IRL: Doornbos crashes in practice

Robert Doornbos made contact with the turn two wall shortly before 1 pm during Friday's practice session at Indy.

Our View: With the incredible speeds these cars are turning, it takes a long time to get comfortable on the rectangular track.

IRL: Day 1 practice times

Marco Andretti may have posted the fastest lap (at 225.478 mph) in the first day of practice, but where did everyone else settle in? Check out the full practice grid at Motorsports.com.

Our View: Notably, Robert Doornbos was the fastest rookie with a seventh-best speed of 223.593 mph and Danica Patrick was the fastest female driver at 223.253 mph. She settled into eighth on the grid.

IRL: Four rookies complete orientation

Four rookie contenders, Robert Doornbos, Raphael Matos, Alex Tagliani and Mike Conway, completed all four stages of the Rookie Orientation Program for the Indy 500 and are ready to begin practicing and attempt to qualify for the biggest race of their careers, according to IndyCar.com. Nelson Philippe completed three of four phases and Stanton Barrett got through two before the track closed; they will have from 9 am to 2 pm on May 6 to complete the remainder.

Our View: Rookie orientation is designed to insure that these drivers can manage their car in increasingly difficult conditions. They go progressively faster and maintain more tightly controlled lines in order to test their abilities before they find themselves in heavy traffic at 220 mph.