With a fastest lap time just 3/10 of a second slower than the pole time, set by his Bill Davis Racing (BDR) team mate, Mike Skinner, Villeneuve posted his fastest lap of the weekend in qualifying, averaging 182.21 mph over the 1.5 mile lap.

Having cured the handling problems that he experienced last weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Villeneuve’s pace throughout practise, where he was again quickest rookie, was consistently strong. Although disappointed not to qualify higher up the order for the race – he had run consistently quicker than Johnny Benson, another BDR team mate throughout practise, before Benson claimed the 4th fastest lap in qualifying - the former Indy 500 winner realises that so much can, and normally does happen in the course of a truck race.

Lining up on the 8th row of the grid alongside fellow Toyota driver, Jack Sprague – a NCTS race winner already in 2007 –Villeneuve will  be focussed on learning as much as possible from Sprague, defending series champion Todd Bodine  who qualified in front of Villeneuve on the 7th row, and each of the other drivers, as he continues his  route to a full season of Nextel Cup competition in 2008.

Speaking immediately ahead of his post-qualifying team debrief, the 36-year-old Montreal resident was upbeat, stating, “I’m quite happy with that for now. My team did a good job of curing the probems that we had in Atlanta, and the UNICEF truck drove well. I kept it safe and we’re right in the thick of the pack, which is the best place to learn from. We’ve got a few drivers around me that are regular front runners so that’s a positive. Tomorrow night, we’ll know how we are over race distance, but we’re definitely on the pace in terms of overall speed, and I think we can be pretty confident of a strong result. We all know what we’ve got to do.”

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