Logo for the 2012 Indianapolis 500

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

The teams were found to be in violation of the three rules and were required by INDYCAR Officials to comply with the technical specifications before being allowed to make a qualifying attempt. Teams penalized are:

Penske Racing Car #2

Panther Racing Car #4

KV Racing Technology Car #5

KV Racing Technology Car #8

Chip Ganassi Racing Car #9

Penske Racing Car #12

Dale Coyne Racing #18

Andretti Autosport Car #25

Andretti Autosport Car #26

Andretti Autosport Car #28

Fan Force United Car #64

1.1.1.3. Officials may penalize any Member and/or exclude any Member or equipment from any Event if Officials deem any act or any condition to be hazardous and/or not meeting the specifications, spirit, illustrations, and intent of, the Rules. Conditions that may warrant penalty and/or exclusion include without limitation any action which an Official deems to be a threat to the integrity of INDYCAR, the IZOD IndyCar Series and/or orderly conduct of the Event, and/or which relates to the design and construction of a Car or repairs to a damaged Car.

8.2.3.3. Retracting the brake pistons into the caliper by any method is prohibited.

14.12.2. Cars must be equipped with a dual-braking system to operate the brakes effectively on all 4 wheels. The use of computer logic to control any function of the braking system is not permitted.

Additionally, the following teams were penalized for other technical infractions:

Member: Lotus - FP Journe - Fan Force United Car #64

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rules 14.3.2.

Penalty: $50,000

Member: Andretti Autosport Car #28

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rule 1.1.4.2.

Penalty: $10,000

Member: Andretti Autosport Car #28

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rules 1.1.4.2. & 14.1.8.

Penalty: $10,000

Member: Andretti Autosport Car #27

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rule 1.1.4.2.

Penalty: $10,000

Member: Andretti Autosport Car #27

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rules 1.1.4.2. & 14.1.8.

Penalty: $10,000

Member: Andretti Autosport Car #26

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rule 1.1.4.2.

Penalty: $10,000

Member: A.J. Foyt Enterprises Car #14

Violation: During pre-qualification technical inspection at the IZOD IndyCar Series Event at the Indianapolis 500, INDYCAR determined the Member did not comply with Rule 14.1.4.

Penalty: $10,000

Different car, same age-old problems at Indianapolis. After waiting all week to see how the new DW12 would stand up to an old-school Indianapolis 500 crash, we saw three of them on Saturday. Bryan Clauson, Oriol Servia and Ed Carpenter stacked up three chassis in three separate incidents Saturday, sending their respective teams scurrying for parts, time and their checkbooks.

Andy O’Gara of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing said of the Clauson crash - “We went to Dallara to get parts - new side pods, new underwing, new engine cowling, and other body pieces and mechanical bits. We went through tech around 9 o'clock this morning. The car was damaged pretty badly; it's a $200,000 hit. It was a big hit - left-side body work, left-side suspension, front and rear wings, engine, gear box, side covers, drive line, radiators, exhaust - big hit."

Alex Lloyd, who had a similar hit in his rookie year at the Speedway said that some things never change – “An early turn-in is all it’ll take at quals at Indy. I’ve done it before and it hurts.”

Carpenter’s guys actually nodded off on Pit Lane after working until the wee hours of the morning to rebuild the #20 Fuzzy’s Premium Vodka machine. They worked until 12:30 A.M. Saturday morning and then came back to work at 6 a.m. to finish the car. Servia’s Dreyer & Reinbold machine fared better than the crash footage showed, as the #22 car emerged with the gearbox intact after contact with the inside wall as well as the retaining wall at the entrance to Pit Lane.

“It looked a lot worse than it was, probably, but we didn't get into the side pods of the car,” said team co-owner Robbie Buhl. “The undertray wasn't too bad. The guys had the car back together by 11 last night, and we were out of here. I would say we were pretty lucky, all things considered.”

Keith Wiggins and his HVM squad knew that the first year was going to be a trying one with the new chassis and engine, especially when the team’s Lotus engines had such an inauspicious start to the month of May. In the end, Wiggins – who is a veteran of many Indy 500 and F1 wars - knew where he stood.

“To be honest," he said, "we're happy to be in and under the circumstances we're grateful that there's only 33 cars. Right now we've got some work to do. We've just got to focus on the race and make sure that next year we come back with much improved power."

Other drivers were mystified as to where their Friday speeds went on Saturday. Expectations went unfulfilled on a number of teams as weather conditions wreaked havoc on setups.

“We changed one gear and polished the car and somehow lost three miles-per-hour.” lamented Justin Wilson of his Dale Coyne Racing machine.

Marco Andretti was a little more ethereal with his thoughts on how his Fast Friday-leading car ended up fourth on the final grid.

“We lost an entire mile-per-hour yesterday. I have no idea where it went. That’s Indy I guess.”

Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Notes

Top among the notes over the weekend was in the touching tribute that Andretti Autosport driver James Hinchcliffe displayed in memorial to fallen countryman Greg Moore. Hinchcliffe had a signed pair of Moore’s signature red racing gloves under his uniform during his pole run, and showed them to the media after he climbed out of the car.

“Greg never got a chance to run here at Indianapolis, so we wanted to take him with us out there today,” Hinchcliffe said.

Moore was an extremely talented driver from British Columbia, Canada who lost his life in a racing accident at California Speedway in 1999. Prior to the accident Moore had signed to drive for Team Penske, a spot that instead went now to three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves.

Fan Force United driver Alesi is the oldest rookie to start in the Indianapolis 500. He will be 47 years, 351 days old on Race Day. The previous oldest rookie to start in the Indianapolis 500 was Jack Hewitt at 46 years, 320 days in 1998. Hewitt finished 12th, five laps down.

All five Andretti Autosport drivers - James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Ana Beatriz and Sebastian Saavedra - achieved career-best Indianapolis 500 starting spots this year. But the results came at a cost. The team paid out $95,000 in penalties because of technical infractions that were uncovered in pre- and post-qualifying inspections.

Much was made of the larger draft created by the DW12 and how much farther the aero effects will reach behind the car this year. Dreyer & Reinbold’s Oriol Servia thought that this year’s car felt the effects far earlier in the draft. “This car, you can feel the draft when you are 10 lengths behind when last year you didn’t get it until you were two or three lengths away.”

