This Week in Auto Racing April 24 - 26
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It should be an exciting and wild weekend of racing as the Sprint Cup Series heads to the 2.66-mile, high-banked Talladega Superspeedway. The Nationwide Series will also be at Talladega, while the Craftsman Truck Series joins IndyCar at Kansas Speedway. Formula One will rev it up with the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Sprint Cup Series
Aaron's 499 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
With his victory at Phoenix last Saturday, Mark Martin not only snapped a 97- race winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series, but also became the third oldest driver to win in NASCAR's top division at age 50 years, 99 days.
Martin started on the pole and led a race-high 157 laps, but had to drive past Ryan Newman on the final restart with six laps to go and then hold off Tony Stewart to win a Cup race for the first time since October 2005 at Kansas.
"I don't have any problem keeping up with a 25 year old, at least not for the next 15 minutes, because I have got the biggest shot of adrenaline that you've ever seen," Martin said.
For the past several years, Martin had contemplated retirement. He left Roush Fenway Racing at the end of the 2006 season to run a limited schedule for Ginn Racing/Dale Earnhardt Inc. from 2007-08. Martin joined Hendrick Motorsports this year to drive the No.5 Chevrolet full-time.
You would think that Martin would savor his victory heading into this weekend's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, but is he?
"I don't know," he said. "Talladega is right around the corner, and it has been my nature to start worrying about that before I get out of the press room."
Martin moved from 18th to 13th in the standings, and trails 12th-place Matt Kenseth by just nine points. But Martin's climb in points could change, given his most recent finishes at Talladega. He has finished 33rd, 35th, and 41st in three of his last starts there. He posted an eighth-place run in October 2006 race. Martin did not compete at Talladega from 2007-08 due to his partial schedule at the time.
At Talladega, the unpredictable can happen, including "the big one," and Martin has been involved in plenty of multi-car wrecks there.
Martin has two victories at Talladega, including a win in the 1997 Winston Select 500, a 500-mile caution-free race that ran in a NASCAR-record two hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds.
Kyle Busch is the defending winner of the Aaron's 499 at Talladega. Busch, in his first year driving the No.18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, overcame a one- lap deficit. He missed his pit stall and had to go all the way around to make his stop, putting him behind. Busch grabbed the lead with four laps to go, and then held off Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan and Brian Vickers before the race ended under caution.
Tony Stewart is the most recent winner at Talladega. Stewart ended a 43-race winless streak in the Amp Energy 500 last October.
Regan Smith crossed the finish line first, but NASCAR ruled Smith passed Stewart below the yellow line and awarded Stewart with the victory. NASCAR rules state that any driver advancing their position below the yellow line at Talladega or Daytona is out-of-bounds and therefore considered illegal.
Stewart won a Cup race at Talladega for the first time. He had finished second there six times before.
"I'm always excited about Talladega," Stewart said. "We've always run really well there. We've got a great history there. We won the Nationwide race last year in the spring, and then we won the Cup race in the fall, so it was a pretty cool year for us."
Stewart became the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of last season. He has finished second, third and fourth in the last three races, and is on the brink of winning his first race as both driver and owner. Ricky Rudd is the last driver/owner to win a race in the series. Rudd drove his No.10 Ford into victory lane at Martinsville in September 1998.
Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, is looking to rebound from his 25th-place finish, his first finish outside the top-10 since the season-opening Daytona 500 (13th). Gordon currently holds an 85-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate and three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.
Sunday's race at Talladega is the second of four restrictor-plate events on the series schedule annually.
Talladega is famous for its restrictor-plate racing, which creates big packs of cars running two, three or even four-wide, just inches apart from each other and moving at speeds over 200 m.p.h. The track is also well-known for its numerous last-lap battles and some of the closest margins of victory in racing history. But most of all, Talladega has featured many spectacular crashes, involving as many as 30 drivers in a single incident.
"Things have always been aggressive at Talladega," Gordon said. "Go back to the last 15 years and show me a race that they haven't had a big crash there. There might be one or two. This car is really almost designed for Talladega in just the way that the bump drafting happens there, the aerodynamics of the car, the engine package is perfect for Talladega."
