All month long, our racing guru David Scoggan is blogging LIVE from the track! Check back here regularly for a dose of Dave’s wit and whimsy.
Twelve cars posted speeds above 230 MPH in Friday’s practice period, but one entry is scrambling to be ready for qualifying. At 11:51, and on his first hot lap of the day, Kyle Kaiser spun in turn three and hit the outer barrier; the #32 Juncos car was heavily damaged and the cash-strapped team began thrashing to prepare a backup car. Kaiser was not injured.
Conor Daly used a late-day scrum to register a 231.704 lap, by far the fastest of the month, and his #25 USAF/Andretti Honda is scheduled to be the first car out to qualify on Saturday. Teammate Marco Andretti was second at 230.851 and Takuma Sato’s Honda completed the top three with his 230.755. The balance of the over-230 runners (in order) were: Spencer Pigot, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden, Ed Jones, Will Power, and Tony Kanaan.
Ed Jones ran the fastest No-Tow lap at 230.1, with his car owner Ed Carpenter close behind at 229.9. Alexander Rossi had the fastest No-Tow Honda lap of 229.8 and appears as consistent as any runner during his mock qual runs. Look for ECR, Penske, and Andretti to fight it out for the pole position, which will be decided in a Fast Nine Shootout on Sunday.
