IRL: Cheever second fastest at Dover
31 July 1999
Eddie Cheever and his #51 Children's Beverage Group/Team Cheever Dallara/Goodyear/Infiniti were second fastest overall in today's two Pep Boys Indy Racing League practice sessions. Cheever clocked the 1-mile high-banked concrete oval in 19.773 seconds at an average speed of 182.066 mph, three-tenths of a second of the leader, Scott Goodyear.
Today's Top Five
Goodyear 19.746 seconds 182.315 mph
Cheever 19.773 seconds 182.066 mph
Sharp 19.777 seconds 182.030 mph
Dismore 19.787 seconds 181.938 mph
Hollansworth 19.848 seconds 181.378 mph
Currently ranked fourth in the drive for the Championship with 149 points, Cheever is only 31 points from leader Scott Goodyear (180), ten from Scott Sharp (159) and an extremely slim four point margin from third place Jeff Ward (153). Team Cheever is ranked third in the overall Team Standings.
On today's practice sessions
"We are very close on our engine and we are improving race by race. We are definitely in a better shape horsepower-wise now than we were this time last year. I hope Infiniti is as pleased with where we stand today and where we'll be tomorrow as I am."
"They smoothed out the track a lot, but you have to be really careful out there...it is like driving in an oblong salad bowl.....faster and more furious than you might expect at any one given time. This is the only oval where you can keep up the speeds the whole time. Unlike some of the other tracks we run one, the speeds, the temperatures and the concrete will make this a very physically demanding race. You're never truly flat with your steering wheel, never on center. It takes a lot of effort and at the end of the day, you're spent."
Race & Qualifying Television Coverage
The MBNA Mid-Atlantic 200, round 7 of the 10-race Pep Boys Indy Racing League series, will be televised, tape delayed, on the Fox Television Network at 3pm EDT on Sunday, August 1st. SpeedVision will televise PPG Pole qualifying live at 12 noon (EDT) on Saturday, July 31st.
Sponsorship Information
Primary sponsorship of Team Cheever comes from The Children's Beverage Group. The Children's Beverage Group (TCBG) is the designer of the RIP-IT SIP-IT(tm) straw-in-the-pouch drinking system that began distribution nationwide in 1997. For more information, call TCBG's corporate headquarters at 847-562-4040 or visit their website at http://www.tcbginc.com. Associate sponsors of Team Cheever include Netoy.com, GO-RACHELS.COM, Menards, Ceramiche Ragno, Goodyear, Infiniti, STP, TruGreen*Chemlawn, Bosch, Pennzoil and Invincible Sportswear.
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