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Day By Day At The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

This is a brief review of each day’s activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway leading up to the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24.

Official Indianapolis 500 Finish
May 24, 2009
1 # 3 Helio Castoneves 200 Laps Running
2 # 4 Dan Wheldon 200 Laps Running
3 # 7 Danica Patrick 200 Laps Running
4 # 8 Townsend Bell 200 Laps Running
5 #12 Will Power 200 Laps Running
6 # 9 Scott Dixon 200 Laps Running
7 #10 Dario Franchitti 200 Laps Running
8 #20 Ed Carpenter 200 Laps Running
9 #15 Paul Tracy 200 Laps Running
10 #27 Hideki Mutoh 200 Laps Running
11 #36 Alex Tagliani 200 Laps Running
12 # 7 Tomas Scheckter 200 Laps Running
13 #99 Alex Lloyd 200 Laps Running
14 #16 Scott Sharp 200 Laps Running
15 # 6 Ryan Briscoe 200 Laps Running
16 #41 A.J. Foyt 200 Laps Running
17 #67 Sarah Fisher 200 Laps Running
18 #24 Mike Conway 200 Laps Running
19 #43 John Andretti 200 Laps Running
20 #23 Milka Duno 199 Laps 200 Laps Running
21 #14 Vitor Meira 173 Laps Contact
22 # 2 Raphael Matos 173 Laps Contact
23 #18 Justin Wilson 160 Laps Contact
24 #13 E.J. Viso 139 Laps Mechanical
25 #00 Nelson Philippe 130 Laps Contact
26 #17 Oriol Servia 98 Laps Mechanical
27 #11 Tony Kanaan 97 Laps Contact
28 #08 Robert Boornbos 85 Laps Contact
29 #44 Davey Hamilton 79 Laps Contact
30 #26 Marco Andretti 56 Laps Handling
31 #02 Graham Rahal 55 Laps Contact
32 #21 Ryan Hunter-Reay 19 Laps Contact
33 # 5 Mario Moraes 0 Laps Contact

Sunday, May 24: IT’S RACE DAY!!! The big day has finally arrived! After three weeks of sweat, tears and toil by the drivers, teams, officials, media and others, it’s the day of the Indianapolis 500, the day many race fans wait for the other 364 days of the year.

The pre-race ritual is as sacred to many Indy fans as is the race itself.

The expected traditions continued today as Florence Henderson sang “God Bless America,” “Taps” was played, Jim Nabors sang “Back Home Again in Indiana,” an enormous number of balloons were released in the infield, and Mari Human George announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen Start Your Engines!

After the cars all started and rolled off the line they were expected to be in formation in eleven rows of three by their third time at the start/finish line and receive the green flag.

The first attempt was ruled “no start” as the cars were not aligned to official’s satisfaction.

Two laps later the race was declared green.

Before the first lap was completed, Marco Andretti and Mario Moraes touched wheels between Turns 1 and 2. Moraes hit the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 and slid along the wall down the backstretch. Andretti continued on to the pits with front-end damage to the car. After extensive repairs to the car, Andretti returned to the race on lap 69, a number of laps down to the leader.

As is often the case in racing incidents, each driver claimed the other was at fault.

Moraes stated, “I know the 26 hit me, OK? I was in front. I was holding my line, and he just hit me. I don’t know from where.”

Andretti countered by saying, “That kid (Moraes) is in way over his head with where he is now. I’m sitting next to him, and he just drives up into me. There was no one in sight of him. I should have known better.”

On lap six, the green flag came out with polesitter Helio Castroneves leading. The next lap, Dario Franchitti ducked under Castroneves for the lead.

Franchitti continued to lead, with Castroneves second, until the yellow came out on lap 21 when Ryan Hunter-Reay ran high in Turn 4 and brushed the SAFER barrier with the right front. He then did a three-quarter spin across the track, hit the inside wall with the left rear of the car and slid to a stop in pit lane.

Under the subsequent yellow, the entire field made pit stops.

When the green reappeared on the 28th lap, Franchitti still led but Ryan Briscoe has taken over the second position.

