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: 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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Week 27 Unified Power Rankings

Jenson Button and Tony Stewart kept their positions atop the Unified Power Rankings. Button's number one spot is unchanged because Formula 1 had the week off, but Stewart only enhanced his second-place position with a solid fifth-place finish at New Hampshire—his fifth consecutive result of seventh or better. These two drivers have redefined the concept of place-and-hold.

Mark Webber also jumped up the grid, improving his rank from 10th to third. How is that possible with the series going idle? The Power Ranking formula looks at the last 90 days for a snapshot of how drivers are performing right now, and that means that Webber's 12th-place finish in the ING Australian Grand Prix is no longer held against him. Since that race, he has posted five top-fives in seven races—including three runner-up results.

Dario Franchitti also climbed the charts from eighth to fourth on the strength of his solid second-place run on the short track in Richmond. In his last four Indy short track starts, that's his worst result after winning the other three. Chip Ganassi fans should be quite proud of the organization; last week they finished 1-2, and Scott Dixon—the winner of the SunTrust Indy Challenge—settled in right behind Franchitti in fifth.

It was a great weekend for Brad Keselowski. He competed in the Nationwide and Cup series and earned accolades in both. A third-place finish in the Camping World RV Sales 200 was his fifth consecutive top-five, which easily makes him the best Nationwide Regular in the game. He also finished sixth in Cup competition and while that may have been aided by rain, the points pay the same to fantasy owners.

Ron Hornaday Jr. is slowly making his way back up the grid. With back-to-back victories at Milwaukee and Memphis, he's improved 10 positions and lands 32nd on our chart. That may not seem like much, but only two weeks ago he was in danger of falling out of the top 50. Better still, he is in striking distance of the highest ranked Camping World Truck Series driver—Matt Crafton. In the last three months, Crafton has finished worse than seventh only once, and consistency is often more important than raw strength in fantasy games.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	106.71	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	99.62	2	0
3	Mark Webber	93.14	10	7
4	Dario Franchitti	92.63	8	4
5	Scott Dixon	88.13	12	7
6	Kurt Busch	86.75	13	7
7	Brad Keselowski	86.39	14	7
8	Rubens Barrichello	86.29	9	1
9	Jimmie Johnson	86.25	7	-2
10	Erik Darnell	84.83	16	6
11	Joey Logano	83.36	27	16
12	Helio Castroneves	82.57	3	-9
13	Ryan Briscoe	82.50	4	-9
14	Greg Biffle	82.50	22	8
15	Kyle Busch	82.44	18	3
16	Jeff Gordon	82.25	17	1
17	Mark Martin	82.15	5	-12
18	Jason Leffler	81.77	6	-12
19	Danica Patrick	81.75	15	-4
20	Sebastian Vettel	81.43	32	12
21	Carl Edwards	80.96	21	0
22	Ryan Newman	80.13	11	-11
23	Matt Kenseth	79.25	25	2
24	Juan Montoya	78.17	26	2
25	Dan Wheldon	78.00	24	-1
26	Denny Hamlin	77.08	19	-7
27	Matt Crafton	76.86	20	-7
28	Kasey Kahne	74.92	31	3
29	Timo Glock	74.43	23	-6
30	Nico Rosberg	73.29	30	0
31	Stephen Leicht	73.00		NR
32	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.38	40	8
33	Jeff Burton	70.88	28	-5
34	Steve Wallace	70.33	37	3
35	David Reutimann	70.29	33	-2
36	Brian Vickers	69.18	42	6
37	Felipe Massa	68.86	63	26
38	Marco Andretti	68.38	34	-4
39	Justin Allgaier	68.00	36	-3
40	Jason Keller	67.92	38	-2
41	Tayler Malsam	67.71	41	0
42	Tony Kanaan	67.63	35	-7
43	Fernando Alonso	67.00	29	-14
44	Sam Hornish Jr	67.00	52	8
45	Kimi Raikkonen	66.71	57	12
46	Johnny Sauter	66.57	59	13
47	Jamie McMurray	66.50	44	-3
48	Colin Braun	65.71	76	28
49	Tomas Scheckter	65.40		NR
50	Dale Earnhardt Jr	65.13	39	-11

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 26
Week 25
Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

IRL: SunTrust Indy Challenge Results, with avg. finish

It was a good day for Chip Ganassi. His racers ran away from the field and finished first and second at Richmond International Raceway. The victory was Scott Dixon's 19th career win in IRL competition, which ties him with Sam Hornish Jr. for the most in the series. With Ganassi and Roger Penske dominating the Indy Racing League for the moment, it's a fair bet that he will sit alone at the top before long.