The drivers feel the effect earlier and some claim that the closer you get, the drastically more increased the draft gets. But this increased effect may not automatically make for better passing opportunities as the draft means that a driver will have to set up his passes earlier, as there is thought to a bigger penalty for being wrong on a proposed pass.

“To get to where the car really sucks up on another, you have to be on the throttle following them,” said Ryan Hunter-Reay. “You have to have a good run to the corner. You can’t be pedaling it back there. There’s a bigger penalty for a lift in traffic. You’ll drop back further.”

Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske Chevrolet, Will Power, Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

The team’s three drivers, who secured positions in the first two rows during Saturday’s Pole Day qualifying, recorded a total of 246 laps Sunday while perfecting their cars’ race setups in preparation for May 27 race.

Ryan Briscoe, who won the pole position Saturday, completed 71 laps around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval on Sunday in the No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet with a best lap of 218.831 mph. The fast lap ranked 21st-fastest of the day but more importantly he was able to collect relevant data for next Sunday’s “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

"We did a few race runs in the IZOD car today - a bit of fine tuning on our race set-up,” said Briscoe, who earned the team’s record 17th Indy 500 pole. “It was hot and slick out there today. We feel pretty good about where we are at as we were able to do a long run with Rahal (Graham) and we banked some good data there. We have a good idea where we sit and are looking forward to the race."

Will Power, who will start fifth in the race, completed 100 laps with a top speed of 220.640 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet, which ranked eighth-best of the day. The IZOD IndyCar Series points leader is pleased with the progress being made by the entire Verizon team.

"We ran a lot of laps today, and the Verizon car was good,” said Power. “We worked on our race set-up and experimented with down-force levels and we feel pretty good about what we have. It was good out there today, running in traffic especially with the various people that we will be racing with come next Sunday. Overall it was good - we feel like we know what we have and what we will need in the race."

Helio Castroneves completed 75 laps in the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet with a fastest lap of 220.217 mph, which ranked 10th-best. After earning a sixth-place starting position for the race, Castroneves is in pursuit of a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory.

“Today was a good day; we were able to practice in traffic,” said Castroneves. “I think today, if not yesterday, was the hottest day we have had and it was the perfect condition to practice for the race. The Shell Pennzoil car is very, very strong. I’m very happy. I know the car very well and for me that is the best car I can have.”

Simona de Silvestro, HVM Racing Lotus

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Indianapolis, IN (Sunday, May 20, 2012) - Lotus HVM Racing's Simona De Silvestro qualified the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car today for this year's 96th running of the Indianapolis 500. De Silvestro was first in line when qualifying began at noon today thanks to the lucky draw of Twitter contest winner Jeff Wiedemann. Wiedemann was the second contest winner in two days to make an excellent qualifying draw for the team. Friday's draw saw Domingo Riego pick the third spot in line for the team.

The team didn't make an attempt in yesterday's first round of qualifying, but today De Silvestro drove a very strong and consistent four laps (all within two-tenths of each other). Average speed for the qualifying run was 214.393, which places her in 32nd position on the starting grid for next Sunday's 500-mile race.

De Silvestro is thrilled to be in the field of 33. "I'm really happy that we qualified. It was a good day for us. We found a bit of speed in the car and that's a good thing. I think I have a lot of work on my side finding how to best maneuver in traffic. My team's been working really hard and I'm glad I was able to come through for them. I've had a lot of support from everybody; from my team and from all the Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors. I'm just happy to be in the 500."

Shane Seneviratne, Lotus HVM Team Manager, was pleased with today's outcome. "It's been a bit of a struggle," he said, "but we made it into the field. I have to say Simona and the team made the best of the situation we were presented with and everyone worked really hard to get the car qualified. They deserve it. I also have to thank Lotus for their continued efforts. I'm looking forward to the race."

Tom Brown, the team's Technical Director, is proud of the team's efforts. "I have to thank this crew for sticking it out this week. It has been one of the toughest weeks we've ever had. The car itself has been really good and the guys didn't give up on anything. They came in every day and gave 110% and I'm proud of them. Really proud of them."

Keith Wiggins, Lotus HVM Team Owner, was honest in his assessment of the team's situation. "To be honest," he said, "we're happy to be in and under the circumstances we're grateful that there's only 33 cars. Right now we've got some work to do. We've just got to focus on the race and make sure that next year we come back with much improved power."

Ana Beatriz, Andretti Autosport/Conquest Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Indianapolis, Indiana – May 20, 2012 – It was a strong showing for the #25 Andretti/Conquest Racing entry yesterday during qualifying for the Indy 500, as Ana Beatriz recorded a four-lap average speed of 223.920mph placing her 13th in the grid for next weekend’s race. After a week of practice for what will be the team’s first start in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season, the Andretti/Conquest Racing crew have shown steady progress and will be the highest placed non full-time entry on the starting grid.

Beatriz will be making her third start in her Ipiranga machine at the historic 500-mile event, her previous best qualifying effort was 21st in 2010, and she has finished 21st in both of her previous starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After another full day of practice today the team will spend next week preparing their #25 Chevy powered machine for the race and will be back on track on Friday for Miller Lite Carb Day. The 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 wil ltake place Sunday may 27th and will be broadcast live on ABC at 11:00am Eastern Time.

Eric Bachelart Team PrincipalAndretti/Conquest Racing Team
“I am very happy with our performance and with Ana’s work and professionalism, it has been a pleasure to work with her, she is very talented and we are definitely looking forward to the race next weekend.

Overall it has been a great month of May so far for our team, our qualifying speed showed the hard work that everybody’s put into this project and we will keep it up to make sure it carries over to the race. Our collaboration with Andretti Autosport has been very successful and there’s still a lot more to come.”

Bryan Clauson, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, May 20, 2012 – There’s nothing a band-aid can’t fix, including a failed qualifying attempt on Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that ended in a crashed race car.

Bryan Clauson rallied and dug deep today to earn a spot on Bump Day in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 after his Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team thrashed all night to repair the No. 39 Angie’s List/Dallara/Honda/Firestone car.

When Clauson returned to the Gasoline Alley garages on Bump Day morning, his team had applied a band-aid decal to the spot where new un-painted carbon fiber met up with the sleek blue his entire car was prior to the crash.

“It was heartbreaking yesterday and I didn’t sleep much last night,” Clauson said.

