News

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 23, 2008) - Friday was "Carb Day" at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but rain struck once again at the famed circuit. Final IndyCar Series practice, scheduled for one hour, was limited to 12 minutes due to the foul weather and Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves was only able to get in a few laps in before having to return to the garage, while Ryan Briscoe was only able to lap the 2.5-mile circuit once. Weather conditions also cancelled the annual Pit Stop Challenge, where IndyCar Series teams were to compete in head-to-head competition for the title of Pit Stop Champions. Team Penske had been victorious a record 10 times since the competition's inception in 1977, including three straight wins from 2005 through 2007.

The weather report looks promising on Saturday, May 24th for the annual "500" Festival Parade in downtown Indianapolis and for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500, Sunday, May 25, to be telecast live in High Definition at noon (EDT) on the ABC television network.

Quotes following Friday's practice session:

Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda: "We weren't going for speed out there today, we just wanted to use the session to get a feel for everything we'll need to consider on Sunday. This was the type of practice that you want to use to make sure the engine is good, the set-up is the way we want it and things are running smoothly. The final practice session also gives you a chance to make sure you know where the pits are and to get used to the layout for race day. This is the last time we'll be in the car until the Indianapolis 500 so we want to make sure we've taken all these things into account while we had the opportunity. We didn't get very many laps out there, but the Team Penske car seems to be running well and I think we're ready for Sunday."

Ryan Briscoe, No. 6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda: "We had only run our installation lap today before it started raining, so we didn't get to run as much as we would have liked. However, the weather forecast for race day is drastically different than today, so I'm not sure how much we could have learned. I'm confident that Team Penske has the experience here at Indianapolis to give me a good car for race day, so I'm definitely looking forward to it."

2008 Indianapolis 500 Starting Grid with position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and four-lap qualifying average speed (mph):

1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 226.366 mph

2. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 226.110

3. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 226.080

4. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 225.733

5. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225.197

6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 224.794

7. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 224.417

8. (4T) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 224.346

9. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 223.887

10. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 223.835

11. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 223.496

12. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 222.539

13. (06) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 222.531

14. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 222.430

15. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 222.330

16. (02) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 222.267

17. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 222.101

18. (22) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 222.017

19. (16) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 221.788

20. (17T) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 221.579

21. (24) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 221.550

22. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 221.246

23. (8) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 221.136

24. (41) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 221.103

25. (5) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 220.767

26. (33) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 220.356

27. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 220.305

28. (19) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 219.716

29. (36) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 219.422

30. (34) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 219.345

31. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 219.184

32. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda, 219.015

33. (25) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 218.965