Briscoe slipped by Franchitti for the lead on lap 54, and was leading when the yellow banner appeared on lap 56 after Graham Rahal hit the SAFER Barrier in Turn 4 with the right side of the car. He then slid along the wall about halfway down the front straightaway before coming to a stop.

As most of the field pitted under the yellow, Justin Wilson did a half-spin entering his pit and stopped in pit lane. The crew had to use the quick-jack to get the car into the pit stall after the rest of the traffic had left the pits.

At lap 60, under caution, the top five were Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Castroneves.

At the green on lap 63, Briscoe led but was passed by Dixon and Franchitti on the following lap. Briscoe dropped back to ninth after he reported his tires were losing grip.

As the laps rolled on, Dixon widened his lead over his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Franchitti.

Dixon was leading Franchitti by .2945 of a second at lap 80.

On lap 83, The yellow came out again when Davey Hamilton hit the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier with the right side of the car at the exit of Turn 4. As the caution came out, the leaders were Dixon, Franchitti, Kanaan, Raphael Matos and Castroneves.

During pit stops, Franchitti won the race off pit lane. At lap 86, under caution, the top five were Franchitti, Dixon, Kanaan, Castroneves and Matos.

The race went green on lap 90, and on lap 91, Dixon ducked under Franchitti to regain the lead.

Kanaan, who was running third at the time, brought out the next yellow when the right front of the car veered into the backstretch wall. The car continued down the track, hitting the SAFER Barrier in Turn 3, and again hitting the SAFER Barrier in Turn 4, both times with the front of the car. The car finally came to a stop in Turn 4.

The yellow again provided an opportune time for pit stops and almost the entire field pitted under the yellow following Kanaan’s crash.

Following pit stops, the running order under caution on lap 101 was Dixon, Franchitti, Will Power, Matos and Castroneves.

The green reappeared on lap 109, with Dixon holding a slim lead over Franchitti. Although the length of his lead varied, by lap 130, Dixon led Franchitti by over half a second.

His lead was erased on lap 132 when Nelson Philippe white-walled the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 4. He continued on to the pit lane and climbed out of the car.

Several mishaps occurred during lap 134 pit stops. Matos had a 39-second pit stop due to a wheel nut being stuck in the air gun. Franchitti’s stop was long due to the fuel hose being stuck in the fuel intake on the car and Vitor Meira had a disastrous pit stop as the car caught fire during refueling. The fire was extinguished and Meira was able to continue in the race, but a large amount of fuel was spilled on pit lane.

The leaders, under caution, at lap 135 were Dixon, Castroneves, Power, Paul Tracy and Dan Wheldon. Townsend Bell was running sixth after starting 24th and Ed Carpenter was seventh after starting 17th.

When the green came out on lap 141, Dixon was just inches ahead of Castroneves. On the next lap, Castroneves ducked under Dixon to take the lead going into Turn 1. In just a few laps, Castroneves had opened up a fairly substantial lead.

On lap 157, Power passed Dixon to take second.

Power was still trailing Castroneves when the next yellow appeared on lap 161 as Justin Wilson spun in Turn 1 and hit the SAFER Barrier with the right side of the car.

During the pit stops on lap 163, Dixon encountered trouble as the team had a problem putting the right rear wheel on the hub.

On lap 167, under green, Castoneves was ahead of Briscoe and was steadily pulling away.

The most serious incident of the day occurred on lap 174. Matos and Vitor Meira locked wheels entering Turn 1. Meira made heavy contact with the SAFER barrier in Turn 1 with the front of the car. The car went onto its right side and slid through the turn along the wall before landing on its wheels and coming to rest at the entrance of Turn 2. Matos made contact with the safer barrier in Turn 1 with the right side of the car and came to rest mid-track.

Very few cars pitted during the caution, but Briscoe pitted for fuel, putting him out of the contention for the win.

The green came out for the final time on lap 183. Castroneves led Danica Patrick by .2661 of a second as Patrick and Dan Wheldon dueled side-by-side for second.