For the fans, Talladega is a 188-lap edge-of-your-seat thriller, but for drivers, it's find a good drafting partner and hold your breath and pray like heck you're not involved in "the big one," if it happens.
"We put on spectacular races, but when you run that tight together and in those types of packs, if you make a mistake or one little mistake happens, then a big crash is going to come out of it," he said. "I think the one thing that I would like to see happen is that the bump drafting be addressed."
Nationwide Series
Aaron's 312 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
Even though both drivers had their share of problems at Phoenix, Kyle Busch regained the points lead from Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series.
Busch fell two laps behind early in last Friday's race when he experienced a slow leak in one of his tires. He made an unscheduled pit stop to correct the problem, but his crew had difficulty with the car jack, which put him back to 35th at one point. Busch overcame the lap deficit to finish 10th.
Edwards started on the pole and led 79 of the first 97 laps, but he experienced a valve spring problem. Edwards spent 25 laps behind the wall before returning. He ended up finishing 33rd.
Busch holds a 47-point advantage over Edwards heading into Saturday's Aaron's 312 at Talladega.
Talladega hasn't been exactly kind to either Busch or Edwards in the past.
Busch has finished 39th and 40th after crashing in two of the last four Nationwide races there. He was 16th in the 2008 race.
Edwards finished 10th at Talladega in 2006 and '07. He was involved in a 15- car pileup which led to a 33rd-place result in last year's event.
Jason Leffler, currently fourth in points (-143), has a great opportunity to jump up in the standings this week. Since his fourth-place finish last November at Homestead, Leffler has recorded five top-10's in the last eight races. He finished second at Phoenix. One year ago, he started third and finished fourth at Talladega, his best series result there.
After a sluggish start this season, Brad Keselowski continues to rebound in the series with three straight third-place finishes. Keselowski has moved from 22nd to fifth in points since Las Vegas. He will make his second start at Talladega for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Nationwide team (JR Motorsports). Keselowski started fifth and led nine laps before falling victim to a mid-race pileup and finishing 23rd in last year's event.
"I'm actually pretty excited to get back to Talladega this weekend," Keselowski said. "I'm looking forward to racing with Dale too, because it's nice to have a teammate out there to draft with and learn things from."
For the fourth time this season, Keselowski will compete again his boss, Earnhardt Jr., who is always a fan favorite at Talladega.
"It's one of my favorite tracks, and I enjoy racing in front of the fans there," Earnhardt Jr. said. "They've always been good to me, and we've always been able to give them a show. I'd love to win in my own car. That's a big goal of mine, and it's certainly something we can achieve at Talladega."
Camping World Truck Series
O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS
Due to his Sprint Cup and Nationwide obligations at Talladega, Kyle Busch will not compete in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway, and therefore will relinquish his points lead in the Camping World Truck Series.
While it is mathematically possible for drivers ranked second through eighth in points to take the lead, it's unlikely that either Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday Jr. or Mike Skinner - second through fourth, respectively, in the standings - will walk away as the leader following Saturday's race.
Bodine is currently 38 points behind Busch. He won the season-opener at Daytona, and then finished second at California, third at Atlanta and 18th at Martinsville.
"We're going (to Kansas) to win the race, and if we can't win the race, we'll go for the best finish we can get," Bodine said. "And if that's the case, hopefully it's better than Hornaday and Skinner."
Bodine won at Kansas in 2005.
Hornaday trails Bodine by 33 points, with finishes no worse than seventh in the first four races this season. He's also the defending race winner at Kansas.
"I'm excited to go back to Kansas," Hornaday said. "I think it would be cool to become the first repeat winner. I always say my favorite tracks are the ones I win at, so Kansas would be right up there with one of my favorites."
There have been eight different winners in as many Truck Series races at Kansas.
Just five points separate Mike Skinner from Hornaday. Skinner has yet to win at Kansas, but has finished fifth in the last three races there.
"My team has been working really hard on this effort for Kansas, and I really think that we are going to run well," Skinner said. "It's a little too early for the points standings to show up on my radar screen."
Skinner started on the pole at Kansas in 2006 and '07.
Brian Ickler will make his series debut behind the wheel of the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota. Ickler, a Camping World East Series competitor, will step in for Busch, who drove the No.51 truck to victory at California and Atlanta this season.
