Crashes mar Friday practice at Indy

Ryan Briscoe plasters the first turn wall at Indy

Mike Young/IRL

Three of the five fastest drivers during today's practice session made contact with the first-turn wall, including front-row qualifier Ryan Briscoe. Polesitter Scott Dixon again was the fastest as Target Chip Ganassi Racing worked on race setup. The pole sitter checked in with a best lap of 223.713 mph (40.2301 seconds) to top the speed chart.

Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves (223.411) and Ryan Briscoe (223.372) were on Dixon's heels. Luckily for Briscoe, both were in their backup cars, as Briscoe tore up the back end of the No. 6T when it made contact with the Turn 1 SAFER Barrier with about two hours left in the session.

Will Power also plastered the first turn wall at Indy tearing up his Dallara

Mike Young/IRL

Rookie Graham Rahal became the third driver to make contact when he nicked the SAFER barrier at about 5:30 p.m. The right rear tire of his No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car left a mark on the wall but sustained no damage.

Rahal posted the fifth-quickest time with a speed of 222.959 mph and was the 2nd fastest driver not to qualify last week behind Will Power.

Earlier in the day Rookie Will Power also hit the first turn. He raced into the turn high, did a half-spin and hit the wall but still turned the fourth-fastest time with a speed of 223.039 mph.

Ernesto Viso was the first of 4 drivers to crash when he tried to go too fast too early on cold tires

Bret Kelley/IRL

Thirty-six cars totaled 2,164 laps on a sunny day that was a relief to everyone in the paddock.

"We had no rain, normal temperatures, so we were able to do a lot of miles and try as many ideas as we had in our heads," Servia said.

"I am quite happy with the last two or three things we tried with the car. They made it a lot more consistent.

"Today has made me very hopeful that we will have a very decent car for the race."

Friday Results

INDYCAR SERIES POST-PRACTICE QUOTES:

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): “We had a good day today. We continued to work on the race setup by doing long runs, and I'm happy with where we're at so far. Tomorrow we'll look to dial in the Team Penske car, and hopefully we'll be ready to race."

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven): “Today was not a good day. We have to get a better handle on the Team 7-Eleven car."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Indiana Jones presented by Blockbuster): “It was really nice to get out there today and run a lot of laps in the Indiana Jones/Blockbuster car. We were able to use the time today to make a lot of changes to the car. We’ve still got a lot of work to do this weekend to make the race car better, though. Hopefully we’ll get a lot of time the next two days."

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA (No. 18 The Z-Line Car): “Today went well with the car. We had some pretty good lap times. I am happy. I think we have a chance to qualify, so I am not going to push the limit today. I guess I just want to have a good balance. I am ready for tomorrow. I think that we can put the car in the field and get a good position."

MARIO MORAES (No. 19 The SONNY Car): “We had a good day, and we can improve more on the car by getting some speed. I think we finished in eighth or ninth when I stopped practicing. I think it was good. We improved a lot on the car for qualifying, and we hope tomorrow we can have a good day, too. I am excited for tomorrow. It is going to be my second time out to try and qualify, and I think we are going to do good."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 5 KV Racing Technology): “It was finally a productive day for the KV Racing Technology No. 5 car. We had no rain, normal temperatures, so we were able to do a lot of miles and try as many ideas as we had in our heads. I am quite happy with the last two or three things we tried with the car. They made it a lot more consistent. Today has made me very hopeful that we will have a very decent car for the race."

ALEX LLOYD (No. 16 Rahal Letterman with Chip Ganassi): “We struggled a little bit this morning. With the conditions changing so much from yesterday to today, it made our car not work at all. So we went back on a few things that we’ve learned, and I suppose we had a productively bad day in a way. We learned what was not working, and I think we went back at the end and put a few things right. We’ve still got a little bit of improving to go, but I think all being well, we should have a good day tomorrow." (On qualifying): “We know we’ve got a quick enough car to be solidly in the field. Obviously we want to get close to that 12th spot, if not on the 12th spot. We know that if we can get to the wing level that we want to get to, we’ve got a time that will be competitive enough to be 12th. We just have to make sure that we g et the car to work in the conditions tomorrow so we can run the wing that we need to run to get the time that we need. If we can do that, we should have a good day."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol): “We were chasing our rear end on setup all day. Finally at the end, we ran on our own at almost 219, and that’s as quick as the front guys are. We didn’t run in traffic. The way the car was, I think it’s kind of good we’re in the back right now where no one thinks we’re there." (On qualifying): “Qualifying’s really not important here. I’d like to qualify high up there. I feel good about it. I have no doubts we’ll be in the teens somewhere."

