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We
are a little more than two hours away from the most
frantic 90 minutes of practice seen at IMS every year, the
practice session that precedes pole position qualifying. I am
setting up a P&Q page and will post in life running recap
format all day, from the minute the practice session begins
until the final gun sounds to signify the qualifying session has
ended. At that time I can only hope that there is a car exiting
pit road that will still be a serious pole contender. With the
new qualifying format, whereby each entry is allowed attempts
per day, I think there will be plenty of action, all day long.
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I'm back, and
Jaques Lazier is on a "Q" run now in the Playa del
Racing #21. Jaques "220" might just survive the
day, it put Alex Barron on the bubble, and then Dario ran a 226
to bump Barron out of the field. We aren't done, Sam Hornish
went out and improved to 2nd starting position, and now Team Penske
has Castroneves back in line, and AGR has withdrawn Dario's
qualified car. Alex Barron finds a 221. Then Dario's car is
withdrawn and he reruns, gaining a spot. Now it is Helio rolling
the dice, car withdrawn, he could actually lose a spot. Yep,
lost one. 226.927, Danica Patrick gained a position without
getting in her car. The neat thing about this deal is if you are
on the bubble, and the leaders are playing games at the front of
the "Q" line, no one can bump you. Unfortunately
for Jaques Lazier, when Helio failed to secure the pole from
Tony Kanaan, there was still time enough for another run, and
Jeff Bucknum took him out of the field. Actually, Bucknum may
have done Lazier a favor, the Playa del team might have decided
to settle for that speed and end up a real bubble car on a real
Bump Day.
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#11,Tony Kanaan * #6, Sam Hornish Jr.
*#8 Scott Sharp
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#16, D. Patrick * #3 H.
Castroneves * #27, D. Franchitti
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#17 Vitor Meira * #55 Kosuke
Matsuura * #95, B. Lazier
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#2, Tomas Enge * #4, T.
Scheckter * #36, B. Junqueira
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#9, S. Dixon * #5, A. Fernandez
* # 37, S. Bourdais
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#26, D. Wheldon * #24, R.
Yasukawa * #7, Bryan Herta
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#10 D. Manning * #70,
Richie Hearn * #44, J. Bucknum
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#51, Alex Barron
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MBNA
Pole Qualifying Order
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Car
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Driver
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11
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Tony Kanaan, 227.566
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6
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Sam Hornish Jr., Sam
in a rerun, 227.273.
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8
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Scott Sharp, 227.126
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16
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Danica Patrick,
227.004, big bobble on the first lap, last lap was the
fastest of the day. The first lap was a crash that
didn't happen. My guess, she goes again. Danica was very
unhappy in the post run interview. After watching
her, I am sure she will make another attempt.
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3
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MTP withdraws Helio Castroneves' s
4th place car to make another pole attempt. A 226.927,
Helio loses a spot to Danica.
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27
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Dario Franchitti, back
for his 3rd and last try, a very risky move, anything
goes wrong and he will lose about 15 spots and have to
qualify next Saturday. 226.873, Dario gains one spot.
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17
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Vitor Meira, 226.848
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55
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Kosuke Matsuura,
226.397
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95
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Buddy Lazier, would
you look at that rear wing! 226.353, decent run.
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2
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Tomas Enge, 226.107,
we finally see a Chevy, and it's a good effort for a
rookie.
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4
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Tomas Scheckter, a
very poor run, he will run again. 226.031
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36
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Bruno Junqueira,
225.704, Bruno first of the day to qualify faster than
he practiced.
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9T
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Scott Dixon, 225.215, a
pleasant surprise.
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5
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Adrian Fernandez,
225.120, my "dark horse" pick for the 500,
Adrian should have run better, equal to Sharp and
Matsuura, but he wasn't the only on to miss the setup
today.
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37
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Sebastien Bourdais,
224.955, a big drop from his 227 mph practice speed.
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26
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Dan Wheldon, back in
line and on the track. Missed the setup so far, a very
poor run. 224.308. Kim Green mentioned the car was late
for the tech line, that is why the tardy run.
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24
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Roger Yasukawa, this
car ran 226's in practice. 224.131.
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7
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Bryan Herta,
223.962, a surprisingly poor run from an AGR car.
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10
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Darren Manning,
223.943, as usual, once these TCGR Panoz Toyota's are
alone in "Q" runs, they lose whatever speed
they had.
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70
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Richie Hearn,
222.707, disappointing.
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44
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Jeff Bucknum, a rookie
out for his first attempt, makes the field and bumps
Jaques Lazier 221.521
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51
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Alex Barron, in a 2nd
run, and he is in the field at the expense of teammate
Patrick Carpentier. Barron's speed, 221.053
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***
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***
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21
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Jaques
Lazier's best speed of the month, a 220.034, wasn't
enough to get him in the field, he was the last to be
bumped, by Honda powered Jeff Bucknum
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17
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Patrick Carpentier,
219.999, this speed just edges teammate Alex Barron, as
with the Chevy results, this must be all these cars
have. Now Barron takes Carpentier
out of the field.
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20
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Ed
Carpenter in his first attempt, a wave off.
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51
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Alex Barron,
219.958, that's an ugly result. Barron is now on the
bubble. Barron has been bumped
from the field.
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33
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Ryan Briscoe
sticks another TCGR car in the fence, this one was close
to a roll-over. TCGR has now hurt two Panoz cars and may
be forced into one of the Dallara's, whether they want
to or not.
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27
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Dario Franchitti,
Dario on the track now, this should be interesting. Like
Hornish, Dario is bottoming out. First lap
disappointing. Wave-off.