INDYCAR SERIES
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS
With two road course/street circuit races completed, IndyCar Series teams head to Kansas this weekend for the first oval event of the season.
Kansas is the first of six straight ovals the series will compete during the next two months, with Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Texas, Iowa and Richmond upcoming on the schedule.
Dan Wheldon has been the dominant driver at Kansas lately. Wheldon is the two- time defending champion of the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300. He will attempt to tie a series record shared by himself (Homestead) and former teammate Scott Dixon (Watkins Glen) for consecutive victories at the same track with three. Wheldon also finished second at Kansas in 2005 and '06. In the past four years, he has led a total of 448 of the 800 laps run.
Wheldon and Panther Racing conducted a one-day test at Kansas recently, and the team was satisfied with the balance of its race car and the speeds it was able to post at the 1.5-mile oval.
The 2005 IndyCar champion is coming off a fifth-place finish at Long Beach.
"It was important for us to score points going into Kansas, because that's a race I'm very confident about," Wheldon said. "But the IndyCar Series is so competitive now that you can't count your points too early."
At the end of the 2008 season, Wheldon returned to Panther six years after he made his series debut with the team. Wheldon drove the No.10 for Ganassi from 2006-08, but Ganassi replaced him with Dario Franchitti, who had spent the past season in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide competition.
Franchitti's return to IndyCar has proven to be a big success so far with his victory in last Sunday's race on the streets of Long Beach, CA. He led 51 laps and benefited from two well-time pit stops to win for the first time since the 2007 season-finale at Chicagoland.
With the victory, Franchitti grabbed a 15-point lead over Will Power in the early season championship standings. Power, however, is not scheduled to compete at Kansas.
"The competition level is just ratcheted up again this year," Franchitti said. "Historically on the ovals, the (Ganassi) cars, the (Andretti Green Racing) cars and Penske cars have been strong. But other people are figuring it out."
Power had been filling in for Helio Castroneves in Team Penske's No.3 car, but Penske switched gears upon the news of Castroneves' acquittal of federal tax evasion charges Friday, and moved Power to their No.12 entry.
The Australian driver had an impressive showing with his new team at Long Beach, starting on the pole and finishing second to Franchitti. The Australian driver will make one more start for Penske in the May 24th Indianapolis 500. His driving status remains unclear after Indy.
FORMULA ONE
Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sakhir, Bahrain
With three races completed, the 2009 Formula One season has had its share of strange twists and turns.
The new Brawn GP, with team principal Ross Brawn resurrecting the defunct Honda Racing team, took the F1 world by surprise with a one-two finish in their maiden grand prix at Australia. Powered by Mercedes engines and the controversial "double decker" diffusers, which the FIA Court of Appeals declared legal last week, the Brawn BGP 001 has been the dominant car so far, with Jenson Button winning the first two races from the pole position.
Button has accumulated 21 points to lead the world championship standings, while his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, is second in points with 15.
Button recorded back-to-back victories for the first time in his F1 career two weeks ago by winning the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix. The race was stopped early of its scheduled 56 laps. Button overcame a poor start and then drove through torrential rain conditions before the race was red-flagged after 32 laps.
Half points were awarded for the first time since the 1991 Australian GP since 75 percent of the race was not completed. A total of 42 laps had to be run to ensure the full points.
Rain also made for poor conditions in last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. Sebastian Vettel overcame the miserable circumstances and put on a dominating performance to win his second career F1 grand prix and give Red Bull Racing its first victory.
Red Bull scored a one-two sweep in Shanghai, with Mark Webber matching his career-best finish of second.
Perhaps the biggest surprise so far this season is the downfall of Ferrari and McLaren. Both teams dominated the circuit in 2008, with Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren competitors Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen winning a combined 14 of 18 grand prix.
Ferrari won the F1 Constructor's title in '08, but Massa and Raikkonen have yet to score a point this year, marking the first time the Italian auto manufacturer has been without a point in the first three races since 1981.
"Obviously, I'm very disappointed and a bit upset but my motivation is still intact," Massa said. "All of us must work together to get out of this situation. The team is united, and there is a real will to turn things round as soon as possible. We should quickly be getting some significant aerodynamic developments, but it's true we also have to sort out as soon as possible our reliability problems, because if we want to win, first we have to finish the races."
