Franchitti leads first session
Dario Franchitti, whose IRL IndyCar Series resume includes a victory and a runner-up finish at The Milwaukee Mile in the past two years, had the fastest lap during the first Friday practice session at the track, leading a sweep of the top three positions on the speed chart by Andretti-Green Racing
Franchitti was clocked at 21.5691 seconds - 169.409 mph - around the flat mile oval in preparation for Sunday's ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225. Teammate Tony Kanaan was next at 21.6426 seconds - 168.834 mph - followed by Bryan Herta.
Franchitti is currently seventh in the IRL standings, 113 points behind leader Sam Hornish Jr., who won at Milwaukee last year and had the 17th-best lap in the opening practice while running race set-ups in the Penske Honda/Dallara.
His Penske teammate Helio Castroneves had the fourth-fastest lap of the two-hour session, followed by Vitor Meira, Tomas Scheckter and Danica Patrick. Buddy Rice and Marco Andretti rounded out the top 10.
Franchitti won at Milwaukee in 2004 and finished second behind Hornish last year. He's had a history of strong finishes in Champ Car races at the Mile, finishing fourth in 1998, and won an IRL race on another mile track, Pikes Peak, in 2004.
First practice times:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Dario Franchitti Andretti-Green 21.5691 2. Tony Kanaan Andretti-Green 21.6426 3. Bryan Herta Andretti-Green 21.6752 4. Helio Castroneves Penske 21.6850 5. Vitor Meira Panther 21.7533 6. Tomas Scheckter Vision 21.7858 7. Danica Patrick Rahal-Letterman 21.9124 8. Buddy Rice Rahal-Letterman 21.9224 9. Marco Andretti Andretti-Green 21.9818 10. Jeff Simmons Rahal-Letterman 21.9949 11. Jeff Bucknum Foyt 21.9967 12. Dan Wheldon Ganassi 22.1311 13. Ed Carpenter Vision 22.1856 14. Kosuke Matsuura Aguri Fernandez 22.1889 15. Scott Sharp Fernandez 22.3796 16. Scott Dixon Ganassi 22.4212 17. Sam Hornish Jr Penske 22.5145 18. Ryan Briscoe Dreyer & Reinbold 23.0395
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