Multiple teams in the IndyCar paddock came to the aid of SFHR with spare parts after Clauson’s crash.

“Pretty much every team here offered to help us yesterday,” said Mike O’Gara, team manager for SFHR. “We’re all competitive but the minute someone’s in trouble we’re here for each other.”

With his mended car, Clauson posted a four-lap average of 214.445 mph and will start his first Indy 500 from 31st position.

“We had to go out there today and make a conservative run,” Clauson said. “We’ve got a great race car though, and we’ll be ready next weekend.”

The No. 67 car driven by Josef Newgarden, which qualified in seventh position on Pole Day, switched to race-mode and made several race runs on Bump Day.

“We tried to work through our race setup more today and get prepared for Carb Day and the race,” Newgarden said. “I think it will be really interesting to see who has figured out their car best on race day.”

On-track action resumes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 25 for Miller Lite Carb Day, which is the last chance for IZOD IndyCar Series teams to practice for the Indianapolis 500.

Putting on the band-aid:
What exactly goes into repairing a crashed race car? Read SFHR Team Manager Mike O'Gara's step-by-step summary of what the crew did to return Clauson's No. 39 car to a qualifying-ready state:

Saturday, May 19th
1:15 p.m. Clauson starts his first qualifying attempt
1:18 p.m. Contact with turn 1 SAFER Barrier during his last lap of qualifying
2:00 p.m. Car is returned to the SFHR garage by the INDYCAR’s Holmatro Safety Team; crash assessment and disassembly begins
3:00 p.m. Car is completely disassembled and reassembly begins; parts from Dallara, the SFHR shop, and other teams begin to arrive
7:00 p.m. New Honda engine is installed; new plumbing and wiring is run throughout the car
9:00 p.m. New Xtrac gearbox is installed; plumbing and wiring continues

Sunday, May 20th
12:00 a.m. No. 39 Honda engine is re-started for the first time
1:00 a.m. New undertray and sidepods are installed
2:00 a.m. No. 39 crew leaves IMS for a few hours rest
6:00 a.m. No. 39 crew arrives at IMS; work continues on the car to complete final repairs
8:30 a.m. No. 39 car passes INDYCAR tech to allow it to compete on track
9:15 a.m. Clauson takes his first laps in his repaired car

Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

SPEEDWAY, In. – May 20, 2012 – It was Bump Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but with all three cars safely in the field, KV Racing Technology took the opportunity to work on their race setups on the final full day of practice for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 to be held May 27th in Speedway, Indiana.

Tony Kanaan, in the No. 11 GEICO | MOUSER ELECTRONICS - KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone entry, who will start eighth in the Indy 500, had a fast lap of 219.749 mph good for 14th on the speed charts. He has led the team in speed in all eight practice sessions. Kanaan, who will be starting his 11th Indy 500, ran 66 laps today giving him 304 since full practice began on May 10. In 10 previous races Kanaan has finished in the top-10 five times with a best showing of second in 2004. He has led a total of 214 laps at the speedway and is the only driver in history to lead laps in his first seven Indy 500 starts.

“We spent today setting the car up for the race”, said Kanaan. “I was able to do a lot of running in traffic and see how the car felt so overall it was a good day.”

Viso, behind the wheel of the No. 5 CITGO | PDVSA – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone car, who will grid ninth for the race, was second fastest on the team for the sixth time in eight sessions with a speed of 219.644 mph good for 15th on the practice report. Viso, who logged 60 laps today for a total of 379, will be contesting his fifth Indy 500. His ninth place qualifying position is by far the best at the Brickyard. His previous high was 18th in 2011. In four previous races the 27-year-old Venezuelan has a best finish is 24th

Commenting on practice today, Viso said. “After having a very satisfying qualifying yesterday, we worked on race setup today. We had plenty of things we needed to adjust and now we believe we are in a more comfortable position to race.”

Barrichello, piloting the No. 8 BMC | EMBRASE – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone machine, will start 10th in his first Indy 500. He had a fast lap today of 219.330 mph good for 18th on the speed. Barrichello turned 78 laps today for a total of 526, by far the most of the KVRT trio. The 39-year-old Brazilian, a veteran of 19 Formula One seasons, is attempting to become the first driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the U. S. Grand Prix Formula One race (won in 2002) that was held on a road course that incorporated part of the IMS oval.

“I spent today working on how the car would feel in traffic”, said Barrichello. “There were a lot of cars on track and I am still trying to get used to how that feels. The race will be extremely busy so it was nice to be able to practice in that situation.”

Sébastien Bourdais, Dragon Racing

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

The final four Team Chevy drivers completed their qualifying runs to solidify their staring positions for the Sunday, May 27 race. Sebastien Bourdais was the quickest of the nine cars that completed the qualifying procedure on what traditionally has been called Bump Day.

Oriol Servia, Ed Carpenter and Katherine Legge were the remaining drivers to secure their spots on the grid.

The remainder of the afternoon, all 33 teams and drivers worked on the race setup under warm and muggy conditions. Remarkably, there has been no rain throughout the 11 days that started with the Rookie Orientation Program moved to practice for all entrants and qualifying. There were no on-track incidents.

The on-track action for the IZOD IndyCar Series will resume on Friday, May 25, for the final round of practice prior to the race.

The 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 27 will be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 12:00 p.m. (ET) (tape delayed at 7:00 p.m. ET in Indianapolis).

DRIVER QUOTES:

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 25TH: “The run was good; I just wish it had been yesterday and we’d be quite a bit higher up on the grid. We haven’t really changed the car at all. The balance has been good. The speed varied a lot from Saturday, and we can’t quite figure out why. I’m just happy that the TrueCar-MacAfee entry is in the show. I’m glad to be with Chevrolet and looking forward to the rest of the season.”

ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER/DREYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 27TH: “We just wanted to make sure we had a solid effort to get it into the race. Obviously, to win the race, you have to be in it first. We wanted to accomplish that. Now we just work on the race car. This race, especially, has been on from the back many times. If you have a good car, you can definitely go forward. So that’s what we’re going to focus on. To win this thing, a lot of things have to go your way, no matter if you start in the front of the back. Probably more than any other race, the guy that’s on the pole doesn’t win it. We would prefer to start on the front row like we did last year. It makes your race a lot easier, especially the first half. But we’re foinng to make it interesting. We’re going to start at the back on move forward.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S PREMIUM ULTRA VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 28TH: “This Fuzzy’s team did a great job getting this 20T car together for today. So I am happy were are in the race and we can work on our race setup now. We went a little consecutive with the qualifying run, just so we can get in the show. The whole crew just put their heads down began preparing the back up at around 4 p.m. Saturday. No complaining. Just a bunch of professional guys. I’m really, really proud of them. We found some things last night that were hampering us. The whole month just didn’t go as we had scripted it. I think I have been lucky for the last few years here with first day qualifying. I guess this year it was our tough one. I remember Ryan Hunter Reay was my teammate a few years back he barely made it, then last year he had to get in after qualifying but this year he is on the front row. So it goes in cycles. Things can change in a hurry here. But one thing that doesn’t change is my confidence. I think we can get a good race setup and be in the thick of things by the end of the race. We have had good race cars recently too. I know we have a good crew and we’ll work hard to have a solid car next Sunday.”

KATHERINE LEGGE, NO. 6 TRUECAR-DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET – QUALIFED 30TH: “It’s definitely a massive relief after the week or two that we’ve had. We basically qualified our race car. We haven’t had time on track to work on qualifying setup or anything like that, so we needed to find a car that was easy to drive at this stage. I am a rookie, and the team did a good job of giving me a very solid, very stable race car. I’m pretty sure that it’s pretty close to the car we will race. I finished my rookie orientation on Fast Friday, and we haven’t had any real testing time, so it’s been difficult. But, we’re here, and we’ve made the best of it. As my engineer would say, there are no ifs in racing.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 2 IZOD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: "We did a few race runs in the IZOD car today - a bit of fine tuning on our race set-up. It was hot and slick out there today. We feel pretty good about where we are at as we were able to do a long run with Rahal (Graham) and we banked some good data there. We have a good idea where we sit and are looking forward to the race."

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: "We ran a lot of laps today, and the Verizon car was good. We worked on our race set-up experimented with down-force levels and we feel pretty good about what we have. It was good out there today as running in traffic especially with the various people that we will be racing with come next Sunday. Overall it was good - we feel like we know what we have and what we will need in the race."

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 SHELL V-POWER/PENNZOIL ULTRA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: "Today was a good day, we were able to practice in traffic. I think today, if not yesterday was the hottest day we have had and it was perfect conditions to practice for the race and the Shell Pennzoil Ultra car is very, very strong, I'm very happy. I know the car very well and for me that's the best car I can have."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 28 TEAM DHL/SUN DROP CITRUS SODA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: "We're pretty good. It was trickier today with the heat. It makes it slick and everybody was doing a lot more sliding around. The good news is I could set-up anyone for a pass. We need to look at all the data - and all of the data from our teammates - and find the best combination of everything. You don't want too much downforce or you'll be slow in the straights, but if you don't have enough you might struggle in the turns. But Indy is like that- it's always a compromise. We tried a lot of things and it's beneficial to work with so many teammates. We've all shared a lot this month."

MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 26 TEAM RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: "It was a lotta fun. We're pretty dialed-in, and I think this is one of the best shots I've ever had to win this race. The teamwork has been great. It's hard to stage those kind of runs with three to five cars, but we were able to do it (with five Andretti Autosport entries). Overall, the team did a great job and we're confident for the 500."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 TEAM GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: “Obviously today was back to the race setup program and unfortunately we hit the track a little bit late and didn’t get near the running we would have liked. We were doing race simulations earlier in the week as well, but the track has changed so much – there’s a little bit more rubber on it now and the conditions are quite a bit hotter than they were on Wednesday which was the last time we were doing this sort of work. Definitely not as good of a car as we put away on Wednesday night, but we definitely made some progress and we just need to look at data over the next couple of days. We have a couple of days off now to just sort of sift through it all and try to get the right (setup) on the car for Carb Day.”

ANA BEATRIZ, NO. 25 TEAM IPIRANGA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT / CONQUEST RACING CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: “We had some issues with the 25 car today; something wasn’t working right so we just checked it out today so we can fix it before Carb Day. Unfortunately, we ran out of track time and didn’t get to do race simulations with my teammates – but luckily they got the experience today and have something to tell us… and maybe we can get something here and there and be more prepared for Friday. Actually, I’m glad this happened today so we have time this week before the race to sort it out and have the Ipiranga Andretti / Conquest car ready to do our best on Race Day.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 ITAIPAVA | GEICO | MOUSER ELECTRONICS – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: “We spent today setting the car up for the race. I was able to do a lot of running in traffic and see how the car felt so overall it was a good day.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO, NO. 8 BMC | EMBRASE – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: “I spent today working on how the car would feel in traffic. There were a lot of cars on track and I am still trying to get used to how that feels. The race will be extremely busy so it was nice to be able to practice in that situation.”

E .J. VISO, NO. 5 CITGO | PDVSA – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET: ON PRACTICE: “Today, after having a very satisfying qualifying, we worked on race setup. We had plenty of things we needed to adjust and now we believe we are in a more comfortable position to race.”

Wade Cunningham, A.J. Foyt Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Conway went out shortly after noon and despite one lap in the 221 mph bracket due to a slight boost issue, he averaged 222.3 mph and will line up 29th, in the middle of the 10th row in the AJ Foyt Racing No. 14. Conway’s run of 223.1 mph yesterday was disallowed after the car was measured to be two lbs. underweight. That run would have put him 20th on the grid in the middle of row seven.

This race will be Conway’s third Indy 500 in four years. He finished 18th as a rookie in 2010 after starting 27th. The following year he qualified 15th and was en route to a top-10 finish but had a horrific accident on the 199th lap, and the leg and back injuries he sustained sidelined him for the rest of the season. Last year he was bumped out of the race in the final minutes of qualifying.

Rookie Cunningham, a three-time winner of the Firestone Freedom 100 Indy Lights race here, qualified for his first Indy 500 with a four-lap average speed of 223.2 mph. He will start 26th, in the middle of the ninth row of the 11 row, three abreast grid. Cunningham’s run was the second fastest of today’s nine qualifiers with only four-time Champ Car titleholder Sebastian Bourdais running a half mile an hour quicker in his Chevrolet-powered Dallara.