MARTY ROTH (No. 25 Roth Racing): “Tough day. We’re just battling Indy right now. It’s just been one of those months for us. Hopefully we’ll have a car that we can get into the show."

JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 24 Roth Racing): “It’s pretty hard to figure out what the right thing to do is because of the weather. Obviously, we’re expecting some inclement weather over the weekend. We’ll just have to wait and see. If we were running today, we could have learned some things, but I don’t know what we would have figured out for qualifying. We know we’ve had a pretty good car the last three days speed-wise. Hopefully tomorrow, if the weather and everything holds out right, we can get a good time and worry about race setup."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola): “Today we were finally able to get the Motorola car in some traffic, which is what we needed. When you are able to run close together, you are able to get a better idea of what it is going to be like on Race Day. My crew was able to make some adjustments. We are not 100 percent where we need to be, but we are getting closer."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 02 McDonald’s Racing Team): “We were working on the race setup earlier in the day, and the McDonald’s car was pretty good when we started, so I was pleased with that. We tried to change to qualifying trim toward the end and went out, and the balance wasn’t too good. I had a big moment in Turn 1. I think it was more luck than judgment that the back came back in line. I basically crashed but didn’t hit anything. It was the crash that never happened but should have. We thought that was enough luck for today, so we put the car away. We’re going to try to sort out the qualifying setup in the pre-qualifying practice session tomorrow. We’ll just take a big breath and try to sort it out. The car has been good, but the track conditions have changed so much since we last ran the setup, and that has made an impact on the handling."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps): “The car was pretty quick, and we were trying to do a qualifying run simulation when I white-walled the tires. It was due to wind. I had lifted already, and at that point there is not much you can do. You turn the wheel and you’re off the throttle, and it’s tough to get the front end back. Unfortunately I went a little wide and just touched the wall. We have a pretty good qualifying car, and we’re ready for tomorrow. Obviously, we hope the wind dies down. I think we can be pretty quick."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream): “I am glad we got some track time today, but we struggled a lot to fix the problems on Formula Dream car. It is very frustrating that we couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the car. We will look into all the data from today and try to sort out what we can to do to fix the problem. Hopefully we will have a better day tomorrow."

MILKA DUNO (No. 23 CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing): “We were working on both Race Day and qualifying trim. We did a lot of work today. We thought we were losing the balance on the car, but we got it back. We again have the car we like. We need a few more things for qualifying, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow in the first practice before qualifying."

BUDDY RICE (No. 15 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing): “Most of the morning, we worked on race trim. We were just trying to get it a little better. I think we’re pretty close, and we’re pretty happy. We’d like to do some more runs. I’d like to get in at least two or three more full tank runs before the race if I can. Tire (allotment) won’t be an issue. We’ll be OK. We did a qualifying run right there at the end. We did an OK time. We’ll be OK. We just need to put it in the show tomorrow, get it over with, and call it a day. We’re pretty happy with right all the way around with the Dreyer and Reinbold car."

TOWNSEND BELL (No. 99 Dreyer & Reinbold William Rast Racing): “Obviously, I’d like to qualify 12th. That’d be a good goal. We’re one of the stronger cars out there that hasn’t qualified yet. We just need to be smart about it. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12th or 15th. As a racer, I’d like to be as high as I can. That’s one less car I’d have to pass on the start."

