Travis Pastrana’s Dodge Dart suffered significant front-end damage during the first lap of practice on Friday morning after over-shooting gap-jump ramp.

Travis Pastrana’s No. 199 Red Bull Discount Tire Dodge Dart suffered significant front-end damage during the first lap of practice on Friday morning after over-shooting the 80-foot, gap-jump ramp.  His primary car remains under repair. Pastrana was able to get back on track in the back-up No. 99 Dodge Dart for timed seeding. Filipe Albuquerque  is scheduled to drive the No. 99 Dodge Dart.

Travis Pastrana (No. 199 Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart) “Oh man, we got a really awesome jump. They built the jump to the specs of the dirt. But on a dirt jump, you kind of round it off a bit. One of the guys went first, went over and missed the top by about two feet and landed about 10-feet before the bottom because of how the angles are on this jump. I followed him off the jump and was going three miles per hour (mph) faster than he did and hit the bottom. It took out the whole front of our Dodge Dart. It was basically jumping off of 90-foot-to-flat off of a 15-foot takeoff. The guys are really working hard. I’m sure we’ll get the Dodge Dart back.”

WILL YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE AT HAVING TWO CARS FOR TOMORROW? “There’s a pretty good chance for two cars. Unfortunately, Filipe (Albuquerque) is driving the second car. Great driver. We didn’t get any practice because of the jump; they’re just trying to figure out what to do with it. So his first time in the Dodge Dart was qualifying. He got four laps out there. He gave us some good feedback and if we can make some minor changes, we’ll be really in the hunt.”

HOW TOUGH WILL IT BE TO REPAIR THE PRIMARY CAR? “It’s going to be a thrash. The guys are going to work the next 30 hours, non-stop, doing everything that they can to get the primary car ready. The IndyCar Series is here and a lot of their guys have offered to help us get the car ready. That’s really cool. Everybody wants to see both our cars in the show and try and help the sport. It’s been good. I’ve got a great crew behind me and we’ll do whatever we can to have both cars into the show tomorrow.”

Blair Stopnik (Team Manager, Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart) WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THAT THE PRIMARY CAR WILL BE REPAIRED IN TIME FOR THE HEAT RACES TOMORROW? “I think 100 percent that the primary car will be ready for tomorrow. We’re confident enough, our crew is confident enough, that Travis will be in the car tomorrow. We thought about switching drivers, but the crew guys are confident that the Dodge Dart will be ready. We really don’t have a “primary” or “back-up” car. We have two really fast Dodge Darts. For us, it’s an easy decision. They’re both good. They’re both equal. All the parts and pieces are amazing. We’re set either way. We’re happy about it.”

Photo caption: Travis Pastrana flying (too) high… © QBA/ERC24