Conway, who is driving for Foyt this year in the IZOD IndyCar Series, said after his successful qualifying run, “I would have loved to have put it in the show yesterday. We would have been better off. We’re in the race. The car has been very similar all month in terms of handling, it’s been very good. We weren’t looking to blow the world away with speed today. It was a case of getting in (the race) comfortably and not doing anything stupid. Our second lap was slower. We had a slight boost issue, but it went away. We wanted to be sensible. We haven’t been working on race stuff much this month because we’ve been trying to find speed. We can go out and focus on getting the car in race trim and get it comfortable. I just want to thank A.J. Foyt Racing and ABC Supply for hanging in there all week.”

Cunningham waved off his first attempt yesterday as the car had too little downforce for the hot weather conditions. He did make another run later in the afternoon and was in the top 24 but was bumped in the final minute of qualifying.

“We ran quicker than we did this morning in practice so we found a little bit of speed,” Cunningham said. “If we ran that speed yesterday we would have been comfortably in the first day qualifiers. We I guess underestimated Indianapolis a little bit and we got ourselves caught out with circumstances- our own undoing but we did it in the end which is the most important thing. It’s not a reflection of our performance this month, we’ve been strong in the draft at times and strong by ourselves, so as long as we make good decisions, now through race day, there’s no reason we can’t be fighting for a top-10 in the race.”

Cunningham, an Auckland, New Zealand native, has made his home here in Indianapolis since 2004 and is a past champion of the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Although a rookie in Indy cars, this will be his fourth race having made his IndyCar debut at Texas Motor Speedway last year where he qualified eighth. Although he didn’t finish either race at Texas, he went on to finish seventh in his next race at Kentucky Speedway. He is a veteran of the Freedom 100 at Indy, not only winning the race three times, but also placing second and third in a total of six starts.

“It’s been a long road for me to Indianapolis,” Cunningham said. “I got to the states in 2004 -- eight years of hard work and commitment, a very proud day for me. I know my parents are proud as are all my sponsors and supporters who have helped me through the years to get here.”

After going through tech inspection, the team spent the next couple hours switching the car to race trim and the Honda engines were re-adjusted to settings that will be used in the race which means approximately 40-50 less horsepower. The teams will have one hour of final practice on “Carb Day” this Friday.

The 96th Running of the Indianapolis 500 will be broadcast live on ABC-TV Sunday, May 27th starting at 11 a.m. ET.

Wade Cunningham, A.J. Foyt Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Cunningham’s teammate, Mike Conway, completed his own four-lap run of 222.319 mph to qualify 29th. Rookie Bryan Clauson, who crashed during his first qualifying attempt on Saturday, climbed aboard his repaired Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Dallara today to qualify 31st, with a four-lap average of 214.455 mph.

Four Chevrolet-powered entries and two Lotus Dallaras made successful qualifying runs on Sunday to complete the 33-car starting field. The 2012 Indianapolis 500, the first with engine manufacturer competition since 2005, includes 15 Honda-powered drivers, 16 from Chevrolet and the remaining two using Lotus engines.

Activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway resume on Friday with the traditional final practice session, known as “Carb Day”. The 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 starts at 11 a.m. EDT Sunday, May 27, with live television coverage on ABC.

Wade Cunningham (#41 A.J. Foyt Racing Honda) qualified 26th for his first Indianapolis 500: “It's been a long road for me to Indianapolis. I got to the States in 2004, so eight years of hard work and commitment, but this is a very proud day for me. I know my parents are proud, as are all my sponsors and supporters who have helped me through the years. We ran quicker [in qualifying] than we did this morning in practice, so we found a little bit of speed. If we had run that speed yesterday, we would have been comfortably in the first-day qualifiers. I guess we underestimated Indianapolis a little bit and we got ourselves caught out with circumstances [during Saturday’s qualifying]. But we did it in the end, which is the most important thing. Qualifying is not a reflection of our performance, we've been strong in the draft at times and strong by ourselves. So, as long as we make good decisions, now through race day, there's no reason we can't be fighting for a top-10 in the race.”

Roger Griffiths (Technical Director, Honda Performance Development): “Congratulations to Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, who have ‘punched above their weight’ throughout this month. The team demonstrated excellent speed in practice and backed it up with Joseph Newgarden delivering our best qualifying performance on Saturday. The team also demonstrated its determination with its rapid recovery after Bryan Clauson’s accident yesterday, to qualify their second car today. While overall, our qualifying results were disappointing, our focus is now directed 100 per cent towards winning next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.”

Sebastian Bourdais took the spot on the inside of the ninth row with a qualifying average speed of 223.760 mph.

AJ Foyt Racing's Wade Cunningham posted a 223.528 mph mark, which placed him in the middle of the ninth row alongside veteran driver Oriol Servia (222.393 mph) of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Ed Carpenter recovered from Pole Day's crash to post a 222.324 mph qualifying effort, and will join Cunningham teammate Mike Conway and Katherine Legge on the tenth row.

"I was mad at myself and anybody who came in contact with me and pretty much the whole situation," Carpenter said. "I was mad that the car got destroyed, mad that the setup wasn't better and mad that I was stubborn and insisted on keeping my foot in it when I knew it wasn't any good. You name it, I was mad at the whole situation."

The last row was filled by Sarah Fisher Hartmann Racing's Bryan Clauson (214.455 mph), another victim of a crash on Saturday, Lotus Racing's Simona de Silvestro (214.393 mph) and her rookie-at-Indy Formula 1 long-timer teammate Jean Alesi (210.094 mph)

"If we (crashed) again today, we were done," Clauson said afterwards. "We just had to go out there and put in a conservative run and get four laps down."

Bump Day produced an unusual surfeit of drama during the final minutes of the racing day, coming to an anticlimactic close when Carpenter pushed Alesi to the rear of the field.

"I was really expecting more speed from the car," Alesi said. "That was all we could get, so we took it."

Among cars already in the race, Justin Wilson of Dreyer & Reinbold was quickest on the day with a best practice lap of 220.495 mph.

Team Penske's Helio Castroneves sped to a lap of 220.217 mph while teammate Will Power posted a 220.195 mph circuit of the 2.5 mile oval.

Ganassi Racing's Charlie Kimball spun and badly damaged the left side and rear of his already-qualified car at approximately 3:30 PM. Kimball rolled into Turn 1 at speed and lost the rear of the car into the SAFER barrier, casting a long arc of black tire marks on the diamond-ground surface of the oval and the white wall. Kimball was unhurt in the incident.

