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IndyCar
INDY 500: Penske and Briscoe Own Fast Friday
Ryan Briscoe's fast lap of 225.981mph, set at 1:08pm ET, stood until the checkered flag fell at 6pm. The Aussie was followed closely by his teammate in 2nd. Pole Day is tomorrow.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted May 08, 2009   Indianapolis, IN
Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves showed their hands on Friday, owning the top of the time charts almost all day long. Will they serve a repeat performance tomorrow on Pole Day? Follow the action here. (LAT)
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway calls the day before Pole Day "Fast Friday," but for Team Penske, it was "Fast and Efficient Friday." The duo of pacesetter Ryan Briscoe and 2001-2002 500 winner Helio Castroneves was set early on -- just after an hour of running during the six hour session. With their mission accomplished and their cars clearly fast enough, The Captain called a premature end to the day.

"Get in, get out, and go back to the garage to get ready for Pole Day," was their mantra. It was also mimicked by the majority of the teams that filled out the top-15, and the majority of the runners throughout the afternoon and into Happy Hour were those mired in the back half of the field.

Briscoe's #6 Team Penske car set a speed of 225.981 and Castroneves' #3 went just a tick slower at 225.438.

Dario Franchitti improved to 3rd fastest on Friday with a lap of 224.984, up from Thursday's 5th fastest speed from a lap of 224.16. Teammate Scott Dixon, 4th today and yesterday, increased his speed to 224.822 over yesterday's 224.448.

Danica Patrick made another solid run today, posting the 5th fastest lap of 224.755. up from the 223.253 she set on Thursday that put her 8th. Yesterday's fast man at 225.478, Marco Andretti, fell to 6th today with a lap of 224.724.

The third Team Penske entry for Will Power came home 7th -- a nice improvement from 10th the day before, and Dan Wheldon continued his role as the primary interloper in the top-10, falling from Thursday's 6th to 8th on Friday. Hideki Mutoh and an impressive Alex "Pink Lloyd" filled out the top-10.

Tony Kanaan moved up one spot from 13th to 12th, but the 2004 Series champion is still fighting to find the overall pace he desires. "Afro Tony" also tried teammate Marco Andretti's #26 Venom car, posting the 15th fastest time in the car.

The theme of the day at the front of the field was pairs -- a pair of Penske cars went 1-2, Target Chip Ganassi entries went 3-4, and two AGR cars went 5-6. With most of the front runners using only the early portion of the day to test and tune, most of Friday was dominated by the smaller teams and Indy-only participants. A.J Foyt driver Vitor Meira was the only notable driver to move up from the back of the field, landing in 15th with just minutes left in the day with a lap of 223.562.

Two nearly identical impacts occurred today with Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Robert Doornbos flattening the left side suspension in turn one, and later, Patron Panther Racing driver Scott Sharp incurred the same vehicle damage in a spin between turns one and two.

The high-miler for the day fell to two people, Alex Tagliani and Sarah Fisher at 75 laps, and the low-miler was Dan Wheldon at 13. A total of 1301 laps were turned today.

Saturday's Pole Day starts at 9am ET with a two hour practice session. After a 30 minute pause, six hours of qualifying runs from 12pm ET to 6pm ET where the top-11 positions will be set.

If weather forecasts are to be trusted, Saturday has only a 2-% change of rain, humidity should be reasonable as a result, but winds over 20mph are expected. Provided the winds to flare up as predicted, Scott Dixon's pole average of 226.366mph last year will be hard to top. Today's running was done in nearly ideal conditions, with modest temperatures and sub-5mph winds, albeit with slightly high air density.

Follow our live Pole Day blog from 12pm ET-3pm ET, and then switch over to our Live! Chat for the last three hours to ask questions, share comments and post your own analysis.

Visit http://www.speedtv.com/feature/chat tomorrow to join in the fun.

Final times of the day.

