IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550 Texas Tweet

Danica Patrick has plans of her own for the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550 Texas Tweet

Andretti Autosport’s Danica Patrick paced a track-record four female drivers Friday by qualifying eighth for the Firestone 550k IZOD IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Patrick (No. 7 GoDaddy.com Dallara Honda) posted a four-lap aggregate time of 1 minute, 37.8619 seconds for an average speed of 214.273 miles per hour to lead the female contingent in the 26-driver field. It also marked Patrick’s season-best qualifying performance, topping a ninth at Kansas.

Sarah Fisher (No. 67 Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing Dallara Honda) was next, qualifying 16th. Milka Duno (No. 18 CITGO Dallara Honda) followed directly behind Fisher as she qualified a season-best 17th. It easily topped her previous best of 24th on four occasions.

Rookie Simona De Silvestro (No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds HVM Dallara Honda), the top rookie at last week’s Indianapolis 500, struggled on the high-banked, 1.5-mile oval as she qualified a season-worst 26th.

The previous record for most females competing in an IZOD IndyCar Series event at Texas Motor Speedway was three on two occasions. Patrick, Fisher and Duno competed together at TMS for the Firestone 550k in 2007 and again last year.
(ht: TMS)

Additional Qualifying Notes>>

The following entries are "Tweets" (140 character or less postings) taken from a Twitter feed during the seventh race of the IZOD IndyCar Series - The Firestone 550 held at Texas Motor Speedway ... a web assisted live blogging effort of sorts.

indy44 Ready to rock and roll. Let's see a safe fast race. Talking racing with ticket winners. Cell service bad so probably won't have many updates

FastMachines RT @DiecastDude: "The race will be much different than Indianapolis..." Hopefully with, like, lead battles & passes and stuff. #izodindycar

pressdog Let's light this friggin candle.

MarcoZone They only breathe on the straights...wow...#IndyCar

TheSpeedgeek Any punchlines for the "Row __, hot!" thing tonight? I got nothing.

TeamIndyChat ☺♫♪ i am INDY! ♪♫☺

228 Laps of racing and the 26 car field will get ready to go racing!

TheEDJE GREEN, GREEN, GRE - OOPS - Briscoe Jumps

TheSpeedgeek Send Briscoe to the back. That was egregious.

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - The Checkered Flag Waves

deferrandragon 3 shower day has turned into nice night in Texas

SpeedFreaks And IndyCar is green... and 4 wide in Texas! Yowza!

VersusIndyCar We are green flag, and there is tons of side by side! Top three are Briscoe, Franchitti, and DIxon #IZODIndyCar

IndyCarPR Lap 5: #6 Briscoe leads #10 Franchitti by .1535 of a seconds. Wheldon has moved to 10th after starting 15th.

deferrandragon Rafa up 3 spots to 20

CrashGladys LOVE these side by side camera views... Marco and Briscoe there... wow! #indycar

FastMachines Dan Wheldon has moved up from 15th to 6th - Marco trying to move into the top 5, too. #indycar #texasindy

IndyCarNation Jack educating @VersusTV fans in the #IZOD Performance Pit. Great race in Texas! http://ow.ly/i/1VJy

FastMachines Heh, heh! RT @formula1blog: WTH? Jack Arute is officially the same color as a football. Dude! Back off the Loreal tanning gel!

CrashGladys Sooo not fair for @jayhoward66 ... his luck this year has just plain sucked! #indycar

Jay Howard pulls into the pits!

kvracing After 20 laps, Viso moves to 9th (up 5places), Moraes 13th, Sato 15th

deferrandragon Rafa and hunter-reay going back and forth.

IndyCarNation Lap 25: #6 Briscoe leads #10 Franchitti by .3297 of a second.

Will Power gets by Dixon (bumped wheels) for P3 - Needs to get by Dario to keep points from being gained on him.

99forever Well, no point in staying glued to Race Control video.. leader-cam only sucks. Glad to have IMS Radio at least

Dario gets passed by Will Power on LAP 34

deferrandragon Nice little breeze here but as much as we sweat this afternoon you don't want be on the downwind side of me

IndyCarNation Lap 35: #6 Briscoe leads #12 Power by 1.5764 seconds. @danicapatrick is now fifth.

kvracing After 38 laps, Viso moves to 8th (up 6places), Moraes 12th, Sato 18th

catchfence Sarah Fisher Racing On Track Deep in the Heart of Texas http://bit.ly/9iax93

CrashGladys Wow, Justin is in early... anyone have an answer as to why he was losing so much speed?? #indycar

IndyCarNation Lap 40: #6 Briscoe leads #12 Power by 1.9746 seconds. #22 Wilson on pit lane for four tires and fuel.