Jean Alesi, FP Journe – Fan Force United Lotus

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

The final 9 car/driver combinations were set today, with the remainder of the 33 spots being filled on Pole Day, on Saturday, May 19th.

Positions 25-33 were determined based on Bump Day's fastest four-lap average. Any qualifying attempt faster than an already-qualified entrant in the starting field was bumped out of the 33-car field, regardless of the day of qualification. The "bumping" entrant was placed at the rear of the field while the "bumped" entrant was removed from the field, but had the opportunity to bump its way back into the starting field until the 6 PM EDT final gun. Each car was allowed three attempts.

The Indianapolis 500 be televised by ABC at 11A.M. (EDT) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network on SiriusXM (XM 94 and Sirius 212) on May 27th from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Justin Wilson, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Justin qualified 21st (Row 7) for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, posting a four-lap average speed of 222.929mph in the #18 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Honda during his one and only Pole Day qualifying run. Dale Coyne Racing was successful in getting both of its entries into the race on Pole Day; Justin’s team-mate James Jakes will start from 17th (Row 6) in the #19 Boy Scouts of America Honda. Following his first run (222.338mph), James was bumped out of the 24 positions available on Pole Day, but after some tweaks to the car he improved his four-lap average speed to 223.482mph.

Ryan Briscoe took pole position for Team Penske (226.484mph) by a whisker from Andretti Autosport's James Hinchcliffe (226.481mph), whose team-mate Ryan Hunter-Reay (226.240mph) also lines up on the front row. The 0.0023s margin between the top two qualifiers is the closest in Indianapolis 500 history.

“It was great to get the No. 18 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Honda locked into the field on the first day. Congratulations to James as well - it’s been a great effort by the whole Dale Coyne Racing team this week,” said Justin. “It’s not the starting position we would have liked, but I’m happy to be in the show. I was running mid 223mph speeds for the first couple of laps, but then the car got sideways in Turn 2 on my third lap and we lost some momentum for the rest of the run. I’m sure there was some more time in the car, but when you know you've qualified you don’t want to do anything too risky for the sake of one or two rows on the grid. At the end of the day we feel we have a pretty well balanced race car. That’s what really matters here and I think we can find even more speed before race day.”

THE MODERATOR: Not sure your own teammates saw this coming, no discredit to you, but they didn't see it and here you are.

Pole winner Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

RYAN BRISCOE: I don't know how many times I've been here and I've been in both those seats before that we have rolled out feeling good and next thing, Helio goes out and goes a mile an hour quicker than everybody. I'm just glad it was my turn.

Q. What's it like when you go out and it's your teammate that can knock you out of the top spot?

RYAN BRISCOE: It's usually like that. It's usually like that and we prepare the cars so evenly and we always know we are going to head into pole day or race day going up against each other. It's just part of the game, but what we do is work so hard with each other and help each other throughout all of the practice sessions so that we make that possible.

Because we want to be racing each other for the front, not for mid pack, and I think the team work is how we get to the front. We have been working really hard together throughout all the practice sessions on race setup. And qualifying is a bit of a solo deal, but we share all the information.

We talk about how the car feels and how the drop off is with the tires and all of that. It's totally transparent at Team Penske and always has been. I think that's what Roger and Tim really pride themselves on.

Q. In many ways, winning the pole for the Indy 500 is going to be a lot more exposure than winning another IndyCar Series race. Talk about what you have coming up ahead of you. You're going to be the face of the race leading into next Sunday?

RYAN BRISCOE: Well, I mean, I've never done so much race work going into a qualifying weekend. I felt Thursday night, like we had done really, really good work on our race cars. We are going to do a bit more of that tomorrow.

But I feel like most of the focus has been on the race car. A week ago, I don't think we thought we were going to have a shot at the pole. And you know, we have just worked so hard, we have gotten the car a lot more consistent. Chevy has done an awesome job. I think this extra boost has certainly favored the Chevrolet cars and we took advantage of it.

Q. From an exposure standpoint, you're going to get a lot of attention this week being the Indy 500 pole.

RYAN BRISCOE: Sounds good.

Q. Talk about what that is like, Helio has experienced it four times, and now you get a chance to experience it.

RYAN BRISCOE: I'm just going to take it. We've got a few days off, so you know, the exposure is good. Certainly the focus is the race, and I'm sure I'll have no problem getting my priorities in line.

Q. All week long your team was a little bit off the pace. The whole team was a couple mile an hour off of where the Andrettis, in particular, were running. About four o'clock yesterday afternoon, you guys went out and gained about three miles an hour, just like that. Did you find something yesterday afternoon?

RYAN BRISCOE: I don't know if I ever felt that way to be honest. I think we have been making lots of small gains but there was nothing dramatic that gave us three mile an hour. Definitely when we had the increase in boost that everybody got, that was a huge gain.

But we have not been out there all week searching for the big tows and putting the big lap times on the board although it did happen, Helio was second at the end of one of the days and we were second I think at the end of yesterday maybe.

But yeah, I mean, it's been a work in progress, and here it's all about fine tuning. You're not doing anything big.

Q. How confident do you feel with all of the Chevys up front? I know you benefitted today with the extra boost, but no failures that I know of. You've just been really superior and it's been the superior program this month, and did you expect that in all of the hearing, wrangling that went on?

RYAN BRISCOE: We have not been happy about the outcome of the Turbogate. Seemed like a bit of an unfair rule change but Chevy has worked hard.

You know, we just kept our heads down. I can't tell you how proud I am to run with the bow tie here. The history of Chevrolet and their involvement, I mean, it's just they are there, every step of the way. They continually are giving us updates and they just don't stop working.

So you know, we are extremely happy to have Chevrolet engines. They will certainly, they are certainly the motor to have today, and they have been, I believe, all year long. We are going to work hard to keep bringing those wins home for them.

Q. With all of the changes in the car and everything else in the end, it's still Team Penske. What sets this team apart? What sets Roger apart from everybody else?

RYAN BRISCOE: Well, I mean, it's the preparation. It's definitely the preparation. But I think it's the experience. Over 600 years of experience on the team that's a quote from Roger. I haven't done that tally.