Wheldon grabbed second from Patrick on the next lap. Meanwhile, Castroneves steadily pulled away from Wheldon and went on to win his third Indianapolis 500.

Wheldon was second while Patrick came home third, her best “500” finish.

Castroneves celebrated the win by climbing the front stretch fence, his patented victory move, in spite of official’s efforts to prevent the climb.
Following a barrage of joyous tears and a drink of milk, Castroneves was finally able to talk about the win.

“This is incredible,” he said. “I think my tears speak for everything. What a great team. I just have to thank, first of all, the Lord for giving me this opportunity, to be strong, to have a family that I have. I have to thank Roger (Penske), Tim (Cindric), my guys, Phillip Morris, all the associates (sponsors), Verizon, everybody because they gave me my life back. I’m here today because of those guys, and obviously, the fans. You guys don’t understand. You guys kept me strong. You guys are the best. I’m honored to have fans like you. Thank you so much. Let’s celebrate now.”

Kudos must be given to Townsend Bell. Bell is only a part-time driver on the Indy Car circuit. He has never has a full time “ride”. His team, KV Racing Technology, was on the “short” program. He qualified on the third day of qualifying, started 24th in the field and through a steady, consistent run, finished fourth.

The additional safety factors built into the cars, and the driver’s protective equipment, also must be acknowledged. There were several very nasty accidents during the race, but the only driver with serious injuries was Vitor Meira. He was transported to Methodist Hospital with fractures in the L-1 and L-2 vertebrae. As of the latest information received, he is not expected to need surgery.

Saturday, May 23: The only activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today were an autograph session featuring the Indianapolis 500 drivers, a press conference featuring the rookies in the race, and the ceremonial drivers meeting.

The autograph session drew a large crowd, some of whom were in line as early as 7:00 a.m. To get as many autographs as possible.

In a change from past years, the Chase Rookie-of-the-Year press conference, in which the rookie-of-the-year candidates are introduced, was not held in the Economaki Press Conference Room, but on the Coke Zero Stage in the Speedway Plaza, making the conference open to the public for the first time.

Rookies Raphael Matos, who is the fastest rookie in the field, will start 12th, Robert Doornbos, who will start 23rd, Mike Conway, who will start 27th, Nelson Philippe, who will start 31st and Alex Tagliani, who will start 33rd were introduced and asked a few questions.

The consensus of all five was that they are happy to be here and all except Matos commented that it was not nearly as easy as it appeared to be. Doornbos accentuated this point by noting that four of the five had crashed during the month.

In contrast to the struggles of the other rookies, Matos commented that the month had gone quite smoothly for him and that qualifying on the first weekend had taken a lot of stress off of him.

Robert Doornbos, who crashed twice in the month prior to qualifying for the race, had previously competed in Formula One at the track.

He commented on the contrast of F-1 to qualifying for the Indy 500. “It’s more special to be here in an Indy Car than in Formula 1,” he said. “The scariest part of the month was when I went around the track with Arie (Luyendyk) in a pace car at the beginning of the month. The side mirror of the car was about two inches from the wall.”

Tagliani had run in the now-defunct CART series since 1990, had some Indy Car rides last year and is now with Conquest Racing for the 2009 season.

“Tag” as he is known, is very happy to be in the Indy 500. “When I was in CART, I didn’t realize what I was missing not running Indy. I now realize how big this race is,” he said.

During the ceremonial driver’s meeting, all 33 drivers were introduced and given rings in honor of starting in the prestigious Indianapolis 500. Several awards were presented and Indy Racing League Competition and Racing Operations President, Brian Barnhardt, gave final instructions to the drivers.

Following the drivers meeting, the drivers boarded buses to be transported to downtown Indianapolis to participate in the “500 Festival” parade.

Tomorrow, Sunday, May 24, is the climax of the last three weeks, the INDIANAPOLIS 500!


Ceremonial Drivers Meeting. [Russ Lake Photo]


Rookie Drivers Press Conference. [Russ Lake Photo]

Friday, May 22: The track opened on Carb Day (as it is now known) with a final one-hour practice session for the Indy Cars. This was the last time they would be on the track until the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24.

