RELATED: Marks tops leaderboard in final practice
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Rain, rain,
go away
, come again on Sat-ur-day.
That's the song Justin Marks will be singing the rest of the time he's at Road America, site of Saturday's Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The National Weather Service's Saturday forecast calls for showers and thunderstorms in the track's vicinity, with an 80 percent chance in the morning giving way to a 50-50 shot in the afternoon. NASCAR drivers typically view rain the same way cats do, so why would the most recent XFINITY Series road course winner be hoping for the wet stuff?
Because it gives him an advantage.
"I've had a lot of people ask, you know, 'Are you praying for rain when you get (to Road America)?' " said Marks, who prevailed at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago on a rain-soaked Saturday. "I try to keep myself and the team ... we try to manage our expectations around not banking too much around the things that we can't control. We can't control the weather. We know that we're really good in the rain. We know that if it rains, certainly we're going to be a threat to win again.
"At Mid-Ohio a couple weeks ago, we were a little bit off on speed in the dry. We needed to improve on that and that was a big part of what we were working on today. I think we satisfied that initiative."
Marks and his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet crew appear to have found the dry speed Friday, improving on his fourth-place showing in opening practice (108.279 mph) to lead final practice at a blistering 108.946 mph.
He backed it up in qualifying later on in the evening, making a quick lap of 109.196 mph to line up third.
"Our goal -- we know we're fast in the rain -- our goal is to be fast on dry. That way, no matter what happens, we know we're a threat to win and we don't have to sit and cross our fingers and hope for something that's outside of our control," Marks said.
"That being said, I would be OK if I woke up and it was wet in the morning."