IRL: Eddie Cheever Thursday Atlanta Practice Notes

Eddie Cheever drove his #51 The Children's Beverage Group Dallara/Goodyear/Infiniti to the 3rd and 4th fastest times in Thursday's two late evening practice sessions. In preparation for Saturday night's Kobalt Mechanics Tools 500 Indy Racing League event, Cheever covered the 1.5-mile track in 25.227 seconds at an average speed of 214.056 mph in the 1st Session and in 25.098 seconds at an average speed of 215.16 in the 2nd Session. Cheever is currently 4th in the Championship Drive while Team Cheever is 3rd in the Team Standings.

ON THE DAY "The car is good and so we've spent the day working on the tows. This is a very fast race track. Qualifying seems almost futile out here. Tonight when I was with someone I could run two mile per hour faster; Alone it was a whole different story. Like a true NASCAR track, it is all about tow here. And that makes for exciting racing. On Saturday night, I think you'll see two trains on the track...one high and one low, both five to six cars long. This race is going to be about how well you work a tow, how well you perform your pit stops and map out your fuel strategies. It's going to be one fast race."

DAYS TOP FIVE

PRACTICE SESSION ONE PRACTICE SESSION TWO 1. 99 Sam Schmidt 25.049 1. 99 Sam Schmidt 24.991 2. 4 Scott Goodyear 25.076 2. 4T Scott Goodyear 25.075 3. 28 Mark Dismore 25.111 3. 51T Eddie Cheever 25.098 4. 51 Eddie Cheever 25.227 4. 4 Scott Goodyear 25.099 5. 8 Scott Sharp 25.251 5. 28 Mark Dismore 25.121 * T refers to team's back up race car

The Kobalt Mechanics Tools 500, round six of the 10-race Pep Boys Indy Racing League series, takes place Saturday, July 17th. The race starts at 730pm EDT and will be televised LIVE on Fox Sports Net. PPG Pole qualifying will air live on Speedvision on Friday, July 16th beginning at 6pm EDT.