The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 24

SATURDAY MAVi 2010 iVAUrb RACING THE KANSAS CITY STAR S' V- KANSAS SPEEDWAY BUZZ J- 'i 1 l- 1 4 1 j- vi s' ArpTa -A -'v" 3 ymi A a mzMtwr IMple championship An Inform stray of IZDD IndyCar Saties cMvanaskad about thaiwwfomnt that h' sttuted separate oval and noihonl champion-snips vnunimv own writs championship Points laadir WB Potosn 1 fokrs a good idea bacauso them are certain drlvm who an very good on ovab and not so good on road courses and vice versfci think ultimately everyone wants to win foe ovaral championship but ft makes la MtN more Danica Patrick: ms aacked when I heard that Just adds another dknenskm to the series I hate to say Ifl make the competition awn tighten but mom up for grabs al the time now was definitely something good for me to VKor Moire: Oka kuery much ft mom exposum gives the smaBer teams the baneflt to focus on something instead of having to focus on the whole championship you can focus on one side of yyMt 4 vf1- V- -5- A 'y-' 4 'Jr sT sSfv' MSc-T 7 PMtskd driver Mts pact In qualifying for Road Runner Turbo Indy SOQ By RANDY COVITZ The Kansas City Star Ryan Briscoe had a lot to think about as the 26th of 27 drivers qualifying for Road Runner Thrbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway As he sat strapped in his car toward the end of qualifying session Briscoe heard the public-address announcer introduce Scott Dixon "Certainly the adrenaline was going while I was sitting there listening them introduce Briscoe said "and I heard them say got 16 (career) poles and he's going for Noil? said that And it didn't Briscoe driving for Team Penske ripped off a fastest lap of 2 12 145 mpn and won his first pole of the season and ninth of his career not to mention a $1(1000 bonus Dixon who won last year's race at Kansas Speedway for Tkrget Chip Ganassi Racing will sit in the second position after qualifying at 211298 mph "We anticipated that Scott would be the one to beat for the pole looking at his practice this Briscoe said Indeed Dixon posted the fastest time of 212694 in Friday's practice which was pushed back from a scheduled 10 am start to 230 because of rain Briscoe was right behind at 212104 When qualifying began at 5:15 Dixon whip was the 21st driver to take the track was ready to qualify for the first oval race of the season after four streetroad course events "The weather changed things to- JIM BARCUS I THE KANSAS PTV STAR Ryan Briscoe (left) had a big smile on his face after turning In the fastest qualifying apead on Friday Golden oldies This weekend's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will mark the fust time in the history of Kevin Harvick Inc that the team has two drivers older than SO years old in its entries Defending series champion Ron Hom-aday SI will be joined by Ken Schrader 54 who will drive the No 2 Chevrolet in place of I larvick who is in Richmond Va for the Sprint Cup series Together Homaday and Schrader have made 345 truck series tarts with 46 wins formance as last year and maybe a bit of luck on our side well see what happens" Dixon meanwhile exudes confidence at Kansas Speedway where he has three straight top-four finishes has been a standout for our said Dixon a two-time series champion "We try to crane here every year hoping we can have a great result and getting some good points and going into the month of May ifs always good for team morale and some confidence When Kansas pops up on the schedule ifs always a nice place to come for To reach Randy Covitz sand t-maH to rcovKztSfccstarcom Briscoe feels he has some unfinished business at Kansas Speedway He led S3 laps in last race before losing the lead with 46 laps to go and settled for fourth place "Last year was a great race for me" Dixon said were unlucky Coining into the last pit stop a yellow came out as we were committed and we weren't allowed to make our stop so we had to drive through the pits and lost a bunch of track position "You never know what would have happened But we were definitely a contender last year for the win improved our qualifying performance so if 1 can have at least as good a race as far as per said Dixon who won poles at Kansas Speedway in 2003 and 2008 "The car felt really good We made some minor changes and we seemed to gain a little bit from the first part of the practice session to the end part "You could tell right from the start it was going to be Briscoe and probably my teammate Dario (Franchitti) would be fighting for the Franchitti was fourth (211236 mph) behind two-time Kansas winner Dan Whekfon (21L242) But Whekfon and Marco Andretti who had qualified 11th were penalizing fat driving below the white line and will start today's race from the rear of the pack Drivers visit McDonald House Trucks series drivers Todd Botfint Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter visited the Ronald McDonald House of Kansas City on Friday They met (amides at the house and defiwmd supplies fbrtho playground being built next month by The NASCAR