YELLOW Flag for debris on LAP 46 - Pit Stops for everyone! Franchitti out early, Briscoe slow, Alex Lloyd drops from P5 to the back of lead lap field to P21,

paultracy3 Danica is flying

TheEDJE LAP 50 - Franchitti, Power, Patrick, Dixon, and Briscoe are top 5 after pit stops

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - The Checkered Flag Waves LAP 52

kvracing After pit stop, Viso rejoins field 9th, Moraes 11th & Sato 19th

Danica Patrick goes side-by-side with Will Power for P2 - doesn't make it

Takuma Sato hits the wall and brings out a YELLOW Flag

kvracing Lap 56, yellow flag for Takuma Sato. Contact with wall in turn 2

pressdog Plus, if @danicapatrick wins at TX it will drive the haters INSANE and I am always in favor of that.

kvracing Lap 60, Viso #8 PDVSA-KVRT car is 10th & Moraes #32 KVRT car is 13th. Still yellow flag

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - The Checkered Flag Waves LAP 65

toomuchracing Sato on TV, confirms something broke on the car.

deferrandragon Rafa getting some airtime on versus. Biggest mover of the race thus far, up 12 spots

Cars are running a blistering pace after the restart - Franchitti - 212.8, Power - 214.0, Briscoe - 214.5 for top 3 positions

kvracing Lap 73, Viso is 9th & Moraes is 20th

deferrandragon Rafa chasing helio now

IndyCarPR Medical update from Dr. Geoffrey Billows, IRL medical official: Takuma Sato has been checked and released from the care center.

deferrandragon Some side by side action with Marco

IndyCarNation Lap 80: #10 Franchitti leads #12 Power by .1876 of a second

Briscoe and Power go side-by-side for P2

deferrandragon A lot of close racing up front.like 2 fat guys in a phone booth

IndyCarNation Lap 90: #10 Franchitti leads #12 Power by .2533 of a second. And @txmotorspeedway just opened the world famous "Nacho Bar."

paultracy3 I like how Danica is driving tonite

Danica Patrick's GoDaddy! car seems to running a little slower - handling might be going off!

YELLOW Flag - Simona De Slivestro slamms the wal and the car is engulfed in an oil fire!!!

SpeedFreaks Crap... deSilvestro just crashed in the #indycar

Simona De Silvestro walks under her own power to the medical truck ... seems OK [CTRL-CLICK image link to launch YouTube of accident and fire]. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

99forever Davey on IMS Radio excusing safety team because "we don't have fires" and they don't get much practice. Pardon my French: BULLSHIT.

MarcoZone That's gonna be a BIG clean-up

After first pit stop problems (P5 to P21) ... Alex Lloyd has climbed back up to P12 from P21

IndyCarPR Top 10 rundown: 10, 12, 6, 9, 7, 11, 8, 4, 24, 3

PippaMann OMG! Why did it take so long to get the fire extinguishers on her...?!?! Hope @simdesilvestro is okay and no serious burns...

pressdogNew car needs to be easier to get out quickly. This one is too tough. Kanaan had to struggle to get out as well.

TheEDJE @pressdog The new "LAWN DART" won't cut it - too dangerous and weird

deferrandragon Dario, briscoe and Dixon lead. Danica 4

TheEDJE Will Power in the pits for debris removal - patch to the under tray - out to the back of the line

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - LAP 113

Patrick battling for P3 with Dixon

HVMracing Still awaiting medical center update on De Silvestro

chunter16 I'm glad the current car's fires are visible. Hope all involved are okay. Has someone found a way to pull a cord and fill the car with foam?

paultracy3 Fire first then the driver . I don't know what that guy was doing with the hose , it's a good thing the big guy jumped to get her

Alex Lloyd up to P10 on LAP121

PippaMann That was a nasty chop across one of her team-mates. Was not a fan of that Danica moment...

TheEDJE Alex Lloyd up to P8 on LAP 127 - push-to-pass is getting a workout - Go BSA!

CRASH - CCWS KV Racing's Mario Moraes clobbers Penske's Helio Castroneves at LAP 129 - CCWS Conquest Racing's Bertrand Baguette get a bunch of debris and stops in the pits - OUT

IndyCarPR Lap 129: YELLOW. Multicar accident on the frontstretch. Cars involved are #3 Castroneves, #32 Moraes and #36 Baguette.

HVMracing While suffering some burns Simona is okay.. burns to hand

99forever And up goes the repair bill for @kvracing for the second time. Anyone got stats on how many cars have actually completed a race this year?

deferrandragon Helio just went helmet to helmet with moraes. Wow

Pitstops all the way around

MarcoZone And now Marco is p16 after that fubar in the pits...what's up with the fuggly stops tonight?

gassracing Agreed RT @pressdog: Thank God that one dude just dove in there and started yanking on her while everyone dicked (cont) http://tl.gd/1mqkbe

pressdog Yeah, some kind of one button quick rease thing. Slap it and you're out.

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - Restart LAP 138

IndyCarPR Lap 138: GREEN. #77 Tagliani leads the field into Turn 1.