Massa is hoping to turn things around, starting with this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. He is the two-time defending race champion. But chances of a three-peat will depend heavily on the reliability of his F60 car. Ferrari has more or less given up on the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) this year, and they're hard at work in their factory to redesign a diffuser competitive enough to Brawn and Toyota, now the top teams in F1.
McLaren's MP4-24 did not perform up to the team's expectations at Australia and Malaysia, but recent modifications to the car helped Kovalainen and Hamilton finish fifth and sixth at Shanghai.
Toyota has improved significantly this year with third and fourth-place finishes at Australia and Malaysia. Timo Glock finished seventh in the Chinese GP to place him in a tie with Vettel for third in the standings (10 points each).
Jarno Trulli from Toyota was the first driver out of the event at Shanghai after BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica slammed into him. Trulli was running slow on the track with no rear wing at the time of the incident.
Glock is looking forward to Bahrain, where weather conditions will be much different than Shanghai.
"One issue we face particularly in Bahrain is the wind, which comes in across the desert and can change direction from lap to lap," Glock said. "This can make the car a bit unstable if it blows in the wrong direction, but we know what to expect so we can be prepared."
Glock finished ninth in the 2008 Bahrain GP.
"Last year, I was pretty unlucky in Bahrain, because I had to back off with a small technical issue when I was sure I would score my first points for the team," he said. "But this season has started in a much better way compared to 2008, and I am confident I can continue to show that good performance."
The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island group located off the central southern shores of the Arabian Gulf between Saudi Arabia's east coast and the Qatar peninsula. The Kingdom comprises some 36 islands, with a total land area about 706 square km. The largest of these is Bahrain island where the capital city, Manama, is situated. Bahrain island is 48 km long from north to south & up to 16 km wide at its maximum point east to west. Bahrain island accounts for nearly 85-percent of the total area of the Kingdom. The 2004 race was the first ever in the Middle East for Formula One.
Auto Racing Glance
Aaron's 499 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, (Speed, 11:30 a.m.); Sunday, race (Fox, 1 p.m.).
Track: Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile tri-oval, 33 degrees in turns).
Race distance: 500 miles, 188 laps.
Last race: The 50-year-old Mark Martin became the third-oldest winner in NASCAR history, snapping a 97-race winless streak with a dominating run at Phoenix International Raceway. He started from the pole and led 157 of 312 laps. But a late caution erased his 4-second lead over Tony Stewart with 11 laps to go, sending the leaders into the pits and putting his victory on the line. But he shot past Ryan Newman, who didn't pit, on the restart, then drove away to his first win since Kansas in 2005.
Last year: Kyle Busch came back from a lap down, then survived a near wreck with Jamie McMurray for his first win at Talladega. It was won under caution when a 12-car accident brought out the yellow flag on the final lap. In six previous Cup races at the track, Busch failed to finish four times and wrecked out of both events last season.
Fast facts: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears were penalized for intentionally bumping cars after the race at Phoenix International Raceway. NASCAR put both drivers on probation for the next six races, starting with Talladega, but neither was fined or lost any points. ... Jeff Gordon leads all drivers with 12 restrictor-plate wins, one ahead of Dale Earnhardt. ... Talladega is in its 40th year.
Next race: Crown Royal Presents the Russell Friedman 400, Richmond, Va.
Aaron's 312 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed, 11 a.m.), Saturday, race (ABC, 2:30 p.m.).
Track: Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile tri-oval, 33 degrees in turns).
Race distance: 500 miles, 188 laps.
Last race: Greg Biffle and his Roush Fenway Racing team gambled, staying out on the last stop while nearly everyone ducked in for fresh tires. But a series of late cautions prevented anyone from catching Biffle. His second victory in four races this season gave team owner Jack Roush 100 wins in the Nationwide Series.
Last year: Kyle Busch fought his way back from a lap down after missing his pit box and having to go around again, and tangled with Jamie McMurray at the end of the long backstretch, before taking the lead with five laps to go. He blocked a couple of passing attempts then coasted to the checkered flag when a massive crash took out a dozen cars behind him, bringing out the yellow.
