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Vision Racing Qualifies at Chicagoland Speedway for PEAK Anitfreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300

Sunday September 7, 2008

 

VISION RACING PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING REPORT – Sept. 6, 2008
(Chicagoland Speedway)
JOLIET, Ill. – Vision Racing drivers Ed Carpenter and A.J. Foyt IV qualified 13th and 15th, respectively, in preparation for Sunday’s PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Carpenter’s four-lap average qualifying speed in the No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone machine was 213.790 mph.
With four previous attempts at Chicagoland, Carpenter’s best result came in 2006 with a fifth place finish after starting 12th on the grid. Last year Carpenter started 14th and finished 16th as a result of a power failure mid-way through the race.
Carpenter made history at Chicagoland in September 2003 when he became the first driver to compete in a Firestone Indy Lights event and an IndyCar Series event on the same weekend. It was also Carpenter’s first career IndyCar Series start and driving for PDM Racing he put in a respectable rookie run starting 16th and finishing 13th.
Tomorrow, Carpenter will be looking for his second top-five finish at Chicagoland and his eighth top-10 finish this season. He is currently 13th in the championship point standings with 310 points and has a chance to make a final run at finishing in the top-10 in points tomorrow. Eight drivers have a chance at finishing sixth in the championship.
Danica Patrick, Oriol Servia, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Hideki Mutoh, Justin Wilson, Vitor Meira and Ed Carpenter are sixth through 13th, respectively and the group is separated by only 49 points.
Foyt will line up in the 15th spot on the grid with a four-lap qualifying average of 213.485 mph in the No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone car.
In last year’s season finale at Chicagoland, Foyt led Vision Racing’s three-car effort with a 10th place finish after starting 19th. It was his best finish at the 1.5-mile oval in five starts here. In addition, his only IndyCar Series race of the 2006 season came at Chicagoland as he filled in for the injured Dario Franchitti at Andretti Green Racing. In that race, Foyt led his first career IndyCar Series leader laps and finished 12th.
He remains 19th in the championship point standings with 263 points and is looking for his fifth top-10 finish tomorrow afternoon.
Fellow partners Lilly and CardioChek will also join the team at Chicagoland for the Vision Racing Wellness Tour, which allows race fans to stop by a mobile marketing unit for an opportunity to receive free cholesterol screenings and diabetes education.
The complimentary cholesterol screenings and diabetes information will be made available at the track on Sunday, Sept. 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (ET) in Indy Fan Zone Area behind the main grandstand.
In addition, Carpenter and Foyt will be at the Wellness Tour location starting at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday for media interviews and autographs for fans being screened.
The 200 lap/300 mile PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 will air live and in HD on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC, as well as on the IMS Radio Network, XM IndyCar Series Racing Channel 145, XM Sports Nation Channel 144 and on the web at www.IndyCar.com .
Qualifying/Practice Results and Quotes: (Sept. 6, 2008)
A.J. Foyt IV – No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Starting Position: 15th
Qualifying Speed: 213.485 mph
Fastest Speed in Practice: 214.982 mph
Overall Rank in Practice: 10th
Total Practice Laps: 92
On qualifying:
“I’m not very happy with our run today. We should be much stronger than this on a mile and a half oval. It just seems like we’ve stayed where we are while everyone else has progressed. We’ll have to start working harder on performing on these tracks. The car has been handling great in traffic we just haven’t had the overall speed we should to qualify well to compete right now. Hopefully we’ll find something overnight to give us a little more speed for the race.”
Ed Carpenter – No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Starting Position: 13th
Qualifying Speed: 213.790 mph
Fastest Speed in Practice: 215.225 mph
Overall Rank in Practice: 17th
Total Practice Laps: 91
On qualifying:
“It’s been a pretty frustrating day because I came here thinking this was going to be a really good race weekend for the Vision team. This is where we are usually strong but we’re getting beaten out there by teams and drivers that we usually outpace. We just don’t have the speed. We can’t seem to get any faster and that’s very frustrating because we know we are better than this. Hopefully we’ll be strong in the race.”

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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