Pos Driver Best Time Best Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 39.8263. 225.981
2 Helio Castroneves 39.9223. 225.438
3 Dario Franchitti 40.0029, 224.984
4 Scott Dixon 40.0317, 224.822
5 Danica Patrick 40.0436, 224.755
6 Marco Andretti 40.0492, 224.724
7 Will Power 40.0733, 224.588
8 Dan Wheldon 40.1146, 224.357
9 Hideki Mutoh 40.1388, 224.222
10 Alex Lloyd 40.1393, 224.219
11 Graham Rahal 40.1528, 224.144
12 Tony Kanaan 40.1726, 224.033
13 Robert Doornbos 40.1867, 223.955
14 Mario Moraes 40.2549, 223.575
15 Vitor Meira 40.2573, 223.562
16 Tony Kanaan 40.2747, 223.465
17 Paul Tracy 40.2916, 223.372
18 Raphael Matos 40.4203, 222.66
19 Sarah Fisher 40.4596, 222.444
20 John Andretti 40.5262, 222.079
21 Ed Carpenter 40.5367, 222.021
22 Davey Hamilton 40.544, 221.981
23 Scott Sharp 40.5882, 221.739
24 Justin Wilson 40.5885, 221.738
25 Alex Tagliani 40.625, 221.538
26 AJ Foyt IV 40.7525, 220.845
27 EJ Viso 40.754, 220.837
28 Ryan Hunter-Reay 40.7949, 220.616
29 Mike Conway 40.8163, 220.5
30 Nelson Philippe 40.9376, 219.847
31 Milka Duno 40.9708, 219.669
32 Stanton Barrett 41.1506, 218.709
33 Robert Doornbos 41.3382, 217.716

Enjoy the Live Blog below as the action happened throughout the day -- it's best read from the bottom up.

6:00pm ET: All done. No major changes in the running order in the past few hours, barring Vitor Meira's move to 15th. Robert Doornbos did make it out in his T-car to shake it down for 6 laps before the checkered fell.

5:56pm ET: Vitor Meira moves to 15th with a lap of 223.562. Only cars in the bottom half of the field are running in the final minutes. Justin Wilson improves his speed to 221.738.

5:50pm ET: 220.500 for Conway -- his fast lap of the day. Better, and less treacherous to drive, but still not fast enough for the ex-Honda F1 test driver's liking.

5:45pm ET: 15 minutes to go. 219.325 for RHR followed by a 218.577 before pitting. Just Carpenter and Conway on track right now.

5:40pm ET: Afro Tony is giving Marco Andretti's #26 a go to do back-to-back comparisons. Marco has the car in 6th with a 224.724 -- TK's 223.331 and 223.100 have him in 15th with the car before pulling in.

5:37pm ET: It's the Stanton Barrett show right now. Best lap of 217.126 before he pitted.

5:33pm ET: Mike Conway -- a tough and talented kid. BIG push in the car -- can't get within 3 feet of the apexes -- car washes out to the wall on corner exit -- scarily so, but the kid deals with it. He eventually pits to have changes made to the car, but I'm impressed with his cojones.

Most rookies would have panicked and pitted immediately when they felt their car trying was to put them through the SAFER barriers...

5:30pm ET: So much for quiet. Mike Conway, RHR and Ed Carpenter are back out.

5:27pm ET: 33 minutes left to go and all's quiet at the Brickyard. Here's the latest speed chart:

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 225.981
2 Helio Castroneves 225.438
3 Dario Franchitti 224.984
4 Scott Dixon 224.822
5 Danica Patrick 224.755
6 Marco Andretti 224.724
7 Will Power 224.588
8 Dan Wheldon 224.357
9 Hideki Mutoh 224.222
10 Alex Lloyd 224.219
11 Graham Rahal 224.144
12 Tony Kanaan 224.033
13 Robert Doornbos 223.955
14 Mario Moraes 223.575
15 Paul Tracy 223.372
16 Raphael Matos 222.66
17 Sarah Fisher 222.444
18 John Andretti 222.079
19 Ed Carpenter 222.021
20 Davey Hamilton 221.981
21 Scott Sharp 221.739
22 Alex Tagliani 221.538
23 Justin Wilson 221.34
24 Vitor Meira 221.285
25 AJ Foyt IV 220.845
26 EJ Viso 220.837
27 Ryan Hunter-Reay 220.616
28 Mike Conway 220.353
29 Nelson Philippe 219.847
30 Milka Duno 219.669
31 Stanton Barrett 218.709
32 Tony Kanaan 0


5:22pm ET: Vision's Ed Carpenter charts a 218.200, 221.554, 221.618, and 221.231 in his own short run. Ed's fast lap today of 222.021 is 1.405mph faster than teammate Hunter-Reay's best of 220.616.

