Lowe's Pit stall selections

Jayski has posted the pit stall selections for the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and, as expected pole sitter Jimmie Johnson has the last box exiting pit road.

Our View Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth are the other drivers with an opening in front of them. Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Mike Bliss in the No. 71 this week have openings behind them.

As well as he qualified and as strong as he ran in the Nationwide race, Bliss should try to run the distance. If he "starts and parks," however, Bobby Labonte inherits an opening as he is immediately ahead.

Complete List

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Coke 600 newsbreakers
Official tweets from the track

IRL: Briscoe wins Chicagoland nail biter

Ryan Briscoe narrowly edged Scott Dixon in a chase for the checkers to win the Peak Antifreeze 300. The margin of victory was slight; in fact, this was the fourth closest race in IRL history. Last year's edition of this race boasted the second closest victory and now Chicagoland has three of the top four margins.

Our View After winning the pole and posting consistently fast practice speeds, we told fantasy players to make him the anchor of their roster, and the Penske pilot proved us correct.

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IRL: Briscoe wins Chicagoland pole

Ryan Briscoe proved that his fast speed in practice was no fluke. He posted the fastest speed in time trials as well with a lap of 215.364 and will lead the field to green Saturday night.

Our View Briscoe should anchor your fantasy lineup this week. Helio Castroneves will start on the outside of the front row and he was also quick all day Friday.

Lineup

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IRL: Briscoe tops Happy Hour

After posting the second fastest time in the first practice session for the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300, Ryan Briscoe jumped to the top of the charts with a lap of 217.553.

Our View The other fast drivers from that session failed to back up their morning speeds. Helio Castroneves was only 12th fastest and Danica Patrick was 15th fastest. The leader of the first session, Scott Dixon was fourth fastest in Happy Hour, but that gives the edge to Briscoe nonetheless.

Complete Results

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IRL: Dixon tops Chicagoland practice 1

Scott Dixon posted the fastest time in Friday's practice for the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway with a lap of 217.460.

Our View Ryan Briscoe was second fastest and Helio Castroneves came in third, but fantasy owners might be particularly interested in the fourt-place driver. After struggling on the road courses, it appears that Danica Patrick is back in top form with a lap of 216.284.

Complete Speeds

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IRL: Dixon runs away from Mid Ohio field

Scott Dixon ran and hid from the competition at Mid Ohio and won the Honda Indy 200 by nearly 30 seconds over Ryan Briscoe.

Our View Last week, the push to pass technology helped make the Kentucky oval race exciting, but it couldn't help this week since Dixon had such a dominant car.

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IRL: Briscoe wins thriller over Carpenter

Ryan Briscoe won the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in a photo finish over Ed Carpenter.

Our View Briscoe won by 0.0162 of a second to notch his second win of the season in the No. 6 Penske car.

Complete Results

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IRL: Power tops first Edmonton practice

Will Power posted the fastest single lap of practice for the Rexall Edmonton Indy race in Canada, according to a tweet from @IndyCarPR.

Our View The remainder of the top five were Raphael Matos, Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves and the Canadian favorite Paul Tracy.

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IRL: Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen Results, with avg. finish

Justin Wilson gave car owner Dale Coyne his first victory in open wheel racing and he ran away from some heavy hitters in doing so. Roger Penske's Ryan Briscoe was bidding for sole possession of the honor of being the winningest driver, but he was busy trying to keep Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon and his Penske teammate Helio Castroneves at bay.

Danica Patrick is not known as a particularly strong road racer and she didn't disappoint that prediction. She finished 11th, which snapped a seven-race streak of top-10s.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	2	Justin Wilson	60	Running	13.00
2	1	Ryan Briscoe	60	Running	5.67
3	3	Scott Dixon	60	Running	3.40
4	14	Helio Castroneves	60	Running	11.40
5	9	Marco Andretti	60	Running	7.75
6	7	Mike Conway	60	Running	6.00
7	11	E J Viso	60	Running	8.50
8	10	Tony Kanaan	60	Running	5.60
9	17	Robert Doornbos	60	Running	9.00
10	12	Dan Wheldon	60	Running	12.20
11	8	Danica Patrick	60	Running	12.00
12	18	Raphael Matos	60	Running	12.00
13	5	Graham Rahal	60	Running	10.50
14	4	Mario Moraes	60	Running	10.50
15	6	Dario Franchitti	59	Running	8.75
16	21	Ed Carpenter	59	Running	13.00
17	19	Milka Duno	58	Running	18.50
18	13	Hideki Mutoh	51	Accident	13.50
19	20	Richard Antinucci	47	Running	19.00
20	15	Paul Tracy	29	Accident	20.00
21	16	Ryan Hunter-Reay	0	Accident	11.00