Dario Franchitti led most of the race, but was beaten in the pits on the final stop. In dirty air on a 0.750-mile track, he was never able to get around Dixon and recorded his worst IRL short track finish in his last four attempts—he won the three previous.

Danica Patrick continues to be one of the hottest drivers in the series. With a fifth-place finish at Richmond, she recorded her seventh consecutive top-10, of which five were also top-fives. She's been great on the ovals, but the series now turns its attention to a string of road and street courses. There is some hope; the last time the IRL was on a twisty track was at Long Beach and Patrick kicked off her streak with a fourth there after starting deep in the field in 22nd.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	2	Scott Dixon	300	Running	6.86
2	1	Dario Franchitti	300	Running	4.00
3	5	Graham Rahal	300	Running	10.50
4	8	Hideki Mutoh	300	Running	8.50
5	10	Danica Patrick	300	Running	8.40
6	17	Tony Kanaan	299	Running	8.29
7	16	Marco Andretti	299	Running	8.00
8	6	Raphael Matos	299	Running	8.00
9	12	Robert Doornbos	299	Running	9.00
10	13	Dan Wheldon	299	Running	5.71
11	9	Tomas Scheckter	299	Running	9.71
12	7	E J Viso	299	Running	11.00
13	14	Ed Carpenter	299	Running	11.67
14	15	Justin Wilson	298	Running	10.50
15	18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	298	Running	15.50
16	19	Mario Moraes	297	Running	16.50
17	3	Helio Castroneves	245	Accident	7.88
18	11	Mike Conway	135	Accident	18.00
19	4	Ryan Briscoe	26	Accident	18.33
20	20	Jaques Lazier	0	Accident	18.33

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IRL: Ganassi guys finish 1-2

Scott Dixon beat Dario Franchitti off pit road in the final pit stop and that was all it took. Dixon held onto the lead and beat his teammate to the checkered flag by mere car-lengths.

Our View: Earlier in the day, Gibbs' guys Kyle Busch and Joey Logano finished first and second, but it wasn't all rosy for teammates. Both Penske drivers crashed out of the IRL race.

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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

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IRL: Iowa lineup with avg. start/finish

It was a tough day at Iowa Speedway as persistent weepers in the track canceled qualification. The Indy Racing League did their dead-level best to get the session in the books, but could never send more than two cars out without stopping the action. That forced them to set the lineup by owner points, which places Helio Castroneves on the pole. That is familiar territory; in two previous starts on this track, he's started second on average, but doesn't have nearly as good a record in race trim. In two races at Iowa, he's finished eighth and 14th.

Scott Dixon starts second and he would seem to be a much better value. In his two starts, he's started on the pole in both events. He's swept the top-10 on this track, but the greater recommendation is that he swept the top five on the IRL's short tracks last year with a fourth in Iowa and a third at Richmond.

The best value this week, however, is Dario Franchitti. In his last two short track races, he swept victory lane at Iowa and Richmond in 2007. He rolls off the grid fourth.

Lineup with avg. start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Helio Castroneves	11.00	2.00	2
2	Ryan Briscoe	7.00	5.00	1
3	Scott Dixon	7.00	1.00	2
4	Dario Franchitti	1.00	3.00	1
5	Danica Patrick	9.50	8.50	2
6	Dan Wheldon	6.00	6.00	2
7	Tony Kanaan	17.00	5.50	2
8	Marco Andretti	2.50	10.00	2
9	Graham Rahal	10.00	16.00	1
10	Justin Wilson	12.00	20.00	1
11	Hideki Mutoh	2.00	7.00	1
12	Raphael Matos
13	Ed Carpenter	14.50	7.00	2
14	Robert Doornbos
15	Mario Moraes	19.00	24.00	1
16	Tomas Scheckter	19.00	14.00	1
17	Ryan Hunter-Reay	8.00	14.00	1
18	E J Viso	13.00	13.00	1
19	Mike Conway
20	Jaques Lazier

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IRL: Dixon tops first practice at Iowa

Scott Dixon posted the fastest lap in Iowa's first practice session, according to a tweet from @IndyCarPR.

