MADISON, Ill. (August 19, 2022) — With past race results showing World Wide Technology Raceway to be one of the better race tracks for AJ Foyt Racing, the drivers are optimistic about their chances in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.

At WWT Raceway, the team has five top-10 finishes, three of which were in the top-five, including a fifth place last year with Sebastien Bourdais and a third place in 2019 with Tony Kanaan.

With drivers going out to qualify in the reverse order of their NTT INDYCAR Series points position, those further back in the standings are hampered by less than ideal track conditions which are usually hotter giving the track less grip. Such was the case today at the 1.25-mile oval track.

Kyle Kirkwood, who was third out to qualify, will start 20th in the No. 14 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet after posting a two-lap average speed of 178.079mph.

Kirkwood talks with his race engineer Mike Colliver.

“Decent qualifying,” Kirkwood said following his run. “We showed up today after our test last week with pretty different track conditions {from when they tested}. We don’t feel like we’re as strong as what we were at the test. But in general, I think we had a solid qualifying I think that should put us mid pack or thereabouts. There’s definitely more in it, but we’re just still working with the car to get it in its happy place like it was at the test last week, which has definitely taken some tuning. Unfortunately, on weekends like this, you don’t get a bunch of tires to really figure it all out and enough time and enough clean track to nail everything down. It takes a couple sessions to really pinpoint exactly what you need. So we’re still working with it, but I think we have a very good heading coming into tomorrow’s race. Historically, the Number 14 car has been better in race conditions than it has in qualifying so we have that going for us.”

Dalton Kellett, who will start 24th in the No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Chevrolet after posting an average speed of 173.902mph, was disappointed in his run.

Kellett answers questions from the media following his run.

““Not exactly the qualifying that we were looking for today,” said Kellett, who turned 29 today. “This is a tough track to pass so I was hoping we were a little further up the grid. It seems we had a bit more understeer than expected going into the end of the run. Last year, this was where we scored our best finish. Overall, we feel like the race platform that we have is better than where we were at the end of last year and at the start of the test a couple weeks ago. So optimistic for the race and just have to be smart on track and in pit lane, make some moves and move up from where we’re starting.”

Points leader Will Power was the last man out to qualify and he claimed the NTT P1 award with his “nothing left on the table” run and an average speed of 182.727mph. Scoring his 67th pole, Power tied Mario Andretti who held the record for poles won.

Marcus Ericsson will start outside pole with a speed average of 182.070mph. Power’s teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin sit in row two while Ericsson’s teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon make up row three.

The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will be broadcast on the USA Network tomorrow afternoon starting at 6p.m. ET. The race will also be streamed on Peacock Premium and broadcast on the INDYCAR Radio Network.