5:17pm ET: Now it's Kanaan's turn. 220.169 for TK on his first flier, followed by a 220.789 and then 220.876 for the 2005 Indy pole sitter. Now he's pitting.

5:15pm ET: 218.481 for Ryan Hunter-Reay. Losing most of yesterday to his quick spin and light crash is hurting the 2008 Indy rookie of the year. He and his Vision Racing team clearly need more time to extract the speed necessary to feel comfortable.

5:14pm ET: AGR are doing short qualifying sim runs. 3-4 laps in and out for Danica a few minutes ago and now for Mutoh. Hideki's fast lap on this run was 221.352 before pitting.

5:10pm ET: Just spoke with Helio -- looks like Penske learned all they wanted to know and are calling it a day. "Everything's looking good so far. We'll see how it goes tomorrow..." said the two-time race winner.

5:06pm ET: Danica and Milka the only runners right now. Danica in the 223s on her own.

4:48pm ET: Green flag. Milka back out again.

4:30pm ET: 90 minutes left in the session. 1080 laps have been turned.

On lap 20 of his 45 laps so far today, Indy rookie Stan Barrett is slowest with a lap of 218.709.

Ryan Briscoe, on lap 10 of the 23 he's put in today, is fastest at 225.981.

4:26pm ET: Yellow -- sprinkles call an end to Duno's lapping.

4:25pm ET: 218.593 on her 3rd lap. She's leaving plenty of margin on corner exit as she gauges the track's grip after the light rain earlier.

4:22pm ET: Green flag. Milka Duno's Citgo Dreyer & Reinbold car is the first one rolling.

4:18pm ET: We're now being amused with Foghat's "Slow Ride"...when did Fast Friday turn into a bad 1980s wedding?

4:13pm ET: Still wet, but not bad. IMS is playing Blind Melon's "No Rain" over the public address system. Mighty creative thinking there, lads...

3:49pm ET: Yellow flag. Moisture in the air and on the track.

Latest speeds:

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 225.981
2 Helio Castroneves 225.438
3 Dario Franchitti 224.984
4 Scott Dixon 224.822
5 Danica Patrick 224.755
6 Marco Andretti 224.724
7 Will Power 224.588
8 Dan Wheldon 224.357
9 Hideki Mutoh 224.222
10 Alex Lloyd 224.219
11 Graham Rahal 224.144
12 Tony Kanaan 224.033
13 Robert Doornbos 223.955
14 Mario Moraes 223.575
15 Paul Tracy 223.372
16 Raphael Matos 222.66
17 Sarah Fisher 222.444
18 John Andretti 222.079
19 Ed Carpenter 222.021
20 Davey Hamilton 221.981
21 Scott Sharp 221.739
22 Alex Tagliani 221.538
23 Justin Wilson 221.34
24 Vitor Meira 221.285
25 AJ Foyt IV 220.845
26 EJ Viso 220.837
27 Ryan Hunter-Reay 220.616
28 Mike Conway 220.353
29 Nelson Philippe 219.847
30 Milka Duno 219.351
31 Stanton Barrett 218.709


3:27pm ET: Dario Franchitti's back on track. 222.928 on his first flier. About 2hrs 30min left to go in the day. Getting close to most teams starting qualifying sim runs.

3:12pm ET: We now have two takers -- Nelson Phillipe in his HVM entry and A.J. Foyt in his ABC Supply Dallara.

3:09pm ET: All quiet again. Justin Wilson pulled in after several laps on his own, with a 220.023 as his best. As he predicted in his SPEEDtv.com column, expectations for impressive speeds are being kept low for Indy.