Foundation The playground wM be dedicated In honor of Tom Murphy a former Sprint executive and NASCAR Foundation board member who was killed when a boulder struck Ns car in Colorado last year On Sunday 75 temfty members and volunteers from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City wi attend the PReMy Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN INDY 300 1 Hungry former champs 4 Back to victory lane Ten years at Kansas This weekend marks the 10th season of NASCAR and IndyCar racing at Kansas Speedway and defending trucks series champion Mike Skinner remembers pulling up at the track in 2001 "When they first built this place I'll be honest my first impression was 'Oh boy here we go another cookie-cutter mile-and-a-half race track' said Skinner who has made two Sprint Cup and six trucks starts at Kansas Speedway the years 1 think this racetrack has gained its own personality and I love this place" For some rookies the term is relative Japan's Takuma 5ato 33 is making his oval debut but ha has 90 Formula One starts England's AJex Uoyd won the 2007 Indy Pro Series championship and ran In the Indianapolis 500 in 2008 and 2009 Brazil's Mark) Romandni had two victories in last year's Firestone Indy Lights Series Belgian driver Bertrand Baguette was champion of last years World Series of Renault in Europe De SHvestro comes from the Atlantic Series and two years ago became the second woman to win a raca in tha developmental series She led four laps at the Indy season opener at Sao Paula England's Jay Howard la making his season debut Ha was the 2006 Indy Pro Series winner Joining Howard hi their first races of the season are Ns teammate Sarah Fisher and John Andretti seconds is the third-dosest finish in IndyCar Series history 2 Women drivers History wHi be made today For the first time in series history four women drivers wHi start an oval race Three are Kansas Speedway regulars Danica Patrick Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno Simona de Silvestro makes it a quartet The Swiss-bom de Silvestro is making her IndyCar debut this season and today wilt mark her first race on an oval 3 New faces Kansas 10th IndyCar race wil in some ways feel like the first Six circuit rookies will start the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 and two more will be making their season debut The team that is bringing foe latest series victory to Kansas Speedway isot Target Chip Ganassi or Tsam Penske Its Andretti Autosport which collected its first victory In two years when Ryan Hunter-Rsay dominated two weeks ago at Long Beach The outcome gave Michael Andretti his first victory as foe team's sole owner The Andretti team has 35 career Indy victorias 5 Power up With two victories in four events this season Will Power is the points' leader But the question remains can ha -or any of the king of foe road courses win on an oval? I Blair Ktrkhoff bfcerifooffkcstercom It's been a while between sips from the victory chalice for two of the most successful drivers on the IndyCar circuit former series champions Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan Both are looking for their first triumphs since 2008 Counting the first four road-course events this season it's been 29 races between victories for Whekfon and 28 for Kanaan Whekfon and Kanaan have both won at Kansas Speedway Whekfon had back-to-back victories in 2007-08 and Kanaan won in 2005 But nobody is more victory-starved then another driver who has known success at Kansas Vitor Meira Ifs been 101 starts without a first-place finish for Meira but he's finished in the top 10 in four of seven starts at Kansas and his second-place finish to Buddy Rice in 2004 by 0051 Rookie gets loose IndyCar rookie Mario Romandni crashed Into the wall hi turn four after a thrae-quartar spin He need help leaving his car and was checked and released from the infield hospital The crash took Romandni out of qualifying 1 was in traffic and got loose and was too lata to try and save ft" Romandni said a shame I wont be able to qualify Hopefuky wel be able to fix the car for (today)" IndyCar race might face a crunch No Foyt for race Meira is on his own today Weil not really on his own The AJ Foyt Enterprises team will be there just not the legendary owner The Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 falls on Kentucky Derby day and Foyt will be watching a different kind of horsepower giMd side is he feels comfortable and that's not normally the kind of gamble AJ would Meira said "But he feels comfortable with the quality of people that he has put I Randy Covitzrcovitz a kcstarcom and Blair Ktrkhoff bkerkhoffakcstercom THIS WEEKEND AT KANSAS SPEEDWA TODAY mu Parking lots opan ajRj Grandstand gates opan 40:10 am: NASCAR Camping World Thick Sarits practiea 10-SO aja-aaoa: NASCAR Campmg World Truck Sariat practice 1230 pm: IZOD IndyCar Series driver introductions 1 mu IZOD IndyCar Series Road Runnar Turbo Indy 300 kSSpnu NASCAR Camping World Truck Sorias qualifying SUNDAY 0 ajRj Parking lots opan 