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26
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Dan Wheldon,
Practice speed, 227.493 They pull the Wheldon car out of
the line.
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20
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Ed Carpenter,
wave off...
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(2:45, IMS time)
they have run through the whole qualifying line and the track is
open for practice. There are currently 19 cars "in the
field," and I can see where all 22 spots will be
"filled." Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe
and Adrian Fernandez are sure to make runs, but if there are
others fast enough, I can't even guess who. Jaques Lazier has
practiced at 220 today, but all that speed will get you is a
"bump" later. I'm going to close shop now for
a while, I'll be back when there is another run. I am sure there
are several teams that will attempt to improve their position.
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***
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Here
is the final practice speed chart, as shown by IndyCar T&S. I'm
surprised Richie Hearn is down with the bottom feeder club.
Also, I wonder how Cheever explains away his poor results to his
financial and technical backers. You can bet Toyota is getting
the blame. So much for the Panoz answer, the three TCGR
cars are almost in lockstep, between 17th and 20th, unable to
run a 226. What is Bruno Junqueira doing back in 18th, this team
is under the gun
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89th
Indianapolis
500
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Pos
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Driver
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B Time
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B Speed
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1
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Danica Patrick (16)
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39.1509
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229.880
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2
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Dario Franchitti (27)
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39.2291
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229.422
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3
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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39.3151
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228.920
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4
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Vitor Meira (17)
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39.3587
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228.666
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5
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Sam Hornish Jr. (6)
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39.4121
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228.356
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6
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Scott Sharp (8)
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39.4818
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227.953
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7
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Helio Castroneves (3)
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39.5427
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227.602
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8
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Tomas Scheckter (4)
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39.5475
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227.574
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9
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Dan Wheldon (26)
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39.5617
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227.493
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10
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Kosuke Matsuura (55)
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39.6058
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227.239
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11
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Buddy Lazier (95)
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39.6082
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227.226
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12
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Sebastien Bourdais (37)
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39.6397
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227.045
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13
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Adrian Fernandez (5)
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39.7097
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226.645
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14
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Roger Yasukawa (24)
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39.7231
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226.568
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15
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Tomas Enge (2)
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39.7245
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226.560
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16
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Bryan Herta (7)
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39.7345
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226.503
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17
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Scott Dixon (9T)
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39.8645
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225.765
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18
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Bruno Junqueira (36)
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39.8767
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225.696
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19
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Ryan Briscoe (33)
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39.9956
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225.025
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20
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Darren Manning (10)
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40.1658
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224.071
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21
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Richie Hearn (70)
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40.1917
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223.927
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22
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Alex Barron (51)
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40.5860
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221.751
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23
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Patrick Carpentier (83)
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40.6990
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221.136
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24
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Jaques Lazier (21)
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40.8627
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220.250
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25
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Ed Carpenter (20)
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40.8957
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220.072
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26
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A.J. Foyt IV (14)
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41.2646
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218.105
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27
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Marty Roth (25)
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41.3131
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217.849
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28
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Jeff Ward (20T)
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41.4864
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216.939
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29
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Larry Foyt (48T)
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42.4659
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211.935
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DANICA PATRICK, A 229.880,
ALMOST 230 mph, I guess she got a tow off a Boeing 727! Kanaan
unable to answer, is at 228. 920, no wonder he didn't to slow
down. Yellow for a "track inspection." I'm puzzled by
the lack of speed shown by Tomas Scheckter, with others above
228, now is not the time to play sandbag games, there must be a
gearing issue.
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(10:35,
IMS time) The track is now open for all cars for the next
30 minutes. Since it is so cold this morning, and the track was
devoid of rubber at the start after all the rain, I expect
several teams have missed on their gearing choices, and will
either be making changes now or will wait until after practice.
There was a short debris caution. Tony Kanaan will be forced to
sit out the remaining practice for not slowing down fast enough
for the caution. I imagine he was on a 4-lap run and wanted to
get to the S/F line. Franchitti above 229 as well now, but
Danica is still the pacesetter. Session has ended.
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(10:20,
IMS time) Helio Castroneves is now 3rd on the chart and also
above 227-mph. There will be one more practice session after
this one ends. It looks like Helio put 4 laps together above
227. buddy Lazier is now 6th, at 227.226. here comes Wheldon,
but it's Franchitti above 228 now! Less than 5 minutes left in
the session. All cars on pit road, session is over.
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(10:05,
IMS time) The 2nd group is now on the track, I look for even
faster speeds now, as they start to lay fresh rubber down on the
track. Franchitti at 227,29, first of group two at speed. Every
Chevy powered car is in this bunch. Scheckter and Enge are in
lockstep right now in 9th and 10th. Fastest of the 2nd group so
far is Sebastien Bourdais, 6th on the chart, and above 227.
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(9:45,
IMS time) Danica just ran 228.373! TK is again above 228 as
well. Remember, we have yet to hear from Wheldon, Franchitti,
Castroneves and Scheckter, they are in the 2nd group. All cars
are now in the pit, signifying that the first practice group is
finished. I'm impressed, they ran the first group caution free,
that doesn't usually happen on these mornings.
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(9:35,
IMS time) Welcome to the most intense 90 minutes of practice on
the season, the pre-qualifying runs at IMS. It is
"overcast" and 50 degrees at IMS, with 7-mph
winds." the first group of cars are on the speedway, and
Tony Kanaan has just posted the fastest speed of the month at
228. Danica Patrick is 2nd quick, above 227. 23 cars have been
on the track so far, or make that on pit road, only 15 have made
runs. TK just upped the speed a tad, to 228.3. I am interested
in the speed of Scott Sharp, 1st to qualify this afternoon,
Sharp is running 226 mph laps.
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