National Guard Panther Racing driver Dan Wheldon posted the fifth-quickest time Thursday during practice for the upcoming 94th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Wheldon’s teammate Ed Carpenter was also quick amongst the 37 competitors who turned laps during the rain-shortened practice session.
Wheldon posted a quick lap of 226.106 mph, 39.80434 seconds and turned a total of 31 laps on the day. Carpenter’s fast lap of 225.283 mph slotted him as the 11th fastest driver on the speed charts by the end of the day.
Carpenter completed a total of 29 laps in his Vision Racing’s No. 20 Honda powered Dallara, sponsored by Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka.
Dan WheldonNo. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda
Top Speed: 226.106 mph
Top Time: 39.8043 seconds
Number of Laps: 31 laps
Overall Rank: 5th on speed chart
Dan Wheldon, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda:
“The National Guard Panther boys have been working hard on both the No. 4 car and the Fuzzy’s Vodka car. I think both of our cars certainly have some speed, but as is always the case with Indy, there are some things you can work on to improve your car. As we get closer to qualifying and the race that needs to be the case, but the guys have done a very good job and it shows the strength of the team when you can bounce back from days like yesterday. As always I have a good deal of confidence around Indianapolis and I have a lot of confidence with the team as well, so I think we’re in a good position – we’ve just got to continue to work on the car to continue to improve.”
Ed Carpenter
No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Dallara Honda
Top Speed: 225.283 mph
Top Time: 39.9497 seconds
Number of Laps: 29 laps
Overall Rank: 11th on speed chart
Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Dallara Honda:
“Practice was okay. We did some qualifying stuff, but with this schedule it’s making it so hard. Today felt like it was the Sunday of second weekend qualifying or the last day of real practice, so it felt like you were trying to do some race stuff and some qualifying stuff. At the end of the day we’re just left with some question marks as to our qualifying setup and our race setup. As usual, I’m going to take this opportunity to complain about the new schedule because as the days go by, I like it less and less. At the same time, the car is good and we both have good cars. I feel like we are going to be in the mix for the top-nine. There are certainly some people that haven’t really shown what they have just yet and I think we have some left in the tank too, so Saturday is going to be intriguing. I’m just hoping that we get it all in Saturday so that we can use Sunday as another practice day.”
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