But it adds up. All of these guys with all of this experience, and Roger's own experience; Helio's experience, Rick Mears' experience, all of these guys, all of our mechanics are so experienced. I think that helps us once we get here to do things methodically, not get ahead of ourselves, never get overconfident and just keep working hard.

But it all starts with the preparation.

Q. Down deep inside what does this pole today really mean for you as a person? I know it means a lot for the team but just talk about what it means to you for your first pole here at Indianapolis?

RYAN BRISCOE: It's hard not to just be thinking about a starting position for the race. But I guess it's an award where my name will go down forever as something I've won here at the Indy 500.

You know, this race is just so important; it's so big, and I think even just a pole win here is remembered. So it's a great feeling. They were four really good laps and I was proud of myself and the team for the setup they gave me today. They were really consistent. It was lap four that got me the pole today. It wasn't the outright speed that we had. It was the consistency we had over four laps.

It's just a great feeling. 17 poles for Roger here at the Indy 500 and to have my name on the list of drivers that have done that for him, it's a great feeling.

Q. When you think of all the names that have won races and poles here and now Ryan Briscoe is part of that, that has to really be something that you really thought about when you joined this team was something that you would like to do, but now you've actually done that.

RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah, I mean, it's great. It's good. Thank you. I don't know what else you want me to say, I've sort of talked about it.

Q. You talked about how you're all for one, one for all, but how seriously would you have felt if one of your own teammates knocked you off the pole?

RYAN BRISCOE: Well, wouldn't have been the first time, would it. So, hey, it's just part of the game, and as I said before, you know, we work together. We push each other hard all the time, and it's great that we are often competing against each other all the time, whether it's here or the road courses or any track. We always seem to be going head to head for the pole and obviously this one means more than any of the others. But it would have been nice to be sitting here with both my teammates on the front row with me. But we have got three cars in the front two rows and that's a massive accomplishment.

Q. Probably would have been more dramatic to go out as the last guy and knock somebody else off, but I take it you were fairly comfortable just sitting in the car sweating while it happened?

RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah, it was hot. But I was ready to go. If we had to go, I was ready to go, and you know, I felt like we could have at least done the same again. We weren't going to make any changes, but I was ready. I was focused and that was the big thing just sitting in there for an hour and a half, just trying to keep focused and trying to keep cool.

It looked like second run on the motors, they might have been losing a bit of horsepower, and so I was a little bit more comfortable having seen the Andretti cars go through the second time and not better their speeds. It made me a little bit more comfortable.

But Hunter-Reay, he had a good run that last run and I was ready gloves on, ready to go.

Q. Can you even fathom how small, was it three 1,000s of a second is?

RYAN BRISCOE: Well, I think that's a lesser margin than I beat Dixon to win Chicago a few years ago and that was like crossing the line side by side. That's how close it was, if you had the ghost car out there, we would have been crossing the line side by side. A hell of an accomplishment by Hinchcliffe. He did a great job and he may have just burnt up his tires a bit much on the warm up lap.

THE MODERATOR: Side bar note. His pole speed, the difference of 23 thousandths of a second for four laps, the ten miles, is 9.168 inches. So over the 10 mile run, 9.168 inches.

RYAN BRISCOE: I told him he should have ducked his head coming down the straight.

Q. The two guys starting to your right are going to be pretty formidable foes. Talk about how Andretti has stepped themselves up and even Roger looks at them as being the favorites; that they are the guys you've got to beat?

RYAN BRISCOE: You know Andretti, they are always strong here in the race. And the surprise was how good they were in qualifying, because normally they are a little bit off in qualifying, but really bring it in the race.

They have been strong in race runs. I feel like we have been just as strong, though, and I feel like there are a lot of cars out there that have been strong. I think it's going to be a pretty wild race. I think nobody is going to be able to pull away. There's going to be a lot of passing. It's going to be a pretty grueling 500 mile race, and it's going to be hard to predict a winner until you see them come out of turn four and maybe even then, you won't know it.

So it's going to be a tough race. I think it's going to be all about executing on the day, not making mistakes, having good pit stops and keeping your nose clean.

RYAN BRISCOE: First of all, this place is never easier. You can say less difficult maybe. But certainly, you always have to keep your mind focused on this place. You can never think, just because you are a mile an hour slower that it doesn't make a difference. You know, when something goes wrong here, it goes wrong big.

But in the end of the day, I felt that all of the runs that I did, I tried everything I could.

THE MODERATOR: Your first lap of qualifying, we could hear the roar in here. People were excited about your run you and made a great effort to get it done and came up just a little short.

Pole winner Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske Chevrolet, second fastest James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, third fastest Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Yeah, the smallest of margins. It's heartbreaking in a sense but the end of the day we get to start on the front row for the Indy 500 and that's the coolest thing ever. It's been a huge team effort, you see our cars were second, third and fourth on the grid. The other two drivers that made the show today, it's awesome to see the kind of results that we are getting because these guys have been working so hard.

And having the Go Daddy car in the front row is exciting. Like I said, I'm going to lose a little bit of sleep over how small that margin was to Ryan and to know that we had it for three or four laps, but that's Indy, man. It's a gust of kind; it's a shadow over a corner that changes, and that can sometimes be the difference.

But at the end of the day, it's great result for us.

THE MODERATOR: I do want you to repeat what you said to me when you looked up at the board.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: I said, "226.484, those numbers will haunt me for the rest of my life."

Q. I remember a different press conference last year from team Andretti, and you weren't part of that, but you remember it, as well. Are we ready now to say that there is no longer just big two, but perhaps big three with you in that number and with Andretti in that number?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: I have a little bit of ways to go before I'm at Ryan and Marco's level. They have both been around longer and are both race winners and I still have to earn those things. It's cool that off the bat I have been able to keep pace with them and compete with them. You've heard it so much from us this year and even especially this month, how well we are working together is awesome. We really are just one unit of three guys rather than three units of single car team sort of thing.

It's just incredible to see three people in such a competitive environment able to work so closely together and share that information and really push each other. I think that's where these results are coming from.

Q. Andretti, Penske, Ganassi

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: There's three Andrettis in the top four, you tell me.

Q. James, since 2009, your sponsor has put a lot of emphasis on the Indianapolis 500. Talk about how it would be to be the driver that gives them the victory here?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: I don't even want to think about it. You start thinking about winning the race, you're not going to win the race; you jinx yourself.