Will Power in P2 slams the door on Ryan Briscoe who tries for position - now back side-by-side and Briscoe has company with Dixon and Patrick

deferrandragon Gil wants Rafa to cover his inside

TheSpeedgeek Holy smokes, Milka is out! Did we ever hear the TV guys mention her? Has anybody Tweeted about her yet? I WIN!

paultracy3 Danica is bringing it mad hard like a jail yard :-)

deferrandragon 77 laps left Rafa now 12

TheEDJE Alex Lloyd's Dale Coyne Racing car is working very well - back up to P6 on LAP 159

3 WIDE for P6 with Viso Lloyd and Andretti - Viso ahead

pressdog @sarahfisher67 got her lap back and has the wings back. Fly Sarah.

deferrandragon Tighter than a rockstars leather pants

Alex Tagliani comes into the pits - stalls - Will Power in the lead of the race - Fueler fell to the ground

Will Power in the pits on LAP 170 - Briscoe to P1 with Patrick chasing

IndyCarNation Lap 170: #12 Power on pit lane for four tires and fuel. New leader is #6 Briscoe.

Tagliani serves a drive through penalty for Fueler knockdown

paultracy3 Alot of dumd mistakes in the pit lane tonite

TheEDJE @paultracy3 Tweeting is tougher than it appears!

MarcoZone Marco up to P4!!! Way to climb...yet know one has said anything!

TheSpeedgeek I would like to say that IndyCar is the Miracle Whip to NASCAR's mayo. I am not mayo.

Briscoe and Patrick dicing up front just before pitstops - Briscoe has 9 PtP and Patrick has only 6 PtP left

CrashGladys Sooooo, we got mad at Danica for pushing her team under the bus at Indy... and Mario Moraes just blamed his spotter for this crash! Ugh!

MarcoZone MA in for final time.

kvracing After 175 laps, Viso in the #8 PDVSA - KVRT car is running 5th.

IndyCarPR Green flag stops complete Your leader at Texas Motor Speedway is @danicapatrick

LAP 193 - DANICA takes the lead over Briscoe after pitstops - Briscoe and Patrick SbS on a heavy battle. Briscoe takes the position back.

RogerYasukawa @DanicaPatrick looking racy tonight! We need another yellow to make this more interesting.

MarcoZone Marco in 4th after the pit shake down.

99forever WHY AM I WATCHING POWER AND ANDRETTI?! Let me see the battle for the lead, Race Control!! #IZODIndyCar

SpeedFreaks Now THAT's the kind of exposure GoDaddy has wanted! Nice side by side for the lead action there!!! #indycar

LAP 201 - Briscoe, Patrick, Power (needs help with yellows), Andretti, Dixon, Franchitti, Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, Viso, Lloyd are the top 10 for the final 27 laps

toomuchracing There are 20 to go with a 20-sec lap and you're taking an ad break now, despite only just taking one. I thought these guys were better?

BeccyGordon @RyanHunterReay has the fastest lap of the race 215.685... But still has too much push in traffic. He's racing his butt off! So proud.

deferrandragon Briscoe with decent lead over danica

HugoScheckter For some reason I really want danica to win this! Hopefully that phase will pass soon!

TEN LAPS TO GO - Danica has her work cut out for her

IndyCarPR 10 laps to go here at Texas: Briscoe leads by 1.1 seconds.

Will Power will have to come in for a splash

kvracing 4laps remain, Viso is 12th

99forever I'll tell you one thing: Having Danica up front sure has a lot of people caring a whole lot about what's happening up front. #IZODIndyCar

WHITE Flag lap -

CHECKERS Fly - Briscoe wins, Patrick, Dario Franchitti comes in at P6 and and with Will Power coming in at P14 ... takes over the overall season points lead from Will Power by 3 points.

TheEDJE Andretti Autosport has all four cars in the top seven position - WOW!

indy44 Woo Marco couldn't get out of the media center fast enough. It looked cold in there with him and Danica.

Formal Report from IZOD IndyCar Here>>

... notes from The EDJE

CCWS Transition Players Have Effect On Texas Qualifying

IndyCar Series 2010 points leader, Will Power - Penske Racing/Verizon, struggles to maintain the points lead through the "Ovals" section of the first half of the ICS championship season. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

CCWS Transition Players Have Effect On Texas Qualifying

We have hardly caught our collective breaths from the interesting, mistake prone, and Yellow Flag shaped 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 and we are already getting notices about the qualifications being held for the Firestone 550 race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Target Chip Ganassi's Dario Franchitti, the winner of last weeks classic, got aced out by the short oval expert from Penske Racing, Ryan Briscoe who has five P1 finishes on 1.5 mile ovals. What becomes surprising about how the rest of the top five positions in the qualifying field are two notable performances ... notable in that they show the increased participation from drivers and teams that are in the IRL because of the merger with the ChampCar World Series two seasons ago.

The driver stand out is, of course, Will Power who is driving for the top notch IRL Penske Racing team and leads in the points, by eleven points over Dario Franchitti, for the 2010 IndyCar Series season so far. Lining up in P3 shows that he likes the banks of Texas Motor Speedway. If Power can stay ahead of Dario, Dario's teammate Scott Dixon (who qualified at P4 and is -24 points), and Will's teammate Helio Castroneves (starts the race at P5 and is sitting at -28 in the ICS championship) he may just come away from the Firestone 550 with only one more oval to go in Iowa, before getting back to the road and street courses that are his strong suit, with the points lead.

