MVN - Most Valuable Network

Vision Racing aims for the TARGET

Carpenter, Foyt IV pull off career-best qualifying runs behind pole sitter Dixon; Defending Miami champ Wheldon crashes, will start 24th

The standard order of things heading into this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway seemed to be such: Watch Dan Wheldon lead practice, watch Dan Wheldon grab the pole, watch Dan Wheldon kick everybody’s collective tails on Saturday night.

After Friday night’s qualifying session — in which Wheldon, the three-time defending champion at the South Florida oval, crashed on the first of his four laps — the standard order of things at this track may be in danger of going extinct.

Fortunately for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, his teammate and 2003 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon managed to win the pole for Saturday’s GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN2, IMS Radio, XM 145) and uphold team honor. In the IRL’s first four-lap qualifying session ever, Dixon pulled off the fastest average speed of the 25 drivers at 213.341 m.p.h.

Dixon’s quickness wasn’t unexpected. Wheldon’s problems were. And they weren’t the only surprises in qualifying.

Continuing their upward trend that’s been visible for several seasons, Vision Racing managed to put drivers Ed Carpenter and A.J. Foyt IV in the top three spots for tomorrow’s big race. Decked out in his new “Menards” yellow No. 20 machine, Carpenter rattled off a 213.311 m.p.h. average for second starting position, while “Quattro” was right behind him in P3 with an average of 212.211 m.p.h. in the No. 2 car.

Another eyebrow-raiser was Marty Roth, whose determination to bring his Roth Racing squad from the cellar appears to finally be paying off. Roth will start tomorrow from the tenth starting position after putting up a four-lap average of 211.458 m.p.h. in the No. 25 Cirrus Aviation machine. Not all was good for Roth’s team though; his teammate Jay Howard joined Wheldon in the qualifying scrapheap after crashing on his own run. He’ll start caboose tomorrow in 25th place.

Polesitter Dixon said it best when it came to Friday’s strange events:

“What a crazy qualifying session. Two big crashes, four-lap average it was pretty interesting. I think the biggest thing was when it started cooling off. There were a bunch of guys who we didn’t think we would have to worry about who ended up having some big laps. Kudos to the Vision team, second and third. That’s a big deal.”

As for Carpenter, he admitted to IndyCar.com’s Dave Lewandowski that he was surprised about how quick he and his teammate were in qualifying. But the Speedway, Ind. resident was still very happy:

“It’s a heck of a way to start a season. The new qualifying format really made things interesting and I like it. The guys put in a lot of hard work this offseason and it showed in qualifying and I think it will show on race day. We have new sponsors with Menards and John Mansville and DirecTV and everybody and it’s good to give them a good first night.”

Also in contention for a win is Andretti Green Racing’s Danica Patrick, who overcame a rough practice session to grab the fourth starting position for tomorrow. Starting in fifth is Team Penske newcomer Ryan Briscoe, who outqualified his teammate Helio Castroneves (seventh).

Marco Andretti will line up in sixth position between the Penske machines and directly behind him in Row 4 will be AGR comrade Tony Kanaan in eighth position. Row 5 consists of AGR’s newest driver Hideki Mutoh in ninth and the aforementioned Marty Roth in the tenth spot.

The full grid for tomorrow’s event can be seen here.

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Matos on pole for Firestone Indy Lights opener

If reigning Atlantics champion Raphael Matos shows that he’s just as tough on the ovals as he is on the road and street circuits that make up his background, the inaugural Firestone Indy Lights championship may be a laugher.

Matos, who won seven races last season in the late Champ Car’s top feeder series, won the pole for tomorrow’s Miami 100, the curtain-raiser for the 2008 Lights campaign (12:30 p.m. ET on IndyCar.com). The Brazilian averaged two laps at 186.899 m.p.h. in the No. 27 AFS/Andretti Green Racing machine to bag the top spot.

The 22-car field for tomorrow’s race can be seen here.

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All quotes in this article were taken from Friday’s Daily Trackside Reports and Post-Qualifying Notes at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 11:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.