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IRL: Richmond lineup with avg. start/finish

Dario Franchitti continues to prove his prowess on the short tracks of the Indy Racing League. After sweeping both events last year at Iowa and Richmond, he got off to another fast start on Rusty Wallace's track near Des Moines.

Teammate Scott Dixon is to his outside, while Helio Castroneves lines up behind him. Notably, Castroneves' teammate Ryan Briscoe is on the outside of tow two, so all of these drivers should feel comfortable in their surroundings.

Lineup with avg. start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Dario Franchitti	4.50	7.00	4
2	Scott Dixon	7.83	7.50	6
3	Helio Castroneves	6.57	5.71	7
4	Ryan Briscoe	18.00	7.00	2
5	Graham Rahal	18.00	3.00	1
6	Raphael Matos
7	E J Viso	10.00	19.00	1
8	Hideki Mutoh	13.00	7.00	1
9	Tomas Scheckter	9.50	12.83	6
10	Danica Patrick	9.25	14.25	4
11	Mike Conway
12	Robert Doornbos
13	Dan Wheldon	5.00	8.67	6
14	Ed Carpenter	11.40	14.20	5
15	Justin Wilson	7.00	23.00	1
16	Marco Andretti	8.33	7.00	3
17	Tony Kanaan	8.67	7.67	6
18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	16.00	25.00	1
19	Mario Moraes	17.00	20.00	1
20	Jaques Lazier	17.50	10.00	2

More Indy Racing League Newsbreakers

Week 26 Unified Power Rankings

For only the second time this year, there was chink in Jenson Button's armor, and unlike the Chinese Grand Prix where he still finished third, he struggled in last week's British Grand Prix. Finishing sixth still earned points in what remains a nearly insurmountable lead for the World Drivers Championship, but it opens the door for some alternate fantasy picks in coming weeks. If Red Bull Racing continues their assault, the game just got more interesting.

Tony Stewart remains the hottest NASCAR driver. Since the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, he's finished outside the top 10 only twice and both require an asterisk. One poor finish came as the result of crash damage at Talladega SuperSpeedway—in a race that is more lottery than contest—and the other came in the rain-altered Coke 341 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Otherwise, he's been as close to perfect as fantasy owners could want with seven top-fives in the other eight races.

In the Indy Racing League, Ryan Briscoe leapfrogged Helio Castroneves with a second-place finish versus seventh. Castroneves struggling came as little surprise since he has finished outside the top 10 in two of his last three races on IRL short tracks, (see Short Trackin' Indy Style), but Briscoe also had a spotty record on this track type last year. As the old adage goes, "that's why they run the race."

