Running well, qualifying well and finishing well were all on Robert Hight's to do list back in January. Fortunately, he's getting around to doing all three at just the right time, even if it is at the last moment.

“People have been joking with me saying , 'You've sandbagged all year.' That's not the approach we took, trust me. I would have loved to have had this a lot sooner. But, we're definitely going to take it now that we've got it.”

Running well, qualifying well and finishing well were all on Robert Hight's to do list back in January. Fortunately, he's getting around to doing all three at just the right time, even if it is at the last moment.

“People have been joking with me saying , 'You've sandbagged all year.' That's not the approach we took, trust me. I would have loved to have had this a lot sooner. But, we're definitely going to take it now that we've got it.”

What Hight has is good fortune, Lady Luck, the rabbit's foot, a horseshoe and any other good luck charm he can find stuffed in his pockets. All those charms added up to a 4.109, 305.56 mph run in the second qualifying round.

“The trick and the goal here is to keep doing this,” admitted Hight, who earlier this year couldn't get out of the path of a marauding tortoise.

Even though Hight struggled in the first round, ninth fastest at 5.204, he didn't get down. Confidence was the reason. Confidence he admittedly lacked as little as four races ago.

“To be honest with you, my confidence wasn't really good leaving Reading Pennsylvania. John switched us around. My car finally started running well. I get in his car and we qualified well, but smoked the tires two rounds. We got lucky the first round. As a driver you start thinking 'Maybe it's me here. Maybe I am the one causing both cars to smoke tires.' Austin Coil gets sick, we flop back and my car got on the string and just continued doing what John and Jimmy (Prock) started doing in Reading.”

By race day in Indy, Hight was pumped up. His car was running well, on a consecutive string of making solid runs. Additionally, Prock, Hight's crew chief, was on a string as well.

“When we were struggling he would go to that box a hundred times before a run. Just no confidence. Now, he leaves the pits with a pretty good combination and then he goes out and looks at the track, see what a few guys runs, maybe makes one change and bam it goes (down the track).

“Jimmy is totally tuning this car different than he use to.”

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