Pecorari wins first Indy Pro race

Robbie Pecorari claimed his first Indy Pro Series victory winning the Sunbelt Rentals 100. Pecorari, a rookie driver competing for first-year effort Team KMA, inherited the lead when leader Alex Lloyd pitted with damage sustained when he hit debris from an accident involving Brad Jaeger and Al Unser III with 12 laps to go. Jaeger was evaluated and released from University Medical Center, but he has not been cleared to drive. Logan Gomez finished second, followed by Jaime Camara, Wade Cunningham and Jonathan Klein.

Results Saturday of the Sunbelt Rentals 100 Indy Pro Series event July 14 at the 1.3-mile Nashville Superspeedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed, and reason out (if any) and money earned:
1. (3) Robbie Pecorari, 77, Running $32,500
2. (9) Logan Gomez, 77, Running $25,000
3. (8) Jaime Camara, 77, Running $20,000
4. (2) Wade Cunningham, 77, Running $16,400
5. (11) Jonathan Klein, 77, Running $15,900
6. (4) Hideki Mutoh, 77, Running $15,400
7. (7) Stephen Simpson, 77, Running $14,900
8. (13) Ryan Justice, 77, Running $14,400
9. (16) Chris Festa, 77, Running $13,900
10. (19) Ken Losch, 77, Running $13,400
11. (1) Alex Lloyd, 77, Running $13,400
12. (15) Brad Jaeger, 63, Contact $11,400
13. (17) Al Unser III, 62, Contact $10,400
14. (5) Sean Guthrie, 62, Running $10,000
15. (14) Bobby Wilson, 51, Handling $9,500
16. (18) Marc Williams, 33, Handling $9,000
17. (20) P.J. Abbott, 14, Handling $8,500
18. (6) Joey Scarallo, 0, Contact $8,000
19. (10) Mike Potekhen, 0, Contact $5,000
20. (12) Andrew Prendeville, 0, Contact $4,000
21. (21) Tom Wieringa, 0, Contact $3,000
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 113.452 mph
Time of race: 52:56.3282
Margin of victory: 0.2226 of a second
Cautions: 3 caution flags for 25 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 3 drivers
Lap leaders: Lloyd 1-12, Cunningham 13, Lloyd 14-31, Pecorari 32- 48, Lloyd 49-72, Pecorari 73-77.
Point standings: Lloyd 499, Mutoh 367, Cunningham 302, Wilson 292, Camara 266, Potekhen 242, Pecorari 239, Klein 228, Festa 225, Gomez 221.

Quotes

ROBBIE PECORARI (No. 13 Cabo Wabo Tequila, winner Sunbelt Rentals 100): "It's still a shock. I'm just getting used to being here." (Did you see Lloyd hit the debris?): "As soon as the last yellow came out, I saw the debris coming down the track. I went to avoid, but (Alex Lloyd) hit it pretty hard. We hit a piece of it, but luckily the car stayed together. (About the trophy): "I don't play guitar, but it will definitely look good on a shelf somewhere."

ALEX LLOYD (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon Systems/SSM, finished 11th): (About late-race crash): "I could see that bunch of guys really close together battling pretty hard. I just saw something, someone called 'yellow' as I was going into (Turn) 3, and at that point, there was debris everywhere. You try and slow down and turn at the same time, but you've got to be very careful when you do that so you don't lose the back end. I'm slowing down as much as I can. Entering the corner at 180, I just couldn't get it down, and there was a big piece of sidepod in the middle of the track and just nowhere to go. Bits were covering the low line, the high line. There was just nothing we could do. We basically cleaned the track for everyone else and that was pretty much what we did. We cleared the debris field, and everyone else got through fine. It was disappointing because we were close to having that race in the bag. We made the passes we needed to, and we had the quickest car at the end there. Sometimes, you're just at the wrong place at the wrong time." (About deciding to come in late rather than stay out): "I don't think it would have made a difference either way. We would have gone to the back of the pack. For sure, we did the right thing. To be honest, I think we would have ended up in the wall if we stayed out. Even if we kept going, we could have ended up in the wall and taken someone out with us. At the end of the day, we probably did the smart thing and came in, and the car still wasn't right when we went out. There was still something wrong. I think we lost six points in the championship so it wasn't a disaster. It's just a disappointing day. We should have been in victory lane and we weren't. And I didn't get that guitar."