3:07pm ET: Marco turns a 224.598 on his own. Backs it up with a 224.604, a 224.519 and a 224.338. Good qualifying sim.

His car, in the Venom black and red, looks like A.J. Foyt's cars from the mid-90's.

3:02pm ET: Green flag. Marco first out again. 41 laps today so far.

3:00pm ET: 3 hours down, 955 laps turned today. 3556 total this month, including ROP.

2:55pm ET: Yellow flag. Debris.

Speeds as of 2:55:

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 225.981
2 Helio Castroneves 225.438
3 Dario Franchitti 224.984
4 Scott Dixon 224.822
5 Danica Patrick 224.755
6 Marco Andretti 224.724
7 Dan Wheldon 224.357
8 Hideki Mutoh 224.222
9 Alex Lloyd 224.219
10 Graham Rahal 224.144
11 Tony Kanaan 224.033
12 Robert Doornbos 223.955
13 Will Power 223.737
14 Mario Moraes 223.575
15 Paul Tracy 223.372
16 Raphael Matos 222.66
17 Sarah Fisher 222.444
18 John Andretti 222.079
19 Ed Carpenter 222.021
20 Davey Hamilton 221.981
21 Scott Sharp 221.739
22 Justin Wilson 221.34
23 Vitor Meira 221.285
24 EJ Viso 220.837
25 Alex Tagliani 220.692
26 Ryan Hunter-Reay 220.616
27 Mike Conway 220.353
28 Nelson Philippe 219.847
29 Milka Duno 219.351
30 Stanton Barrett 218.709
31 AJ Foyt IV 217.634


2:42pm ET: Green flag. Marco's out first.

2:30pm ET: Yellow flag. Scott Sharp smacks the wall with the right side of the car, hard in the short chute between turn 1 and 2. The #16 Patron Tequila Panther Racing car spun backwards into the wall. Sharp climbed out frustrated but unharmed.

He spun on the exit of turn 1 -- looked like he had a touch of understeer on entry and with a slight bit of wheel fed into the car on corner exit, the rear got light and rotated. Could have been out on a qualifying simulation -- his rear wing was dialed pretty far back. Similar damage to Doornbos' early accident. Car is repairable, but maybe not before the end of practice today. I'm not sure if Sharp has a T-car ready to climb into.

2:24pm ET: Marco Andretti out running and with minimal traffic -- a good representation of the Venom car's true, non-tow capabilities and in the current conditions. 222.999mph.

2:21pm ET: All quiet on the Speedway.

2:18pm ET: Rafa Matos again leads the high-milers today with 54 laps turned. Low-miler so far is Dan Wheldon, who used just 12 laps to turn the 7th fastest lap of the day at 224.086.

Matos' Luczo Dragon team is doing just the right thing by putting their rookie driver out for the maximum number of available laps. It will serve him on race day -- smart move.

2:08pm ET: BIIIIG LIFT for Sarah Fisher in the #67 Dollar General car on the exit of turn 3. Dire corner exit understeer -- she backed out of the throttle to put some weight on the nose of the car to keep it out of the wall. Fisher dove for pit lane immediately to have her crew make some setup changes.

1:58pm ET: Lots of laps but not much in the way of movement on the speed charts. Ambient temperature is 68F with minimal wind. Humidity is a soupy 78% -- not the thin air needed to produce fast laps. Just 3-4 cars running right now. The rest are doing the normal routine of going back to their garages to put their cars on the setup pad as they move towards Pole Day configurations. Let's hope the rain stays away for some hot laps later in the day.