The CCWS transition team surprise standout is the entry driven by Alex Lloyd who was able to place his Dale Coyne Racing Dallara on the grid at P6! Dale Coyne continues to advance within the structure provided by the IZOD IndyCar Series. Last year with Justin Wilson driving (who now races for Dreyer % Reinbold Racing), Dale Coyne Racing won its first race in American open-wheel racing after competing in ChampCar/Cart and the IRL since 1986 ... that's 558 tries – after more than 25 years of trying – in top tier open-wheel racing. Alex Lloyd, by placing a Dale Coyne car on the grid at P6 on an oval racing track, has been able to move the team's success forward here in 2010.

Newman/Haas Racing was able to field a Dallara good enough to get Hideki Mutoh in the grid at P7 leaving Mario Moreas of KV Racing Technologies as the last CCWS Team or driver (in this case both) to break into the top 10 on the banked short oval track at Texas that had a very tight and competitive field - the top five qualifiers were separated by only 0.3912 of a second and the top 10 by 0.6777 of a second.

Alex Lloyd in the Boy Scouts of America/Dale Coyne Racing Dallara during Day 4 practice day at IMS. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

This excerpted and edited from Catchfence -

Briscoe Scores Pole for Firestone 550k at Texas
Press Release - IZOD IndyCar

Two of Ryan Briscoe’s five IZOD IndyCar Series victories have been secured on 1.5-mile ovals.

He’ll start from the pole in seeking a third. Briscoe, driving the No. 6 Team Penske car, recorded a four-lap average speed of 215.273 mph (1 minute, 37.3275 seconds) to earn the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Firestone 550K at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dario Franchitti, seeking to be the third consecutive Indianapolis 500 champion to win at Texas in the same year, was 0.0057 of a second off Briscoe’s pace. He’ll start on the outside of the front row for the 228-lap race under the lights after an average of 215.261 mph.
----
Briscoe earned the 10th pole start of his career (second of the season), and has converted one into victory (2009 Chicagoland Speedway).
Reference Here>>

How they Qualified For The 2010 Firestone 550 At Texas Motor Speedway - Race #7 of 17
(** denotes a driver or team with CCWS transition affiliation)

Pos - Driver - Team - Speed
1. Ryan Briscoe - Penske 215.273mph
2. Dario Franchitti - Ganassi 215.261mph
3. Will Power** - Penske 215.158mph
4. Scott Dixon - Ganassi 215.152mph
5. Helio Castroneves - Penske 214.411mph
6. Alex Lloyd -Dale Coyne** 214.408mph
7. Hideki Mutoh - Newman/Haas** 214.380mph
8. Danica Patrick - Andretti 214.098mph
9. Mario Moraes** - KV** 213.800mph
10. Marco Andretti - Andretti 213.785mph
11. Takuma Sato - KV** 213.692mph
12. Justin Wilson** - Dreyer & Reinbold 213.602mph
13. Tony Kanaan - Andretti 213.346mph
14. EJ Viso** - KV** 213.336mph
15. Dan Wheldon - Panther 213.316mph
16. Sarah Fisher - Sarah Fisher 213.256mph
17. Milka Duno - Dale Coyne** 213.222mph
18. Tomas Scheckter - Dreyer & Reinbold 212.904mph
19. Vitor Meira - Foyt 212.805mph
20. Alex Tagliani** - Fazzt 212.526mph
21. Jay Howard - Sarah Fisher 212.448mph
22. Bertrand Baguette - Conquest** 212.349mph
23. Raphael Matos** - De Ferran Dragon 212.327mph
24. Ryan Hunter-Reay - Andretti 212.298mph
25. Mario Romancini - Conquest** 212.101mph
26. Simona de Silvestro** - HVM** 211.289mph
(ht: autosport.com)

This very fast banked bull-ring of a venue will have these open-wheel Dallara's running side-by-side at over 200 miles per hour throughout the whole race and will probably end with a less than a second seperation ... Photo Finish!

The Firestone 550 is set to be broadcast live at IndyCar Series on VERSUS - Watch the Texas Motor Speedway Race. Saturday June 5 - 8:00PM est - Versus.com

... notes from The EDJE

Bombardier Learjet 550k - Play By Play Via Tweet By Tweet

The iconic garage sign at the Texas Motor Speedway. The Indy Racing League is at the Speedway for the sixth round of the 2009 IndyCar Series championship. Image Credit: Vision Racing

Bombardier Learjet 550k - Play By Play Via Tweet By Tweet

Here in longhorn country down near Fort Worth, Texas, the sixth race of the first fully unified open wheel racing season of the IndyCar Series is ramping up to be a good one. The top four drivers at this point in the 2009 season are the same four drivers that swept the first two rows in qualifying. Franchitti, Briscoe, Dixon and Castroneves all posted speed averages in the 214-mph bracket.

