Hornish fastest in Carb Day

All of the other starters from the first two rows also recorded solid speeds during Carb Day practice, which gave teams one last chance - and one fresh engine - to prepare for the race.

"The speeds were a little bit slower than what I expected to have today, but there was a strong headwind coming down tha back straightaway," said Hornish, whose speed Friday was more than eight mph off his pole-winning speed last weekend.

"That's just one of the things here at the Speedway; the wind always seems to be going in the wrong direction."

Hornish's teammate, Helio Castroneves, was even further off the pace, topping out at just 218.587 mph in the No. 3 Penske Honda/Dallara - ninth-fastest of the session. Castroneves will start second with a four-lap qualifying average of 228.008 mph.

"We had just a little bit of a problem with our setup this morning, which hurt us in the speed department, but we think we've figured it out," Castroneves said.

"I've had problems on Carb Day in the past and then won the race, so I'm not too worried. I totally trust this team."

Scott Sharp, who will start eighth Sunday, had the second-fastest lap Friday - 220.316 mph in the No. 8 Delphi Honda/Dallara.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon had the third- and fourth-fastest laps, followed by Tony Kanaan, Buddy Rice, Marco Andretti, Tomas Scheckter, Castroneves and Ed Carpenter.

Race conditions are expected to be 10 degrees warmer than Friday, meaning teams are likely to make further adjustments to compensate for a greasy track. "It will make for more slippery conditions," Rice said.

"The right balance of downforce and aero will be the difference in winning the race. ... Sure, the Penske and Target guys have shown speed all month, but with the added temps, you'll see more guys getting into the hunt."

While the drastic weather change is expected to give a boost to the long shots and hinder the chances of the favorites, two-time winner Castroneves remains the betting favorite at 7-2, and Hornish isn't far behind at 4-1.

"A lot of times in the past, I've come into this race saying, 'How can I win this race?'" Hornish said.

"This year I'm saying, 'Why can't I?' The answer to that is taking yourself out of the race early. That's why I continue to say that we need to make it to the end. If we make it to the end, we'll be there fighting for it."

Pos  Driver             Make           Speed    Laps
 1.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dallara-Honda  220.698   21
 2.  Scott Sharp        Dallara-Honda  220.316   25
 3.  Scott Dixon        Dallara-Honda  219.992   24
 4.  Dan Wheldon        Dallara-Honda  219.847   25
 5.  Tony Kanaan        Dallara-Honda  219.611   25
 6.  Buddy Rice         Panoz-Honda    219.591   26
 7.  Marco Andretti     Dallara-Honda  219.519   26
 8.  Tomas Scheckter    Dallara-Honda  218.698   23
 9.  Helio Castroneves  Dallara-Honda  218.587   26
10.  Ed Carpenter       Dallara-Honda  218.417   23
11.  Vitor Meira        Dallara-Honda  218.246   28
12.  Danica Patrick     Panoz-Honda    218.049   25
13.  Townsend Bell      Dallara-Honda  217.962   23
14.  Kosuke Matsuura    Dallara-Honda  217.759   25
15.  Dario Franchitti   Dallara-Honda  217.659   24
16.  Michael Andretti   Dallara-Honda  217.284   25
17.  Buddy Lazier       Dallara-Honda  216.876   20
18.  Bryan Herta        Dallara-Honda  216.715   25
19.  Max Papis          Dallara-Honda  215.380   22
20.  Stephan Gregoire   Panoz-Honda    215.155   18
21.  Jeff Bucknum       Dallara-Honda  214.953   25
22.  Al Unser Jr        Dallara-Honda  214.472   23
23.  Jaques Lazier      Panoz-Honda    214.450   24
24.  Roger Yasukawa     Panoz-Honda    214.195   33
25.  Felipe Giaffone    Dallara-Honda  213.673   22
26.  Jeff Simmons       Panoz-Honda    213.617   20
27.  Airton Dare        Panoz-Honda    213.509   23
28.  PJ Chesson         Dallara-Honda  213.327   24
29.  Larry Foyt         Dallara-Honda  213.308   17
30.  Eddie Cheever Jr   Dallara-Honda  213.257   17
31.  Arie Luyendyk Jr   Panoz-Honda    211.205   26
32.  PJ Jones           Panoz-Honda    210.451   27
33.  Thiago Medeiros    Panoz-Honda    209.310   10