SALEM, Ind. – Scott Speed once again showed that consistency and patience does indeed pay off in the end. With practice and qualifying cancelled due to rain, the field lined up according to the 2007 Owner’s Points for the Prairie Meadows 250 at Iowa Speedway. Under dreary skies, the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota started on the outside pole for the Saturday afternoon event. Running a solid race and leading 28 laps, Scott Speed took the checkered flag in the 6th position and left Iowa ‘unofficially’ in the top-10 in ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship points.
“It was a good race all around,” said Speed. “Our car’s handling by itself was definitely good enough to get us into Top-5. By the end of the race, we were the one of the fastest cars out there.”
Speed started the race at the front of the pack and remained there, never falling lower than the tenth position, for 250 laps. Typically found hovering in the top-5, Speed was often clocking the fastest lap times on the track.
On lap 73, the caution flag flew and the Red Bull Toyota came down pit road. The over-the-wall crew put on four tires, added fuel, and made adjustments to correct the car’s tight condition. Working with precision and expertise, the crew ripped off an excellent stop and put Speed back on track on the first position. Speed retained the lead for 28 laps.
During the caution at lap 134, Speed reported to his team “For most of the run my car is really quite balanced. But when I get to the end of the run, the car is pretty tight, especially in traffic.”
On lap 162, another caution was brought out. When pit road opened, the No. 2 came down for service. An issue with the gas can required the Red Bull Toyota to make a second trip down pit road to have the fuel topped off. When the field restarted on lap 167, Speed was in the tenth position but on the lead lap.
With 45 laps remaining, the caution came out again. Speed came down pit road one final time for four tires, fuel, and no adjustments. Speed completed the race in the sixth position.
“We struggled with brakes today,” commented Speed. “When we got in traffic and we started racing around, we needed to get the car pinned down. It was a little tight at those times. We struggled with that a lot. That was the only car problem we had other than that, everything was good. The engine ran well. We were good to go. It was a really fast car.”
