The UIG contingent shows off the team's snazzy new shirts while watching practice from pit road.
On Wednesday evening the No. 90 team headed to Loudon, New Hampshire’s 1.056-mile superspeedway to prepare for qualifying for the New England 100.
After an early afternoon practice session on Thursday, 39 cars attempted to qualify for the 38-car field.
“We were pretty fast right off the trailer,” recalls Renee. “We were happy with the car – making just a few minor changes during practice. In fact, at one point, we ran down a fast, three car draft from about 12 car lengths – as a single car. That was a pretty good indicator of how fast the car was,” she continued.
Still, the practice transponder times only listed the car respectably mid-pack. So, the team was quite surprised when Dupuis’ first lap posted to the fourth position on the large infield scoring tower. With about a dozen cars remaining during the early evening time trial run, Renee was eventually credited with the 11th fastest time of the session – earning a starting position just outside of the top-ten.
“We’re all really happy with how the day went today,” reflected Renee. “It’s pretty obvious that this Billy the Kid engine is a strong piece – you just don’t go fast here without some serious horsepower under the hood. Plus, Ed (Bennett) clearly has stepped up our chassis program. With the combination we’ve been fortunate enough to bring here, I’m excited for the race on Saturday.”
The New England 100 is scheduled to go green on Saturday at 1PM. For event and ticket information, please visit NHMS’s official Web site.