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Indy 500 – Qualifying Preview

The Friday before qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is known as "Fast Friday."

The day has acquired the name for two reasons. First, it is the final day of qualifying and anyone that might have been holding back on speed, "sandbagging" as it is called, goes to full throttle to show what they actually have for speed, practicing qualifying set-ups, instead of the race setups that have been prevalent earlier in the week. Second, since turbocharged engines returned last year, the allowable "boost," or turbocharger pressure, will be increased from 130 kiloPascals (kPa) to 140 kPa, which adds about an extra 40 horsepower to the Chevrolet and Honda engines.

The boost will be reset to 130 kPa for Carb Day practice and the race.

The extra boost is expected to add up to four mph to the speeds previously set in practice.

It will be interesting to see how the change affects each team.

Through Thursday practice, the five Andretti Autosport cars, or the "Andretti Armada,’" as they have been dubbed by the Speedway PA announcers, have been dominant in practice, with all five cars posting speeds in the top eight overall for the week.

The usually dominant teams of Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing have been relatively quiet so far this month. Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves has the third fastest speed overall and Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti have posted the fifth and sixth fastest speeds overall, but the Andretti Autosport drivers have dominated the speed charts.

The previous four races of the season were on road and street courses, which use a different qualifying procedure, so the results do not necessarily reflect what will happen in qualifying at the Speedway this weekend, but if early speeds are any indication, there is a new dominant team in IndyCar and that is Andretti Autosport.

Not only do the Indianapolis practice speeds reflect a change in the IZOD IndyCar Series, but three of the first four races of the year were won by Andretti Autosport drivers.

The best finish by a Team Penske driver was second by Helio Castroneves in the series opener at St. Petersburg. Second was also the best finish by any Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver as Scott Dixon finished second at Barber Motorsports Park.

While these are good finishes, the overall results both teams have achieved so far this season as far below expectations.

It will be interesting to see if early season results are a preview of things to come or if Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing are no longer the dominant forces in the series.

Only time will tell.

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