Our View: In his last three races on IRL short tracks, Dixon has swept the top five. He finished fourth at Iowa and third at Richmond last year, so he definitely deserves a spot on your roster.

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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

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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

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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: Dixon wins Milwaukee

Scott Dixon scooted past Ryan Briscoe on lap 201 and then stretched his advantage to 2.13 seconds before the end of the ABC Supply 225, according to IndyCar.com.

Our View: Briscoe held onto second, while Dario Franchitti and Graham Rahal finished third and fourth respectively.

IRL: 11 locked in to Indy 500

In the first day of qualification, 11 drivers have been locked into the Indy 500. Led by pole sitter Helio Castroneves, Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe is in the middle of the first row and Chip Ganassi's Dario Franchitti is on the outside of that row.

Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan make up row two.

Mario Moraes, Marco Andretti and Will Power make up row three.

And finally, Danica Patrick and Alex Lloyd will take the inside and middle of row four. The rest of the field will be filled on Sunday and next Saturday.

Our View: Castroneves has bragging rights, but the remainder of the field can rest easier knowing they will start near the front of the field.

IRL: Indianapolis Avg. Finishes

Want to dominate your IndyCar league? It never hurts to plan ahead and here is a list of the average finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the IRL during the last five years. Dario Franchitti, with an average of 7.0 and Scott Dixon at 8.2, but Vitor Meira cannot be counted out of posting his first top-five of the season. He tops this list with an average finish of 6.0 in his last five starts and he came up one position short last year behind Dixon.

Indianapolis Average Finish
Last Five Years

Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg Start	Attempts
Vitor Meira	6.00	9.40	5
Dario Franchitti	7.00	7.25	4
Michael Andretti	8.00	12.00	2
Scott Dixon	8.20	7.00	5
Dan Wheldon	8.40	5.80	5
Scott Sharp	8.75	10.75	4
Bryan Herta	9.00	19.00	3
Marco Andretti	9.67	14.00	3
Helio Castroneves	10.00	4.00	5
Danica Patrick	10.50	6.75	4
Adrian Fernandez	10.50	10.00	2
Tony Kanaan	11.20	3.80	5
Davey Hamilton	11.50	19.00	2
Ryan Briscoe	12.67	11.33	3
Alex Barron	13.33	24.00	3
Sam Hornish Jr	13.50	4.75	4
Kosuke Matsuura	14.75	10.25	4
Buddy Rice	15.00	12.00	4
Ed Carpenter	15.00	15.60	5
Buddy Lazier	15.20	23.20	5
Townsend Bell	16.00	13.50	2
Roger Yasukawa	16.25	20.00	4
Felipe Giaffone	17.00	26.33	3
Anthony Foyt IV	17.50	24.50	2
Bruno Junqueira	18.33	10.33	3
Tomas Scheckter	19.20	10.60	5
Jeff Simmons	19.50	23.00	4
Jaques Lazier	20.00	26.33	3
Darren Manning	20.75	15.75	4
Al Unser Jr	22.33	23.00	3
Richie Hearn	22.67	27.33	3
Sarah Fisher	23.00	20.67	3
John Andretti	23.00	22.50	2
P J Jones	23.50	31.50	2
Milka Duno	25.00	28.00	2
Jeff Bucknam	27.00	21.50	2
Marty Roth	28.75	31.00	4
A J Foyt IV	30.50	24.50	2
Larry Foyt	31.67	25.00	3

IRL: Ganassi has Dynamic Duo

Chip Ganassi will enter the last two champions of the Indy 500 (Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti) in this year's edition of that race, according to IndyCar.com.

Our View: That is certainly a dream team that makes him hard to overlook for your IndyCar fantasy team.