Ryan Briscoe will start alongside Franchitti in the Bombardier Learjet 550k after a four-lap average of 214.413 mph.

Points leader and defending race winner Scott Dixon (214.296) and Helio Castroneves (214.228) will be on Row 2. Then Andretti Green Racing's Danica Patrick will start fifth (213.929) and share Row 3 with Transition Player KV Racing Technology's Mario Moraes (213.717).

Overhead shot of Ed Carpenter in the cockpit of his Vision Racing Dallara at Texas Motor Speedway. Image Credit: Vision Racing

The IRL Set-Up: Franchitti earns Texas pole For Race #6 - http://tinyurl.com/lazche #irl #ics #indycar

How the field qualified (** denotes Transition Player - we are down to six)

Pos Driver Team Speed
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 214.513mph
2. Ryan Briscoe Penske 214.413mph
3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 214.296mph
4. Helio Castroneves Penske 214.228mph
5. Danica Patrick Andretti Green 213.929mph
6. Mario Moraes KV 213.717mph**
7. Dan Wheldon Panther 213.596mph
8. Marco Andretti Andretti Green 213.540mph
9. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan 213.479mph**
10. Ed Carpenter Vision 213.435mph
11. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green 213.327mph
12. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 213.178mph**
13. Alex Tagliani Conquest 213.173mph**
14. Sarah Fisher Fisher 212.554mph
15. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 212.137mph
16. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green 212.108mph
17. Justin Wilson Coyne 212.021mph**
18. Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold 211.741mph
19. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 211.686mph
20. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold 211.601mph
21. EJ Viso HVM 211.553mph**
22. AJ Foyt IV Foyt 211.454mph
23. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision 210.532mph
24. Jaques Lazier 3G 209.329mph

The race will be televised on VERSUS from The Texas Motor Speedway - Saturday at 9PM ET: "America’s Original Nighttime IndyCar Race” showcases Indy cars jetting three-wide around the track in excess of 220 miles per hour and routinely setting up for a dramatic finish. With last-lap drama and exciting finishes, you never know what’s going to happen.
(race description HT: VERSUS)

Pre-race activities featured Shaq in a photo session taken in the Vision Racing garage with Miss Wheelchair 2009, Michelle Colvard. Image Credit: Vision Racing

Sadly, teams have fielded only six drivers from the CART/ChampCar Transition group and consequently this may be the poorest showing since the merge happened back at the beginning of the 2008 season. Paul Tracy and AJ Foyt have agreed to part company for this home race for the ABC Supply/AJ Foyt team but the seperation is amicable with Paul Tracy saying that he would drive for AJ anytime and anywhere ... he would even be available to do testing if that were AJ's wish.

Image Credit: Vision Racing

So let the race begin ...

16AndGeorgetownJust got back from the driving range. Great way to kill a couple hours before the race.

PlanetIrlNever realized how big Shaq really was. How is he going to fit in that pace car??!!

MyNameIsIRLMy family is discussing tonight's "first out". P1 says "Mario Jonas", P2 says "Mike Con-wreck". Tough crowd here.

SpeedFreaksGreat show - thanks much for your tweets - now let's have a damn good #IndyCar race!!

Dan Weldon, Panther Racing and Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing warming up at speed at the Texas Motor Speedway. Image Credit: Vision Racing

PlanetIrl"they call is the Texas Taj Mahal." .....They do?

AGRfan26If Mario Jonas [Moraes] is the first out, lets hope Dan & MA get around him 1st. After practice Thurs, I'm not holding my breath

pressdogall i want is timing and scoring on indycar.com. is that too much to ask?

RacingNationInteresting, good thing that Honda engine in Kanaan's car blew up enough so they could call it a 'fire.' #indy car

Driver intros in the grandstands! That is EJ Viso through the fence. Image Credit: HVM Racing

VisionRacingDrivers being introduced. Sun going down. Air temp cooling to acceptable human living conditions. Fun getting set to start at Texas.

SpeedFreaksdog barking incessantly at Foyt hauler - will someone take care of him please!

PlanetIrl@SpeedFreaks You're in Texas. There is a 12 gauge within 100 feet at all times!
-
MyNameIsIRLArute in the stands. Arute in the Sky Lair. Arute on the truck. Ye gods, have they cloned the man?

20:32:55 GMT-0500 Drivers to your cars.

PlanetIrlNostrabeekhuis strikes again.

MyNameIsIRLIf those extra wickers allow for all the Texas passing, then why don't they put those on at every track? Or would that make too much sense?

pressdogLoins: girded.

RacingNationHey RHR, is 'everything gonna be alright' ??? OK, enough of the mesothelioma, Izod and Ultimate Fighting, lets go IndyCar racing! #indycar

20:39:11 GMT-0500 One minute to the command.

chunter16@pressdog Notice how they also avoided talking about when CART had a driver's strike at this very track because of drivers blacking out

Marco26WebNice one Shaq. Engines on!!

kvracingMoraes is in the car and command for Drivers Start Your Engine has been given.

20:41:40 GMT-0500 All cars have been fired.

