AGR bounce back in practice

Dario Franchitti and Marco Andretti had the fastest laps during practice sessions in preparation for Sunday's ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225. Franchitti, whose IRL resume includes a victory and a runner-up finish at Milwaukee in the past two years, had the fastest lap of the day during the first practice session, in which AGR had the top three positions on the speed chart.

Andretti followed Franchitti's lap of 21.5691 seconds - 169.409 mph - with a lap of 21.5839 seconds - 169.293 mph - during the second session. Overall, AGR cars took four of the five fastest laps of the day.

"This is a track that's more to our liking, and we might have a chance at racing with some of the other cars that have been up front this year," Franchitti said.

"There are a lot of strong cars out there, but the Andretti-Green foursome has a reasonably good chance."

Because of the size of the track, the team's history of success here, and its test session at the flat mile oval last week, AGR might have the edge it needs to topple Marlboro Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing, who have combined to win all nine IRL IndyCar Series races so far.

"The shorter track should help us," Andretti said. "Balance comes into play here instead of speed. Then again, I thought Nashville was going to be good for us, but it didn't turn out that way.

"It's so tight. We just have to stay on top of conditions and be ready to go Sunday."

One thing is known: drivers will face much more favorable conditions this time than they did last year, when the temperature hit 97 degrees and the track became treacherously slick. This time, the temperature is expected to top out in the mid 70s to low 80s.

"It was a long day at the office last year," said Franchitti, who finished second last year behind Penske's Sam Hornish Jr. "The balance of the car particularly in turn two, became an issue."

Following Franchitti and Andretti on the speed chart was Vitor Meira, who was clocked at 21.6135 seconds (169.061 mph) in the Panther Racing Dallara. AGR duo Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta completed the top five on combined times..

The only accident on Friday was a spin and minor contact with the wall by Dreyer & Reinbold's Ryan Briscoe during the first session. He was not injured, but did not run in the afternoon.

Second practice times:

Pos  Driver             Team                  Time
 1.  Marco Andretti     Andretti-Green     21.5839
 2.  Vitor Meira        Panther            21.6135
 3.  Tomas Scheckter    Vision             21.7602
 4.  Bryan Herta        Andretti-Green     21.7721
 5.  Jeff Bucknum       Foyt               21.8430
 6.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi            21.8578
 7.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi            21.8949
 8.  Buddy Rice         Rahal-Letterman    21.9254
 9.  Scott Sharp        Fernandez          21.9511
10.  Kosuke Matsuura    Aguri Fernandez    21.9894
11.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti-Green     22.0267
12.  Sam Hornish Jr     Penske             22.1903
13.  Danica Patrick     Rahal-Letterman    22.1971
14.  Ed Carpenter       Vision             22.3501
15.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti-Green     22.4360
16.  Helio Castroneves  Penske             22.6133
17.  Jeff Simmons       Rahal-Letterman    22.7988
18.  Ryan Briscoe       Dreyer & Reinbold