All 33 qualified cars were out on the track during the session. The only slight miscues were recorded by Mario Moraes, who was given a drive-through penalty for puttinng all four tires over the white line at pit exit, and by Hideki Mutoh, who left his pit box with the air hose attached and stopped in pit lane.

When the practice session ended, polesitter Helio Castroneves was fastest with a speed of 223.920 mph. He was followed by his Penske Racing teammate, Will Power, who set a lap at 223.560 mph. Mario Moraes, who has been impressive this month and will start on the inside of the third row, clocked in at 222.951 mph.

The command to start engines for the 40-lap Firestone Freedom 100 Indy Lights race, was given at 12:30 p.m., and the green flag was given to the 22-car field at approximately 12:36 p.m.

At the start, polesitter Wade Cunningham took the lead. At the end of the first lap Cunningham led, with Sebastian Saavedra second, Ana Beatriz third and J.R. Hildebrand fourth.

For the next five laps, Hildebrand, Cunningham and Saavedra traded the top three positions.

The yellow came out on lap seven when Martin Plowman did a quarter spin to the left entering Turn 1, making heavy contact with the SAFER Barrier with the rear of the car. His car clipped that of Pippa Mann, who then brushed the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 1. Mann continues to the pit lane with flat right side tires. Both drivers were okay.

Under the yellow, Cunningham continued to lead, followed by Hildebrand, Saavedra, Beatriz and Jay Howard.

At lap 12, the green reappeared and Hildebrand, Cunningham and Saavedra continued to swap the lead.

On the 17th lap, Hildebrand passed Saavedra for the lead going into Turn 1. Several positions behind them, Beatriz and Gustavo Yacaman touched wheels. Beatriz did a quarter-spin to the left and hit the inside wall head on. Yacaman brushed the SAFER Barrier with the right rear of the car, spun across the track and came to a stop in Turn 2. Yacaman was unhurt in the incident, while Beatriz was assisted from her car. She suffered a cut on her chin. X-rays of her left elbow and right knee were negative.

Under the 10-lap caution the top five were Hildebrand, Saavedra, Cunningham, Mario Romancini, who had moved up from 18th starting position and Howard.

Hildebrand still led as the yellow came out on lap 31, when Charlie Kimball and Mike Potekhen made contact. Both continued on to pit lane.

Back under green on lap 34, Hildebrand led Romancini by .1412 of a second. Working the 39th lap, Saavedra touched the wall in Turn 1 and Cunningham slid under Hildebrand for the lead entering Turn 3.

At the white flag, Cunningham led Hildebrand by .2115 second. On the final lap, Saavedra brushed the wall exiting Turn 2. Coming to the line, Cunningham took the checkered by just .1046 of a second over Hildebrand.

The win by Cunningham, the 2005 series champion, was the first time there has been a repeat winner in the Freedom 100, as Cunningham also won the pole and the race in 2006.

Hildebrand finished second, followed by Romancini, Howard and Saavedra.

Cunningham talked about his win. “The whole race was to and fro, he said. “I got to the front early and knew I couldn’t lead all 40 laps, so I fell back because I didn’t want to be leading at the end. I knew I had a fast car, and it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.”

In the final event of the very busy day, the #3 Penske Racing Team entry, driven by Helio Castrneves defeated the #26 Andretti Green car driven by Marco Andretti in the finals of the Pit Stop Challenge. It marks the fourth consecutive year Team Penske has won the pit stop challenge.

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 23, there will be no on-track activities. The only activities at the track will be the annual press conference featuring the “500” rookies, and the ceremonial drivers meeting.

