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Carpenter To Start 22nd Saturday in Milwaukee

Topics: Ed Carpenter, Milwaukee IndyFest presented by XYQ

Carpenter To Start 22nd Saturday in Milwaukee

Tom Blattler
Ed Carpenter Racing
June 15, 2012

June 15th 2012 - WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Ed Carpenter will start 22nd in Saturday’s 225-lap Milwaukee IndyFest in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet at the legendary Milwaukee Mile in the Wisconsin State Fair Park.

The only owner/driver in the IZOD IndyCar Series came to the famed Mile after a successful testing session at the high-banked Iowa Speedway oval Tuesday, but the settings from Iowa didn’t equate to the flatter racing surface at the Fair Park. The ECR/Fuzzy’s squad worked through Friday practice session on the race settings, as the track surface always proves tricky during the feature.

Carpenter recorded a two-lap average of 160.308 miles per hour in the humid conditions Friday. Carpenter, coming off impressive charges at Indianapolis and Texas, believes his Dallara chassis is better suited for the race rather than qualifying. Last year’s winner, Dario Franchitti, won the pole Friday.

“We knew we wouldn’t qualify too well,” said Carpenter. “We worked on the race setup today quite a bit. We had a good test at Iowa so I feel we’ll be okay in the race. It’s much different here from qualifying to the race. The race will be completely different.”

The Fuzzy’s Vodka/ECR Chevrolet Dallara chassis makes its eighth race of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series. All eight races have been contested with one chassis. ECR’s second chassis (scheduled for oval races) was crashed in Saturday qualifying at Indy. The team had to rebuild their road course chassis (with four races already run with it) overnight at Indy to qualify on Sunday. The team is in the process of rebuilding the crashed car.

The racing at the Milwaukee Mile is always exciting and Saturday’s main event could be another barnburner. The combination of the Firestone tires and track surface is a key to the 225-lap event.

“The tires make a difference in the race as well as traffic,” Carpenter said. “The track isn’t banked very high and the tires can go off here. The race pace is going to be much slower than the qualifying pace. The groove changes here in the race. Sometimes it will go higher and other times it goes to the low side. But passing gets better as the stint goes on. We haven’t done our best getting good runs on the fresh Firestones, but we seem pretty competitive when the tires get worn a bit. We have been able to come through the field in the other oval races so far and I hope we can do it again Saturday.”

Saturday’s Milwaukee IndyFest will be televised live on ABC Sports beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.