Pre-Fast Nine Times

Here are the Pre-Fast Nine lap times from Pole Day qualifying. Drivers 10-24 are locked in and will start where they are listed. Those below P24 did not qualify and will have to do so tomorrow. Drivers in the top nine will have to re-qualify to set the field. Here are the times:

Pos	Driver	Speed (MPH)	Team
1	Will Power	228.844	Team Penske
2	Ryan Hunter-Reay	228.282	Andretti Autosport
3	Carlos Munoz	228.171	Andretti Autosport
4	Helio Castroneves	227.975	Team Penske
5	Ed Carpenter	227.952	Ed Carpenter Racing
6	Marco Andretti	227.893	Andretti Autosport
7	AJ Allmendinger	227.761	Team Penske
8	EJ Viso	227.612	Andretti Autosport
9	James Hinchcliffe	227.493	Andretti Autosport
10	JR Hildebrand	227.441	Panther Racing
11	Alex Tagliani	227.386	Bryan Herta Autosport
12	Tony Kanaan	226.949	KV Racing
13	Oriol Servia	226.814	Panther Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
14	Justin Wilson	226.370	Dale Coyne Racing
15	Sebastien Bourdais	226.196	Dragon Racing
16	Scott Dixon	226.158	Chip Ganassi Racing
17	Dario Franchitti	226.069	Chip Ganassi Racing
18	Takuma Sato	225.892	AJ Foyt Enterprises
19	Charlie Kimball	225.880	Chip Ganassi Racing
20	James Jakes	225.809	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21	Simon Pagenaud	225.674	Schmidt Peterson Racing
22	Townsend Bell	225.643	Panther Racing
23	Ryan Briscoe	225.265	Chip Ganassi Racing
24	Simona de Silvestro	225.226	KV Racing
	Josef Newgarden	225.210	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
	Ana Beatriz	225.117	Dale Coyne Racing
	Graham Rahal	224.996	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
	Sebastian Saavedra	224.656	Dragon Racing
	Pippa Mann	224.350	Dale Coyne Racing
	Tristan Vautier	224.156	Schmidt Peterson Racing
	Buddy Lazier	223.073	Lazier Family Partners
	Michel Jourdain. Jr	218.329	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
	Conor Daly	No time	AJ Foyt Enterprises
	Katherine Legge	No time	Schmidt Peterson Racing

Pole Day Order

Here is the pole day running order which will start at 11am Eastern Time tomorrow, May 18th. Drivers will each get one attempt to qualify before the remaining afternoon time gets allotted for anyone who has one of their three attempts remaining up until 4:30pm local time, in which the gun will sound and Fast Nine qualifying will begin. Take a gander at the list (spot in which they go out, driver number, driver, team, engine):

Spot	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	40	TBA	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
2	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
3	14	Takuma Sato	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
4	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
5	14T	Takuma Sato	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
6	2	AJ Allmendinger	Team Penske	Chevrolet
7	6T	Sebastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
8	91	Buddy Lazier	Lazier Family Partners	Chevrolet
9	8T	Ryan Briscoe	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	78	Simona de Silvestro	KV Racing	Chevrolet
11	83T	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	40T	TBA	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
12a	60T	Townsend Bell	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
14	27	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
15	27T	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
16	9T	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
17	41	Conor Daly	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
18	3T	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet
19	16T	James Jakes	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
20	12T	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet
21	7	Sebastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
22	19	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
23	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet
24	11T	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing	Chevrolet
25	1T	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
26	78T	Simona de Silvestro	KV Racing	Chevrolet
27	16	James Jakes	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
28	99T	TBA	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
29	5T	EJ Viso	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
30	22T	Oriol Servia	Panther Dreyer and Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet
31	18T	Ana Beatriz	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
32	6	Sebastian Saavedra	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
33	63	Pippa Mann	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
34	60	Townsend Bell	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
35	20T	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
36	5	EJ Viso	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
37	98	Alex Tagliani	Bryan Herta Autosport	Honda
38	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet
39	77T	Simon Pagenaud	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
40	25T	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
41	8	Ryan Briscoe	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
42	11	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing	Chevrolet
43	21	Josef Newgarden	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
44	55	Tristan Vautier	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
45	10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
46	18	Ana Beatriz	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
47	4T	JR Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
48	19T	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
49	10T	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
50	55T	Tristan Vautier	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
51	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
52	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
53	1	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
54	17	Michel Jourdain Jr	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
55	26T	Carlos Munoz	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
56	26	Carlos Munoz	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
57	2T	AJ Allmendinger	Team Penske	Chevrolet
58	4	JR Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
59	25	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
60	21T	Josef Newgarden	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
61	98T	Alex Tagliani	Bryan Herta Autosport	Honda
62	99	TBA	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
63	7T	Sebastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
64	41T	Conor Daly	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
65	77	Simon Pagenaud	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda
66	15T	Graham Rahal	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
67	63T	Pippa Mann	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
68	22	Oriol Servia	Panther Dreyer and Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet

Go Indycar! Let's have a good Pole Day!

