Speedway, Ind. — It’s difficult to say whether the Ford Tauruses are flying because nearly every one of Ford Racing Technology’s engineering resources is deployed here at Indy; or whether the teams have the hot rods tuned to kill because this is one of the NASCAR’s crown jewel events.
Detroit is well represented here, from the high altitude Dan Davis, director Ford Racing Technology, through Ford’s motor guru, Mose Nowland. The Ford men are working the garages, sticking a head in and scratching their heads in search of the best combination, no matter the area of the car the discussion might be covering.
The teams, of course, have everything hung out. Included in the arsenal are wireless high-speed data systems, which move data between team trucks. Welcome to tire-side chats with team engineers about spring and bars and shocks in year 2004.
Several of the Ford teams (most notably Elliott Sadler, who qualified his M&M’s Ford third fastest in today’s session, and was the fastest Ford in both afternoon sessions) are flourishing under these watchful eyes.
"Life is good right now in Indy,” Sadler said before he practiced fourth fastest in the first afternoon practice session and second fastest in the second session. “To win the golf tournament [Friday] and that's not the pole, so I was a little disappointed being that close, but we can see 'em. We're gonna be close enough to see 'em and as good as we were here in testing and race runs, man, I'm pumped up. I think we've got a good shot at this race.”
Remember that Todd Parrott told www.teamfordracing.com on Friday that he believes his 2004 effort is every bit as impressive as was the entry in which he guided Dale Jarrett to victory here.
“The last time I can honestly say that we had a test as well as we did a couple of weeks ago is the year we won the 400 with D.J. in ’99,” Parrott stressed before his car even hit the track on Friday afternoon.
Those tests look to be paying huge dividends, and if the team can carry the momentum Sadler could win the biggest race of his career, today.
Sadler isn’t the only game in town for the Ford effort as the Roush Racing fleet looks to be dialed in quite nicely, too. As a matter of fact the five Roush cars practice seventh through 11th fastest in the first session, making for a whole lot of stout Blue for Sunday’s race. The order of the Ford gaggle showed Matt Kenseth (seventh), Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Mark Martin (11th) all running close enough that you’d be able to drop a cocktail napkin on the five cars.
Qualifying was as predicted by the Ford crew chiefs with a premium going to those with an early draw. Most teams opted for a single timed lap on the clocks, fearing this track’s monstrously long front and back straight, especially with the car noses taped to give the drivers as much front grip as possible.
Kenseth was one of the few who completed two full laps at speed and he was one of but a very few who made up any significant time with a second lap.
"It was good in [Turns] 3 and 4, it just wasn't that great in Turn 1 or Turn 2, it just wasn't great, but the track's getting hotter,” said Kenseth who posted the 23rd fastest lap in the cool track graduating to hot track qualifying session. “It's just so lopsided the way they do qualifying here.”
Mark Martin, who many are pointing to as one of those to keep an eye on in the event, was miserable after his run, sick that his car got wild loose in Turn 1.
“We're incredibly disappointed with that,” Martin said shortly after his qualifying run. “We had a lot better car than that. We were tight on the last run yesterday and made our best judgment as far as adjustments and it's a different day with a different set of tires. I don't know what happened, but the car overreacted to the change that we made.
“I'm certainly disappointed with that by a lot because we had a better car than that, but you can check with a bunch of guys behind us and they'll be saying the same thing,” Martin added.
The only incident in qualifying came when Bobby Labonte’s motor lay down, but other than that it was a remarkably clean session.
