| ESPN Network: ESPN.com | RPM | NFL.com | NBA.com | NHL.com | ESPNdeportes | ABCSports | WNBA.com | FANTASY | |
|
|
|
| |
 |
  |
 |
 Start your engines! Play RPM.ESPN Stock Car Challenge! Win a Honda S2000! Play The CART Challenge powered by Honda! |
Friday, June 8 Cheever ready for Saturday's race ESPN.com news services FORT WORTH, Texas -- Eddie Cheever was the fastest driver in both practice sessions Friday in preparation for Saturday night's Casino Magic 500 Indy Racing League race. Cheever ran a lap at 216.247 miles per hour at Texas Motor Speedway in the first practice session -- faster than the pole winning speed of 215.508 miles per hour set by Mark Dismore in Thursday night's qualifications. Cheever backed up that speed in Friday evening's final practice session with a lap at 216.421 mph. "We worked on our race set-up today," Cheever said. "We started off with a car that was very loose but made some changes that improved the handling. It's very hard to judge what kind of changes there will be in the temperature for the race, though. Guessing the temperature for tomorrow evening will be very difficult." Cheever will start third in Saturday night's race behind the all-Kelley Racing front row of Dismore and Scott Sharp. He is using the Infiniti 35A engine. "Our Infiniti engine is performing very well," Cheever said. "The 35A is definitely showing signs of a very strong adolescence. We were good in Atlanta, but we had a failure. We had a bad month of May but (Infiniti driver) Robbie Buhl was challenging for the lead of the Indy 500. The Infiniti 35A is definitely a strong engine, but the hardest thing to get in an engine is reliability. Hopefully, this will be a race that we finish, and if we finish, I think we will be running in the top three or four or five." Cheever is also keeping in close contact with his teammate, Scott Goodyear, who is recovering from a back fracture suffered at the Indianapolis 500. "I really miss having Scott around," Cheever said. "I hired a teammate and ended up acquiring a friend. It was very sad to see him go out in the manner that he did at Indy because he is a driver who is always on the pace and has a great record at the Indianapolis 500. It would have been great to have Scott here at Texas."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Copyright ©2001 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Click here for a list of employment opportunities at ESPN.com. |
