Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography

In the first few rounds of the USF Pro 2000 season, drivers and teams have gotten to test the new-for-2024 Continental Tire for what it’s worth across various road courses.

The opinion among drivers so far across circuits such as NOLA Motorsports Park and the Streets of St. Petersburg that the series has raced at so far is that the tires take a longer time to get up to temperature, making it important more crucial for drivers to practice strategies to get heat into their tires.

Around the oval of Indianapolis Raceway Park in anticipation of Friday night’s Freedom 90, drivers have spoken about the opposite coming into play.

“We’ve actually had to be careful on the warmup lap that we don’t overdo it,” DEForce Racing’s Mac Clark said. “It’s been a new set of challenges, and this tire, on the oval, is actually super grippy. I think a lot of the drivers, including myself, are going to struggle physically late in the race.”

Clark, the reigning Freedom 75 winner in USF2000, had run in the upper half of the field throughout the week as he prepares for a go-around to take another win at IRP. He will start on the inside of row five this evening in ninth place.

The tires have contributed to record-setting lap times so far in qualifying. Friday night’s polesitter Braden Eves set the fastest time in series history when he laid down a 39.025 across two laps on Thursday afternoon.

Exclusive Autosport has had a dominant recent history in the Freedom 90, having won the race in each of the past two years with current HMD Motorsports Indy NXT driver Reece Gold in 2022 and reigning NASCAR Mexico champion Salvador de Alba in 2023.

Eves commended his Exclusive Autosport team for being able to make the changes necessary to continue their streak of success.

“The new tire is way faster than what we used to run here,” Eves said. “Everything kind of changed. We used to downshift but now we are staying in fifth gear. Honestly, at an oval like this, when the car is that good, it makes it so much easier.”

One aspect of the Freedom 90 which is expected to remain the same with the new tire is the difficulty that drivers have overtaking others on the circuit. Since 2013, every driver who has gone on to win the Freedom 90 has started on the front two rows.

Starting alongside Eves on the front row is Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark, who had finished in the top-five twice at IRP in 2021 and 2022 in USF2000, spoke before qualifying on some of the difficulties that drivers face trying to make moves around the track.

“You try to get optimistic with the lap traffic to try to get in front,” Denmark said. “But that typically doesn’t come until everyone’s true pace shows, so it’s a yin and yang there.”

The Freedom 90 is the last race of the Carb Night Classic, with final practice wrapping up for USF Pro 2000 at 5:05 p.m. While inclement thunderstorms around 6 p.m. might disrupt qualifying sessions for other series, the Freedom 90 is not scheduled until 9:30 p.m.

The full starting lineup for the Freedom 90 is attached below:

1. Braden Eves
2. Jace Denmark
3. Danny Dyszelski (R)
4. Lochie Hughes (R)
5. Ethan Ho (R)
6. Bryce Aron (R)
7. Nikita Johnson
8. Mac Clark (R)
9. Francesco Pizzi
10. Simon Sikes (R)
11. Ricardo Escotto
12. Frankie Mossman
13. Christian Brooks (R)
14. Nicholas Monteiro
15. Liam Sceats (R)
16. Jorge Garciarce (R)
17. Nicolas Baptiste (R)
18. Charles Finelli
19. Tyke Durst (R)