Early speed check source: indycar.com / Dave Lewandowski A couple of things were abundantly clear (aside from the skies) on the first day of full-scale practice for the 91st Indianapolis 500: ● IndyCar Series points leader Dan Wheldon, the popular - and obvious - early choice to claim his second victory in three years, got a head start by topping the speed chart with a Happy Hour fast lap of 225.074 mph (39.9868 seconds). ● Don't lay your money down yet. The top five were separated by 0.0908 of a second. So what does the initial day of practice (of a scheduled 12) indicate? Well, a couple of things. IndyCar Series regulars quickly got down to business working on both qualifications and race setups, and Wheldon's self-confidence and motivation are equal. Twenty-seven car-driver combinations recorded 1,218 laps on the sun-baked 2.5 miles of asphalt with one incident. Jon Herb, driving the No. 12T Racing Professionals car, spun and made contact with the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier with about two hours left in the session. He was checked at the Clarian Emergency Medical Center and cleared to drive. Buddy Rice, driving the No. 15 A1 TEAM USA Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car, turned a field-high 88 laps. Wheldon, who has won two of the four IndyCar Series races (both on 1.5-mile ovals) and has led 484 of the 700 total laps, recorded 55 laps in attempting to nail the setup on the No. 10 Honda-powered Dallara for the May 12 run for the AAMCO Transmissions Pole Award. "The car seems to be very quick, even with a somewhat comfortable level of downforce it still turns good lap times and that's what you need for a race around here," Wheldon said. "The more downforce you can get away with running and the car being comfortable the better." Two-time 500-Mile Race winner Helio Castroneves was second (224.996 mph; 40.0007 seconds) in the No. 3 Team Penske entry, while Tomas Scheckter late in the session jumped to third (224.783) in the No. 2 Vision Racing car.
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