Andretti Green Racing is hoping that Miller Lite Carb Day will be a good indication of its Indianapolis 500 race day fortunes after Tony Kanaan topped the speed charts after the final practice session at the Brickyard.
Kanaan, who will start the 91st Indianapolis 500 from the middle of the front row, came out on top as teams took one final opportunity to fine-tune their cars before race day on Sunday, topping the charts with a lap of 225.467mph. Raising AGR hopes, team-mates Dario Franchitti and owner-driver Michael Andretti were right behind the Brazilian.
"When you're the fastest guy on the track, you can't say that your car isn't that good, but I got a good draft," Kanaan admitted later, "I was trying to run in traffic as much as I could, but I'm happy because I think the balance of the Team 7-Eleven car is what I want it to be. It was a good day, but Carb Day doesn't mean anything. No-one will remember it on Race Day."
"Things are pretty good for the Motorola/Jim Beam team," Andretti echoed, after lapping at 223.575mph, "We still feel like we've got a good race car and feel like we have a good starting point for how we need to be on Sunday."
Polesitter Helio Castroneves broke the AGR deadlock in fourth spot, posting a best lap of 223.527mph in the #3 Team Penske car
"It was good to finally get back in the car today, the last week has been entirely too long and I'm ready to go racing." the two-time 500 winner admitted, "Thankfully, we're pretty much where we left off last week in terms of car set-up, so we didn't have to do anything drastic. The Team Penske car isn't the fastest in the field, but what we need in this race is a solid set-up, and I feel we have that.
"With the draft, you don't have to be the quickest because the faster cars will drag you along. We enter this race each year with the same goal, to be around at the end so we're in contention for the win, and I really believe we will be there."
