<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_arend07_343561.jpg" alt="j_arend07_343561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Jeff Arend wasn't sure what to imagine as he prepared for qualifying session No. 3 here in Indy. Contested under the lights at around 8:00 pm, the final night run at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals had the potential to totally shake up the qualifying order, starting right at the top with Arend and his 4.754 from Friday night. Instead, the closest anyone came to Arend's time was Jack Beckman's 4.759, and Arend himself was second-quickest this evening, with a strong and solid 4.778. For the second consecutive night, it was the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala driver who met with the media as low qualifier, once racing concluded.
"This is really pretty cool, and I'm trying to actually enjoy every second of it," Arend said. "Before last night, I'd never done the media thing in the tower because I was number one, so to do it two nights in a row is double the fun. If the sun stays out tomorrow, and the forecast is anything close to right, it will be pretty tough to run 4.75 out here, but miracles do happen and the weather guys have been wrong before, so we'll just have to see. If it holds, I guess we'll do the media thing again tomorrow night, and then I told the reporters 'I hope we can all meet like this one last time, on Monday night!'
"That would be the ultimate, but right now we're just concentrating on the next lap, and the next tune-up. We're going to race the race track, and we'll let the qualifying order sort itself out. Would it be a gigantic honor and a huge thrill to be the number one qualifier at Indy? Oh you bet it would. But we'll just have to wait to see how that might work out. Right now, my guys are giving me a superb race car, and I think we can do a lot with it."
AREND STAYS No. 1, MAKES SECOND-QUICKEST LAP ON SATURDAY NIGHT
Jeff Arend wasn't sure what to imagine as he prepared for qualifying session No. 3 here in Indy. Contested under the lights at around 8:00 pm, the final night run at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals had the potential to totally shake up the qualifying order, starting right at the top with Arend and his 4.754 from Friday night. Instead, the closest anyone came to Arend's time was Jack Beckman's 4.759, and Arend himself was second-quickest this evening, with a strong and solid 4.778. For the second consecutive night, it was the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala driver who met with the media as low qualifier, once racing concluded.
"This is really pretty cool, and I'm trying to actually enjoy every second of it," Arend said. "Before last night, I'd never done the media thing in the tower because I was number one, so to do it two nights in a row is double the fun. If the sun stays out tomorrow, and the forecast is anything close to right, it will be pretty tough to run 4.75 out here, but miracles do happen and the weather guys have been wrong before, so we'll just have to see. If it holds, I guess we'll do the media thing again tomorrow night, and then I told the reporters 'I hope we can all meet like this one last time, on Monday night!'
"That would be the ultimate, but right now we're just concentrating on the next lap, and the next tune-up. We're going to race the race track, and we'll let the qualifying order sort itself out. Would it be a gigantic honor and a huge thrill to be the number one qualifier at Indy? Oh you bet it would. But we'll just have to wait to see how that might work out. Right now, my guys are giving me a superb race car, and I think we can do a lot with it."
