Following a stretch of six weekends with six races, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing enjoyed a weekend off before arriving on Thursday morning at the Kentucky Speedway for this weekend’s Meijer Indy 300.

Buddy Rice will be re-joined by Milka Duno in the #23 CITGO car for Saturday night’s race.

This is the ninth IndyCar Series race held on this track, and it’s also the team’s ninth trip to the venue.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s best start came in 2002 when it placed a car on the pole, and the team’s best finish at the track was in 2003 when team co-owner Robbie Buhl finished seventh.

In 2007, Rice started 16th and finished 12th in this event.  His best results at the track came in 2004 when he won the pole and went on to finish second.  In his previous six starts at the track, he has been running at the finish in all of them.

In 2008, he’s accumulated five top-tens (Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Texas, Nashville, Watkins Glen), including a fourth at Watkins Glen.  In the most recent race of the IndyCar Series, at the new Edmonton circuit, Rice was one spot away from nabbing his sixth top-ten of the season.

This will be Duno’s debut race at the track, though she has tested at the facility on a couple of occasions, including in a private test last week.  Her 16th-place result in Kansas is her best finish so far this year, and she was also the highest finishing woman in this year’s Indianapolis 500.  She’s looking forward to her first start on this 1.5-mile oval.

Practice beings on Friday morning with an 11:15 a.m. EST start.  A second session follows at 2:45 p.m. EST, followed by qualifying at 6:30 p.m. EST.  These sessions can be seen live via streaming video on indycar.com.

The race itself is on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. EST and can be seen live and in HD on ESPN2.

QUOTES

#15 DREYER & REINBOLD RACING Honda Dallara Driver Buddy Rice

“We’re coming into this weekend looking to continue building on our 1.5-mile program.  We made some progress on the oval at Nashville.  We made something out of nothing at Edmonton, and we’ll just try to expand on that and have another good weekend here on the oval.  It was good to get everyone on the team a weekend off so we’re all fresh here.  Also, Milka’s test last week in the CITGO car was really important.  They learned a lot of things that we can carry over to this weekend to improve the overall performance of the car.”

#23 CITGO/DREYER & REINBOLD RACING Honda Dallara Driver Milka Duno

“After back-to-back road courses, I’m looking forward to being on the starting grid of another oval and introducing myself to Kentucky’s enthusiastic race fans.  I also took advantage of a full day of testing at Kentucky Speedway last Friday.  We were able to make a few adjustments to the car, and I feel more confident coming to the track with my dedicated Dreyer and Reinbold team.”