Indianapolis2: Whit Bazemore Friday summary

Bazemore No. 3 on U.S. Nationals Rainout Friday

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 2003) - Whit Bazemore's 4.774-second elapsed time at 321.65 mph in tonight's first qualifying round since the U.S. Nationals were rained out last week was stout, but not as quick or fast as his No. 2 effort last week of 4.767/323.74. As a result, the driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus fell to No. 3 behind John Force and his teammate Gary Scelzi with three more rounds of qualifying and the Budweiser Shootout scheduled for tomorrow. Bazemore is qualified third for the Shootout.

After two qualifying sessions before the rainout last week, Schumacher Racing teammates Gary Scelzi and Whit Bazemore were Nos. 1 and 2. John Force took the No. 1 spot away from Scelzi tonight.

"We're not really satisfied with ourselves tonight," said the Indianapolis resident. "Lee (Beard, crew chief) had turned the car up to run a lot quicker than it ran. There are two reasons why it didn't. It was just mechanical. It's one of those things. It's a disappointment, but the fact that we're in a position to run a .77 and be disappointed is not all bad.

"Quite honestly, we wanted to be No. 1 qualifier and we wanted the Schumacher team to stay 1 and 2. For me, if Gary was going to be No. 1 that was fine. As long as we were No. 1 and 2 it would be great heading into Sunday, but it didn't happen and Force picked our pockets. We'll work on the Budweiser Shootout tomorrow and the race on Sunday."

-dsr-