|
|
|
|
|
Not even impending rain ever
allowed them to qualify so many cars as fast as they did today.
Essentially, once Dario fesses up to not having a chance at the
pole and qualifies his car, we will have three spots open and
other than PJ Jones, no one good enough at this moment to fill
them. That wouldn't be the first time that ever happened at Indy
with a 9-hour qualifying window still open.. The race pays a lot
of start money, but half would go to Honda for an engine, the
rest for tires if they really paid for them. So what we are
talking about here is "bragging rights," the ability
to say "I once had or driven a car in the Indy 500. Where
could we expect help between now and Sunday evening? There is
the #33 Ganassi car for one, all sorts of backup cars, and
although not wanting to eliminate Roth, a new IndyCar series
regular, Tony George could trot out Roberto Moreno to eliminate
a Roth 213 mph avg. There is still more than 2 hours left for
things to happen at Indy, here's some pictures to look at for
now.
|
|
***
|
|
I'm back after a short power
nap (remember, I work weekends), and a data update. I though AGR
was playing line games with Dario, as it turns out there were
engine issues that caused the team to replace his engine. That
done, Dario has been out on the track working the engine in and
has run some 224's. There is talk that Townsend Bell will make a
run trying to out-qualify Marco Andretti, and if he runs, Larry
Curry has said they will also give Tomas Scheckter a chance to
improve his starting spot as well. Dario is on the way out
now.
|
|
***
|
|
The amazing thing I'm seeing from
the mid-afternoon runs is that when it was time to get going,
both Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Marty Roth found speed. Roth ran 219
and did another spin and miss, and Luyendyk ran 216. Here's the
top 32 as of the end of Pole Day III.
|
|
Pos
|
Driver
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Avg.
Speed
|
|
1
|
Sam
Hornish Jr (6)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
228.985
|
|
2
|
Helio
Castroneves (3T)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
228.008
|
|
3
|
Dan
Wheldon (10)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
227.338
|
|
4
|
Scott
Dixon (9)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
226.921
|
|
5
|
Tony
Kanaan (11)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
226.776
|
|
6
|
Vitor
Meira (4T)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
226.156
|
|
7
|
Kosuke
Matsuura (55)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
225.503
|
|
8
|
Scott
Sharp (8)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
225.321
|
|
9
|
Marco
Andretti (26)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
224.918
|
|
10
|
Danica
Patrick (16T)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
224.674
|
|
11
|
Tomas
Scheckter (2)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
224.659
|
|
12
|
Ed
Carpenter (20)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
224.548
|
|
13
|
Michael
Andretti (1)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
224.508
|
|
14
|
Buddy
Rice (15T)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
224.393
|
|
15
|
Townsend
Bell (90)
|
|
|
| |
