Once again weather cut short practice time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Twenty-nine drivers took to the track at 4:56 p.m. Wednesday for a grand total of 45 minutes, all but 30 minutes under a running yellow flag. With the second weekend of qualifying set to start Saturday and rain forecast through Thursday evening, practice time is going to come at a premium.
“We know that the 7-Eleven car will be ready for race day,” Andretti-Green driver Tony Kanaan said. “But it would still be nice to get as many full-tank runs in as possible. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate tomorrow.”
According to weather reports, Friday should allow for a full day of practice. If so, every Andretti and his cousin will be out on the track. Friday could be interesting. Several drivers are trying to get ready for Saturday while the 11 who are already qualified will be testing race-day set-ups. I suspect there will be some congestion because everyone will be looking to get as much time on course as possible. A practice-day crash could be devastating for either a qualifying chance or a car set up for race day.
“Well, for sure we’ve got some challenges here,” Roth Racing chief engineer Larry Curry said. “You know, the track time is important, I think, to everybody who’s not in the field yet. But the good news is, it’s the same for everybody.”
In the short practice session Wednesday, Scott Dixon posted the fast lap of the day at 222.834 mph. Dan Wheldon was right on his tail at 222.810, and Marco Andretti was also right there at 222.801. Danica Patrick and Hideki Mutoh joined in to round out the top-five spots. Ed Carpenter came in 14th for the day and filled out the group of only six of the drivers already in the grid to practice.
With the 29 drivers who practiced today and the five who did not, there are at least 34 cars presently set to try to get in the field. There are still other drives looking for rides yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are 37 or 38 cars trying to get in by the time Bump Day rolls around.
Alex Lloyd, who crashed hard into the wall last Friday, has been cleared to drive after X-rays turned up negative.
I plan to be at the track on Friday, so I’ll have more live updates and photos then. That is as long as IMS’ wi-fi and my laptop can work out their issues.
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