Festa, a
20-year-old from Atlanta who drove in this series last year
for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, drove his #51 Formtek-sponsored
entry to a fast qualifying lap of 28.7931 seconds (an average
of 185.669 mph) around the 1.5-mile oval under warm and sunny
conditions this afternoon. That earned him the
outside-third-row starting spot for Sundayıs race.
Bussell, a
23-year-old from Grand Rapids, Mich., who drove in this series
for JL West Motorsports and Vision Racing in 2005, drove the
#52 Cheever Racing entry to a fast qualifying lap of 29.0047
seconds (184.315 mph) for the outside-fourth-row spot on the
grid.
Later this
afternoon, Festa was second-fastest and Bussell sixth-fastest
in final practice.
Race time for
Sundayıs Homestead 100, the prelude to the IRL IndyCar Series
season-opening Indy 300, is 11:45 a.m. EST.
CHRIS FESTA
"Considering we
qualified in race trim, I think we did pretty well being less
than a tenth-and-a-half off the pole. In practice, we had an
excellent race setup for when we were running lone, so thatıs
the setup we put on the Formtek car for qualifying. Iım really
looking forward to the race because I think weıre in great,
great shape. I literally can put the car anywhere I want to on
the track and feel comfortable. Thatıs been consistently the
case since practice started yesterday. So this being a track
that presents more than ample opportunities to pass, we should
be able to move up to the front as the race wears on, provided
we stay out of trouble. Thatıs the way we see it unfolding,
anyway. "
NICK BUSSELL
"We came here
with a simple plan and, so far, weıve stuck to it every step
of the way. We saw no point in going all out to try and
qualify up front, so weıve been working on our race package
since the first lap of practice yesterday. Weıve definitely
got a good race car, and weıll be starting right behind Chris
(Festa), so hopefully weıll be able to move to the front
together."
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