A lot of crashes Friday in St. Pete

There were numerous crashes and red lights on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile circuit Friday that snakes around St. Pete's downtown airport and marina.

In the second practice session, which spanned 30 minutes, at least eight drivers made contact with the tire barrier, and Marty Roth did it twice and that made it hard for drivers to find a clean lap with no traffic.

Danica's crew work on her car in the pits Friday

Chris Jones/IRL

Danica Patrick was the first, glancing off a wall on her lap out of the pits. Kanaan veered into a group of tires trying to avoid Power, whose car got sideways without contact. Graham Rahal and Ryan Briscoe fared similarly in separate incidents.

Even rookie Hideki Mutoh, who ended third, found trouble. None of the damage was serious.