Schmidt wins pole for Vegas.com 500

Sam Schmidt celebrated winning the pole for Sunday's Pep Boys Indy Racing League Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a very low-key manner.

The Las Vegas resident is hoping to have a much bigger celebration Sunday afternoon.

"This is pretty huge -- but what matters is what happens tomorrow," Schmidt said. "Tomorrow is going to be a totally different ballgame.

"If we can possibly win tomorrow, the party will be a little closer to home."

Schmidt captured his first career IRL pole Saturday with a time of 25.780 (209.485 mph) on his second of two qualifying laps in the No. 99 Sprint PCS G-Force/Aurora.

Mark Dismore will start on the outside of the front row after qualifying second at 25.825 (209.100 mph) on the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval in the No. 28 MCI World Com Dallara/Aurora.

Last month at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo., Schmidt tied Greg Ray for the pole with identical times, but Ray was awarded the top qualifying position because he posted his time first.

On Saturday, Schmidt said he knew he had bettered Dismore's time, but he had to wait out late qualifying runs by Kenny Brack, Scott Sharp and Scott Goodyear before he could breath easier.

"When I came around on the (first) lap, it was a 208.9 or something and I knew in my head that we could do it if we just grabbed a little more," Schmidt said. "After my second lap, I knew what Mark had run and I knew there was enough of a spread (in time) to where there wasn't a tie this time.

"I was excited, but I also knew Scotty (Sharp) was real quick this morning, so I was just waiting until he ran."

Dismore had predicted earlier that Schmidt, who finished second in last year's Vegas.com 500, would be the favorite to claim his first IRL victory on his home track in Sunday's race.

He didn't back off that prediction Saturday afternoon.

"I said a week ago that I thought Sam had a real shot at winning this race," Dismore said. "The reason I said that is because last year, Arie (Luyendyk) had such a good car."

Schmidt took over as the driver for Fred Treadway when Luyendyk, who won last year's race at LVMS, retired at the end of last season.

Brack, the defending IRL series champion and winner of this year's Indianapolis 500, will start third and Ray, the current series points leader, will start on the outside of row two.

Another Las Vegas resident, Davey Hamilton, will start Sunday's Vegas.com 500 in the 23rd starting position with a qualifying time of 26.710 (202.171 mph).

Veteran driver Willy T. Ribbs, making his first IRL start Sunday, posted a time of 26.840 (201.192 mph) and will start 25th out of 26 cars.

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