RacingNation.com
Home / IndyCar Series / Indy 500 Quals First Weekend Wrap

Indy 500 Quals First Weekend Wrap

Excitement is what Brian Barnhart (Indy Racing League President and Chief Operating Officer) wanted on Pole day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan delivered. Dario Franchitti was a marked man as he sat on the pole for most of the day after qualifying at a four-lap average of 225.191 mph. Enter habitual pole contender Team Penske and Sam Hornish, Jr. Hornish made two attempts at Franchitti. On lap two of his first attempt, Hornish exited turn two so high, the camera on the wall could not see light between the tire and the wall. Hornish?s lap was in the mid-223 down from 225.2 that Hornish needed causing Hornish?s overall average to fall below Franchitti. Hornish went quicker on laps three and four but ended up at 225.145 mph. Team Penske immediately withdrew Hornish?s time to take another shot at Franchitti. Hornish went for broke as laps one, two and three were all faster than Franchitti. However, exiting turn three of his last lap Hornish ever so slightly slides the car sideways. With that bobble, Hornish lost his chance at the pole. Hornish was slower than his first attempt. Franchitti at that point was still on the pole.

However, Team Penske had one more bullet in its gun. Castroneves with penultimate qualifying attempt took the pole position from Dario Franchitti and Andretti-Green Racing late on Pole Day at Indianapolis. However, Castroneves had to survive Tony Kanaan trying to take the pole position back for AGR. Nevertheless, Castroneves and Team Penske prevailed, taking home $100,000 in winning the AAMCO Transmission Pole Award for the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500.

Dario Franchitti who was the 11th driver to take a time early on Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway qualified with a four-lap average of 225.191 mph good enough for pole until 5:52pm when Helio Castroneves out sped the speedy Scotsman. Castroneves qualified with a four-lap average of 225.817 mph. However, it wasn?t over just yet. The next qualifier was Tony Kanaan who was making his second attempt. Kanaan was faster than Castroneves on laps one, two and three. However, exiting turn three on his last lap, ?I got loose coming out of three? Kanaan noted, adding, ?I got up to speed too fast.? That slip in turn three is all Castroneves needed to keep the pole. Castroneves? crew waited on pit lane expecting the worse. When word came over the PA that Kanaan just missed, they cheered loudly as they pumped their fists in the air as they congratulated each other along with Castoneves as the disappointment in the AGR pits 30 feet away was evident. “Today was a great team effort and a great way to start. But we’re going to have to keep working. Like Rick Mears always says, you have two races here — the pole run and the race,” Castroneves noted, winning his second pole for the ?500.? Franchitti commented, ?Obviously, a long wait here. I hated it. I?m glad the fans enjoyed it. They were getting into it. When one guy would get close, they would all cheer. When Helio would be out there, they would cheer. They had a great time, I think. It kept everybody on edge of their seats all day. The guys going for the pole, also the bumping process. I really think it was a success. But what a horrible stressful day, though.?

The front row for the Indianapolis 500 will consist of Helio Castroneves winning Team Penske?s record fourteenth pole for the Indy 500, incidentally it goes with their fourteen ?500? wins. Andretti-Green drivers Tony Kanaan will line up second in the #11 7-Eleven AGR Dallara-Honda and Dario Franchitti third in the #26 Canadian Club AGR Dallara-Honda.

Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon of Target-Chip Ganassi Racing were considered by many to be the two of the favorites for the pole ended up in the second row sandwiching Team Penske driver Sam Hornish, Jr. Wheldon conceded the pole after making a second attempt, ?I?d love to get pole here one day. I?m going to have to come back to do that. But the important thing is the race, and looking forward to that.?

Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, Tomas Scheckter and Michael Andretti all were successful in being first day qualifiers. Others who came close were Jeff Simmons, Ed Carpenter and Darren Manning in the ABC Supply / A.J. Foyt Racing #14.

On second day qualifying it was A.J. Foyt IV driving the Vision Racing #22 that started the bumping process when he bumped Marty Roth from the field. Under the new qualifying rules, Positions 1-11 in the field were available to the fastest qualifiers yesterday. Once the 11 spots were filled, bumping occurred for the remainder of the day to determine the pole winner and fastest 11 qualifiers. Today, Positions 12-22 are available. Once those spots are full, bumping will occur only for those spots only the remainder of the day. Roth became the 12th fastest-first bumped when Foyt qualified faster.

About an hour after Foyt, Sarah Fisher driving the Dreyer-Reinbold AAMCO Transmission Dallara-Honda bumped her way into the top-22 when her 221.960mph average bumped Jon Herb and the Racing Professionals car from the field.

Immediately after Fisher?s run, 2004 Indy 500 winner and teammate to Fisher, Buddy Rice went out to qualify. Buddy one of two Buddy?s to ever race in the 500 bumped out the other one-1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier. Rice?s run of 222.826 put Al Unser, Jr. another ?500? winner on the bubble. Unser wasn?t confident that his time would hold up. ?We?re awfully close to the bottom there and come 5, 6, we could be back out here. Like Ed Carpenter said yesterday, I?m not taking off my uniform. We?ll see what happens. A.J. seems to be pretty confident that will hold, but it?s so close. I?ve been in this spot before. We?re going to pay very close attention to what these guys behind me do because I think it?s too close. We put four good laps together. Now we just need to get some downforce on it and see how it reacts to that. There was definitely no white-knuckling in the qualifying run, and I ain?t gonna have it there, either. We tried a little bit less wing this morning, and it makes the back end a little bit too light for my comfort, and so we put it back in there and we were searching for more speed and I just wasn?t confident enough in everything to put that much on the line for 1 or 2 mile an hour when the best we can do is 12th to day. Like my dad said, two, three, four cars in front of you, where you start ain?t gonna make any difference. I got a ton of people in front of me already. We?ll get it in the show, get comfortable with it.? Unser is enjoying his time with the ABC Supply / A.J. Foyt Racing Team, ?A.J. has been super with me. It?s been great. He is the big guy ? no matter what anybody says, he is the king. At Indianapolis, there are certain people that you?d be honored to drive for, and A.J. Foyt is one of those people. And I?m just tickled to death to be able to drive his 50 car for his 50th anniversary, and I?m the 50th driver he?s ever had. All the 50s are lining up. In another five years, I?ll be 50, and hopefully I?ll still be driving. Everything they say about A.J., his temper and everything, it ain?t true. He?s been super with me. If someone gets a little sideways in the garage, he just sets them straight, that?s all. So far, I?ve been watching my Ps and Qs to where I?m not getting sideways.?

Scott Sharp driving the Patr

Share Button