Crosby looks to build on experience in Indy

Eddyville, Ky. – Kim Crosby will be back behind the wheel of the #26 Vassarette Chevrolet this weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Crosby will once again be required to make the field on time. As 31 positions are set through owner points and a past champion, she will be competing with 17 other drivers for the remaining 12 positions.

“Having to make the field is something we have to do each week as a team,” said Crosby. “Since we started mid-way through the year we don’t have owner’s points available to us and we don’t have any margin for error. A lot of times we have to go with a more aggressive qualifying set up and then make adjustments on the fly during the race.”

Crosby lauded her crew for their work, especially last weekend at Gateway International Raceway. She made an almost unheard of pickup between practices and she attributes much of her success to the crew.

“I’ve really got to hand it to the crew,” Crosby said. “Last week we picked up about 1.5 seconds between the first and second practice sessions and you don’t do that by accident. All the guys worked extremely hard and my crew chief (Gene Allnutt) made some great calls on the set up.”

While Crosby didn’t qualify, Allnutt was pleased with her effort.

“Kim is making great strides as a driver,” he said. “Like any rookie, she is faced with the challenge of learning a new track almost every week while competing against some of the best race car drivers in the world at the same time. There will be times, like last week, where she doesn’t get in the race, but I guarantee she won’t forget what she did either. It’s the same learning curve for every driver and she is doing remarkably well.”

The Kroger 200 will air at 7:30 central time on Saturday. It will be preceded by qualifying at 5:00 on pee
.