Long Beach: No. 19 qualifying report

GIDLEY AND MCDOWELL QUALIFY ON THE SECOND ROW FOR GRAND AM'S INAUGURAL RUN AT LONG BEACH

LONG BEACH, CA (April 7, 2006) -- Qualifying for tomorrow's running of the Crown Royal Grand American Challenge of Long Beach took place earlier today and the No. 19 Ford-powered Daytona Prototype driven by Michael McDowell and Memo Gidley will start the inaugural event for the second row. Gidley and McDowell were second quick this morning as they took to the 1.97-mile, 11- turn Long Beach circuit for the first time.

"It's great to come to a new track and unload off the trailer and be quick," said Gidley. "That's our goal at every track and if we can continue the trend we'll be looking good for the championship." McDowell climbed behind the wheel for the first of two 25-minute sessions and ran an impressive session, qualifying the No. 19 Playboy/Uniden/Palms machine in the fourth position. "What an awesome track," said McDowell.

"The first turn could be a little interesting at the start of the race but the car's good and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. The team's done a great job with the limited amount of track time and I'm confident we'll bring home a good finish."

The 90 minute timed race is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start tomorrow and Michael McDowell will take the green flag, eventually handing the driving duties over to his teammate Memo Gidley.

-fm