IRL: Jeff Ward Ready to Race in Atlanta

17 July 1999

Pagan Racing

Kobalt Mechanics Tools 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway July 16, 1999 Qualifying

Car: Pagan Racing Yahoo! No. 21 Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear

Position: 8th / 25.313 seconds / 213.329 mph

Jeff Ward managed to put together two solid qualifying laps tonight to place the Yahoo! Pagan Racing team on the outside of the fourth row for Saturday night's race.

"We ran real well in the race at Dallas and we started seventh at that track," said Ward. "We moved up to second in the race before we had some problems with the wheels."

"Now we have a better car than we had at Dallas. The car is just great. I feel really good for the race. We should be able to go right to the front and stay there during the race."

Ward practiced at over 214 miles per hour this afternoon. "We went faster in practice today so we might have been off just a little bit with our gear selection for qualifying," said the seven-time National Motocross champion. Most drivers found it difficult to duplicate times set earlier in the day since many of the fast times set in practice were done while following in another car's draft.

"It always helps to have another driver in front of you to break up the air. In practice we tested how the car would react in the draft and I'm very pleased with the car under all conditions.

Ward, who was used to winning in his days riding motorcycles, still looks forward to his first win in an automobile race. "I race to win every time. But I'm not going to jeopardize a second or third place finish to race for a win if I don't have the car. I'm staying focused on the championship and the wins should fall into place."

Ward is currently the most consistent driver in the Indy Racing League. He's completed the most laps of any driver this season, and is one of two drivers to have finished every race in 1999.

Saturday night's Kobalt Mechanics Tools takes the green flag at 7:30 p.m. EDT. The race will be broadcast live by FOX Sports Net.

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