20:44:38 GMT-0500 Green flag next time by.

GREEN GREEN GREEN - We are racin' folks!
-
AGRfan26Look at how far back Marco is from Mario !

VisionRacingWoah!! That was ****ing close!!

TheEDJE20:47:01 GMT-0500 Lap 2: Milka Duno, Graham Rahal and EJ Viso were involved in the incident.

FuriousWedgelooks like Viso collected too, odd that Rahal was wiggling so bad almost for multiple laps

Two Transition Players out on LAP 2 - EJ Viso of HVM Racing and Graham Rahal of Newman/Haas/Lanigan racing. That leaves four!

TheEDJECommentary says that the first few laps the drivers have to contend with Truck Tire Rubber - Okie-Dokie! #irl #ics #indycar

VisionRacingNo.21 coming in to top of on fuel when pits open. Anyone see the replay on that. Ryan narrowly missed that accident. Drove through sparks.
-
20:56:11 GMT-0500 Lap 9: One lap until back to green.

kvracingBack to Green Flag racing, Moraes 5th

20:57:41 GMT-0500 Lap 11: Ryan Briscoe is challenging for the lead on the outside.

IndyCarNationLap 15: #6 Briscoe leads #10 Franchitti by .1424 of a second.

Marco26WebLike Marco tweeted a few days ago. "Sweep the high side!!!"

kvracingMoraes is 7th, 19 laps completed, settling into single file round gtrack

IndyCarPRLap 20: #6 Briscoe leads #10 Franchitti by .2021 of a second.

21:03:53 GMT-0500 Lap 26: Danica loses some momentum out of Turn 4 and Marco makes his move.

VisionRacingEd will have some wing taken out on his first stop. He's mentioned (understatement alert) having issues with understeer over the radio.

CrashGladysHangin out with @SpeeedFreeek & @curtcavin - good times at TMS... #INDYCAR

IndyCarPRLap 30: #6 Briscoe leads #10 Franchitti by .2995 of a second.
-
chunter16Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #musician #motorsports #football

kvracingWhen Moraes pits will be front wing adjustment and some tire pressure alterations being made now on the new set. Currently 8th after 37laps

TheEDJE21:10:24 GMT-0500 Lap 42: Mike Conway is off the pace - in the pits. #irl #ics #indycar

FuriousWedgesay that again Bob; Scheckter is up to 18th after starting 12th!? sure thats not backwards?

FuriousWedgeRace Control says "the right rear of Dan Wheldon may be glowing red" may be?

21:13:44 GMT-0500 Lap 50: The front of the field comes up to lap AJ Foyt IV.

IndyCarNationLap 50: #6 Briscoe leads #10 Franchitti by 1.0710 seconds. Note: If we fall behind on the Tweetcast, it's because we're also doing the DTR.

MyNameIsIRL50 laps in and all I can think is where did the three-wide racing at Texas go?

21:16:00 GMT-0500 Lap 55: Danica Patrick is into the pits.

LAP 55 - Green Flag pitstops for most of the field!

kvracingJust pitted, tires, fuel and one turn in on left front wing. Great stop by KVRT crew

chunter16@VisionRacing good stop for ed

21:19:11 GMT-0500 Lap 61: Briscoe gets caught in traffic allowing Franchitti to catch up.
-
21:21:31 GMT-0500 Lap 67: Ryan Briscoe is working his way through traffic. Leads Franchitti by about one second.

AGRfan26MA up to 5th ! Keep picking them off Marco !

21:25:17 GMT-0500 Lap 76: The lead of Briscoe nears 2 seconds.

MyNameIsIRLAh - we're all conserving fuel tonight. That'll suck the life out of three-wide. I'll refrain from my "rip the fuel mapping knob off" rant.

SarahFisher67Electronics issue; Sarah could not downshift. Fell wayy back- Klint

IndyCarNationLap 85: #6 Briscoe leads #9 Dixon by 5.0978 seconds.

IndyCarPRAnd for those in the media center at Texas...the NAAAAAACHO BAR is open

VisionRacingVision cars are half way through this stint. Possibility of making it to the finish on two more stops.

PlanetIrlNo more fuel mapping, put push-to-pass on the cars, and option tires on ovals. NOW!!

SarahFisher67Trying 2 get our rhythm back...will need some pit and fuel strategy to make this one work now- Klint

IndyCarPRLap 90: #6 Briscoe leads #9 Dixon by 6.5550 seconds.

chunter16@PlanetIrl Don't know about push-to-pass, but option tires? Hmm...

VisionRacingLap 100 complete. Ed is P12. Ryan is p17 and battling handling of car. Leaders are Briscoe Dixon Castroneves.

kvracingMario just requested half a turn out of front wing when he comes in
-
21:36:06 GMT-0500 Lap 102: Ryan Briscoe is working on lapping Tony Kanaan who is in P8.

Pitstops from the field - Green Flag still flys!!!