Finish of Firestone Freedom 100
May 22, 2009
1-#11 Wade Cunningham 40 Laps
2-#26 J.R. Hildebrand 40 Laps
3-#5 Mario Romancini 40 Laps
4-#37 Jay Howard 40 Laps
5-#27 Sebastian Saavedra 40 Laps
6-#21 James Davison 40 Laps
7-#28 Daniel Harrington 40 Laps
8-#49 Jesse Mason 40 Laps
9-#36 Pablo Donoso 40 Laps
10-#18 Junior Strous 40 Laps
11-#32 Brandon Wagner 40 Laps
12-#9 Jonathan Summerton 39 Laps
13-#35 Charlie Kimball 31 Laps
14-#24 Mike Potekhen 30 Laps
15-#2 Andrew Prendeville 29 Laps
16-#7 James Hinchcliffe 25 Laps
17-#20 Ana Beatriz 16 Laps
18-#44 Gustavo Yacamen 16 Laps
19-#6 Ali Jackson 16 Laps
20-#55 Rodrigo Barbosa 13 Laps
21-#16 Pippa Mann 7 Laps
22-#15 Martin Plowman 6 Laps


Winner Wade Cunningham takes checkers ahead of J.R. Hildebrand and Mario Romancini. [Russ Lake Photo]


Winner of the Firestone Freedom 100, Wade Cunningham. [Russ Lake Photo]


Late in the race, Wade Cunningham (11) leads Sebastian Saavedra (27) and Jay Howard (37). [Russ Lake Photo]

Thursday, May 21: The biggest Indy Car news of the week came on Monday, when it was announced that Alex Tagliani would replace Bruno Junqueira as the driver of the #36 Conquest Racing entry.

Because of the change, the #36 will move to 33rd starting position from the 30th position, while drivers Milka Duno, Nelson Philippe and Ryan Hunter-Reay will all move up one position.

Junqueira was philosophical about the change. “I really enjoyed working with Conquest Racing. They gave me a really good car, and hopefully I can work with them again in the future. It’s a shame that Alex got bumped out of the field at the end. I knew coming into this that Alex is Conquest’s primary driver and that if something happened to the first car that I would likely give him my place, and I completely understand it,” Junqueira stated.

Tagliani, who will be making his first “500” start, was grateful for the opportunity.

“I want to first of all say thank you to Bruno for being so understanding and to the team for making this decision,” he said. “We have been building this long-term relationship for a while now, and I’m more than thrilled to be able to pursue that by taking part in my first Indy 500.”
Track activity resumed today as the Indy Lights took to the track for practice and qualifying for Friday’s Freedom 100.

The Indy Lights took to the track under sunny skies and light winds for their first practice session at 9:00 a.m. The session ran until 9:45, with no major incidents.

Series Rookie Charlie Kimball was fastest in the session with a speed of 192.402 mph. Second quickest was Sebastian Saavedra with a speed of 191.853 mph,, followed by J.H. Hildebrand with a speed of 191.800 mph.

The second practice session ran clean and green from 11:45 a.m. To 12:30 p.m.

Saavedra was fastest in the session at 190.535 mph, folloed by Hildebrand at 190.222 mph and Pippa Mann at 190.183 mph.

Speeds were down in the second session due to the track being considerably hotter by the start of the second session. The track temperature at the start of the first session was 81 degrees, while at the start of the second session, the track temperature had risen to 113 degrees.

Qualifying for the Indy Lights began at 3:00 p.m. At that point the track temperature was 129 degrees.

All 22 cars qualified without any on-track incidents. When all was said and done, series veteran Wade Cummingham was on the pole with a record average speed of 190.177 mph and a combined two-lap time of 1 minute, 34.6485 mph, eclipsing Jamie Camara’s combined two-lap time of 1 minute, 34.8715 seconds, 189.870 mph, set in May 2005.

Saavedra also broke the previous record and will start outside of the front row with an average speed of 190.023 mph.

Tomorrow will be an extremely busy day at the track as it is Carb Day. The last hour of Indy Car practice prior to the Indy 500 will take place from 11:00 a.m. To noon.

The Firestone Freedom 100 Indy Lights race will begin at approximately 12:30 p.m. And will be followed by the annual pit stop contest. The day will wind up with a concert in the Spedway infield.

