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Briscoe heads busy Thursday practice

A break in the weather Thursday led to a busy day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Ryan Briscoe led the way as drivers and teams took advantage of the first full practice session in more than a week, recording in one day nearly two-thirds of the laps they had previously recorded this month.

Briscoe was clocked at 223.708 mph in the No. 6 Team Penske Honda/Dallara, a shade faster than his teammate Helio Castroneves. It was the first time in a week that someone other than the Target Chip Ganassi drivers had been atop the speed charts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It also marked the first time that the 11 drivers already in the field were able to run for extended periods alongside the drivers who haven't qualified.

"A lot of guys are running full race preparation now, as we are," Briscoe said. "We try to be a little careful around the guys who aren't qualified, because you never know. They might be doing a low fuel run and could run out of fuel or something like that.

"When you start running close, you're looking more for the guys who are already qualified, but we're able to run pretty confidently around the guys who aren't."

Thirty-five cars were on the track Thursday, recording 2,628 laps during the six-hour session. That's 61 percent of the total laps turned between May 4 and Wednesday.

"I'm not sure we got everything we needed, but we certainly went through a lot of tests," said Tomas Scheckter, who was among the top five Thursday. "We got some laps in and will look at it tonight and see. Maybe we'll come out with a better car tomorrow."

Among others showing speed Thursday was pole winner Scott Dixon, who has been strong throughout the month and had the third-best lap of the day at 223.192 mph in the No. 9 Ganassi Honda/Dallara. Fourth-fastest was Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan, followed by Luczo Dragon's Scheckter.

Will Power showed some of the best speed of the month by a transitioning Champ Car team, posting the sixth-quickest lap of the day in the No. 8 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara.

"It's been interesting so far," Power said of his first Indy 500. "It was good for us to get so much running time. We need it on the ovals. To finish the race would mean a lot to me. I've enjoyed every moment of it so far."

Almost everyone eschewed qualifying simulations Thursday for long, full-tank stints. Dan Wheldon was the busiest of the bunch, circling the 2.5-mile track 109 times. Others who put in more than 250 miles included John Andretti, who has showed speed in the No. 24 Roth Racing Honda/Dallara, and AGR teammates Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti.

"We had a tough day today, but you have those days at the Speedway," Marco Andretti said. "We had the same balance problem all day today, no matter what we seemed to throw at it. We have to hit the books tonight and work as a team to see what we can do to make the car handle a bit better."

The session was surprisingly clean, considering the amount of traffic and the cold temperature. Nobody spun, and only six cautions were needed in six hours - three of them for debris, two for track inspections and one for light rain.

Practice resumes Friday at noon ET, the final day before Saturday's busy qualifying session, in which the remaining 22 positions on the starting grid will be filled. Only the first 11 positions have been filled so far.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Speed
 1.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               223.708 mph
 2.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               223.284 mph
 3.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              223.192 mph
 4.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green       222.880 mph
 5.  Tomas Scheckter    Luczo Dragon         222.804 mph
 6.  Will Power         KV                   222.657 mph
 7.  John Andretti      Roth                 222.474 mph
 8.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       222.411 mph
 9.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi              222.378 mph
10.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne           222.303 mph
11.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold    222.252 mph
12.  EJ Viso            HVM                  222.108 mph
13.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       221.850 mph
14.  Vitor Meira        Panther              221.763 mph
15.  Jeff Simmons       AJ Foyt              221.370 mph
16.  Alex Lloyd         Rahal Letterman      221.274 mph
17.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  221.261 mph
18.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green       221.129 mph
19.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               220.920 mph
20.  Townsend Bell      Dreyer & Reinbold    220.855 mph
21.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  220.836 mph
22.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne           220.787 mph
23.  Oriol Servia       KV                   220.729 mph
24.  Darren Manning     AJ Foyt              220.723 mph
25.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest             220.579 mph
26.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold    220.416 mph
27.  Davey Hamilton     Vision               220.190 mph
28.  Mario Dominguez    Pacific Coast        219.929 mph
29.  Max Papis          Schmidt              219.920 mph
30.  Marty Roth         Roth                 219.634 mph
31.  Sarah Fisher       Sarah Fisher         219.571 mph
32.  A.J. Foyt IV       Vision               219.510 mph
33.  Jaime Camara       Conquest             219.248 mph
34.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Dreyer & Reinbold    218.400 mph
35.  Roger Yasukawa     Beck                 217.490 mph

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