BUDDY LAZIER (No. 91 Hemelgarn Johnson): “Really, we didn't have the speed, but actually it was a very positive day. First of all, I would like to thank Ron (Hemelgarn) because this is a great opportunity even though it doesn't seem like it at the moment, because it was a last-minute, last-day (program), but it's not from a lack of trying. I was over with my guys, Dennis and Brandon, and it was 3:30 in the morning and we had just finished car setup. I left in the rain and came back at 10 a.m. the next day, and they had never left. They did real all-nighters. The fact that it's our first day on the racetrack, you can't get mad when everyone is giving it everything they have. The deal just came together a little bit late. It was actually a very positive day. We were working our platform, and we were just one step away, and we just ran out of time. I actually think we're quite a bit better than we showed, but improvement is in tomorrow's speed. It's not like it was an empty racetrack today. There was a lot of traffic. We were having some radio trouble, you know, all of the first day things. The team hasn't been back this year, so it's everything. I ran Craftsman Trucks all the way back to Las Vegas, which was only a few months ago. I race every week. This is the Indianapolis 500. It's so critical and so weather-sensitive, and there are so many elements. We did everything. There are no shortcuts. You can do shortcuts, but then you're going to pay the price in the race with not a good race car, not a good platform. We are very quickly, very rapidly going through the proper steps to be really good. I'm actually pleased. I'm disappointed with the speed, but I think we're going to accept this one. He (Manning) probably could have qualified last Sunday with 11 spots open, but for someone who came into it late, the weather played into our hands. You could be up as far as 12th if you have a good run. We were going to be battling for 22nd to 33rd tomorrow, but now it's all the way open to 12th. It's actually fallen into our hands. Give us a little more time, and we'll see what we got. I think we're going to be pretty good in the morning and lay down some quick ones."

MAX PAPIS (No. 44 Rubicon Race Team/Lifelock): “We seem like we lost a little bit today, but then we got it back later on in the last few runs. The wind impacted our performance a lot today. It made it really difficult to judge what the car was doing because the wind was blowing a lot. We’ll look forward to going out tomorrow for practice and getting our qualifying car ready to go."

VITOR MEIRA (No. 4 Delphi National Guard): “It was nice to see the sun again. Overall, it was another good day in the Delphi National Guard car. We kept working on what we started yesterday and really focused on running in traffic today. We experimented a lot. I felt comfortable, and the car was really strong when we ran with other cars. Today was the first day I got a real feel for what the race will be like, and I’m happy. We’ll probably still run again tomorrow, but I already feel like we’re going to have a great race car for the ‘500.’"

DARREN MANNING (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./AJ Foyt Racing): (About being ready for Saturday): “It's not like it was on Pole Day when you're trying to get in the top 11, so your approach is slightly different, or our approach is ever so slightly different. I'm not so aggressive for trying to get in the show. We're pretty comfortable that we're going to be in the show; it's just going to be a matter of where it's going to be between 12th and, probably, about 18th. There's quite a lot of us who are going to see who is going to risk the most. So this week, fortunately, we got some running yesterday and like four laps the day before that on Wednesday, or whatever day it was. Today we did just as much running as we wanted to do. Maybe we could have done a bit more, because the problem is now, we're in limbo-land. We're doing half qualifying stuff and half race trim. We're trying to do full race stuff and go a little bit faster and seeing what the car is doing. It's actually been a difficult week, all in all. It's been good to have Jeff (Simmons) with us and have two sets of info to work with. That helped a lot today with the afternoon. We kind of put both heads together and came up with a setup, and it came out pretty good." (About an early run on Saturday): “I think we're going to go. You know A.J. (Foyt) wants to, at least, put a four-lap run together for us. I think everybody is going to be thinking the same. I think we line up sixth in line, and it will actually quite good. Practice finishes up at 11:15, and we go out, be ready to go at 12:15, so it will be actually quite good for us to get out there early because the track will be very similar to that morning session." (About pulling a qualified car to make another attempt): “If we're maybe in 30th spot or something because I had a big lift or a massive moment, but I don't see us taking that much of a risk where I'm going to have to get out of it a! nd spoil a four-lap run. We'll put a four-lap run in cautious mode to begin with, and hopefully it's going to be enough to be in that 12th to 18th place or bracket, I should say. But if we think we've got a lot more and it's comfortable and I'm happy, we might go for a bit more, but hopefully we're going to be fastest of everybody else, and we'll be fine." (About second year with A.J. Foyt): “The trust thing and the confidence thing, from his side, in me has grown. That has made the communications a lot easier. He's never easy. Even in the best of times with someone who speaks the same language as you, it's always going to be tough. We're both very competitive people. He's super-competitive because he's been doing it a lot longer than me, and I'm nearly getting sick of it now, so God knows what he must feel like after 50 years. But it's good, and it's nice to be coming back to these tracks with, at least, some setup information from last year. I thin k that's one of the big helps for us both." (About adding Jeff Simmons): “It's difficult to quantify, really, because of the limited track time that we've had and Jeff's had. Today was an example of that. We were both kind of going our different ways. I had Mike, my engineer, and A.J. was on Jeff's car, getting him up to speed. We were both trying different things, and then we put the best of both worlds on my car and on his, and we both did pretty good times out there by ourselves with the amount of downforce that we were running. Like I was saying, it was kind of a semi-race, semi-qualifying setup. I'm pretty happy with where we are, and hopefully tomorrow we can get some more running in once we're qualified. Once we get that thing filled up with fuel and go race running, that's where I think Jeff will really help."

