Wrapup: Day 2

Honestly, this is the first time I've looked at a picture of A.J. Foyt and said, "Man, he looks old." I'm sure he could still beat me up a hundred times over, but he's a lot greyer and more wrinkled that I remember.

Anyway, you see grandson A.J. IV all dressed up and today, thank goodness, he did have somewhere to go. There were scattered storms in the forecast, but the weather pulled a fast one and there was nothing but sun and dry asphalt for the entire day.

Marco Andretti surprised more than a few people by putting his #26 Venom Energy Drink car of black and red snakey excellence at the top of the charts ahead of the Penske cars and the Ganassi cars. Some are saying he might've had a draft to help him out, but the speed stands as the fastest of the month so far.

Also surprising was Robert Doornbos, who was only in his second day ever on the oval at Indianapolis. He was at the top of the charts early on and stayed near the top for the rest of the day. He and teammate Graham Rahal might be the big surprises on Pole Day, because those cars are damn strong.

My rundown is going to be the top eleven speeds because, well, that's how many cars get to qualify two days from now.

Day 2 Top Speeds:

1. Marco Andretti 225.478
2. Helio Castroneves 225.237
3. Ryan Briscoe 224.904
4. Scott Dixon 224.448
5. Dario Franchitti 224.160
6. Dan Wheldon 224.022
7. Robert Doornbos 223.592
8. Danica Patrick 223.253
9. Graham Rahal 222.996
10. Will Power 222.896
11. Hideki Mutoh 222.745

Other notes on Day 2:

-Townsend Bell and Oriol Servia are officially official for second week programs at KV Racing and Rahal-Letterman resectively.

-Sarah Fisher was looking really good as the afternoon wore down. She was knocking on the top 11 for a while before getting knocked down to 18th. Look for her to qualify on the second day.

-Danica Patrick is the latest face of the "Got Milk" campaign. The ad might inspire young boys, but not necessarily to drink milk...

-A.J. Foyt IV is going super old-school and rocking granddad's old helmet design: Straight-up orange with a gold "AJ". I completely approve.

-Ryan Hunter-Reay was the first driver to tag the wall this month, though it was a close thing. Not sure what happened, but it looked like he drifted into the grey area as he exited Turn 2, then put a little too much wheel into it and spun out. He just tagged the wall with his left-rear suspension, got a little air under the car, then settled down into a lazy spin towards the infield. No injuries, but Ryan's in trouble for getting good practice in tomorrow and qualifying well Saturday.

That's it for Thursday. I'm going to miss essentially the entire day because I have an exam and some work (setting up cameras for the graduation ceremony!). I'll try to learn what I can and provide a sufficient rundown tomorrow. Ciao!