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 225.981
2 Helio Castroneves 225.438
3 Dario Franchitti 224.984
4 Scott Dixon 224.822
5 Danica Patrick 224.755
6 Marco Andretti 224.724
7 Dan Wheldon 224.357
8 Hideki Mutoh 224.222
9 Alex Lloyd 224.219
10 Graham Rahal 224.144
11 Tony Kanaan 224.033
12 Robert Doornbos 223.955
13 Mario Moraes 223.575
14 Paul Tracy 223.372
15 Will Power 222.87
16 Raphael Matos 222.66
17 Sarah Fisher 222.444
18 John Andretti 222.079
19 Ed Carpenter 222.021
20 Davey Hamilton 221.981
21 Scott Sharp 221.739
22 Justin Wilson 221.34
23 EJ Viso 220.837
24 Alex Tagliani 220.692
25 Ryan Hunter-Reay 220.616
26 Mike Conway 220.353
27 Vitor Meira 220.248
28 Nelson Philippe 219.847
29 Milka Duno 219.351
30 Stanton Barrett 218.709
31 AJ Foyt IV 217.634


1:44pm ET: 11 cars above 224, compared to only 6 cars above that mark all day yesterday. Inching closer to Dixie's pole speed of 226.366 from last year.

1:38pm ET: Mutoh now up to 8th at 224.222. AGR cars now in 5th, 6th, 8th and 11th. Just like yesterday, TK's the slowest of their 4-car team.

Makes me wonder if he's blowing off Pole Day prep and focusing solely on Race Day running. After claiming the pole in 2005, and a 500 win the only thing missing from his resume, his focus is in the right place.

1:25pm ET: 625 laps turned so far in 1hr 25 of running today. 2199 total laps were turned yesterday.

1:18pm ET: Team Penske 1-2, Target Ganassi 3-4, AGR 5-6...look familiar...

Good on Wheldon and Panther to come 7th, and especially so for Pink Lloyd in P8. Afro Tony's fortunes are improving with P9, and funnily enough, Doornbos is still 10th, despite binning his car almost an hour ago at 12:29pm. He was up to 5th when he crashed and has been dropping down the order slowly.

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Ryan Briscoe 225.981
2 Helio Castroneves 225.438
3 Dario Franchitti 224.984
4 Scott Dixon 224.822
5 Marco Andretti 224.724
6 Danica Patrick 224.655
7 Dan Wheldon 224.357
8 Alex Lloyd 224.219
9 Tony Kanaan 224.033
10 Robert Doornbos 223.955
11 Mario Moraes 223.439
12 Paul Tracy 223.372
13 Hideki Mutoh 222.975
14 Graham Rahal 222.696
15 Raphael Matos 222.66
16 Sarah Fisher 222.444
17 Will Power 222.431
18 John Andretti 222.079
19 Ed Carpenter 222.021
20 Davey Hamilton 221.981
21 Scott Sharp 221.739
22 Justin Wilson 221.34
23 EJ Viso 220.509
24 Mike Conway 220.353
25 Alex Tagliani 219.916
26 Nelson Philippe 219.847
27 Ryan Hunter-Reay 219.383
28 Milka Duno 219.351
29 Vitor Meira 218.816
30 Stanton Barrett 218.709
31 AJ Foyt IV 217.634


1:08pm ET: 225.981 for Briscoe in clean air, P1.

I'm doing my best Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" bow to Team Penske right now...no more snarky comments about them from me, I promise...

1:05pm ET: Speeds as of 1:05:

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Helio Castroneves 225.438
2 Dario Franchitti 224.984
3 Scott Dixon 224.822
4 Marco Andretti 224.724
5 Danica Patrick 224.655
6 Dan Wheldon 224.357
7 Alex Lloyd 224.219
8 Ryan Briscoe 224.12
9 Tony Kanaan 224.033
10 Robert Doornbos 223.955
11 Mario Moraes 223.439
12 Paul Tracy 223.372
13 Hideki Mutoh 222.975
14 Graham Rahal 222.696
15 Raphael Matos 222.66
16 Sarah Fisher 222.444
17 Will Power 222.431
18 John Andretti 222.079
19 Ed Carpenter 222.021
20 Davey Hamilton 221.981
21 Scott Sharp 221.739
22 Justin Wilson 221.34
23 EJ Viso 220.509
24 Mike Conway 220.353
25 Alex Tagliani 219.916
26 Nelson Philippe 219.847
27 Ryan Hunter-Reay 219.383
28 Milka Duno 219.351
29 Stanton Barrett 218.709
30 AJ Foyt IV 217.634
31 Vitor Meira 0


1:01pm ET: 225.438...for Helio Castroneves. Fastest. Maybe Helio and Ryan saw my post at 12:53... ;-)

12:56pm ET: So what I said about Team Penske...scratch that. Briscoe, P5 at 224.120.