1 ajiu Grandstand gates open 0 ajiu Cross over gates opan for TVack Pass hokters 1030 au Prarace conoart 1130 am: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Introductions Naoa: NASCAR Camping World Thick Series Ofteilly Auto Parts 250 Open-wheel race will have scheduling Issues after aecond Cup race debuts By RANDY COVITZ The Kansas City Star The future of IZOD IndyCar series racing at Kansas Speedway could be in question when a second NASCAR Sprint Cup race is awarded to the facility as soon as 2011 Lesa France Kennedy chief executive officer for International Speedway parent company of Kansas Speedway as well as a vice rhainnan of NASCAR pledged that she would request a second Cup date from NASCAR as a condition for the state's approving the Hollywood Casino So if the second Cup weekend is awarded this spring it's possible the IndyCar Series could be squeezed out unless it returns to foe early July date that it occupied from 2001 to 2006 a schedule that led to fen complaints about summer heat "We're in the middle of an extensive analysis of both NASCAR schedules as well as IndyCar" Roger VanDerSnick ISC executive vice president and chief operating officer said after ceremonial groundbreaking for the Hollywood Casino here the new CEO (of the Indy Racing League) and we had a nice visit talking about the future: in the motor sports business While we derive most of our profits from NASCAR we want to promote successful IndyCar races toa" The Sprint Cup and IndyCar series have never run as companion races rat die same weekend at the same track but that might be considered for Kansas Speedway something we would be willing to take a look VanDerSnick said "We would want to talk to a lot of other people NASCAR would have an opinion about that But it's something ties 250 In the past fens had to buy a complete season ticket that included not only both the IndyCar race and the trucks race but the fell Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series events very encouraged by what this weekend is going to be" VanDerSnick said "This is a new ticket package and going to have I think a very strong crowd VanDerSnick said the new ticket package was implemented in part to measure the appetite for opeiwvhee! raring as well as stock-car racing got to the point where over a period of tiro and in combination with the economy we saw the buyers fell into different he said would say more ardent stock-car fay than more ardent open-wheel faw and still a large number of fens who want both We had to design our ticket package offerings to deal with each of those sepnents" When die IndyCar Series and trucks ran in Juty Kansas Speedway officials unsuccessfully requested ISC to install lights for night racing If the IndyCan were to return to a summer date VanDerSnick was not optimistic about night raring at the track "putt part of our VanDerSnick said "As we work through our schedule part of it is we may need to run at night But go ing be cautious about running in the heat of the summer here While the racing is OK St night everybody comes hours before and it's hot so we're grang to mindful of that The weather extremes here are amazing You lave the cold of Michigan and itli hotter here than Daytona Beach in July Wfere getting to be experts in your weather patterns We know how early we can go hi April tad how late we can go in October and we need to try to figure how we wotk it out" IRL Road Runntr Turbo Indy 300 lineup After Friday'S qualifying Raca today at Kansas Spatdway AN cars are DalUra-Honda (Car numbar in punthesas) Start (No) Driver 1 (6) Ryan Briscoe 2 (9) Scott Dixon 3 (10) Dario Franchitti 4 (06) Hkteki Mutoh 5 (77) Alax Tagliani 6 (14) Vitor Meira 7 (12) Will Powar 8 (3) Heiio Castroneves 9 (7) Danica Patrick 10 (24) Mike Conway 1L (5) Takuma Sato 12 (32) Mario Moraes 13 (2) Raphael Matos 14 (67) Sarah Fisher 15 (11) Tony Kanaan 16(8) LI Vito 17 (43) John Andretti 18 (78) Simona de Skvestro 19 (36) Bertrand Baguette 2a (22) Justin Wilson 2L (66) Jay Howard 22 (37) Ryan Hunter-Reay 23 (19) Alex Lloyd 24 (18) MJIka Duno x-25 (4) Dan Whekfon x-26 (26) Marco Andretti 27 (34) Mario Romandni -mute No 4WwwiMM 2tMen MOMU MO amt Qualifying 212145 no no no oumms cm spaad mph 21L298 20236 20039 210687 210675 210672 210467 210429 210336 210635 210186 209912 209668 209744 209700 209684 209397 209344 209168 208752 208688 208325 207614 speed speed speed we should probably Bernard in just his third month on the job with the IRL hac already shown he's not afhud to make changes in the IndyCar Series very optimistic that have some peat events with ISC in the future and change it up and do some things hopefully outside the box" Bernard said "We have to be very aggressive" ISC also is pondering whether the ticket-buying market codd bear the cost of three separate big-time race weekends This is the first year Kansas Speedway broke up- its season-ticket package allowing fens to make separate buys for today's Road Runner Tiubo Indy 300 and Sundayk NASCAR Camping Wbrid Thicks Se 11 A S3-.