Single-Car Dreyer & Reinbold – Kingdom Racing Shows Speed with Big Teams

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (May 12, 2015) – One wouldn’t know that driver Townsend Bell hasn’t been in an IndyCar in nearly a year after the California native’s strong Tuesday runs in the second day of practice for the 99th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bell, the 40-year-old veteran from Pacific Palisades, Calif., recorded the fifth fastest speed of the day with a clocking of 226. 519 miles per hour in the Chevrolet-powered No. 24 Robert Graham Special. Bell completed 69 laps Tuesday in cooler and breezy conditions around the legendary 2.5-mile oval.

Helio Castroneves was the fastest Tuesday at 227.514 m.p.h followed by Simon Pagenaud at 227.382, Scott Dixon at 226.769, Justin Wilson at 226.688 and Bell. Wednesday’s practice at IMS is scheduled for noon to 6 p.m.

“It was another good day for our team,” said Bell, an eight-time Indy 500 starter. “I feel like we are in a window where we have a feel for what we might want on race day. And it was nice to get some pit stop practice in today as well. The Robert Graham Special feels very good so far and we are moving through our list of engineering items. We are still learning. These are still early days and we trying to understand all of the aero data. We have a great group of guys who know how to get through that data. Looking forward to Wednesday now.”

Dennis Reinbold, team owner of Dreyer & Reinbold – Kingdom Racing, was pleased with the team’s progression during the second round of practice Tuesday. Reinbold’s single-car effort is taking on the bigger teams like Penske, Ganassi and Andretti, and Tuesday’s speed by Bell was right in the thick of things on the charts.

“We have a list of settings and conditions we are working with each day,” said Reinbold, whose family legacy at IMS dates back to 1927. “We are working through that list very well and the engineers are collecting data that will help us for this weekend’s qualifying and next weekend’s race. The wind was whipping again today and we have to monitor those conditions constantly.”

Qualifying rounds are scheduled for this Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17, with the 500-mile race beginning at 12 p.m. on Sunday, May 24.