FONTANA, Calif. (Aug. 29, 2014) - The MAVTV 500 will run under the lights at Auto Club Speedway Saturday night, but qualifying was a different story as the California sun blazed down Friday afternoon on Verizon IndyCar Series qualifications.
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM) drivers Mikhail Aleshin and Simon Pagenaud qualified eighth (216.726 mph) and 13th (215.752 mph), respectively.
Point values are doubled for the MAVTV 500 on the 2-mile oval, meaning 100 championship points are up for grabs during the race. Pagenaud is third in championship point standings and trails leader Will Power by 51 points, making a win vital to moving up in the standings.
"I can't control what Helio (Castroneves) and Will do tomorrow, I can only control what I do," Pagenaud said. "The good news is that SPM has prepared for this race very well. At the end of the day we'll come home with a championship, or be somewhere in the top-five. Knowing the range in results could be so wide, I have to go for the win."
The green flag drops on the MAVTV 500 at 7:20 p.m. (PT), meaning a majority of the 500-mile race will be run after the sun goes down under the lights. Qualifying occurred at 2 p.m. when track temperature reached 143 degrees, a far cry from expected race conditions.
"We didn't really focus on qualifying today," Pagenaud said. "The goal is to be really good in the race, and we were really strong here on Wednesday night in practice, so I feel good. The conditions will have changed so much from qualifying to the actual race at night, that it was crucial to figure out your setup for the night racing."
Rookie Mikhail Aleshin was the first Verizon IndyCar Series driver in line to qualify for the MAVTV 500. He posted a two-lap qualifying average of 216.726 mph to claim the eighth starting position.
"The conditions were incredibly hot during qualifying today, which made our qualifying runs really challenging," Aleshin said. "This is another 500-mile race, and we saw in May at Indianapolis that qualifying in a race that long really doesn't mean much. I was pushing as hard as I could to get the best lap possible, but we were slowed down dramatically by the heat of the day. We know we have a good car, so I'm looking forward to getting out there tomorrow night to see what we can do."
The MAVTV 500 will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network at 6 p.m. (PT) Sunday, Aug. 30. The race can also be found on channels XM 209 and Sirius 213. For the latest trackside updates, follow @SPMIndyCar on Twitter.
