All eyes on the ethanol car in Iowa

The sixth-place qualifying result not only matched a career-best for Jeff Simmons (Milwaukee, 2006) but it also marked the first time in his blossoming career that he has posted back-to-back top-10 qualifying results. His best time had him in the top five nearly all the way through the session, before Ed Carpenter slipped between the RLR teammates as the penultimate car to qualify on a cloudy and cool Saturday in Newton, Iowa.

“Everyone on the Ethanol team has done a great job this week, the car was really fast right off the truck," Simmons said. “This is a very big race for us and with Ethanol, we have a lot of support at this race and we are pleased to have been able to qualify well. This is a race that we have had our eyes on from the time they announced the schedule and now we need to transfer today's success into tomorrow's race."

This marks the first time that both RLR cars have qualified in the top 10 in consecutive races since the Kansas/Nashville events a year ago. This also the first time that Sharp has qualified in the top five in consecutive races since starting third at Motegi and Indianapolis in 2005. Scott Dixon is the polesitter for tomorrow’s race, with Helio Castroneves and Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti gridding second and third respectively.

“Jeff obviously was quick when his car was rolled off the truck and he and the team have done a good job, and what the whole team did today with getting Scott’s car at the front of the field was big," said RLR Chief Operating Officer Scott Roembke. “Working as a team we were able to use all our data and devise a setup that would work well for Scott’s car and it paid off well for us. It is really nice for us to be quick today in such an important event for Ethanol and hopefully we can do it again tomorrow."

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 will take place tomorrow at noon local time (1 p.m. Eastern Time) and can be seen live on ABC Sports. The 250-lap event will be the first IndyCar race to be held at Iowa Speedway. RLR PR