Indianapolis, Ind. – As last year’s winner of the Cooper Tires Freedom 90 at Lucas Oil Raceway, championship contender Danial Frost went into this weekend’s event hoping to duplicate that result and land on the top step of the podium once again.

The #68 DEN-JET driver topped two of the three test sessions on Thursday, but ended up with the fourth fastest time in the single car qualifying effort. On Friday, the 18-year-old was once again the fastest driver in the pre-race practice session, setting a good expectation for the nighttime event, and with a strategy in mind for the race, Frost set out to challenge for the win.

“Our plan going into the race was to conserve the tires as much as possible initially and catch up with the leaders once they hit traffic at the back of the field,” said Frost. “That strategy paid off for us, and we got up to third place and held there for quite a bit.”

Frost improved to third and held on for a good portion of the race, but the surrounding cars gave a good fight until the end of the fully green conditions race, and the Singaporean dropped to fifth just before the checkered flag. Although he didn’t get the result he hoped for, Frost accumulated enough points to maintain third in the championship with just a nine point different among the top three competitors.

“Later in the race, we were just lacking the pace we needed and dropped down to fifth, but I think it was still a good day,” continued Frost. “We were able to bring back the car in one piece, and consistency is the key right now. We made some headway in the championship and are just nine points down from P1, so we’re looking forward to Gateway next week. Our car seems very strong there, so I’m excited to see how it goes.”

With it being his first visit to the .686-mile oval, Antoine Comeau was challenged to learn a lot about the track in a little amount of time. When it came to the race, Comeau quickly settled into a rhythm and stayed with the main group for over half of the race before eventually being caught by the leaders. Still, the Canadian maintained his pace and brought the car home with a 13th place finish, placing him 11th in the overall points.

“It was definitely a challenging weekend for me,” said Comeau. “We didn’t do much as far as points are concerned, but I definitely learned a few things at this track, and I feel confident that next week is going to be better. We had a good car at Gateway last year, and our pace in the race was acceptable. Even though I didn’t achieve much this week as far as results go, I’m hoping I can use some of the lessons I learned and apply them to next week’s race.”

“The results in the race weren’t what we were hoping for,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “I feel like we had a better package than P5, but unfortunately, that’s what we ended up with. It was very important that we brought both cars back in one piece so we can regroup for Gateway next week, and both of our drivers did that. The team performed very well; Danial’s pace was good in practice, and Antoine improved every session. It was just a shame that we couldn’t carry that result through to the race. Overall, I’m satisfied with the weekend, and we improved again as a team which is important for the growth of our program. Thanks to all the crew and everyone involved for their continued hard work.”

The oval portion of the season continues next week from August 28-29 at World Wide Technology Raceway just outside of St. Louis. With points being worth more on the oval courses, the championship fight will still be in full swing going into Round 7.