-Matthew Hickey

Five Darkhorses of Pole Day

There are 31 drivers poised to make runs on Pole Day tomorrow (assuming Conor Daly is still shaking down the backup car and Buddy Lazier continues to get up to speed, with two late entries possible for bump day with drivers TBD), here are five drivers (and when I say darkhorse, I say drivers who aren't thought of having a chance, drivers not named Castroneves, Andretti, and Hinchcliffe) that have a real chance to make the Fast Nine and possibly make a run for the pole (in no particular order):

1) Carlos Munoz
Driving for Andretti Autosport, rookie driver Carlos Munoz from Colombia has had a solid week of practice, cruising through Rookie Orientation and quickly coming up to speed in the several practice sessions throughout the week. With the fastest lap of the month (as of May 16th), Munoz looks primed for a great starting position for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Munoz is having a very solid Month of May (Photo: Doug Matthews)

2) Josef Newgarden
The only Honda to make my list, Josef Newgarden has been steadily quick all month. While not possessing that high 224/low 225mph lap that others have from the tow, do not be surprised if Newgarden, who, as a rookie was the only driver with a Honda engine to make the Fast Nine in 2012, should be up their once again on Pole Day.

3) EJ Viso
Another driver from the Andretti Autosport stable, EJ Viso of Venezuela, looks prepared to make another go at the Fast Nine. EJ made it into the Fast Nine last year while driving for KV Racing. Now driving for the elite Andretti Autosport, expect the Venezuelan Badger to be knocking on the door of the front row.

4) Oriol Servia
There is no driver with more to prove out of the 33 drivers than Oriol Servia. Servia was recently notified that his current team, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, would be shutting down their fulltime racing operation, leaving Oriol with a cloudy future, but he would love to send the team off with a bang. He has a very good car even without the tow, so expect Oriol to be up front when the gun goes off.

5) JR Hildebrand
Maybe it is the superman colors on the car, or maybe it is because he has seemed to figure out Indy, but whatever it is, JR Hildebrand has got it going on. Steadily fast all month, JR should have a very solid car on Pole Day and should translate into a great race day result.

JR Hildebrand has been quick all month (Photo: Michael Hickey)

Who gets the pole? Let me know what you think.

-Matthew Hickey

Combined Practice Results: May 16th

Here is the combined results from Indianapolis 500 practices so far, with the drivers best lap time from the sessions ranked. Here is the list:

Pos	Driver	Speed (MPH)	Session
1	Carlos Munoz	225.163	6
2	Marco Andretti	225.100	3
3	Helio Castroneves	225.075	3
4	Ryan Hunter-Reay	225.066	6
5	Scott Dixon	224.468	6
6	Dario Franchitti	224.236	5
7	EJ Viso	224.221	6
8	James Hinchcliffe	224.210	4
9	JR Hildebrand	224.075	6
10	Ed Carpenter	224.019	6
11	Oriol Servia	223.995	6
12	Will Power	223.784	3
13	Townsend Bell	223.716	5
14	AJ Allmendinger	223.660	6
15	Takuma Sato	223.660	6
16	Simon Pagenaud	223.465	6
17	Justin Wilson	223.460	6
18	Josef Newgarden	223.123	4
19	Tony Kanaan	222.833	3
20	Ryan Briscoe	222.803	5
21	Alex Tagliani	222.350	5
22	Sebastien Bourdais	222.130	6
23	Tristan Vautier	222.020	6
24	Charlie Kimball	221.886	6
25	Simona de Silvestro	221.776	6
26	Sebastian Saavedra	221.315	6
27	James Jakes	221.241	5
28	Pippa Mann	221.241	3
29	Conor Daly	220.780	6
30	Graham Rahal	220.550	6
31	Ana Beatriz	219.975	3
32	Michel Jourdain. Jr	218.073	6
33	Buddy Lazier	106.687	6

Let me know what you are thinking!

-Matthew Hickey

Combined Practice Results: May 15th

Here is the combined results from Indianapolis 500 practices so far, with the drivers best lap time from the sessions ranked. Here is the list:

Pos	Driver	Speed (MPH)	Session
1	Marco Andretti	225.100	3
2	Helio Castroneves	225.075	3
3	Ryan Hunter-Reay	224.386	3
4	Dario Franchitti	224.236	5
5	James Hinchcliffe	224.210	4
6	Will Power	223.784	3
7	Townsend Bell	223.716	5
8	JR Hildebrand	223.652	4
9	Takuma Sato	223.363	3
10	AJ Allmendinger	223.264	3
11	EJ Viso	223.138	4
12	Josef Newgarden	223.123	4
13	Carlos Munoz	223.110	4
14	Tony Kanaan	222.833	3
15	Ryan Briscoe	222.803	5
16	Alex Tagliani	222.350	5
17	Scott Dixon	222.312	5
18	Oriol Servia	222.093	4
19	Ed Carpenter	221.879	5
20	Justin Wilson	221.810	3
21	Charlie Kimball	221.801	3
22	Simon Pagenaud	221.704	3
23	Simona de Silvestro	221.613	3
24	James Jakes	221.241	5
25	Sebastian Saavedra	221.119	4
26	Sebastien Bourdais	221.088	4
27	Tristan Vautier	220.765	5
28	Conor Daly	220.659	5
29	Pippa Mann	220.500	3
30	Graham Rahal	220.360	3
31	Ana Beatriz	219.975	3
32	Michel Jourdain. Jr	218.037	5

Rahal Letterman Lanigan in trouble? Let me know what you think.

-Matthew Hickey