The field is set, and the drivers have their final day of practice today with Miller Lite Carb Day.
Buddy Rice will start on the pole for Sunday's running of the Indianapolis 500, while Rahal Letterman Racing teammates Vitor Meira and Roger Yasukawa will start seventh and 12th, respectively. Last year, Yasukawa finished 10th, Rice finished 11th and Meira finished 12th, all in their rookie season.
"I think all three of us were a little intimidated last year," Rice said. "Luckily talking to Bobby [Rahal] and Dave [Letterman] this year and their past at the track will keep us focused on our goal -- winning the biggest auto race in the world. "
Andretti Green Racing is also starting near the top of the grid. Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti will both launch from the front row, in second and third position. Tony Kanaan will start fifth and Bryan Herta will start 23rd after a crash on pole day.
"It's going to be a long and difficult race," Franchitti said. "We'll go out there and do our best and see what happens. First of all, it isn't as though 500 miles is difficult enough, but the depth of the field and the competition that we're going to have, it's going to make it difficult."
Bruno Junqueira will start from the fourth position. Junqueira returns to the Speedway this year after taking last year off. He finished fifth in 2001 and sitting on the pole in 2002.
"We won't run much on Carburation Day because we don't want to put too many miles on the engine," Junqueira said. "This is another time that it would have been good to have a teammate so we could work together to get a good car in traffic which will be important on race day. I'll have to learn about the car in traffic on Carb Day and hopefully the car will be good in the race."
Adrian Fernandez will start from the outside of the sixth row in his first Indy 500 since 1995, and has been among the fastest cars in practice every day. The only person who has been faster than Fernandez since bump day qualifications is teammate Kosuke Matsuura.
Two time winner Helio Castroneves starts eighth while 2001 and 2002 IndyCar Champion Sam Hornish Jr. will start from 11th.
Tomas Scheckter, who has lead a total of 148 laps in the last two Indy 500s will start from the tenth position, the same spot Gil de Ferran won from last year. His rookie teammate Mark Taylor will start 14th.
Taylor will start between the two Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars of Scott Dixon and rookie Darren Manning. Dixon will start from 13th while Manning will start from 15th.
Row six consists of rookie Ed Carpenter, two time winner Al Unser Jr. and NASCAR regular Robby Gordon.
Row seven includes fan favorite Sarah Fisher, 1996 IRL Champion Scott Sharp, and AJ Foyt IV.
The eighth row will start rookie Larry Foyt, Herta and Alex Barron. Barron has finished fourth and sixth in his two Indy 500 starts.
Felipe Giaffone, Tora Takagi and Greg Ray will start from row nine. 1996 Indy 500 Champion Buddy Lazier, rookie Jeff Simmons, and Richie Hearn fill out row ten. The final row consists of rookies PJ Jones, son of three time 500 champion Parnelli Jones and Marty Roth. Robby McGehee rounds out the thirty-three car field.002,-¦+â-ÿK?*Indy500Preview5.27DNEditorial002]?+â-£2AUDT
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