With a fourth-place finish in the Nationwide NorthenTool.com 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, Erik Darnell leapt into the top 10 and passed Brad Keselowski. That requires an explanation. Since the Unified Power Rankings looks at all the major series, Keselowski's position is currently being hampered by a failure to qualify at Dover International Speedway, for which he received minimal points. In the Nationwide Series, however, he's been great with a second- and two third-place finishes in his last three attempts.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	107.13	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	100.00	2	0
3	Ryan Briscoe	92.71	4	1
4	Helio Castroneves	92.67	3	-1
5	Dario Franchitti	90.86	8	3
6	Rubens Barrichello	88.63	9	3
7	Jimmie Johnson	87.92	7	0
8	Mark Webber	87.75	10	2
9	Erik Darnell	85.20	16	7
10	Brad Keselowski	85.13	14	4
11	Scott Dixon	85.00	12	1
12	Ryan Newman	83.81	11	-1
13	Kurt Busch	83.58	13	0
14	Mark Martin	83.54	5	-9
15	Jason Leffler	81.83	6	-9
16	Jeff Gordon	81.83	17	1
17	Danica Patrick	80.86	15	-2
18	Greg Biffle	80.47	22	4
19	Dan Wheldon	80.43	24	5
20	Denny Hamlin	79.83	19	-1
21	Carl Edwards	79.83	21	0
22	Matt Kenseth	79.13	25	3
23	Kyle Busch	78.96	18	-5
24	Joey Logano	78.90	27	3
25	Juan Montoya	78.17	26	1
26	Timo Glock	76.88	23	-3
27	Sebastian Vettel	76.75	32	5
28	Matt Crafton	75.29	20	-8
29	Nico Rosberg	74.50	30	1
30	Jeff Burton	73.29	28	-2
31	Kasey Kahne	73.00	31	0
32	Stephen Leicht	73.00	NA	NA
33	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.13	40	7
34	Jamie McMurray	71.42	44	10
35	Fernando Alonso	69.63	29	-6
36	Steve Wallace	69.55	37	1
37	Jason Keller	69.27	38	1
38	Brian Vickers	69.00	42	4
39	Tayler Malsam	68.29	41	2
40	Tomas Scheckter	68.00	NA	NA
41	Jarno Trulli	67.63	45	4
42	Justin Allgaier	67.45	36	-6
43	David Reutimann	67.36	33	-10
44	Marco Andretti	67.14	34	-10
45	Marcos Ambrose	67.00	47	2
46	Dale Earnhardt Jr	66.00	39	-7
47	Johnny Benson Jr	66.00	46	-1
48	Clint Bowyer	65.71	43	-5
49	Tony Kanaan	65.43	35	-14
50	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	65.00	NA	NA

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 25
Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

Week 25 Unified Power Rankings

With Formula 1 taking another week off, no one has been able to challenge Jenson Button, so he remains the hottest driver in auto racing. It's hard to argue the point since he has won six of the first seven events on that calendar.

Tony Stewart remains second on the Unified Power Rankings after posting a solid seventh-place finish at Michigan International Speedway. He's been both consistent and strong with 10 consecutive Cup races in which he's finished on the lead lap. To prove his versatility, in recent months he's also won a dirt late model race at Paducah International Raceway and finished sixth in the Dream at his Eldora Raceway—one of the premier races for that type of car.

And in the Indy Racing League, Helio Castroneves continues to tower above his peers. Currently, Castroneves is about five percentage points better than Ryan Briscoe and eight better than Dario Franchitti, but there could be a shakeup in next week's standings since neither Castroneves nor Briscoe have been overly impressive on the IRL short tracks.

Castroneves was 14th at Iowa last year and since that is the next venue on the calendar, he's going to have to pick up the pace. He also finished outside the top 10 in Richmond in 2007, which outbalances his second-place result there last year.

In two short track starts last year, Briscoe finished seventh at Iowa and 15th at Richmond. In stark contrast, the last time Franchitti was on these two tracks, he swept victory lane.

