Stanton Barrett sets sights on Charlotte Nationwide race after failing to make Indy 500 field
CONCORD, N.C. – Stanton Barrett was prepared for double duty this weekend, running the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday night before running the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
But Barrett failed to make the Indy 500 last Sunday and is left with only one race – provided he can qualify for the Carquest Auto Parts 300 in Rick Ware Racing’s No. 31 Chevrolet.
Barrett was to fly to Charlotte for Nationwide practice in Thursday, fly to Indy for Carb Day on Friday, fly to Charlotte for the Nationwide race on Saturday and finally fly to Indy for the 500 on Sunday.
“Now I don’t have to worry about it,” Barrett said Thursday. “I can actually go home. I haven’t been home but about one day in two and a half months.”
Barrett said he “it was extremely disappointing” to miss the 500 for 3G Racing, even though he was attempting to make his first race at Indy.
“We didn’t really make too many gains from when we unloaded after we got through rookie orientation,” said Barrett, who is running the full Indy Racing League schedule this season. “We worked on the car a lot. Got a lot of straightaway speed out of it. Just too much sliding or scuffing in the corners and lost a lot of speed there.
“It was a very tough field this year. We have very limited sponsors, three employees and no engineers. We did pretty well, considering.”
Barrett said he thought a four-lap qualifying average of around 219 mph would be good enough to make the field, and his car could reach that. But on the final day of qualifying speeds jumped to the mid 220s, and Barrett’s No. 98 couldn’t pick up any more speed.
“You just need good setups,” Barrett said. “We had a good car, we just needed more setup information and help. They guys did a great job. It might be a place where some experience would gain you a half a mile an hour, but it’s not going to gain you a mile and a half or two miles an hour.”
Indy is a “tricky place for setups,” Barrett said, citing John Andretti as an example. With other teams helping out with setup info, Andretti picked up more than one mile per hour in the final 30 minutes to bump his way in the field.
Still, Barrett said he enjoyed his first month of May in Indy.
“It was an awesome experience,” Barrett said. “It was like being in Daytona for two weeks. The whole two weeks there, the ambiance of the fans and the race track. I’ve been there for the [Cup] race, and even that doesn’t compare to what’s going on. It’s a really fun atmosphere.”
