try to run a good race. The track is
pretty good. I didn't find any surprises out there."
Festa, a 19-year-old driver who came to Chicagoland
between classes at Florida State University, is sixth in
the championship points race.
"We weren't as good as we wanted to be going into
qualifying. We made some pretty big changes and they
didn't work out for us. We're looking at them right now
and we're going to come up with something for the final
practice this afternoon," said Festa. "We're looking to
make up a lot of ground on the track tomorrow."
Owner Sam Schmidt is hoping for a smooth race on Sunday
for his four rookies.
"I think I'm cut out for this," smiled Schmidt. "I know
I used to be thrilled when I'd race, and victory lane is
a very, very sweet place to drive your car after a race,
but watching these rookies climb in my cars and do so
great is a terrific thrill. I think the first races
with the drivers might be the coolest, because you take
them in and they're like your charge for the race
weekend. When you see them go from a test session to
the front of the field, it's just a feeling that's hard
to beat! Obviously, I'm really proud of the effort
Sarah put in today. There's been a lot of attention
she's dealt with and still was able to keep her mind on
wheeling the race car. Travis, I really thought he'd
get the pole, he even got the late draw in qualifying.
What he got was good track position on the points
leader, and he knows what he's got to do to get points
toward the championship. All the cars are in the top 10
so I can't really complain."
Sunday's 67-lap race begins at noon (EDT), and will be
televised on a tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m. (EDT), on
Thursday, September 15th on ESPN2.
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