The biggest mover inside the top 10 last week was Mark Martin. The aged veteran used a fuel mileage strategy to win his third NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season, which ties him with Kyle Busch. He's skipped the last four road races while running a part time schedule, but this driver once posted 23 top-10 finishes in 24 starts on that track type from 1989 through 2001, so you can expect him to keep his momentum.
Nationwide Regular Jason Leffler has done a great job of staying in the Unified Power Rankings' top 10. He finished sixth in the standalone race at Kentucky Speedway, but don't start thinking his strong effort was because there were so few Claim Jumpers in the field. That was his ninth consecutive top-10 finish in NASCAR's second series.
Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.57	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	97.15	2	0
3	Helio Castroneves	95.80	3	0
4	Ryan Briscoe	90.67	5	1
5	Mark Martin	88.77	10	5
6	Jason Leffler	88.09	6	0
7	Jimmie Johnson	88.08	4	-3
8	Dario Franchitti	87.67	7	-1
9	Rubens Barrichello	87.14	9	0
10	Mark Webber	85.29	11	1
11	Ryan Newman	85.19	8	-3
12	Scott Dixon	84.50	12	0
13	Kurt Busch	84.33	13	0
14	Brad Keselowski	84.00	15	1
15	Danica Patrick	83.33	14	-1
16	Erik Darnell	83.00	NR
17	Jeff Gordon	82.83	16	-1
18	Kyle Busch	80.48	17	-1
19	Denny Hamlin	80.42	23	4
20	Matt Crafton	79.67	19	-1
21	Carl Edwards	79.48	18	-3
22	Greg Biffle	78.47	26	4
23	Timo Glock	78.43	22	-1
24	Dan Wheldon	78.17	24	0
25	Matt Kenseth	77.76	20	-5
26	Juan Montoya	77.50	27	1
27	Joey Logano	76.95	25	-2
28	Jeff Burton	76.82	21	-7
29	Fernando Alonso	74.00	28	-1
30	Nico Rosberg	72.57	30	0
31	Kasey Kahne	72.17	29	-2
32	Sebastian Vettel	72.00	31	-1
33	David Reutimann	70.43	32	-1
34	Marco Andretti	70.00	33	-1
35	Tony Kanaan	69.83	34	-1
36	Justin Allgaier	69.82	38	2
37	Steve Wallace	69.45	36	-1
38	Jason Keller	68.00	35	-3
39	Dale Earnhardt Jr	67.80	39	0
40	Ron Hornaday Jr	67.33	42	2
41	Tayler Malsam	67.33	85	44
42	Brian Vickers	66.94	43	1
43	Clint Bowyer	66.87	44	1
44	Jamie McMurray	66.58	46	2
45	Jarno Trulli	66.29	40	-5
46	Johnny Benson Jr	66.00	41	-5
47	Marcos Ambrose	65.58	37	-10
48	Rick Crawford	64.83	45	-3
49	Burney Lamar	63.63	65	16
50	Kevin Harvick	63.28	49	-1

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

IRL: Several tests on tap

Most of the Indy Racing League drivers tested at a variety of locations this week in preparation for the upcoming season. According to OpenWheelWorld.net, they were:

Watkins Glen International: Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Mario Moraes, Mike Conway, Milka Duno, Justin Wilson and Richard Antinucci.

Richmond International Raceway: Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Dan Wheldon, Raphael Matos and E J Viso.

Chicagoland Speedway: Ed Carpenter (in a Firestone tire test).

Iowa Speedway: Dario Franchitti

Our View: Practice makes perfect, so put a tickle file in your computers for the appropriate week and then watch these drivers closely in open practice sessions when that race rolls around.

More Indy Racing League Newsbreakers

IRL: Texas Results

The off-season trouble is completely behind him. Helio Castroneves won for a third time at Texas Motor Speedway and his 16th overall. He led Ryan Briscoe to the line, but the race was won in the pits when he beat his teammate and rest of the field out on lap 175.

Last year's winner Scott Dixon finished third. In 2008, he started first before winning; this week, he started third, which means he is good at finishing what he starts.

Marco Andretti finished fourth, but was still not pleased. Late in the race, he became unhappy with teammate Danica Patrick for having the effrontery to race with him—guess he's forgotten what sport this is.

Pole sitter Dario Franchitti faded to fifth at the end.

Perhaps the hottest driver on the circuit, however, is Patrick. Her four-race top-five streak came to an end Saturday night, but not by much. She finished sixth, which was her third consecutive top-10 on this track.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	4	Helio Castroneves	228	Running	5.82
2	2	Ryan Briscoe	228	Running	5.67
3	3	Scott Dixon	228	Running	6.33
4	8	Marco Andretti	228	Running	14.00
5	1	Dario Franchitti	228	Running	7.83
6	5	Danica Patrick	228	Running	8.80
7	7	Dan Wheldon	228	Running	8.90
8	16	Tony Kanaan	228	Running	4.89
9	10	Ed Carpenter	228	Running	16.00
10	6	Mario Moraes	227	Running	14.00
11	9	Robert Doornbos	227	Running	11.00
12	15	Raphael Matos	226	Running	12.00
13	18	Tomas Scheckter	226	Running	15.10
14	13	Alex Tagliani	225	Running	14.00
15	17	Justin Wilson	225	Running	21.00
16	23	Ryan Hunter-Reay	225	Running	18.00
17	14	Sarah Fisher	222	Running	14.56
18	24	Jaques Lazier	210	Running	15.00
19	19	Mike Conway	185	Running	19.00
20	22	Anthony Foyt IV	170	Accident	17.75
21	11	Hideki Mutoh	153	Mechanical	13.50
22	12	Graham Rahal	1	Accident	16.50
23	20	Milka Duno	1	Accident	17.00
24	21	E J Viso	1	Accident	19.00

