Indianapolis 500: Dixon Leads Final Practice, Briscoe Wins Pit Stop Competition
On Miller Lite Carb Day, Scott Dixon led the final practice session with a quick lap of 225.474mph.
“It’s more of just a systems check,” Dixon said, who will start second on Sunday. “The car’s obviously been in a million pieces since we last drove them. It’s just to make sure they’re all functioning. We came in and did a few pit stops. Because of the lack of on-track time that we’ve had, we made a few changes. We tried some dampers, aero downforce levels, things like that. It’s obviously very cold and probably not very close or in line with what we’re going to run in on Sunday. All in all, it was pretty decent. The car was good. There was loads of traffic. There was lots of action going on out there with people speeding up and slowing down. It was pretty good for both Target cars.”
Pole Sitter Alex Tagliani was second on the speed charts at a speed of 224.739mph for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
“Yeah, it was an amazing week that we had last week,” Tagliani said. “We’re really fortunate that we rolled the car off the trailer fast. The team has done a great job to fine-tune it. Every day we were out there, and we were strong. So it’s been a pleasure for me to drive a very competitive car. Today it was nice to be back on track. Obviously, we have a very different car that we’re going to drive in the race. And I feel the car is very racey. I love it in traffic. It got some consistency out of the car on the older tires. So I don’t know. It seems to me to be unreal and too good to be true sometimes. But I want to think that we deserve it. We did everything better than everyone else, and hopefully it will continue. All winter long, the team fine-tuned the car. They just put their love into it, brought it back this year. Same car, same aerodynamic package, same track, and the car did better. So Penske and Ganassi have done that 10 years in a row. They have done the particular program that we have done for one race 10 years in row: Have a good car and keep improving it every year. And we’re trying to close the gap in a year and a half. It’s not an easy task.”
With the single car operation, Tagliani has been turning a lot of heads, including Dixon’s.
“Tag has done a hell of a job this month,” Dixon said. “It’s good to see that it’s been working so well. You know, you’re never going to know until you get to the race. He’s a good friend, and I’m definitely proud to see what he’s achieved, obviously, with a start-up team and to be able to mix it up with the big teams.”
Tagliani says when he leads the first lap in the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday, it will mean a lot.
“I’ve been very appreciative of what’s happened to me as a driver,” Tagliani said. “But what we don’t want to forget is that we have the chance to participate in a historical event. And to just have the chance to qualify in it is already a big thing. Leading the field, I think it’s going to be something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Meanwhile, Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti was third at a speed of 224.658mph.
“We can always learn something from today,” he said. “It will be a lot different on Sunday. We think we know how to turn the car around for those conditions. It will be a tough race. I think there is less grip than last year, and that’s going to make it really interesting. The slower speed (start and restarts) will be better. We may be going 190 into the first turn on the start. Turn 2 will be Turn 1 speed from years past. Restarts, I still don’t agree with side-by-side, I think we’re just asking for a bit of marbles. Whatever happens will be interesting, it will be slick and interesting. Dixie (Scott Dixon) looks strong. He’s going to be tough. We’re pretty strong, but just like the month I had last year, he (Dixon) has been on a rail all month. I followed (Alex) Tagliani, and he looks pretty average in traffic. But when he gets off the corner, he really goes. He will be plenty tough to beat. There are a bunch of people you just know who will be there (challenging for the win). (Dan) Wheldon will contend, the Penske cars will be strong, and there will be others. It’s wide open.”
Victor Meira was fourth at a speed of 224.480mph with Dan Wheldon rounding out the top five at 224.439mph.
Meanwhile, Ryan Briscoe’s No. 6 IZOD Team Penske team won the IZOD Indy 500 Pit Stop Competition as they defeated Dario Franchitti’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing team in the final round. His pit crew received a $50,000 first prize. Penske Racing has now won the competition a record 13 times, including the last six times in a row, though marks the first for Ryan Briscoe.
“I think what you saw now is a taste of what these guys are going to be doing for me in the race, and it’s so important,” Briscoe said. “I put so much pride in their pit stops, and I’m just lucky to have the best guys in pit lane. Helio has definitely been the favorite over the past few years, but I’ve got this guy (Matt) and I was never looking at who was beside me. We were really consistent, and after the first one we just wanted to keep repeating. They did it all. The Penske pride in the competition goes back a ways, so we don’t want to show up here and not be in the competition.”
Meanwhile for chief mechanic Matt Jonsson, it marks his second win as he led Sam Hornish Jr.’s team in 2005.
“This win means a lot,” he said. “It adds confidence for Sunday, of course, and we’re planning on doing the same thing on Sunday and trying to move up through the field. We win as a team and lose as a team, and that’s our job on Sunday, to try to move up the field. Ryan came in on a consistent speed, stopped right on his marks. That’s key for us. We don’t have to adjust; we just do the same thing every time. If everyone stays calm and collected, that’s the way it turns out to be: consistent.”
