Kanaan tops final Indy practice

Kanaan clocked 39.9171 seconds - 225.467 mph - in the No. 11 Andretti Green Racing Honda/Dallara.

"When you're the fastest guy on the track, you can't say that your car isn't that good," said Kanaan, whose best lap was a surprisingly large 0.3 seconds better than the next-closest lap. "But I got a good draft. I was trying to run in traffic as much as I could."

That was the point of Friday's one-hour session - one last change to tweak the car to run in traffic under the conditions. The weather Friday was warm and humid, similar to what's expected Sunday - along with a 40 percent chance of rain.

While AGR led the list Friday, one car-driver combination posted a stunning number. Jaques Lazier, who will start 28th Sunday, had the fifth-best lap Friday - 223.468 mph in the No. 21 Playa Del Racing Honda/Panoz.

Dario Franchitti, who will start third next to Kanaan, had the second-best lap Friday - 223.807 mph in the No. 27 AGR Honda/Dallara. Michael Andretti was third-best in the No. 39 AGR Honda/Dallara, followed by pole winner Helio Castroneves.

Largely symbolic, the Carb Day practice serves a practical purpose. It's one final rolling test before Sunday's race, allowing teams to verify that the cars are operating properly, set up precisely, and ready to race.

"You just need to do a systems check and make sure everything is OK from that standpoint," said Dan Wheldon, who will start sixth Sunday. "You can't really make substantial changes from this point on. It's just a matter of fine-tuning what you've got."

In other words, aside from making sure the car still rolls in a straight line, Carb Day's happy-hour practice doesn't provide much else.

"It was a good day, but Carb Day doesn't mean anything," Kanaan said. "No one will remember it on race day."

Pos  Driver             Chassis  Speed
 1.  Tony Kanaan        Dallara  225.467
 2.  Dario Franchitti   Dallara  223.807
 3.  Michael Andretti   Dallara  223.575
 4.  Helio Castroneves  Dallara  223.527
 5.  Jaques Lazier      Panoz    223.468
 6.  Scott Dixon        Dallara  223.374
 7.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dallara  222.981
 8.  Danica Patrick     Dallara  222.862
 9.  Ryan Briscoe       Dallara  222.754
10.  Tomas Scheckter    Dallara  222.693
11.  Marco Andretti     Dallara  222.690
12.  Darren Manning     Dallara  222.396
13.  Dan Wheldon        Dallara  222.199
14.  Jeff Simmons       Dallara  222.064
15.  Kosuke Matsuura    Dallara  221.658
16.  Ed Carpenter       Dallara  221.632
17.  Buddy Rice         Dallara  221.161
18.  Vitor Meira        Dallara  220.797
19.  Davey Hamilton     Dallara  220.669
20.  Scott Sharp        Dallara  220.131
21.  Alex Barron        Dallara  220.084
22.  John Andretti      Dallara  220.049
23.  A.J. Foyt IV       Dallara  219.920
24.  Roger Yasukawa     Dallara  219.918
25.  Jon Herb           Dallara  219.781
26.  Richie Hearn       Dallara  219.308
27.  Phil Giebler       Panoz    219.143
28.  Marty Roth         Dallara  218.233
29.  Sarah Fisher       Dallara  218.173
30.  Buddy Lazier       Dallara  218.149
31.  Al Unser Jr        Dallara  217.158
32.  Roberto Moreno     Panoz    217.133
33.  Milka Duno         Dallara  211.658