The Firestone Freedom 100 line-up

Row 1
#11 Wade Cunningham 190.177 mph
#27 Sebastian Saavedra 190.023 mph

Row 2
#26 J.R. Hildebrand 189.866 mph
#20 Ana Beatriz 188.813 mph

Row 3
#15 Martin Plowman 188.653 mph
#37 Jay Howard 188.641 mph

Row 4
#35 Charlie Kimball 188.564 mph
#16 Pippa Mann 188.413 mph

Row 5
#28 Daniel Harrington 188.412 mph
#21 James Davison 187.868 mph

Row 6
#2 Andrew Prendeville 187.839 mph
#7 James Hinchcliffe 187.735 mph

Row 7
#44 Gustavo Yacaman 187.303 mph
#18 Junior Strous 186.942 mph

Row 8
#24 Mike Potekhen 186.891 mph
#48 Jesse Mason 186.873 mph

Row 9
#32 Brandon Wagner 186.863 mph
#5 Mario Romancini 186.785 mph

Row 10
#9 Jonathan Summerton 186.387 mph
#6 Ali Jackson 186.119 mph

Row 11
#36 Pablo Donoso 186.017 mph
#55 Rodrigo Barbosa 185.269 mph


Fast Qualifier for the Firestone Freedom 100, Wade Cunningham. [Russ Lake Photo]


Charlie Kimball. [Russ Lake Photo]

Sunday, May 17: Today was the final day of qualifications for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. This day is known as “Bump Day,” a day in which any car with a speed faster than an already qualified car can “bump” their way into the field.

Any cars that qualify today and bump out slower cars ahead of them will start at the rear of the field in the order of their speeds.
The slowest car in the field at the beginning of the day was Nelson Philippe with a speed of 218.032 mph.

During the hour of scheduled morning practice, speeds were up considerably from the previous day. Milka Duno was fastest with a speed of 221.586, eclipsing her Saturday qualifying speed by over three mph.

Promptly at noon, Nelson Philippe’s time was withdrawn and Philippe re-qualified at 220.754 mph, which about two and one-half mph faster than his Saturday qualifying speed.

Shortly after Philippe’s run, Milka Duno also withdrew her Saturday time and re-qualified with a speed much faster than her previous speed.
The third qualifier of the day was Bruno Junqueira, who made his first appearance on the track in this morning’s practice session. Junqueira qualified with a speed that was more than fast enough to bump John Andretti from the field.

Practice re-opened, a number of cars hit the track, most practicing race set-ups and a few still trying to get enough speed to qualify for the race.

As the afternoon progressed, five cars and drivers withdrew their times and re-qualified. In addition to Phillipe and Duno, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mike Conway and E.J. Viso also withdrew their qualified cars and re-qualified at significantly faster speeds.

Ironically, this means that since Andretti was actually bumped by Junqueira, he has technically been bumped four more times, as each time a car was withdrawn, it would put Andretti back in the field. When the withdrawn cars re-qualified, they again bumped Andretti out of the field, thus his same qualifying time has been bumped from the field on five different occasions.

Andretti emerged as the big story of the day. After Mike Conway withdrew and requalified, Andretti went out on his first qualifying attempt of the day. He completed one lap at a speed much too slow to make the field and pulled in. Following a practice session, he made another attempt. This time he completed all four laps with an average sped of 220.282 mph. The average was just .131 mph too slow to bump Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the field, after Hunter-Reay had already withdrawn and re-qualified once.

After two drivers pulled off after making just one timed lap on qualifying attempts too slow to make the race, just a few minutes were left in qualifying. At this point, Andretti went back on the track for his third and final allowed qualifying attempt of the day, Andretti put together four laps with an average speed off 221.316 mph, enough to bump Hunter-Reay out of the field.

Following Andretti’s run, there were only two minutes left on the clock when Hunter-Reay went back out on the track in an attempt to bump Alex Tagliani out of the field and get himself back in. His four-lap average was 220.597 mph, just .044 mph faster than Tagliani’s run. He was in the field and Tagliani was out. The 6:00 p.m. Gun went off on Hunter-Reay’s second lap, making his run the last of the day. This put Hunter-Reay in the race with the slowest speed in the field, completing the field of 33 qualifiers.