More Indy Racing League Newsbreakers

IRL: Castroneves beats Briscoe

Ryan Briscoe dominated the Bombardier Learjet 550k, but he couldn't quite beat Helio Castroneves to the line when the checkers waved.

Our View: This is Castroneves third Texas victory; he also won in 2004 and 2006; last year, he finished second, which tells fantasy owners he has found the setup on this fast 1.5-mile track.

More Indy Racing League Newsbreakers

IRL: Texas lineup with avg. start/finish

Dario Franchitti won the pole for Saturday night's Bombardier Learjet 550k—his fifth top-10 start on this track in six attempts. His results have been irregular after starting that close to the front, but the other time he started from the pole in 2004, he finished second.

Ryan Briscoe rolls off the grid second, and if his personal history at Texas is an indication that is precisely where he will finish. In 2005, he started and finished 12th in this race. Last year, he finished third after starting on the inside of the second row.

Like Briscoe, Scott Dixon does a good job of finishing what he starts at Texas. His first attempt there came in spring 2003 when he started second and finished sixth. In fall 2003, he started and finished second. In fall 2004, he started fifth and finished sixth. He went from fourth to second in 2006 and last year he won from the pole. He starts third on Saturday.

The king of Texas qualifying, however, may just be Helio Castroneves. In 10 previous attempts, he's never started outside the top 10 and he converted two of those strong starts into victories and another pair of races into runner-up results. He kept that streak alive with a fourth-place start.

Danica Patrick rounds out the top five in fifth, which is her fourth top-10 start in five Texas attempts. In those races, she's never finished worse than 13th and has back-to-back top-10s in 2007/2008.

Lineup with avg. start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Dario Franchitti	8.40	7.40	5
2	Ryan Briscoe	7.50	7.50	2
3	Scott Dixon	6.75	6.50	8
4	Helio Castroneves	6.30	5.70	10
5	Danica Patrick	9.50	7.00	4
6	Mario Moraes	18.00	22.00	1
7	Dan Wheldon	9.11	11.89	9
8	Marco Andretti	17.33	11.67	3
9	Robert Doornbos
10	Ed Carpenter	17.00	15.43	7
11	Hideki Mutoh	6.00	4.00	1
12	Graham Rahal	11.00	18.00	1
13	Alex Tagliani
14	Sarah Fisher	14.25	17.88	8
15	Raphael Matos
16	Tony Kanaan	4.50	7.50	8
17	Justin Wilson	27.00	23.00	1
18	Tomas Scheckter	15.33	6.00	9
19	Mike Conway
20	Milka Duno	14.00	23.00	2
21	E J Viso	14.00	28.00	1
22	Anthony Foyt IV	17.43	16.43	7
23	Ryan Hunter-Reay	20.00	10.00	1
24	Jacques Lazier

More Indy Racing League Newsbreakers

IRL: Milwaukee Results

Scott Dixon improved last year's Milwaukee result by only one position, but it was the one that counted. In this race last year, he finished second, but he was not going to be denied in 2009. He took the lead from Ryan Briscoe on lap 201 and then scooted out to a 2.13 second lead; Briscoe held on for second.

If you chose to do this one by the number, it was an uneven day. Tony Kanaan entered the weekend with the best average finish during the last five Milwaukee races, but he crashed early on lap 12 and finished 20th. On the other hand, Dario Franchitti had the second best average finish during that span and he managed to finish third.

Graham Rahal and Danica Patrick rounded out the top five.