The winner of the competition has gone on to win the Indianapolis 500 six times, most recently with Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves in 2009.
Josef Newgarden Wins Firestone Freedom 100, Continuing Dream Weekend for SSM
If winning the pole for the Indianapolis 500 and Firestone Freedom 100 wasn’t enough for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Josef Newgarden brought home the victory in today’s Firestone Freedom 100 for the team.
“It’s an unbelievable achievement for the team,” Newgarden said after his second win of the season. “I’m so grateful, and I have to thank Esteban because he helped me the whole race. It’s not really the way I wanted to win it, but I’ll take it.”
The Nashville, Tenn. native is the first American to win the race since Ed Carpenter won the inaugural race in 2003.
“The team was able to make me quick and I got up to speed right away,” Newgarden added. “This is the biggest win I think I have ever had. To win the Firestone Freedom 100 in front of this crowd at this famous racetrack is incredible. This has been a really fun experience trying to come in and absorb all of the information that my team has to offer.”
The 40-lap Firestone Indy Lights race finished under caution after a crash on lap 34 with a 1-2 for SSM as it was his teammate Esteban Guerrieri in second. This is the first 1-2 by teammates in race’s history as they have won six of the nine races so far this year now.
“It was fun for a while and a bit slow the rest of the race,” Guerrieri said. “It was a lot of yellows, we didn’t expect so many, but I’m happy to win second of course. What we were trying to do was work with my teammate, Joseph, to try to pull away and make the gap larger toward third. Then we could finish the race like me and him to race against each other, but unfortunately all the guys crashed.”
Victor Garcia finished third, followed by Stefan Wilson and pole sitter Bryan Clauson.
“I’m pretty happy to all my crew and I have to thank all of them because although we haven’t had a normal weekend it has been really good and we finished third,” Garcia said. “I think we could have won because we had what it takes to win, but we didn’t have the laps to do it.”
“I’m pretty disappointed, really,” Wilson said. “I can’t believe that they had us driving around under the caution for so many laps. They (Anders Krohn and Jorge Goncalvez) were in bad shape. It looked like a really bad accident. There was debris everywhere. In my opinion, they should have red-flagged it and taken time to clean the track. Instead, we just drove around wasting time. The fans didn’t come out here to watch a parade of cars go around on the yellow flag. They wanted to see a race, and we never got to do it. Traditionally, this race has been won in the last 10 laps. I was biding my time, looking after my tires, and mine were looking the best of anyone out here. It was shaping up to be a good finish. If we had had a clear race and we weren’t just driving around under caution, we might have won it.”
“I fell back early there and really didn’t really do my job there at the beginning,” Clauson said. “I had a hard time figuring it out for a little while. I didn’t have enough green flag laps to make up for those mistakes early on. All the guys on the car did a great job; I had a great race car. I made a lot of moves on the high line, but it just wasn’t enough. It was a whole new ball game, a lot different than anything I’ve ever done. I could have done a little bit better, but all in all it was a great day.”
Clauson, who won the USAC National Driver’s Championship last year, started on the pole for his first ever Indy Lights Series race virtue of points after qualifying was rained out.
“This is huge,” he said. “It’s a whole new experience for me, from the starts to the restarts, to the draft, shifting in the middle of a race – that’s unheard of for me. It was a lot wilder than I expected, but it was a lot of fun.”
The caution came out on lap 34 after Jorge Goncalvez and Andres Krohn both wrecked simultaneously. While running three-wide, Krohn spun and made contact with the outside wall.
“We got a big run behind the draft,” Clauson said of the accident. “It looked like the 9 car got low. Everybody just ran out of room. We were going for it.”
“It was one of those races where absolutely everything happened,” Krohn said. “We were so fast, and we took the lead. It was so easy running it up there. Then a caution came out, and I just went to go to power and the rear slide around on me. After that point, we really didn’t have the speed because our tires were flat-spotted. Luckily another caution came out and we pitted for new tires, and then we were super, super quick. I think by the time our big crash happened we were up to fourth. It would have been the easiest thing to at least be on the podium or potentially win the race. I’m so disappointed for the guys at Belardi Auto Racing because we really had the fastest car today. We could run up, down low; it didn’t matter. We were so fast. It’s just a shame for the guys at Liberty Engineering and Logitrans that we couldn’t bring it home today. At the same time, I think we’ve shown people where our speed is, so hopefully we can come back next year and dominate this race.”
At the same time, Goncalvez’s car spun and made right-side contact with the SAFER Barrier, followed by heavy contact with he inside wall. Goncalvez was transported to IU Health Methodist Hospital for evaluation and was released about five hours year. Krohn, meanwhile, was checked and cleared at the IU Health Emergency Care Center.