Tomas Scheckter was the fastest qualifier of the day with a speed of 221.496 mph.

The entire 33-car field is the sixth closest in history in speed, with a differential of just 4.267 mph from the fastest, Helio Castroneves at 224.864 mph, to the slowest, Ryan Hunter-Reay, with a four-lap average speed of 220.597 mph.

The track is now closed until Wednesday 20, which is 500 Festival Community Day. On Wednesday, there will be Indy Car pit stop practice, and Indy Lights and Indy Car driver’s autograph sessions, plus other activities.

On Thursday, May 21, the Indy Lights will take to the track for practice and qualifying for Friday’s Freedom 100 Indy Lights race.

Indianapolis 500 Starting Lineup

Row 1
#3 Helio Castroneves 224.864 mph
#6 Ryan Briscoe 224.083 mph
#10 Dario Franchitti 224.010 mph

Row 2
#02 Graham Rahal 223.954 mph
#9 Scott Dixon 223.867 mph
#11T Tony Kanaan 223.612 mph

Row 3
#5 Mario Moraes 223.331 mph
#26 Marco Andretti 223.114 mph
#12 Will Power 223.028 mph

Row 4
#7 Danica Patrick 222.882 mph
#99 Alex Lloyd 222.622 mph
#2 Raphael Matos 223.429 mph

Row 5
#15 Paul Tracy 223.111 mph
#14 Vitor Meira 223.054 mph
#18 Justin Wilson 222.903 mph

Row 6
#27 Hideki Mutoh 222.805 mph
#20 Ed Carpenter 222.780 mph
#4 Dan Wheldon 222.777 mph

Row 7
#41 A.J. Foyt IV 222.586 mph
#16 Scott Sharp 222.163 mph
#67 Sarah Fisher 222.082 mph

Row 8
#44 Davey Hamilton 221.956 mph
#06T Robert Doornbos 221.692 mph
#8 Townsend Bell 221.195 mph

Row 9
#17 Oriol Servia 220.984 mph
#19 Tomas Scheckter 221.496 mph
#24 Mike Conway 221.417 mph

Row 10
#43 John Andretti 221.316 mph
#13 E.J. Viso 221.164 mph
#36 Bruno Junqueira 221.115 mph

Row 11
#23 Milka Duno 221.106 mph
#00 Nelson Philippe 220.754 mph
#21T Ryan Hunter-Reay 220.597 mph


Ryan Hunter-Reay made the field with the final run of 2009 qualifications for the Indianapolis 500. [Russ Lake Photo]


John Andretti takes the checkered flag on his final qualifing attempt. [Russ Lake Photo]


Tomas Scheckter, Fastest of the Day. [Russ Lake Photo]

Saturday, May 16: An hour of practice was scheduled to begin at 10:15 prior to today’s qualifying, which was set to begin at noon, but wet track conditions after heavy overnight rain kept the dryers on the track past the scheduled start of practice.

The problem with the yard of bricks that closed the track early yesterday has been fixed. Brian Barnhart commented on the brick problem.
“There’s four or five bricks that have come loose, the mortar has come loose on it. We need to make sure it’s right for tomorrow’s qualifying. I think that’s a first for us around here. We’re awfully proud of the Yard of Bricks around here, and I think that’s the first time it’s caused a delay in practice.”

The loose bricks proved costly for Thursday’s fastest driver, Mario Moraes. “Unfortunately, on my last lap, I went across the start/finish line and sucked up a brick, which damaged my car and ended my day,” he said. “I feel bad for the crew because they are going to have to do some extra work tonight.”

The practice session before qualifying finally began at 11:08 a.m. The session was interrupted by light mist twice before it was completed at 11:54 a.m.

Townsend Bell was the fastest in the session with a speed of 223.580 mph followed By Oriol Servia at 222.746 mph and Robert Doornbos at 221.409. All three drivers have yet to qualify for the race.

Servia was first in line t

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