Saturday Qualification — Delayed, and maybe not even then?

Castroneves over 233 MPH this morning

Qualification is now set to start at 12:30, weather permitting. And weather is a huge issue — a massive rain cell is moving in from the west towards Indy.

Morning practice saw speeds around 45/100ths faster than yesterday, translating to about 3 mph. Early practice was on a cool, clean track, but the practices were both altered by light rain. Helio Castroneves topped the charts at 38.5482 / 233.474 mph, but JR Hildebrand electrified the crowd earlier with a tow-aided 232.985. In all 11 cars topped the 39 second mark: Castroneves, Hildebrand, Pagenaud, Power, Montoya, Hinchcliffe, Dixon, Chaves, Kimball, Munoz and Sato.

Seven of those top 11 are Chevy powered, 4 of the top 5 are Team Penske cars. Last winter, at IMS's Media Day, I wrote that the Penske drivers were all giddy, and I wondered aloud if they had "found something" to give them this much confidence. And now, it looks like they indeed have "found something" that puts them at the top of the field.

– Today is Bump Day. And at the bottom of the speed chart are some candidates to be the odd man/woman out. Buddy Lazier has had limited practice, and hasn't posted a good speed when he has been out. Today he was at the bottom of the list at 225.890. Local hero Bryan Clauson was next slowest, a full second slower than the leaders. De Silvestro was slow this morning — and even managed to hit her team's pit wagon with the golf cart — but the Andretti people are otherwise doing well and she will benefit from their efforts. Twenty-ninth fastest is Pippa Mann, whose newly reconstructed car (okay, darned near everything under the radiator cap was replaced after her wreck) made 13 laps this morning.

– Rules, rules, rules…. No doubt the IndyCar blogs will be lit up with pictures of aero changes to the Chevy cars over the past few days. This bit from IndyCar: "Aero Kits include a set of components that allow multiple combinations of aerodynamic elements to suite the strategy and preference of each team…" So in other words, they are handed a hand full of carbon fiber bits, and then the teams can use bits as they see fit.

– Rules, part 2…. In the good old days, if a car was crashed "beyond repair" then it couldn't run in the 500. In recent years, it is obvious that the term "car entry" is now just a concept, an idea. There is almost nothing on Pippa's car that came here 4 weeks ago. And indeed, should a car be written off in practice next week, the team could replace the entire thing.

— Lucille Dust and Tim Wohlford, reporting from IMS