FORT WORTH, Texas – Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Scott Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, topped the speed chart in the first practice session – 90 minutes under the lights on the high-banked 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval – with a quick lap of 213.837 mph (24.4953 seconds) in preparation for the Bombardier Learjet 550k.
The session was run in wind that gusted to 35 mph. A record-tying 28 drivers for the IndyCar Series at the racetrack totaled 1,436 laps, with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Buddy Rice putting in a field-high 72.
Marco Andretti in the No. 26 Blockbuster car for Andretti Green Racing (213.465 mph; 24.5380 seconds) was second and John Andretti (212.956; 24.5966) in the No. 24 Roth Racing car was third. Dan Wheldon (212.932) in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car was fourth and A. J. Foyt IV (212.164) fifth in the No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing car.
Ryan Briscoe, who recorded his first IndyCar Series victory at Milwaukee, followed Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter (sixth at 212.164 mph). Andretti Green Racing’s Danica Patrick (212.109) was eighth and KV Racing Technology’s Will Power ninth (211.959). Power and Hideki Mutoh (211.952) are the only drivers in the top 10 to have not competed on the oval.
“Toward the end, when we were running over 50 laps on the tires, it started to get pretty sketchy and just the fact you’re starting to run with more cars at that point. It was hard to predict how far away you needed to be from the other guys.” (About what can be learned for the race practicing in windy conditions): “You’re still trying to get grip on front-wheel balance and stuff like that. You have a much bigger window, so it’s very hard to narrow things down. I think with most of our races these days, you need to roll off (the truck) pretty decent. You don’t have too much time. You have a lack of tires almost. That why we sat (out of practice) for 40 minutes because you can’t really run. You have to save enough tires - five sets of stickers - for the race. That leaves you with four s ets and quite long sessions.” (About racing with 28 cars at TMS): “It’s going to be tough, especially if you make a mistake and a few people go by you. It’s just a little easier when you’re running up front, no worse than fourth or fifth back. If you get back in that pack, it might be a little more difficult, but the great thing about this place is that you can pass. If you have a good car and have a bad pit stop and you drop back to 10th or 15th, you should be able to make your way through. It’s going to be, especially if the wind is like this and guys that haven’t really raced here before, you just hope they give a little bit more room then normal.”
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