21:39:32 GMT-0500 Lap 110: Scott Dixon is the first lead car into the pits.

kvracingPitted P9, changed tires, added fuel and took 1/2 turn of front wing out of left side and rejoined race in 11th, but some cars still to pit

21:41:03 GMT-0500 Lap 113: Ryan Briscoe should inherit the lead again as Helio pits.

AGRfan26WAY TO GO MA ! I need to put my daughter to bed, but can't pull myself away. priorities you know...

Team Penske is running P1 and P2 - Briscoe and Castroneves. Franchitti runs third.

MyNameIsIRLPenske, Penske, Ganassi, Ganassi...it's like a cure for insomnia.

VisionRacingAnother round of green flag pitstops complete. Leader have cycled through. P1 Briscoe Dixon Franchitti. Ed P13. Ryan P17. Passed halfway.

TheEDJE@MyNameIsIRLPenske, Penske, Ganassi, Ganassi...it's like a cure for insomnia. - Line of the night #irl #ics #indycar

PlanetIrl@chunter16 P2P was great on road courses. At least try it on ovals. Option tires should be at every track

16AndGeorgetownAnybody here what Jon said about the fuel sensor not allowing the car 2 pull out?That's an idea I sent to Trackside w/Cavin&Kevin last week

PlanetIrl@16AndGeorgetown Lol, they steal from you. I (along with Nascar. of course) invented the SAFER barrier.

IndyCarNationLap 130: : #6 Briscoe leads #3 Castroneves by 8.6586 seconds.

TheEDJENew Chant - Penske Ganassi Penske Ganassi

TheEDJENew Chant - Penske Ganassi Andretti Penske Ganassi - Helio Castroneves is getting passed.

PlanetIrl@chunter16 Safety is for sissy sports. Like bowling and cricket.
-
MyNameIsIRLMarco has charged up to 2nd, telling everyone else where they can stick their fuel mappings.

FuriousWedgeMarco's on the serious move as the cars go through their stints, but 10 seconds is entirely too much to make up without some kind of help

kvracing10 laps till next pit, fuel, tires. Currently P10

TheEDJEYELLOW Flag - Debris on the track - Brisco's 10 second cushion is GONE! #irl #ics #indycar

16AndGeorgetownWhere's the debris???

21:58:25 GMT-0500 Lap 152: All of the lead cars are pitting.

Close quarters - Briscoe has to swing around a tire on Pit Out - Kanaan Short fills and gets out first and is waived around ... gets lap back.

VisionRacingRyan is frustrated with handling of car. They are going to give him some more wing.

pressdogtotal N-word move. Show me the debris.

PlanetIrl@16AndGeorgetown Does it matter? This was a Dale Jr. yellow.

IndyCarPRLap 152: Leaders on pit road. #6 Briscoe wins race off of pit road, but #11 Kanaan gets his lap back by beating #11 off of pit road.

TheEDJELAP 157 - Rafael Matos comes in for a splash - the only car to top off! #irl #ics #indycar

22:06:01 GMT-0500 Lap 159: Ryan Briscoe gets a great restart.

Marco26Web"Now the gloves are comin' off"

22:06:57 GMT-0500 Lap 161: Helio Castroneves is by AJ Foyt IV and sets his sights on Briscoe.

22:08:46 GMT-0500 Lap 166: Helio Castroneves has caught Ryan Briscoe to battle for the lead.

IndyCarPRLap 159: GREEN. #6 Briscoe leads field into Turn 1. Lap 165: #6 Briscoe leads #3 Castroneves by .1761 of a second.

VisionRacing10 laps to pit for Ed then he'll be good to the end. Ed having some issues with a lapped car.

chunter16According to TV, Wheldon added too much wing
-
22:11:55 GMT-0500 Lap 172: YELLOW Flag for contact in Turn 2 by AJ Foyt IV. His car has stopped on the inside of the backstretch.

MyNameIsIRLIs it Foyt? Like the wreck on lap two, it's not a very camera-friendly incident.

FuriousWedgeLooks like Quattro's into the wall; and interesting fuel strategy games likely out the window after we get 10+ laps of caution

indy44Marco the force is with you close your eyes and use the force

22:19:05 GMT-0500 Lap 179: Alex Tagliani, Raphael Matos and Sarah Fisher are waved around.

PlanetIrl@pressdog I'd be willing to do anything to have passing. Put restrictor plates on them!

Mario Moraes talks over the race with the engineer trackside. Image Credit: KV Racing Technology

GREEN GREEN GREEN

kvracingGreen Flag racing, P11. 50 laps to go.

22:22:17 GMT-0500 Lap 182: Briscoe gets a good run out of Turn 4.

chunter16Danica tries the high groove...

VisionRacingEd is in P9 and good for fuel until the end. Radios that the high line is terrible.

22:24:22 GMT-0500 Lap 187: Danica gets a run out of Turn 2 on Wheldon, but can't get by.

MyNameIsIRLWell it only took 185 laps but we've finally got 8 cars running within a second of each other. Hope you're still awake.
-
Marco26WebAn Andretti Green charge brewing from 5th/6th/7th as TP and DP join Marco.