Fast facts: Kyle Busch took the series points lead from Carl Edwards last weekend, and leads the series with 1,075 points. Edwards is third, 47 points back. ... Jason Leffler has five top-10 finishes in his last eight races, including a second last week in Phoenix. ... Joe Nemechek, who has two wins at Talladega, will make his first series start there since 2005.
Next race: Lipton Tea 250, Richmond, Va.
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Versus, 6 p.m.); Sunday, race (Versus, 4 p.m.).
Track: Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval, 15-degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
Last race: Dario Franchitti won in only his second race back in IndyCar, and only his second race driving an open-wheel car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Helio Castroneves, who got back in his Team Penske car Saturday after being acquitted of federal tax evasion charges, started eighth and finished seventh.
Last year: Dan Wheldon won even though Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon led 145 of the first 151 laps. Wheldon caught a break when Dixon pitted shortly before a crash brought out a yellow flag. Tony Kanaan was second ahead of Dixon.
Fast facts: Helio Castroneves, recently acquitted of tax evasion charges, will be running his first oval race since winning at Chicago last September. He'll race at Indy next month and compete in as many races as he can in hopes of winning his first IRL season championship. ... Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced 40 entries for the May 24 Indianapolis 500, with a total of 77 cars eligible to compete for the 33 starting spots. Twenty-two cars have no drivers listed yet. Defending champion Scott Dixon and former winners Castroneves, Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti are listed, as are Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher, who runs her own team. Venezuelan Milka Duno, who drove the past two years, is not on the list.
Next race: Indianapolis 500, May 24, Indianapolis.
Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sakhir, Bahrain
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (SPEED, 7 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speed, 7:30 a.m.).
Track: Bahrain International Circuit (road course, 3.37 miles, 15 turns).
Race distance: 191.53 miles, 57 laps.
Last race: Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull its first Formula One victory, leading throughout a soggy Chinese Grand Prix to end the team's drought in its fifth season and 74th race. Red Bull made it a one-two finish when Mark Webber got the top finish of his career, besting Brawn GP's Jenson Button.
Last year: Felipe Massa won his second straight Bahrain Grand Prix, edging teammate Kimi Raikkonen by 3.339 seconds. Pole-sitter Robert Kubica was passed by Massa at the start, and fell behind Raikkonen on the third lap.
Fast facts: Ferrari is off to its worst start to a Formula One season in 28 years. Star Felipe Massa was running as high as third in the Chinese Grand Prix before an electrical failure, while teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished 10th. It was the first time since 1981 that Ferrari had gone three races into a season without a single point. ... Massa has won the past two Bahrain titles. ... After a 1-2 finish in Shanghai, Red Bull is second in the constructors' standings after three races, trailing Brawn GP by 16.5 points.
Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, May 10, Cataluyna.
O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying; Saturday, race (Speed, 5:30 p.m.).
Track: Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval, 15-degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 250.5 miles, 167 laps.
Last race: Kevin Harvick passed Kyle Busch with just over nine laps to go and held on through an abbreviated final restart to win the rain-delayed and caution-filled race before a very sparse crowd at Martinsville Speedway.
Last year: Defending champion Ron Hornaday Jr. held off teammate Jack Sprague by 0.149 seconds, saving fuel and benefiting from timely cautions. In all, eight cars of the 36 starters were knocked out at the track known for having few yellows.
Fast facts: Kyle Busch will be in Talladega, leaving the points open, and likely to be taken over by Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday Jr. or Mike Skinner. ... Brian Ickler will take over for Busch in the No. 51 truck. ... Kansans Jennifer Jo Cobb and Chase Austin will race. Cobb has raced at Kansas twice previously, while Austin is making his debut.
Newman tops in qualifying for Talladega Nationwide race
Talladega, AL (Sports Network) - Ryan Newman won the pole for Saturday's Aaron's 312 Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Newman turned in the best lap around the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval at 185.877 m.p.h. in the No.33 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. It was Newman's 12th career pole in 41 Nationwide starts.
"The guys at (Earnhardt-Childress Racing) Engines did a great job," Newman said. "The car was good and had no issues. We just ran a few laps yesterday, and put it on the pole today."
Newman is one of 12 Sprint Cup regulars competing in this weekend's Nationwide race at Talladega.
