Qualifying for the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland ended in the first round for AJ Foyt Racing as both Santino Ferrucci and Benjamin Pedersen did not advance. Although disappointed, the young drivers were not discouraged.
Pedersen will start 26th in the No. 55 Bavarian Meats/Sexton Properties Chevrolet having taken a different approach with his choice of Firestone tires. The team started on the alternates and then switched to the primaries because Pedersen felt those tires might be better after running the alternates. However, Pedersen’s fast time of 59.2175 seconds came on the alternates.
“Slightly disappointed because I feel like we had really good pace in practice but for some reason we missed something on the car heading into qualifying,” said Pedersen. “Just didn’t have the rear grip that we needed that we had in practice, so not sure why but I feel like I maximized everything we could. It will be interesting in the warmup session later in the day to see what we’re like with race running and heavy fuel but slightly disappointed. I feel like we missed something there.”
The teams will have a final practice this afternoon in preparation for tomorrow’s race which will be broadcast on NBC starting at 3 p.m. ET.