Results, with career avg. finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	4	Scott Dixon	225	Running	6.00
2	1	Ryan Briscoe	225	Running	7.00
3	8	Dario Franchitti	225	Running	2.80
4	2	Graham Rahal	225	Running	14.50
5	7	Danica Patrick	225	Running	9.00
6	9	Raphael Matos	225	Running	6.00
7	13	Marco Andretti	225	Running	12.00
8	6	Hideki Mutoh	224	Running	10.00
9	5	Mario Moraes	224	Running	16.00
10	14	Dan Wheldon	224	Running	8.00
11	20	Helio Castroneves	222	Running	12.33
12	18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	222	Running	13.50
13	10	Tomas Scheckter	222	Running	11.40
14	12	Robert Doornbos	220	Running	14.00
15	15	Justin Wilson	219	Running	11.00
16	19	Ed Carpenter	219	Running	13.67
17	16	Paul Tracy	219	Running	17.00
18	17	E J Viso	175	Mechanical	13.00
19	11	Mike Conway	55	Mechanical	20.00
20	3	Tony Kanaan	12	Accident	5.50
21	21	Stanton Barrett	0	DNQ

IRL: Milwaukee Lineup

The lineup is set for Sunday's ABC Supply Co. 225 and Ryan Briscoe is picking up where he left off last year—at the front of the pack. This track has not always been kind to him with a 22nd in 2005 and an 18th in 2006, but after taking 2007 off, he won last year.

Graham Rahal will start to his outside, which is the same position he started last year. Unfortunately, he ran into trouble in that race and finished 25th.

The driver with the best five-year average finish will start in third. Tony Kanaan has won twice and finished fourth or better at Milwaukee since 2004, so he has to be considered a favorite for your fantasy roster.

Lineup

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Ryan Briscoe	9.50	14.00	2
2	Graham Rahal	25.00	2.00	1
3	Tony Kanaan	2.60	4.80	5
4	Scott Dixon	7.25	8.00	4
5	Mario Moraes	23.00	23.00	1
6	Hideki Mutoh	12.00	14.00	1
7	Danica Patrick	10.00	12.50	4
8	Dario Franchitti	2.75	9.25	4
9	Raphael Matos
10	Tomas Scheckter	11.00	8.00	4
11	Mike Conway
12	Robert Doornbos
13	Marco Andretti	13.67	6.00	3
14	Dan Wheldon	7.60	9.40	5
15	Justin Wilson	7.00	22.00	1
16	Paul Tracy
17	E J Viso	8.00	10.00	1
18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	15.00	12.00	1
19	Ed Carpenter	13.20	12.40	5
20	Helio Castroneves	12.60	2.80	5
DNQ	Stanton Barrett

IRL: Briscoe on Milwaukee pole

Ryan Briscoe will lead the field to green at the Milwaukee Mile after posting a four-lap average speed of 168.394.

Our View: In three previous starts, Briscoe has an average finish of only 13.7, but fantasy owners should be more concerned with the fact that he's the defending winner of this race.

Complete Lineup

IRL: The Granddaddy of Them all

Event Day Games Preview: When NASCAR was just a gleam in Big Bill France's eye, America already had one of the biggest sports events in the World—the Indy 500.

Memorial Day is one of the best days in auto racing. Get up early to watch the Monaco Grand Prix, grab a second cup of coffee, and then fire up your cell phones to play Event Day Games' first-ever IRL contest. We just couldn't help becoming part of the 93rd running of this great American race.

The Indy 500 is so big that the Indy Racing League takes the entire month of May to prepare for it and the drama has already started. Helio Castroneves drew first blood by winning the pole over his Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe. The front row is crowded with Chip Ganassi's Dario Franchitti lined up to the outside of this amazing three-abreast configuration and watching them barrel down into turn one is hair raising.

Further back in the field, equal rights are alive and well as Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno locked up more than 25 percent of the field for women drivers. Fisher starts 21st and has the most experience of the group as she competes in her eighth Indy 500, but Patrick has better odds since she rolls off the grid 10th.

Join us at http://www.eventdaygames.com/ this week to play along with our unique fantasy game.