“I’m so disappointed for the guys as Belardi Auto Racing because we really had the fastest car today,” Krohn said. “It would have been the easiest thing to at least be on the podium or potentially win the race. We could run up, down low; it didn’t matter. At the same time I think we’ve shown people where our speed is so hopefully we can come back next year and dominate this race.”
Meanwhile, history was made today as Chase Austin became the first African-American to compete in the Indy Lights Series.
“It was pretty cool,” Austin said after his ninth place finish. “We had little issues. The gearing was a little off, so I couldn’t really pass anybody by myself. The only way I’d get to pass anybody is when they’d check up in the corner. I just kind of had to be more ballsy than they were, which worked out for the most part. The car started going away a little bit in the end before we took that right rear tire. And just the cautions hurt us a lot on the restarts. But besides that, I have to thank American Honda, because without them we wouldn’t be here; Chris Miles and Willy T. for putting me in the car.”
With the win, Newgarden took over the championship lead with 151 points, while Guerrieri has 125 and Wilson has 121.
Matty’s Picks – Vol. 3 – Coca Cola 600 – May 29, 2011
Matty’s Picks
Vol. 3 – Coca Cola 600 – May 29, 2011
I am extremely excited for this week’s edition of Matty’s Picks, not only because I get to brag about my spot on pick in last week’s Sprint All-Star race, but because this Sunday is one of my favorite days out of the entire year.
I get the pleasure of waking up to the sounds of the Oswegatchie River flowing past my parents’ lake house each Memorial Day Sunday. This is a sound that is quickly drowned out by the high pitch whine of the Honda engines at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the 800-HP Stock Cars soon after dusk at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Yes, Memorial Day Sunday is a day that I look forward to each year. It truly marks the start of the summer racing season.
Let’s start with my picks from last week:
I had the duty of making five picks in total last week, two of which happened to be spot on. After having a bit of a shaky start to my week in the Sprint Showdown, I quickly rebounded with solid picks in the Sprint All-Star Race.
My Dark Horse pick for the Sprint Showdown was Brian Vickers. Vickers was running well until about 3/4th through the race when, contact with following a restart forced him to pit for new tires. Vickers finished right were he started in 10th place, giving me a Top-10 that won’t count for my ongoing competition with myself.
As for my winner pick in the Showdown, I thought I had made a solid pick in Martin Truex Jr, running in the Top-5 the entire first thirty laps. Contact with Paul Menard on lap 29 would put Truex outside of the Top-10, finishing his night in 13th.
I don’t think there was any question as to IF Dale Earnhardt Jr would make the All-Star Race, it was just a matter of HOW he would wind up with the start. My pick was that he would not race his way into the All-Star (Jr finished 5th in the Showdown), and would be voted into the All-Star Race via over 2.4 Million votes in the Sprint All-Star Fan Vote. Kudos to me.
For the Grand Finale of the night – the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race, I picked Mark Martin as my Dark Horse pick simply because he was (and still is) due for a win. Martin never really challenged for the win last week, and was finally put to the garage after contact with his teammate Jimmie Johnson on lap 94.
I did state in my column last week that fans would see a ‘Million Dollar Back Flip’ on Sunday night. I however did not state that fans would see absolute domination of the All Star race, followed by a failed pirouette on the infield grass, leading up to the Back Flip. Carl Edwards won three out of four segments bagging himself over 1.1 million dollars in the meantime. Kudos to me again.
Coke 600 Picks
After absolute domination last week on All-Star weekend, I will be going with the flow and picking two Roush Fenway Racing drivers this week.
Dark Horse Pick
David Ragan has been on the brink of winning his first real NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race all season. He will start his #6 Ford in the 8th spot Sunday Evening after a fantastic qualifying run last night. Ragan will carry momentum from his win in the Sprint Showdown last week into Sunday’s Coke 600. I think that Ragan will take advantage of the dominance that Roush Fenway has shown at Charlotte this year and run towards the front all night.
Winner Pick
It’s a very good thing that there is no limit as to how many times I can pick the same driver in this column. I really do not know how anyone could bet against Carl Edwards this week. His dominance last week in the All-Star Race has convinced me to stay on his bandwagon and pick him again this week. Carl Edwards will join and elite club of drivers including; Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, and Kasey Kahne, who have swept both races at Charlotte in the month of May. Edwards will have his chance to redeem himself after the failed burnout following the All-Star on Sunday.
BONUS PICK
100th Indianapolis 500
I get to dabble this week in the world of open wheel racing. I think that this year’s field for the Indy 500 may be the most competitive that fans have seen in years. This year, the race is wide open for any of the 33 drivers to take. I will pick a Ganassi Driver for this year’s race in Dario Franchitti. He won last year’s Indy 500, and has locked up a solid starting spot for Sunday in 9th and I think Dario will sip the milk once again on Sunday.
As always, you can send me you comments or help me make my picks for next week by email – riotwvu@yahoo.com
Until next time….You Stay Classy NASCAR & INDY NATION!
