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Dario Franchitti
wins the pole position for Sunday's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300...
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Franchitti, 3 points ahead of
Scott Dixon for the series championship, won the pole position
late Saturday afternoon in a session that saw just about every
driver miss their best practice speed by more than a full mph,
and Dixon miss his practice leading speed by 3-mph.
#10 Dan Wheldon, 215.531, Dan runs 214.246, more
than a full mph short of his best practice speed... #8
Scott Sharp, missed his turn...#15 Buddy Rice, 214.719,
Buddy far off his practice pace, only managing 210.798... #27
Dario Franchitti, 215.771, Dario is one of those drivers that
doesn't post many "tow" numbers, but he too is far off
his practice pace. Franchitti qualifies with a speed of
214.646... #76 PJ Chesson, 212.863, Chesson is unable to
break 210, qualifying at 209.686... #25 Marty Roth, 211.698,
Roth just a bit slower than teammate Chesson, running a 209.409
"Q" lap... #11 Tony Kanaan, 215.852, TK is another
running in the 214's, qualifying at 214.310... #5 Sarah
Fisher, 212.953, while Sarah didn't quite get up to her practice
speed, but she came closer than teammate Buddy Rice, posting a
qualifying speed of 211.116... #22 AJ. Foyt IV, 213.994,
Foyt runs 210.924, 5th on the grid so far... #26 Marco
Andretti, 215.506, 212.893, more than 2-mph off his practice
pace... #9 Scott Dixon has the fastest practice speed of the
day at 217.380. That must have been in a huge draft, because
Dixon is also barely above 214 at 214.217 mph, and he was slower
the 2nd time around... #14 Darren Manning, 213.778, Manning
qualifies closer to his practice speed than anyone, running
213.001 on his 1st lap... #17 Ryan Hunter-Reay, 214.128,
Hunter-Reay is also nearly 2-mph off his practice best, posting
a 212.450... #7 Danica Patrick, 215.091. I watched Patrick in
both practice sessions, and she had trouble hugging the white
line in the turns, and while she looks good in turns 1&2,
but still was high in 3&4. Danica qualifies at 213.813, a
decent run... #3 Helio Castroneves, 216.210, Helio 2nd on
the grid for now at 214.380... #6 Sam Hornish Jr., 215.890,
Has Sam been hiding some speed? Nope, ahead of Helio, not quite
up to Dario's pole speed, a 214.492-mph lap... #55 Kosuke
Matsuura, 213.682, Kosuke, probably in his final IndyCar regular
season ride runs 211.450... #60. Hideki Mutoh, 215.162,
decent all day, Mutoh qualifies at 212.234 mph... #20 Ed
Carpenter, 213.478, Carpenter has run well on the ovals all
season, he qualifies at 211.849... #2 Tomas Scheckter,
215.194, Tomas runs a disappointing 212.922, more than 2-mph off
his practice speed... #23 Milka Duno, slowest in both
practice sessions at 211.078, Duno is again the slowest in the
field, running 206.006, three-mph off the pace of the next
slowest car and more than 8-mph slower than Dario Franchitti,
the almost certain pole sitter... #4 Vitor Meira, 214.286,
Vitor runs 211.537, fairly close to his best practice speed, but
this hasn't been a very good season for Meira and Panther
Racing... Scott Sharp, 215.007, Sharp's crew pulled out of
line by design because of the ARCA rubber, Sharp gets one
"Q" lap, and he's 11th fastest at 212.840 mph.
Here are the final
qualification times and speeds. |
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Pos
|
Driver
|
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Best Time
|
Best Speed
|
Best Lap
|
|
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1
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Dario Franchitti (27) |
|
25.4931 |
214.616 |
2 |
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2
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Sam Hornish Jr (6)
|
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25.5115 |
214.492 |
2 |
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3
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Helio Castroneves (3) |
|
25.5248 |
214.380 |
1 |
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4
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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25.5331 |
214.310 |
2 |
|
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5
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Dan Wheldon (10) |
|
25.5407 |
214.246 |
2 |
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6
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Scott Dixon (9) |
|
25.5442 |
214.217 |
1 |
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7
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Danica Patrick, (7) |
|
25.5925 |
213.813 |
2 |
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8
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Darren Manning (14) |
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25.6900 |
213.001 |
2 |
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9
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Tomas Scheckter (2)
|
|
26.6995 |
212.922 |
2 |
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10
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Marco Andretti (26) |
|
25.7031 |
212.893 |
1 |
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11
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Scott Sharp (8) |
|
25.7095 |
212.840 |
1 |
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12
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Ryan Hunter-Reay (17) |
|
25.7566 |
212.450 |
2 |
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13
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Hideki Mutoh (60) |
|
25.7829 |
212.234 |
2 |
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14
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Ed Carpenter (20) |
|
25.8297 |
211.849 |
1 |
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15
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Vitor Meira (4)
|
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25.8678 |
211.537 |
2 |
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16
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Kosuke Matsuura (55) |
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25.8784 |
211.450 |
1 |
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17
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Sarah Fisher (5)
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25.9194 |
211.116 |
2 |
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18
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AJ Foyt IV (22) |
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25.9430 |
210.924 |
2 |
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19
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Buddy Rice (15) |
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25.9585 |
210.798 |
2 |
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20
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PJ Chesson (76) |
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26.0962 |
209.686 |
2 |
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21
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Marty Roth (25) |
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26.1307 |
209.409 |
2 |
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22
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Milka Duno (23)
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26.5623 |
206.006 |
2 |
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IndyCar PHOTO BY JIM HAINES |
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Danica Patrick passes Marty Roth on the outside
during Saturday practice. |
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IndyCar PHOTO BY
SHAWN PAYNE |
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IndyCar PHOTO BY JIM HAINES |
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The graphically stunning cars of
Dussault/Roth Racing, the
#76 of PJ Chesson and the #25 of Marty Roth. |
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Practice is
underway for Sunday's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300... |
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(1:00 p.m. EDT) The
2nd practice session ended with Helio Castroneves at the top of
the T&S chart, but it was just a matter of timing the draft,
and Helio, Dixon, and Franchitti all had chart topping speeds
during the session. Danica Patrick doesn't appear able to get her
car to hug the white line in the turns the way the quicker drivers
are, so her best effort lap is only 215.091 mph. Qualifying begins
at 5:30 EDT...
|
|
Pos
|
Driver
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Best Time
|
Best Speed
|
Best Lap
|
Last Lap
|
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1
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Helio Castroneves
(3)
|
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25.3087
|
216.210
|
43
|
55
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2
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Scott Dixon (9)
|
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25.3523
|
215.838
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28
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38
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3
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Dario Franchitti
(27)
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25.3602
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215.771
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25
|
42
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4
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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25.4133
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215.320
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42
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47
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5
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Marco Andretti
(26)
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25.4272
|
215.203
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20
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34
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6
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Sam Hornish Jr (6)
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25.4345
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215.141
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24
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35
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7
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Dan Wheldon (10)
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25.4358
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215.130
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21
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29
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8
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Danica Patrick (7)
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25.4404
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215.091
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41
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46
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9
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Tomas Scheckter
(2)
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25.4999
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214.589
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16
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38
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10
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Buddy Rice (15)
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25.5254
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214.375
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21
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38
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11
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Hideki Mutoh (60)
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25.5279
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214.354
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16
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24
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