Go Daddy, they have been such an incredible sponsor of this series and they have been so good to me; they have treated me so well in the last six months. It really has been more fun than I ever thought this job could be.

And I just want to give them their first win and if it happens to be at the 500, it makes it exponentially better. But at the end of the day, we want to get into victory lane this year and we want to do it for the team and for myself and like you say, forgo daddy. They have given this sport so much and it's time we gave a little back.

Q. In a lot of ways, you've connected with the fans because you're not afraid to interact with them. You'll walk back to the pits and sign autographs and talk to them before the driver that as we said would get in the and buzz on out of here. How much has that helped with your popularity here?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: I don't know. I'm just me, man. The big thing is I was the kid with the marker and a hero card for a long time. I was on the other side of the fence for a long time, so I know what it means for somebody to stop and sign an autograph. Obviously we are really busy and especially at the racetrack, you're running back trying to get de briefs and stuff.

I get yelled at by my engineers every once in awhile because I'm always the last guy back after a session. It's part of our sport. As much as drivers like to think we are here for us to go racing, we are really here to put on a show for the fans. So it's a small thing for us to do.

Q. Three-1,000ths of a second is literally the speed it takes to blink your eye.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: It's considerably less than that, actually.

Q. I'll have to check that on Google. As you think about it and go through your run, do you have any idea where you've lost that three 1,000s of a second?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Three 1,000s of a mile an hour, which average over four laps the only reason I kind of know is this because last year I missed out on fastest rookie to J.R. Hildebrand by four 1,000ths of a mile an hour and I can tell you route now, over four laps, ten miles, that's the physical distance that I lost it by. So, yes, I've thought long and hard about how those 10 miles unfolded, and where that could have been. (Laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Before we go forward, let's welcome Ryan Hunter Reay who did a tremendous job getting on the front row. We chatted earlier, we saw you agonize in this press conference room when you had a car that could not find speed and now you have a race car that has lots of speed.

RYAN HUNTER REAY: Yeah, and I definitely prefer this side of it. It's a lot more fun this way. It's been a really enjoyable week, and to have it come down to this where we are fighting for the pole and really have a legitimate shot at getting the pole at Indy has been so much fun. It's been all down to the team. This team has worked so hard over 364 days now, just a complete turnaround.

I cannot thank them enough for giving me such a fast race car. We let Briscoe have it today but hopefully next week we'll go out and go two better and win this thing.

Man, what a deal today. I thought that last lap, that last outing when we did the 226.5 or whatever, the car felt the best I've ever had it and I thought maybe, just maybe, we could stay at 226.5 or maybe go quicker. I wasn't breathing much, I was just holding my breath and making sure everything was perfect and the car was having every bit of room it wanted. That's what Indy is about, enjoying that. It's good to be here.

Q. James, you're lighthearted and everything, how does your personality change when you slip into the cockpit and take off on a run like that?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: I try to have a lot of fun outside the car, because let's face it, I've got the coolest job in the world. So it's pretty easy to enjoy it. I think some people get kind of lost in it and they don't enjoy it in the moment and we are here for such a short period of time, it would be a shame to not enjoy the time you're given.

But at the end of the day, I take my job very seriously and I take the racing very seriously. Yeah, there is, there's a switch, once the helmet goes on and the visor goes down, the lighthearted, jovial character sort of disappears a little bit and you have to get down to business.

So it's something I've worked on a little bit. I've worked with a sports psychologist for a number of years when I was younger to learn how to flick that switch and get that job done what I had to.

Q. Can you talk about the warmup lap? Was it 227, was that right?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Yeah (sighing). Let's talk about that.

Q. Did that warmup lap maybe cost you the pole?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Yeah, probably. The thing is, I mean, I did nothing different than I have ever other qualifying attempt and every other qualifying simulation throughout practice, the exact same routine and I've never had a warmup lap quicker than my first flyer. The car just seems to wind p around here and I just haven't seen it.

I did everything exactly the same, and when I saw that 227 in the warmup, I thought, all right, this will do, because it's probably going to go quicker. And it didn't. It didn't go quicker. It went a fraction slower on the first flyer and that definitely concerned me a little bit because we have seen the tires fall off a little bit as the run goes on.

Man, yeah, that's why we went back out. We thought if we had a little bit of a slower warmup lap, we would have a little bit more in the tank to do it but unfortunately it just wasn't in the cards today.

Q. This is a question for both of you. Most of the drivers saw their times fall way off from the first run to the second run, or in a couple of cases, the third run. Both of you were able to keep your speed or increase your speed. How much did the car change from the first run in the last 90 minutes to the second, and then also, how are you guys able to keep the speed up when a lot of other drivers couldn't?

RYAN HUNTER REAY: I don't know, that's a good question. I don't know.

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: We could tell you but we would have to kill you.

RYAN HUNTER REAY: When we are out there on a hot racetrack, hopefully that means we are going to do the same thing next week.

We kept making changes to the 28 car, and we were trying anything we could to get it going. We knew we needed a pretty calm wind to make it happen. If you have a headwind or a tailwind here, you're going to be fighting it one way or the other.

So to have it pretty calm would be critical and we were sitting there staring at the flags hoping we would get it right. But it was definitely a balance improvement when we went out and I think that was down to the changes we made. I definitely have to thank the crew and team for that.

As we have been saying all month, the team work has been awesome. We have been interchangeable, different set ups moving around, different changes, one guy finds something that works and we plug it right on our car and vice versa; the way it should be. It's been a very efficient process.

Q. When all of the Turbogate stuff was going on, was either one of you worried about how good Chevrolet would be here?

RYAN HUNTER REAY: Of course you're worried. Honda is a very able engine manufacturer. They know how to win races and any time they can add anything, you're thinking, oh, boy, what's it going to be like, you know. But Chevy has done a tremendous job.

Q. And if you would both answer this, do you have a better race car or a better qualifying car?

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE: Tell you in eight days.

I mean, I think we made a lot of good progress with the race car being able to have a team of five cars and go out there and sort of orchestrate a little bit of a mini race was awesome, and then tremendously beneficial.

Again it just goes back to what Ryan was saying about the team work, and people will try and crash our party and we didn't like that.

But I think we are in a pretty good position, and it really just is going to come down it's a long race. It's a lot of clean pit stops and a lot of good strategy calls it's going to take to win it but we have race cars as good as our qualifying cars.