MARIO DOMINGUEZ (No. 96 Visit Mexico City/Pacific Coast Motorsports): “We got some practice in today, and we changed the car in many different ways. Once again, we learned a lot, but we are still not where we want to be in terms of speed. We are working on it. Obviously, tomorrow is a very important day, and we will maximize our options to get it in the show."

ROGER YASUKAWA (No. 98 CURB Records/hh gregg/Real Power): “It was great to finally get a decent day to run and a chance to put a serious number of laps on the car. The car is definitely improving and is much more comfortable to drive, so our speed gain is no real surprise. We're prepared to do more practice tomorrow, though, as we expect track conditions to change again due to another downturn in the weather, so not all of what we learned today will be useful information. We'll just have to see what develops, and if we make some big gains, we may just put it in line for a qualifying run."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing): “The conditions were a little tricky today. Obviously, three guys had a problem today, which is the most in one day all month. We found ourselves chasing the car a little bit and the conditions somewhat, but I think we learned some good things. I was much happier at the end of the day than I was at the beginning. I think we're headed in the right direction, and we have some ideas of what to do to see some improvement. I'm confident we'll get it right when it needs to be right. We'll try to get in some more practice this weekend since we have plenty of Firestone tires. We'll run until we don't have any more tires to run. We're getting closer to where we want to be."

A.J. FOYT IV (No. 2 Vision Racing): “At least we got a lot of track time to try different things. Nothing that great really happened by the end of the day, but it wasn't half-bad. We have a pretty average car right now that we are working on getting just a little better. First, we have to get qualified to get in the field solidly. We want to be up front as much as we can be. There's a spot on the fourth row I'd like to be in, but I think a starting spot in the fifth row is reasonable. I think we'll be all right for the race. We just have to figure out a few more things."

DAVEY HAMILTON (No. 22 Hewlett-Packard/KR Vision Racing): “Today was another productive day for the Vision team because we got to run all day, all three cars, and we got a lot of track time in. We tried a lot of different things, but I'll be honest, through the middle of the afternoon, my progress was a bit questionable even if we were running decent speeds, but the last run of the day felt really good. We ran race setup, race aero, race wings and everything for the race and pounded around in the 219-mph range. I'm still wishing for one more day of practice, and I'm not saying that we won't have that, but now we're switching gears. I want to get qualified and then go back to race mode again and make sure to fill it completely up and do a long run. That's the one thing we haven't yet been able to do. I feel like we do have a really good car, so I'm pretty happy right now." (About expectations for qualifying): “We were 13th last week in qualifying, so I'd like to at least back that up. It's all going to be about conditions. Fast time tomorrow might just be a 221 mph or a 224 mph. Until we see what the weather is going to do, it'll be hard to tell. We'll see what the wind and temperature will be like. We're late in the draw, so I hope it's really windy for everyone else and it calms down by the time it's my time to go. We could end up anywhere from 12th to 20th. I think that's a fair expectation of the range we'll qualify, but I sure would like to be in the top spot for a 12th-place starting position."

SARAH FISHER (No. 67 Team ResQ/Gravity Entertainment): “We are definitely better than we were yesterday, consistency-wise. The car is predictable, but I don’t like everything right now, so we definitely need to get some more laps in traffic. We should have a good, solid run tomorrow, keeping the race car in focus."