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INDY 500: Rain Stops Play Again in Indianapolis
Written by: Jeff Olson
Senior writer, RACER Magazine   http://www.racer.com/speedtv
05/11/2008 - 02:14 PM
Indianapolis, Ind.
 
Only tour buses saw action at the Brickyard on Sunday. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos

Rain washed out the second day of qualifying Sunday for the Indianapolis 500, making for one busy day next weekend and compounding the frustration of teams that have yet to make it into the race.

Sunday’s program was expected to fill positions 12 through 22 on the 33-car starting grid. However, because of the rainout, next Saturday’s six-hour qualifying session will fill positions 12 through 33.

That only adds to the difficulty faced by the best of the teams that haven’t qualified, including Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, which nearly made the grid Saturday, and KV Racing Technology, which is expected to be among the top qualifiers next weekend.

“It’s quite frustrating not being able to run, but that’s how it is,” said NHL’s Justin Wilson, who narrowly missed the 11th position Saturday. “You can’t change the weather. We both realize how close we came to getting into the top 11, and that’s quite an achievement considering where we started out. We are slowly making progress.”

Scott Dixon won the pole position Saturday with a four-lap average of 226.366 mph in the No. 9
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara. Teammate Dan Wheldon will start second, while Ryan Briscoe will start third in the May 25 race.

Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan will start on the second row, while Marco Andretti, Vitor Meira and Hideki Mutoh fill the third row.

Practice will resume Wednesday. Six-hour practice sessions also are scheduled Thursday and Friday before qualifying resumes Saturday. Drivers expected to battle for the 12th spot include Wilson and NHL teammate Graham Rahal, KV’s Oriol Servia and Will Power, Dreyer & Reinbold’s Buddy Rice and Townsend Bell, Vision’s A.J. Foyt IV and Davey Hamilton, Rahal Letterman’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Foyt Enterprises‘ Darren Manning.

“It’s pretty frustrating to have missed the top 11 by less than a tenth of a second and then have Day 2 rained out and not be assured of a spot on the grid yet,” Hamilton said. "We gave it all we had. I can’t look back and say we should have done something different.”

Bump Day, when cars not already in the 33-car field try to bump their way onto the grid, will be held May 18.
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