Top four Penske and Ganassi separated by only 1/2 second!

chunter16AGR showing good teamwork and drafting

PlanetIrl@16AndGeorgetown That was a great race. I was in 4 and you could see how much he was backing off.

IndyCarPRLap 200: #3 Castroneves leads #6 Briscoe by .2358 of a second.

22:30:09 GMT-0500 Lap 201: The top four are now pulling away from the field.

VisionRacingEd reporting understeer in traffic now so he can't keep his foot on it.

MyNameIsIRL"Danica needs to get up there and get on the gearbox of Dario Franchitti." Pretty sure that's on her to-do list, Robbie.

chunter16@VisionRacing No handle in clean air + no handle in traffic = no handle

VisionRacing20 laps to go. Final sprint for checkered.

kvracing20 laps to go at Texas. Moraes is 11th and doing a great job. He has 2nd fastest speed this race - 213.865mph

22:32:57 GMT-0500 Lap 207: Marco Andretti takes Dan Wheldon on the outside.

IndyCarNationLap 210: #3 Castroneves leads #6 Briscoe by .2782 of a second.

VisionRacingIf you have young children or are easily offended, don't listen to Ed on the radio right now. Doornbos pushed Ed below the white line.

MyNameIsIRLWow, nice blocking, err, defending on Marco there Mrs Hospenthal.

22:36:30 GMT-0500 Lap 216: Danica came down on Marco causing him to lose momentum.

VisionRacing10 laps to go. Ed is p9. Ryan is p16.

kvracing8 laps to go and Moraes back into top-10, he is 10th

22:37:39 GMT-0500 Lap 219: The top two have a gap of over 1 second on P3.

FuriousWedgewoohoo, they're gonna let us concentrate on 2 Penske cars running single file!

AGRfan26Way to put Danica in her place MA ! She deserved that one !

VisionRacing5 laps left in race.

22:39:59 GMT-0500 Lap 225: Ryan Briscoe is running out of time to get around Helio.

VisionRacingForgot to mention. Castroneves leads Briscoe Dixon Franchitti Andretti.

22:40:58 GMT-0500 Helio Castroneves wins the Bombardier Learjet 550!

MyNameIsIRLEddie Gossage won't stop Helio from climbing his fence.

FuriousWedgeWho would have thought Texas would give us the most boring race of the year

AGRfan26@Marco26Web If DP hadn't blocked him I think he could have picked off Dixon.

pressdogHelio should go hug Barnhart, unless someone can show me the debris. Lame lame lame.

RacingNationOne has wonder if they didn't have that last yellow, what would had Marco had done? He kept on getting faster on those long runs. #indycar

the500Helio Castroneves wins for the third time at Texas. Ryan Briscoe 2nd and Scott Dixon 3rd. #IndyCar

PlanetIrlWell kiddies, I'm quite tired (surprising?). So I'll see you Monday for my race review. Lise will have a log of her experience up soon too.

AGRfan26Thank you Indycar for cutting the stream before talking to Helio...

FuriousWedgeBriscoe dominates 2 weeks in a row and finishes 2nd twice; can't imagine he's too happy especially with todays loss caused by phantom yellow

pressdogI'm done. Going to bed. Viewing soooo not enhanced.

chunter16(Midnight EST)

kvracingRace finished. Moraes finished 10th, his fifth career top-10 finish

chunter16RT @indycarnation: [the pagoda speaks] 10:52 - “Good evening, gentlemen. I am Roger Penske. ... Bow down, motherf–kers.” http://ow.ly/cGx3

RacingNationRyan Briscoe quote of the race "Hard to pass" that was the prevailing theme. Frustrating. #helio

FuriousWedgeDixon: "cars are too similar now, we need to open up the rules"

Marco26WebMarco: "Once the race got up and going the Venom Energy car was stronger on longer stints. The toughest person to pass was my teammate..."

chunter16Will Power's name dropped - Will needs a car.

FuriousWedgeCurious thought, is the sudden change in lack of Oval action for IndyCar proportional to the sudden mandatory wheelbase length?

TheEDJE@FuriousWedge - A 22" standard does equalize things a little bit - they needed this rule LAST YEAR! #irl #ics #indycar

16AndGeorgetownI gota say, I'm with @DanicaPatrick on this one. They were racing for position, She's higher in points and Marco was the one trying to pass

chunter16@TheEDJE @FuriousWedge that will change when the chassis spec changes... 2010 or 2011?

TheEDJE@chunter16 - New car might have the WB distance go away - It was needed for old IRL on what Dixon said #irl #ics #indycar

chunter16@TheEDJE I think some aero grip is supposed to go away too. Huge I think because it's been a while since I read anything on it

VisionRacingCheckered flag. Castroneves climbs the fence. P9 for Ed. Ryan brings it home an ill handling car in one piece for P16

SpeedJournal(Indy)6/06 :: Texas shootout- http://tinyurl.com/qogv3o #autoracing

the500FROM THE STAR: Castroneves wins for third time at Texas http://tinyurl.com/r5ad23

... notes from The EDJE