IRL: Dover Friday Practice Story

Dover, DE (July 17, 1998) - Tony Stewart rolled his G-Force/Aurora off the truck and onto the high banks of Dover setting the fast time of the day twenty seven minutes into the first practice session. His best lap was timed at 19.517 seconds, at a speed of 184.464 mph. Stewart appeared in the G-Gorce chassis for the first time since the Dura-Lube 200 at Phoenix.

Stewart attributed his fast time to team manager Larry Curry.  "Some of it
is the car, and some of it is the race track," Stewart said.  "It's a lot
smoother than when we tested here.  You don't feel any transition now."

Stewart turned only 22 laps in the first session, heading to the garage before that practice ended. Unable to improve on his morning time, Stewart cut the second session short as well.

Asked about passing in Sunday's race on the Monster Mile, Stewart replied "Drivers will be able to go anywhere they want. It'll be a matter of who has the fastest car."

1998 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Steve Knapp is driving the PDM Racing G-Force/Aurora this weekend. Knapp got plenty of practice today, turning 74 laps in the morning session alone. His fast time for the day was set in the afternoon session, timed at 20.173 seconds, 178.456 mph. Knapp remains under contract to the ISM team, and expects to run the last three races of the season with them.

Dr. Jack Miller continued to have engine problems today, putting a hole in the block of his Nissan Infiniti in the morning. He reappeared in the afternoon session with a backup car, setting the thirteenth fastest time of 20.111 seconds, 179.007 mph. His afternoon mount was a hybrid of two SRS cars of Miller and Yeley. The car sported Quaker State sidepods and a Crest engine cover, rear wing and front shock cover.

The Monster Mile showed some bite today, with suspension damage to the right rear of the cars of Salazar and Brack. Both drivers were able to keep their cars off the wall after the suspension failures.

The top five practice times, after completion of both sesssions, were:

Tony Stewart   19.517   184.464 mph
Arie Luyendyk  19.621   183.477
Jeff Ward      19.672   183.001
Marco Greco    19.723   182.528
Scott Sharp    19.736   183.402

David Reininger - Motorsport News International