News

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 26,2008) - Team Penske is on solid ground to win a cold race Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
 
Helio Castroneves qualified eighth-fastest among the field of 27 while teammate Ryan Briscoe qualified ninth as preparations began Saturday for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at the 1.5-mile oval.
 
Castroneves, who leads the IndyCar Series standings after the first three races of the season, said the team made changes that allowed the No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara to post a four-lap qualifying run of 1 minute 43.2072 seconds -- 212.078 mph.
 
“We couldn't seem to find the kind of speed as the leaders had in practice, so we made some big changes right before qualifying that seemed to help us gain a bit of speed,” Castroneves said. “The Team Penske car is solid in traffic, and we're not too far off on speed, so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to bring home another solid result tomorrow.”
 
Briscoe also had a strong recovery from a troubling practice session, going 211.979 mph in the No. 6 Team Penske Honda/Dallara.
 
“I wasn't sure if we were even going to get out to qualify,” Briscoe said. “We had an electrical issue during this morning's practice. The Team Penske guys really thrashed after that last session to make sure the issue got resolved. Not only did my crew work tremendously hard to get the car into line this afternoon, but the No. 3 crew also jumped in to help, which was great.”
 
Sunday’s race begins shortly after 5 p.m. EDT and will be televised live on ESPN2. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 50s at race time.