Brian Vickers will start on the outside pole after posting the second-best qualifying lap at 185.531 m.p.h.
Matt Kenseth will start third, followed by Jason Leffler and Bobby Gerhart, who was the quickest among the drivers required to qualify on time. Gerhart is competing in today's 250-mile ARCA Series at Talladega.
Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, rookie Scott Lagasse Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were sixth through 10th, respectively, in qualifying.
Busch currently holds a 47-point lead over Edwards in the early-season standings.
Johnny Chapman, Justin Hobgood, Scott Wimmer and Mike Harmon failed to qualify.
Saturday's race is scheduled to start around 3:00 p.m. (et).
Rahal earns second pole in three races
April 25, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -Working through the pack has never been a problem for Graham Rahal. If he keeps his car running and avoids contact, chances are he's going to move up.
Qualifying? That's been a little tougher. Well, at least until this year.
Rahal earned his second pole in three races at Kansas Speedway on Saturday and will be joined on the front row by surprising teammate Robert Doornbos and Danica Patrick for Sunday's Road Runner Turbo Indy 300.
``Qualifying has always been our issue and I think a lot of people kind of expected it would be our issue here again,'' Rahal said. ``Certainly, it hasn't been.''
Rahal, son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, had a great start to his IndyCar career last season, opening with a victory at St. Petersburg. He proved adept at weaving through the field, moving up in six of the nine races he finished, including four top-10 finishes.
What hurt Rahal was qualifying. He started second at Milwaukee and third at Richmond - he crashed at both races - but had just three other top-10 qualifying runs, averaging 12th on the grid in 15 races.
This year has been a different story.
The 20-year-old Rahal opened the season by becoming the youngest pole sitter in IRL history at St. Pete on April 4 and was seventh last week at the Long Beach Grand Prix. He kept the trend going at 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway, averaging 211.311 mph for his first pole on an oval.
``It's going to feel pretty good to see nobody in front of me for a little while,'' he said.
And he'll have a friend with him. Doornbos, in his first year with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, pulled off the surprise of qualifying by earning a spot on the front row.
A former Formula 1 driver from the Netherlands, Doornbos has never raced on an oval. He had a test session in Miami early in the year and another in Texas two weeks ago. That's it.
The street specialist quickly got the feel for all those left turns and the higher speeds of on oval - with help from two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk - averaging over 210 mph. He was initially third after qualifying, but bumped to the front row after Dario Franchitti was sent to the back of the field for dipping below the white line during qualifying.
That put Newman/Haas/Lanigan teammates on the front row for the first time since the 1993 Michigan 500, when Mario Andretti won pole and Nigel Mansell started second.
Upon learning he'd moved up next to Rahal, the energetic Doornbos shouted ``Wooo-hooo!'' and raised his arms as he walked into the post-qualifying news conference.
``I didn't know much about ovals and had to learn them quite quick,'' Doornbos said. ``They gave me a good car this morning, I got some good tips from Arie Luyendyk and I'm learning as fast as I can.''
Patrick moved up to third after Helio Castroneves, who had the third-fastest speed, was sent to the back for dipping below the white line. Scott Dixon will join her on the second row after earning his 18th straight top-10 start. Dan Wheldon qualified ninth in his attempt to win at Kansas for an IRL-record third consecutive year.
Next up for Doornbos seeing how he'll deal with traffic.
The 27-year-old has gone through plenty on road courses, but ovals are a little more hairy. The cars aren't strung out like on a road course. Pack driving at upwards of 200 mph is the norm at ovals.
Surprised by the speed in his first test session on an oval, Doornbos still wasn't sure what to expect when 22 cars cram the track.
``He's in for a real treat,'' Franchitti said before learning he had been bumped.
So too could Rahal. He's been good on road courses and now seems to be getting the hang of ovals. Could he go from youngest pole winner to youngest winner at the Indianapolis 500? It would be hard to bet against him at this point.
``To be here, certainly it's possible,'' Rahal said. You've got a month to figure it out. Last year, the guys who were quick here were quick at Indy. So for us to be quick here, it's a good sign for things to come when we show up there in two weeks time. I feel pretty good about it. Youngest Indy 500 winner sounds pretty good, but there's a little time to go.''
Starting with Sunday's race.