Day 5: Kanaan tops 229mph

Kanaan admitted he got a huge tow from Jimmy Vasser and Alex Barron on his quickest laps. But he added two more laps in the high 228-mph range as he ran a simulated qualifying run late in the day.

"Everybody is drafting," Kanaan remarked. "I don't believe you're going to see more than a 228 average on Pole Day. I think you'll see two very good laps and then the speeds will drop off from 0.5 to 1mph. My goal is to have four laps that are within 0.5 mph of each other.

"Everybody is fighting a lot of push and it's not the track," he added. "You have four corners here and it puts a lot of heat into the tyres. To be fast, you have to set your car up very loose and hang on for the first couple of laps until it develops a bit of push and gets a better balance. When you don't have a good car here, it's not comfortable at all."

Kenny Brack was second fastest on the day at 229.025mph, followed by Helio Castroneves at 228.736mph. Brack's Ganassi Racing team-mates Jeff Ward and Bruno Junqueira rounded out the top five, both at 228.5mph.

Johnny Herbert was 20th fastest, reaching the 225mph mark as he continues to get up to speed for his first oval race.

Mark Dismore produced the only crash of the day, the Indiana native suffering a concussion after backing into the SAFER barrier system in Turn 1. Tomas Scheckter also brought out the yellow when his Infiniti engine suffered a massive blow-up.

Tony Kanaan, G-Force-Chevrolet, 39.2152s, 229.503mph
Kenny Bräck G-Force-Chevrolet, 39.2970s, 229.025mph
Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 39.3467s, 228.736mph
Jeff Ward, G-Force-Chevrolet, 39.3751s, 228.571mph
Bruno Junqueira, G-Force-Chevrolet, 39.3856s, 228.510mph
Sam Hornish Jr, Dallara-Chevrolet, 39.4229s, 228.294mph
Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Infiniti, 39.5433s, 227.599mph
Alex Barron, Dallara-Chevrolet, 39.5818s, 227.377mph
Eddie Cheever Jr, Dallara-Infiniti, 39.6146s, 227.189mph
Scott Sharp, Dallara-Chevrolet, 39.6171s, 227.175mph