May
08

Briscoe, Gordon Lead Practice Sessions

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Team Penske on Top

Ryan Briscoe turned the fastest lap early during practice Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His fastest lap speed was 225.981 mph. Second-quick was Penske teammate Helio Castroneves at 225.438 mph. Balancing out the top five were Dario Franchitti (224.984 mph), Scott Dixon (224.822 mph) and Danica Patrick (224.755 mph).

Practice was run under threatening skies all day but was only interrupted occasionally for light drizzle.

There were two on-track incidents during the day. Early on rookie Robert Doornbos hit the turn 2 wall and coasted to a stop on the back straightaway. Later in the afternoon, Scott Sharp lost control of his car exiting turn 1, spun and made hard contact with the turn 2 outside wall. Sharp climbed from his car apparently uninjured but the car sustained heavy damage.

Pole Day Qualifying is Saturday, May 9.

Gordon Shows the Way

Jeff Gordon posted the fastest time (177.633 mph) in the final seconds of practice for Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Moments before, Jeff Burton turned a lap at 177.608 mph. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, and Mark Martin rounded out the top five.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Nationwide Series qualifying for Friday night's Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington was rained out, giving the front row to points leaders Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman. The thunderstorm delayed Sprint Cup qualifying by more than a half-hour, but rain is not expected to interfere with the remaining weekend's events.

A Sign of the Times?

At Indianapolis, 32 drivers took to the Speedway for IndyCar practice. Meanwhile in Darlington, 45 Sprint Cup drivers practiced in an attempt to qualify for the Southern 500. Will there even be a need for Bump Day at Indy?

Also, Sprint Cup practice was televised live on SPEED while Indy boasted no television coverage of practice. An outsider might wonder which event is more prominent. I wonder if the Southern 500 will pull in a higher TV rating than Indy?

Categories : IndyCar, NASCAR, News

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