Nashville: Andrew Prendeville qualifying notes

Prendeville Finds More Speed for Quals; Will Start 12th at Nashville Saturday

LEBANON, Tenn., July 11 - Andrew Prendeville found more than 3 miles per hour between practice and qualifying Friday at Nashville Superspeedway.

He'll start 12th in the Sunbelt Rentals 100 Firestone Indy Lights race Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time in the Best Friends Animal Society No. 5.

Prendeville's fastest lap in two practice sessions here Friday was done in 26.7848 seconds for an average speed of 174.726 miles per hour for the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

But when the timing beacon was on Prendeville alone during SWE Race Car Parts Qualifying later on Friday, the Las Vegas-based driver rose to the challenge and recorded laps in 26.3314 and 26.2468 seconds for an average speed of 178.021 mph.

The performance puts him on the outside of Row 6 beside Sean Guthrie for the start of the race at 3:30 p.m. local time tomorrow.

The distance is 77 laps. That's important not only to Prendeville and his team, but also to the fans that make donations to the Best Friends Animal Society based on the number of laps Prendeville completes in his races. Donations for Saturday's race as well as the others remaining on the 2008 schedule can be made on-line at racinglapsforbestfriends.com.

Fans can also purchase Best Friends raffle tickets at racinglapsforbestfriends.com. Prizes are sessions at the famous Bertil Roos Racing School.

"We definitely made some improvements on the Best Friends Animal Society car from practice, but they're set-up things that I can't talk about," said Prendeville after qualifying Friday.

"It's hard to pass here, but I think the car will be good for tomorrow. We're just looking for a good finish tomorrow."

Qualifying was held in hot and humid conditions. The weather forecast for Saturday is similar.

-credit: ap/restart communications