Birmingham: Lexus qualifying report

DIAZ, LEXUS SEVENTH IN QUALIFYING AT BARBER

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (July 29, 2006) -- Luis Diaz qualified seventh in his CompUSA Lexus-Riley in preparation for Sunday's Barber 250 to lead the Lexus contingent as each of the teams adjust to a new chassis/engine package in Rolex Sports Car Series competition.

This weekend marks the debut of the new Lexus 5.0-liter engine, which is expected to provide improved performance, but also requires the teams to adjust the cars set-up for the new package.

"Coming out of the box with the 5.0-liter we know it's a very solid engine," said Diaz' CompUSA teammate Scott Pruett. "We know it's just going to get better, but it's a little bit of a challenge because it wants a little something different set-up wise.

There's a lower center of gravity, it's a little bit lighter, which gives us a little bit of leeway in where we re-proportion the weight. The problem is right now, we are not quite sure where we want to put it."

The seventh-place in qualifying marks the eighth top-10 start of the year for the Ganassi team.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as well for the Lexus-powered Michael Shank Racing team which saw Mark Patterson qualify 19th in the #60 Flight Options Lexus-Riley and Tommy Constantine place 21st in the #6 Playboy Racing/Mears Motorcoach machine.

NOTE: Scott Pruett and Max Papis teamed to finish third in the 2004 Barber 250, Lexus' best overall finish to date on the Birmingham road course.

-Lexus