12:53pm ET: Team Penske notably absent from the top-5.

Speeds as of 12:53:

Pos Driver Best Speed
1 Dario Franchitti 224.984
2 Scott Dixon 224.822
3 Marco Andretti 224.724
4 Danica Patrick 224.099
5 Tony Kanaan 224.033
6 Robert Doornbos 223.955
7 Dan Wheldon 223.601
8 Helio Castroneves 223.255
9 Alex Lloyd 223.026
10 Hideki Mutoh 222.975
11 Graham Rahal 222.696
12 Sarah Fisher 222.391
13 Will Power 222.338
14 Mario Moraes 222.153
15 John Andretti 222.079
16 Ed Carpenter 222.021
17 Davey Hamilton 221.981
18 Scott Sharp 221.739
19 Paul Tracy 221.68
20 Raphael Matos 221.455
21 Justin Wilson 221.34
22 EJ Viso 220.509
23 Mike Conway 220.353
24 Alex Tagliani 219.916
25 Nelson Philippe 219.847
26 Ryan Hunter-Reay 219.383
27 Milka Duno 219.351
28 AJ Foyt IV 217.634
29 Stanton Barrett 217.412
30 Ryan Briscoe 217.327


12:49pm ET: 224.984 for Dario. Fastest. Target teammate Dixon in P2 at 224.822. 29 cars have turned a lap so far today.

12:39pm ET: Green flag.

12:35pm ET: Ryan Hunter-Reay strapped into his car and ready to go after his own crash yesterday.

12:29pm ET: Yellow flag. Doornbos pancakes the right side of his N/H/L car between turn 1 and 2. Suspension smashed, rear wing broken, but it didn't appear to get too far into the right sidepod. Should be easily repairable by the end of the day. Right rear wheel detached in the accident. Front wings look unharmed. Bobby D climbed from the car unhurt.

Every driver eventually crashes at Indy -- Doornbos got his out of the way early, didn't incur that much damage, and walked away unscathed.

SAFER barrier = brilliant.

12:28pm ET: 224.822 for Dixie with another bit of aero help. Fastest.

12:26pm ET: 224.286 for Dixie with a good tow.

12:24pm ET: Yellow lasted just 4 minutes. Alex Lloyd ("Pink Lloyd" as he was brilliantly nicknamed by the folks at IndyCar.com) an impressive 5th fastest at 222.959mph so far.

12:20pm ET: Yellow flag. A.J. Foyt brushes the turn 2 wall with the right side of his #41 car during his warmup lap. Car hit squarely, and didn't appear to do more than whitewall his tires.

8 drivers over the 222mph mark so far.

12:15pm ET: Make that 224.724 for Marco.

19 cars now on track.

12:12pm ET: Marco Andretti goes 224.664 on his 3rd lap. AGR's on the point so far.

12:11pm ET: 223.927 for Danica. Fastest. 224.099 for Danica -- fastest lap of the day once more.

16 cars now running.

E.J. Viso's getting comfortable running right up to the wall on corner exit...car doesn't appear to be understeering -- just momentum carrying the car out to an inch of the wall.

12:09pm ET: 222.496 for Danica Patrick to take the top, nope, Dixie's back on top at 222.533, nope, now Danica's on top once more at 223.120...this is fun.

12:08pm ET: 222.303 in 3 laps for Scott Dixon to take the top speed. 3 is indeed the magic number.

12:06pm ET: 222.152mph for Robert Doornbos in 3 laps. Can you say "perfect track conditions"...

13 cars now on track.

12:02pm ET: Two laps...that's all Dario Franchitti needed to post a 221.400mph lap, just two minutes into practice. 221.879mph on lap 3...

10 cars on track to start the action today.
MPruett's avatar

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