IRL: Longhorn 500 Qualifying Notes/Quotes, Greg Ray
11 June 1999
Greg Ray #2 Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone Qualifying Notes/Quotes - Thursday, June 10, 1999 The Longhorn 500 Texas Motor Speedway Greg Ray and the #2 Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone entry of Team Menard qualified fourth for Saturday night's Longhorn 500 on the Texas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval. Ray recorded a fast qualifying lap of 24.499 seconds (an average speed of 213.805 mph. Mark Dismore won the pole in 24.332 seconds (215.272 mph), followed by Kelley Racing teammate Scott Sharp at 24.381 (214.839 mph). Tyce Carlson was third in 24.429 (214.417 mph). Practice resumes Friday with two afternoon sessions. Race time is 6:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday and it will be carried live by Fox Sports Net. GREG RAY - "The car was good. I think it's just a matter of having just two quick practice sessions today, getting the new (10,000) rpm limit dialed in, and we just didn't quite hit the nail squarely on the head. We're close. I couldn't even see during my warmup laps as well as I could have. It was so hot during practice this afternoon that my helmet was full of sweat. I stashed my gloves in there for the last couple of hours. When I put my helmet on for qualifying, it was all fogged up. I had to drive with my visor open for the first part of the warmup laps, which probably didn't let me build up all the momentum I needed when we took the green. Hey, this Glidden-Team Menard outfit has been so good all year, it has put me on the front row for every race but this one. Our standard is measured by being on the front row. Problem is, we've had trouble finishing races from there. So maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing to start a little farther back. As quick as we were in practice, we're still chasing the setup. We're still working on the gearing with the new rpm limit. The conditions were different for qualifying than they were in practice. The wind was blowing harder during qualifying, and it was coming from the other direction. We'll be a contender in the race, but we just missed the pole by that much." # # #