After the first five hours of qualifying from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET, the nine fastest drivers from that segment will go into a 90-minute shootout for the Indianapolis 500 pole. The question, of course, is who will be able to break into the second segment.
I touched on this a little bit in my story for FoxSports.com, but I didn’t really give a true prediction on who would make the Fast Nine — just an idea of which drivers will be contending for a spot. Well, here’s my list, which includes one driver that wasn’t in my FoxSports.com piece. Amazing what hindsight will do for you.
3-Helio Castroneves, Team Penske — If you don’t know why he’s on this list…you really haven’t been paying attention.
12-Will Power, Team Penske — He says he’s more comfortable on road/street circuits, but he has Penske equipment. He has a shot.
6-Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske — The Aussie qualified second last year behind Helio. Don’t count him out either.
9-Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing — Save for a couple of seasons, he’s always been a top-tier qualifier at the Brickyard.
10-Dario Franchitti, Target Chip Ganassi Racing — Not sure about his pole chances, but a spot in the Fast Nine is all but assured for him.
77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT Race Team — His car has been, well, FAZZT all week long; he may have the best chance for pole outside Penske/Ganassi.
11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti Autosport — Sooner or later, his luck at IMS has got to change. He has one Indy pole to his credit.
26-Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport — He hasn’t had the big numbers in practice, but he’s been solidly up toward the top of the charts.
4-Dan Wheldon, Panther Racing — Pole may be too much to ask for the former ‘500’ winner, however.
