Copyright © IRL/Ron McQueeney

Jaime Camara said he couldn’t afford any mistakes after a restart with eight laps remaining in the Cleanevent 100 at Nashville Superspeedway.

He didn’t make any.

Camara, driving the No. 1 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone, led every lap from the pole position and won under caution at the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

Camara said he felt pressure being on the point throughout the 78-lap race. Both victories in his maiden Menards Infiniti Pro Series season have come from the pole.

“I had a very good car today,” said Camara, who delivered the 10^th series victory for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. “In Indy (Futaba Freedom 100 in May), we dominated the whole weekend. Here it was almost like that. I knew I had a good shot to win the race. I just tried to focus and not make any mistakes. I made one or two, but that’s experience. I’m not going to make them again. It’s hard to lead every lap.

“It was the toughest race of my career. I had to push from the first lap.”

Copyright © IRL/Ron McQueeney

Camara also felt pressure from Jeff Simmons after the Lap 70 restart created when the No. 7 Lucas Oil Products/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car driven by Travis Gregg spun in Turn 2, slid across the grass and made contact with the inside retaining wall. Simmons, who started seventh in the No. 24 Team ISI Kenn Hardley Racing car, moved to second on Lap 56 and looked to be gaining confidence and speed with each lap.

But Simmons’ potential run to the front was blunted with three laps left when the No. 91 Hemelgarn 91 Johnson Motorsports car driven by Jerry Coons Jr. spun in Turn 4, bringing out the yellow flag.

“Second place is great after where we were -- falling back to the leaders and struggling with a loose car,” said Simmons, who recorded his best finish of the season. “We had our first podium of the year. We’ve had so many problems this year that I’m sure everyone on the team is happy with it.”

Copyright © IRL/Ron McQueeney

Jay Drake was too pressed for time to celebrate his season-high third-place finish (after starting 12^th). He had to high-tail it to Putnamville, Ind., to compete in a sprint car race at Lincoln Park Speedway.

“We had the fastest car here all weekend, and I crashed it in the last practice,” said Drake, driver of the No. 20 Vision Racing car. “We didn’t get to qualify, so we had to start last. So to come through and finish third is just a good effort. We went out there and just took a couple laps in the warm-up before the race. We weren’t really happy with what we started with, but when we went back and fixed it some more and had a real great race car.

“We were able to race up to a top-three finish. From the way it started, that’s a great day for us.”

Wade Cunningham, who finished fourth, increased his points lead from 10 to 22 over Gregg, who joined his teammate on the front row. Gregg finished 10^th and is three points ahead of Camara heading to the Milwaukee 100 next weekend.