Justin Wilson, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s very bumpy here but it’s like all of these ovals; the nicer you get the car to drive, the nicer you get the car, the more you enjoy the track. The McDonald’s team is slowly getting better and better so I’m liking it more and more. If we can get the car to work well in the race I think that’s going to be the tricky part because it is so bumpy. It isn’t the actual concrete surface that is the bumpy part, it’s the seams in the patches. It’s so difficult to get the grip out of the track that it is so easy to miss on the setup and then you are struggling and that makes running in traffic a nightmare. Hopefully we will be okay.”
FAST FACTS: Will be his first race here, eighth on an oval this season and 13th on an oval in his career…Is ranked 19th in the point standings with 171…Finished runner up in the Champ Car championship to the driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007. Was a title contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season…Highest start this season is pole on the streets of Long Beach and his highest finish is seventh on the one-mile oval in Milwaukee and ¾ mile track in Richmond.
Graham Rahal, No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m pretty happy with the run and I think we all are. We didn’t know what to expect or where we would end up. We struggles a little bit towards the end of the last session but the guys did a great job putting a good car on the track for qualifying. I could tell right out of the pits and it gave me a lot of confidence. It’s an interesting track that brings a lot of challenges. We’re not used to concrete so that is the biggest one. It’s very bumpy but at the end of the day we are all fighting the same thing and we’ll do the best that we can. I have a great team behind me and we’re working hard. If you look at our speeds from one speedway to the next, we’re getting better and better. If we can continue to run like we did today I think the future is bright.”
FAST FACTS: Will be his first race here and eighth on a new track this season of 10 races…In his IndyCar Series debut on a road/street course he became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing in North America after winning in St. Pete on 4-6-08 at 19 years, 93 days old…He is ranked 16th in series points with 183 points…His highest start this season is second on the one-mile oval in Milwaukee where he narrowly lost becoming the youngest pole winner in series history to Marco Andretti. His highest oval finish is 10th place on the .894 mile oval at Iowa Speedway.
LEBANON, Tenn. - Qualifying for the Firestone Indy 200 IndyCar Series event on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and speed:
1. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 204.519
2. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 203.335
3. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 203.316
4. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 203.306
5. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 203.233
6. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 203.077
7. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 202.818
8. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 202.735
9. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 202.690
10. (06) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 202.561
11. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 202.220
12. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 202.196
13. (02) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 201.997
14. (8) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 201.887
15. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 201.661
16. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 201.564
17. (5) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 201.446
18. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 201.173
19. (36) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 201.153
20. (19) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 200.026
21. (24) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 200.017
22. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 199.841
23. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 199.658
24. (34) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 199.164
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